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Fjebrtjary 14, 1857.] T HE LEADER. 15*7
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THE GREY TICKET-OE-LEA.VE. Sir George Ge...
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A WEEK OF ELECTIONS. WEGTTELiKr for Sout...
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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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Slayeuy Abolition And Cotton Supply. At ...
gaum . Why ? The reason was , that Belgaum ¦ was under the management of a gentleman who saw the fitness of the New Orleans species for Indian adoption , and who saw through the causes which had checked the growth . He succeeded , therefore , in extending the use of the New Orleans species , in checking the obstructions . That gentleman ,
Mr . Alexander Shaw , is now in this country , and is accessible to give every information on the subject . It is not impossible that he may be returned to Parliament for a northern constituency , and the interests of the country will then have an advocate practically and minutely acquainted with the question as it applies to Bombay .
In the meanwhile those out of doors ¦ who have information of practical value in Indian subjects will probably be aroused to the protection of their own interests . At the present day we must rely to a great extent upon the incorporated representatives of commerce , and we know of none who can act with more efficiency than the Manchester Chamber of Commerce . To
that body any question bearing on its great staple must be of paramount and urgent interest , and we have reason to believe , indeed , that it is already moving . Some of the facts which we have stated are drawn from a note addressed by Mr . Shaw to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce ; and we are convinced that if that body should take the lead in the public movement , its influence would soon be felt in Parliament , and obeyed by the Government .
Fjebrtjary 14, 1857.] T He Leader. 15*7
Fjebrtjary 14 , 1857 . ] T HE LEADER . 15 * 7
The Grey Ticket-Oe-Lea.Ve. Sir George Ge...
THE GREY TICKET-OE-LEA . VE . Sir George Geet ' s new law for the treatment of criminal offenders must be watched on the twofold score that it is not quite sufficient for its purpose , and that it takes too much power for the Executive Government . " We take the two sections separately . Crime is increasing , though statistics tell us the reverse ; and Sir George Gret enjoins us
not to be alarmed , for the number of prisoners convicted is declining . The proportion of offences committed by ticket-of-leave men is only sixteen per cent , on the total number of that class , or five per cent , on the total number of offences committed ; and we ought to be satisfied with the progress . In the meanwhile , however , the public does not get over the facts that enormous frauds are
committed right and left ; that gentlemen are garotted in the open day , in populous streets even of London ; that well-watched houses are entered by burglars ; and that the progress of civilization exhibits itself quite as much in the art with which thieves and ruffians surmount the impediments of police , as in the development of the police itself . Perhaps we ought not to complain of the law in failing to check these evils , so much as of the state of society which tends to produce the evils ; but the bill at least gives us no
fresh protection in any of these particulars . It continues the ticket-of-leave men ; it does not provide any means for procuring discharged prisoners employment ; it simply obviates the confusion arising from the nominal , sentence to transportation , and the actual sentence to penal servitude . Essentially it is not calculated to diminish the number of convicts , to carry anymore of them abroad than arc afc present sent , or to withdraw a larger number of ticket-of-leavc men from the streets , and help a larger number of persona in transition from a criminal to an honest life .
But if doing nothing except the one thing ttiafc Sir GEOB . OJ 2 Gmet disclaims , it may , well administered , somewhat improve the discipline within our prisons . It will givo judges a larger discretion in apportioning sentences to offences . It will perhaps
facilitate a better selection of convicts to be transported to the one colony taking them , Western Australia . And it may perhaps end in some mode of holding for a ionger time in prison hardened and incorrigible offenders . But the whole of any such improvement lies , not in the law , not in the specific enactments of the bill , hut in the execution by the Government .
It is here that the bill dangerously takes too much power for the Executive . The j udge will pass a sentence apportioned in its term , to the prisoner ' s guilt , and from that date the prisoner will be handed over to fate in the form of the Home Secretary . The sentence may be remitted to an almost indefinite extent , for although Sir George Grey thinks that it will be in general undesirable to remit more than one third or one fourth of tlie
sentence , tie believes that you cannot fix any precise limit . The prisoner may be released on ticket of leave , he may be detained the whole term in prison , he may be transported to the colonies at the pleasure of the Executive . The Minister might be lenient to some prisoners , very severe to others ; and although Sir George Grey is not likely to be influenced by extraneous considerations , a time might come when prisoners would be sentenced for political offences under a
Government actuated by strong political - feelings . At such a time a sentence of the judge would constitute a vague surrender of the prisoner to the mercies of the Government , and those mercies might be dispensed with a dangerous discrimination . ¥ e have seen , as recently as 1842 , a condition of great disorder in the country , in which repressive measures were
thought to be necessary by the Executive , and in which popular agitation lead men into the commission of acts technically subjecting them to transportation . By the present Bill they would be liable to a degree of punishment indefinite in its nature and depending upon , the amount of leniency or rigour , of charitable feeling or party bitterness , in . the breast of the Home Secretary .
