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r w « 18571 ' THE IiEADEB. . , : __g 4 L...
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MR. HILL'S SUGGESTIONS FOR THE llEI'ltES...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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China And Its Inhabitants. China: A Gene...
* - * : r ^ —— ^ ^ ¦ ' . —; ITT ^ Tbeen , " say they , " and sure I ought to know , " And , singurU \ GS" mi «* despite the ancient satire on travellers'tales , these persons lfl ly "En credence without any examination into their powers of obseroften obtain preuc ^ ^ ^ of illiterate captains' clerks or TatlT- T , supercargoes , it remained an ethnological fact that there were di ; } racesTn thKoiM without any notion of the existence of a God ; Wb ° „ S ority not much more respectable , we have been-pand indeed and Jf 2 £ e ^ expected to believe that the three or four hundred Sllions of men who huddle behind the Great Wall form in reality a ^ bouTpa ^ rw ^ st we accept this work as a fair summary . and intelligent of Sine statements on Chinese matters , we are inclined to believe Jw ° know little of the xeal condition of the Celestial Empire-even firaside That mysterious revolution , that social conflict , the sounds of Wh come to us like the roar of voices and clatter of furniture when a W- takes place i n the next house , and we k now neither the causes nor ^ Lroes thereof . After all , we are reduced , in most important parti-?« rs to depend on the imperturbable assertions of the same men , whose £ uS er £ * * y Ie and bombastical falsehoods convulse Europe with laughter Pverv time a specimen , referring to current business , gets into circula ion wScredence can be given to imperial statistics and reports even in ^ nrone ' our own correspondents' from every capital in kurope-from St . f eS ' urg to Paris-are every day employed in informing us . Suppose we were tf write a description of France from documents signed Billault 01 TWnchel This illustration will enable us to . appreciate the value of in-Kat ion to be got from published statements in China , where all literature TfoTcS ( that if , mendacious ) , and where , indeed the tendency of every SiSffe to brat ! boast , and falsify . Even a truth-telling country , provided we were not al owed ' to enter itf would give , by its own repo rts , wrong im-^ . sTfonsio strangers . What must be the case with a country of lies ? P have mentioned three or four hundred millions as the population of China -but there are really no grounds whatever to go upon for ascertain "th e truth . The probabilit / is , considering that we have reports of S desert tracts , ranges o f mountains , provinces overrun by savages and S ? Ssi ^ rr ^ ss ^ n ^^ ' ^ s im ^ s ^ S ^ S ^ S ^ £ odmUSanddo * es the narrative become ; so that a hundred thousand vSarrSo , more or less , we find ourselves introduced to the private thoughts SSSKs of « oBt estimable and entertaining gentlemen , but when we come to the period corresponding to our . dark ages , all * s doubt and confusion , ^ TSn cu ^ utd , not long ago , to wander abotit Taris exciting the imagination of our excitable neig hbours by most wonderful predictions . XeChiriSe according to him , were a terrible race , actuated by terrible toS rC \ ere destined to destroy all industry n all other parts of the world They were so cunning , so clever , so inventive that when once thev set about it , they would produce everything wanted by everybody every whexe so much more cheaply than anything could be produced by anyboa / anywhere , that we should have nothing to do but to turn our fields into Ss shut up our factories , and make bonfires of our instruments of labour . £ hina would sunply us inexorably with all desiderata , corn and meat , cloiheslnd houses-even with news—much more quickly and at lower rates San we could possibly do ourselves . The artists , who now draw hideous carLrures on eTrthen plates , as soon as they chose would beat . Rap hael and ^ i ^ K ^^^ ^ Js ^^^^^^ tss ^^ . s ^^ ^ Th ^ Sstence ^ f this theory , which found disciples and created uneasiness for ^ onS aTong some inln of . intellect ( who would haveprobably be « i driven mad by the frightful narration of the man whose head was tuineu , an ? whT therefore , chewed his p igtail till ho died ) , illustrates tlie unwholesome character of the beliefs about China prevalent in Fiance . sss ^ aasssfispgss 3 befn flmvX told to abstain from this war , because the Chinese are a pe ° o ^ rdiCntV constituted from ourselves , not ^^^^ ^ influences , nor amenable to the same laws , who poison from Idiotic motives mav be mowed down by grape-shot , und dashed to pieces by batffiiratTt , w ? rOut being & ^ sli ghtest degree alarmed or convinced of -their inferiority , who are v ctorious when they run away , invincible became tl > ey S ' know how to resist , and , in fact , like the nightmare * that attack us during indigestion , will be enabled to tonnont ub tei iibly whilst we never shall succeed in getting at them P N \ o may depend upon it that Chinamen , when they come to bo known , will prove , alter having received a low leasone , as tructable as any othor Aaiatic nation .
R W « 18571 ' The Iieadeb. . , : __G 4 L...
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Mr. Hill's Suggestions For The Llei'ltes...