There is an ulterior possibility lying in the same discretionary power , equally against justice and the constitution . At present there are few of the colonies which consent to receive convicts . The chief Australian colonies threatened rebellion rather than submit . The Cape colony actually rebelled ,
under the administration of Sir Geoiige Grey ' s cousin , Lord Grey . The experiment would be very dangerous with the North American colonies , and no Minister of the slightest discretion would risk it . But we have had Ministers of no discretion ; we have had Ministers who despise the remonstrances of colonies . There havo been
on both sides of both Houses strong advocates for renewed transportation . Is not Lord Deuky among thorn ? A time , then , might arise when a Colonial Minister , theoretically favourable to renewed transportation , might not dislike to exercise his powers in tho teeth of so contemptiblo a community as that of a colony . If any colonial settlement thwarted a Minister , he might
even think it expedient to punish that community by inflicting upon it : tho insult , disgrace , and curse of convict transportation . We have soon Ministers , quite capable of that act of vigour . Tho present Bill docs not actually provide for any such contingency ; but we believe tlmt in tho largo powers which it hands over to the Executive it involves suilicicnt authority for any such courso of proceeding .
Its progress through Parliament , therefore , must bo watched , with a view to seeing if its provisions can bo strengthened so far as to provide a more efficient penal discipline , and alao to see if further restraint
might not be imposed upon the Executive , so as to prevent a one-sided exercise of 'justice ' in times of political excitement , and a virtual change of the law in renewing practices which the Bill appears to discontinue .
A Week Of Elections. Wegttelikr For Sout...
A WEEK OF ELECTIONS . WEGTTELiKr for Southampton , Codmngto ^ t for Greenwich , Ci _ . r for Hull , ELeninard for Newport , JoH ^ sroNE for Downpatrick . There is little to be said for or against the choice of the free and independent . Mr . "We . gtjelin is respectable , General CoDMBrGton is respectable , Mr . Clay , Mr . Johnstone , and Mr . Kennaud are respectable . We have a sympathy with Mr . And hews , and we recommend him to organize his forces for another contest . " We have a sympathy with Greenwich , and are glad it lias escaped Mr .
Sleigh , whose return would have been a parody of representation . ' Mr . Seeley , the unsuccessful candidate for Newport , is a thorough Liberal , and may , on future occasions , find a constituency prepared to accept him . But , as tests of our public opinion , we repudiate the whole batch of the week ' s elections . They are farces , follies , and illusions , and only serviceable as proofs of the necessity of parliamentary reform . ISTo one will deny that an improper amount of money was expended at Southampton ; no one will affirm that , had the Government screw been
worked for Mr . Sleigh , General Cobbingxon would not have been in a minority . As for Newport" It is a political fungus at the foot of Carisbrooke , a thirteenth-century corner , with a few hundred electors , celebrated for returning , in 1700 , that knave John Shepherd , who was forced on his knees in the House of Commons , expelled , and sent to the Tower . for infamous bribery . We must decline to consider such an election as a constitutional proceeding afc all . Indeed ,
the entire range of the elections now goingforward simply illustrate the corruption and the injustice of our present system . Why was General Codrington elected ? Partly because the electors were under compulsion to vote for him ; but partly , also , because a Greenwich election is so costly , that only a Government candidate or a pupil of ancient Pistol can'be expected , in the fifth- year of a
Parliament , to contest it . Consequently , no man of t"he slightest political respectability was found to oppose tho Whig General , unpopular as he is , on account of his refusal to support tho ballot , or abolish military flogging . Mr . Sleigh's pretensions were purely ridiculous ; his biography might amuse tho electors , but certainly his representative statesmanship could have been of no service to them .
At Southampton tho conflict was carried on with almost fratricidal fury . Xittlorivuleta of gold streamed out of interested pockets ; the Bank Charter was generous ; JVCr . . Awimnws was regardless of expense ; Sir Edwahb Butler , must have drowned many a railway dividend in the bitter -waters of Whig and Tory strife . At Newport , the ground to be covered was not so largo , so that Mr . Ivknna-Rjj ' s atomic majority may bo supposed to liave been won over with winged words dipped hero and there in a
yellow solvent . l < V > r Downpatrick , the 51 . and 101 . householders , and tho Hi . rated occupiers , whose dwindling numbers threaten to die away , and who once claimed for their own tho Right Honourable- John Wilson Choicer , have fixed their favour on tho Orange Johnstone , in preference to the less brightly-tinted Kicmt . In North Leicestershire , the delicate Toryism of Lord John MjVNJSKitd is confronted by tho hard and heavy Protestantism of Mr . U'kewjjk , Lord John Ma . nm . ejis . however , is
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14021857/page/13/
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