MR . HILL'S SUGGESTIONS FOR THE llEI'ltESSION OF CRIME . Snaaostiom for the liejrretaion of Crime . Contained in Charges delivered to Grand ^^^^ mwovtod hy AddUioiml ' ^ v / pST 25 b £ ^ j «& r ^ w &^ x &^ &&& * fp 2 [ England ' s greatest men . When the trade and commerce of this wuntfyhaS extended to a degree never dreamt , of beforei and fuoihty of ^ ommu nioution became the great desideratum , Row land Hill . came iortU with his penny-post scheme , and carried it victoriously amidst the tore .
SB bodin ^ s of officials and the exultations country . even morefmportant question—a question touching society m most of its vital mterests—is mooted , and a second Hill clearly brings together all the materials for an effectual mode of repressing crime . ... . . Who will deny that this social malady , called crime , is the great enemy to be fought ? It undermines and destroys not only the ' criminal but the innocent Yet society , though its own life is at stake , does not prevent , but simply punishes , crime alter it has been committed : hides the sword after the wound is inflicted . This is the question discussed-by our author throughout the collected works of many long years . Mr . Davenport Hill does not lose himself in vain speculations , still less in despondent acquiescence : but he gives us practical suggestions based on long experience . He will prevent crime by preventing the growth of a criminal c & ot of men , who have made law-breaking their regular vocation . Here is Mr . Hill s leading idea He will , above all things , permanently dispose of convicts who pursue crime as a business ; of that body of men who , not led astray by casual tempta on or by temporary indulgence of the passions , but by long-contmued determined offences against society , have shown their incapability of living as free human beings among the rest of men . The class is much more numerous than is commonfy believed ; for the Recorder of Birmingham estimates them in England and Wales alone to be a hundred thousand . This computation is based on known facts , and it shows at once how small a portion of the criminals are actually brought-to account . * or example , the number of forged notes presented at the Bank ot England , and ihenumbs of convictionsibr the forgery of bank-notes between the years ^ * nd 1837 proves the proportion of convictions compared with that of offences as only 1 to 104 . " Yet hanging failed to check the crime that has been checked by improved regulations " even by the improved paper and nner en-SavTn ? of the note . The criminal class , taken as a body is far below the Sverao-e intellect of every honest class , both m natural and acquired endovvmenST This is a very significant fact not yet sufficentl y appreciated in Si its bearings . Once fully establish that the law-breaker » not only a bad man but also a very stupid and ignorant man , and it becomes our duty to ay hold of him , for his own sake ° as well as for ours . The great question then remaining will be , how to detect these men so as to f ^^ f ^^ doings and check them in teaching others whom we leave at then meicy ? he children of the streets . Mr . Hill proposes to detain the known criminal as you would detain a lunatic or put a plague patient in quarantine . When by the evidence of two or more credible witnesses a jury has been satisfied that thTre is good ground for believing , and that the witnesses do actually be le . ye , that-the accufed party is addicted to robbery or theft , so as to deserve the appellation of robber or tMef ! he ^ hall be ca iled-upon in defence to prov e himself xu possession of ^ 3 ? S 3 £ SwieSr 2 SS 5 t ^ AtThVfirst view this seems harsh , yet it is only the strictest justice . As things areVth ^ eTs a nation in a nation ; a tribe of malefactors , organised Sthe laUof men and of niiture . The retribution is as -fair as anythmg m th MrM d b . Hill has , as lie himself states , not concocted ttai . plan amid the excitement created by the daily increase of enmo , and « . c . liftcutaM ^ edi ^ oLron'S ^ Sc ir Lrhr ^ elno -rn ' pS ! of his thou-hts He first proposed it in 1850 , when it found great and unextk ^ ss ^ s ^^^ s ^^^^ issi rHorstrs ^ r ^ i- ^ s ^ i ^< ETu « A toown , both penally and by character , to tl , < . police and io m ^^& ° = ^ ^^^^^^^ l . JS . rcu /^ a » t ^ ' ^^^ alZTJZ ^^^ S ^ ^^^^ ^^ s ^ ssmB ^^ rz ; SE = trr ^^ zj ; ^^^^^ \ B 2 ^^ £ ? z ^ £ ^* ^ tt TinOlV . •¦ r * i _ i _ _ 1 _ . l ! i . i ~ rt 4 . 1 umonuniMiuv
l Another sul-jeot , likewise very important , tbougU . uttj « « xtrnctjng public attention , is the unequal treatment o ( prisoners . Mr . M . D . ° Llrtlio ^ crinSnalwho , whatever his offunoos may bo , has the merit of personal decoty have tho bonent of such merit , To produce artificially an equality In abasementIs neither ¦ wiso nor juat . Such equality , moreover , is eminently doooptivo , nnd Shopllfwr , and if you oompol hor to ttmi to * i same dr « . » "'^ J" ^? " ° <] ort « lnly piiaour , have you ioOlotod equal nan . by this equality ot twol »»¦ <¦ r 0 VoUlns not i ta tuo luttor enso you liavo rollevod tho prUoucr torn a portion o
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 6, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06061857/page/19/
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