On this page
-
Text (5)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
that sailors and soldiers are punished by tribunal ? of their own , and only a few deserters are included in these returns—that , in short , only one class _ the community , as a rule , the poor class , m reality fall into the hands of criminal justice , the proportion of 1 in 45 , which possibl y should be reduced to 1 in 30 , or 1 in 25 of the really responsible members of the community , is frightfully large . No wonder that there is such an outlay and so much alarm at the increase of crime . The number of offenders and the amount of evil involved in these figures of 401 , 264 persons subjected to criminal proceedings , are , for those who believe that the Creator wills the happiness of his creatures , and who perceive that society as it grows in power
ceived by the public The very ^ latest our statistical publications confirm his conclusions * and teach us that the mass of crimes which now plague the community are preventable .
grows in knowledge , quite appalling . Only our familiarity with such descriptions could blunt our sensibility . If we could imagine to ourselves , after the manner of Sterne , each one of these persons undergoing his incarceration , storming with anger if he believe himself innocent , framing , if guilty , pretexts for self-deceit , brnew devices of mischief , but whether innocent or guilty pining in solitary confinement , or mixing with criminals , to which solitude _ is _ bliss , and if we could imagine all the misery their incarceration brings on their families and connexions , the mind would break down under the magnitude
of the evil . There is no official means of comparing the number of 401 , 264 persons , with the number of persons who fell under the control of the police many years prior to 1857 , and Mr . Redgrave does not pretend to say whether it be more or less than in previous years . But the . number of persons proceeded against by indictment , or the number of commitments , has been known since 1 S 05 . Even as to them comparisons are much disturbed , and are indeed unreliable . In 1855 , for example , the Criminal Justice Act transferred a large class of offences
from the old course of law to summary jurisdiction . The consequence was that the commitments in 185 G sank to 19 , 437 from 25 , 972 in 1855 , and from 29 , 359 in 1854 , or to three-fourths only of the former number and two-thirds of the latter . Probably-a much greater number of lesser offenders were punished in those years , when there appeared a great diminution of offences . In 1 S 57 the number of commitments rose to 20 , 209 , 832 above those of the former year , an increase of 4 ' 3 per cent . The increase was most conspicuous in Lancashire , 21 5 per cent . ; in Yorkshire 5 ; 3 per cent . ; of manufacture and trade
and generally m the seats . In Middlesex there was an increase . The returns of pauperism inform us that precisely in those districts where the increase of crime was greatest the increase of pauperism was greatest . In Middlesex there was a decrease both of pauperism and crime . As in 1856 there was a diminution of offences , notwithstanding the number of men discharged from the fleet and army , because the people were then very prosperous , the increase of crime in 1 S 57 was mainly the consequence of the want of employment and poverty brought- on by the interruption to trade . Imperfect as these returns arc , they establish , in
conjunction with the monthly returns of pauperism now issued , an inseparable connexion between the well-being of the multitude and the diminution of offences , primes increase with poverty and distress ; in fact , nine-tenths of all the crimes punished by the law are violations of property , and the temptation to commit such crimes is small in proportion as nil the people arc rich . This makes it the duty of the State not to lessen by restrictions and taxation the . sum , of wealth in the community , aucl not by any kiud of regulations to increase the natural inequalities in the fortunes of iudividunls . Amongst the causes of the increase of crimes in the youthful population—strangely culled "juvenile
crime" — -pauperism is properly placed first uud foremost by Mr . Day , in his elaborate and exhausting work on this subject . " * As incommodious dwollings , low lodging . houses , ignorance , intemperance , tho example of the despised , the want of education , are all , in tho main , due to povorly or pauperism , wo hardl y think it logioal to refer tho increase of crimes , whether amongst tho juvonilo or the O ^ tM Pttrj Qf ^ thQ-pnpiiiAljnn j— ln-i . —miiU . ii . iidft-. nfi causos . Perhaps Mr . Day will think this point worth reconsideration boforo his book reaches a second edition . It is a very complete work , has a capitul index , is well divided into chapters , with appraprmto mottoes , is full of apt quotations and illustrations , and . will , wo have no doubt , bo well rc-
Untitled Article
THE SOCIAL EVIL . We were induced to place a few facts before our readers some weeks ago in relation specially to the foreign element in what is delicately called the " Great Social Evil , " because we saw clearly that , m this direction at least , those benevolent yet mistaken individuals who were attempting to deal with this large subject were groping in the dark , or , at all events , endeavouring to put into action means perfectly inadequate to attain the desired , or indeed any , practical end . We showed that the root of this branch of the " Great Social Evil" was to be
looked for among those very classes who were appealed to for help to eradicate this canker , and for acts of Parliament of a more stringent character than at present existed . We pointed to the indisputable fact that foreign prostitutes were , in the nature of an article of luxury , imported not for the use of the million , but for the special service of the " upper ten thousand "—the wealthy , the noble , and the foul-passioned debauchees . We find that the Associate Institution for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women haveTm their twelfth report just issued , alluded to the article that appeared in the Leader on the 14 th ¦¦
association was on the wrong scent * or was but imperfectly acquainted with some of the facts of the question with which they profess to deal . The report has this paragraph- — If English debauchees crave and love the stimulant of French harlotry , au eontraire , French profligates seem to covet the persons of English strumpets- ^ - with a comment in relation , to what appears to be its strangeness . We will throw a little lijght on the subject . The reason why English prostitutes are coveted by foreign debauchees is , because in the " worst" there is something to teach . The foreign prostitutes have nothing to learn ; even the " best * come here as teachers . We refrain from going further into this dark chapter of human turpitude .
of July last . ' . '• ' „ ' . ., . First , let us say a word in reference to the report , which seems to be the work of some clerical Boanerges . We should have been better pleased had the report beendrawn up in more temperate lan ^ guao-e . We do not admire strong writing , especially writing that abounds with such flowers of rhetoric as "the Society have exposed the hellish system of prostitution" — " unhappy women , rendered ten times more the children of hell — " female monsters of these dens of hell "— "Madame Mesmeurice , this devil in the abused shape of a but it
woman . " The Social Evil is bad enough , is not to be cured by hard words . The association appear to have met some amount of success in their labours , and they specially point to the interest now taken by the press generally in this grave question . The association further assert that by their operations and labours the public at large now concede that prostitution is not " anecessary vice in a Christian community . " We do not quite understand what is meant by this . Itmay not be a " necessary vice , " but certainly it is a common and an invariable vice , differing only in decree in all free Christian communities . We iiouor l-now ili . it-, ni , anv time ariv DOrtion of the never knew that at any time any portion of the
public asserted that it was a " necessary" vice . The association refers to their exertions to protect children under thirteen years of age from pollution , and point to the fact of their bill having been thrown out mainly by Mr . Craufurd , who raised the objection that by tho Common Law of England a girl was marriageable at twelve years of age . The sooner a law so stupid and disgusting is swept from the statute-book the better , and here the association have our full sympathy with their labours . But we do not propose to deal with tho large question of prostitution , we only desire to make a few additional remarks in reference to our article on the
subject of " the foreign element , " which has been referred to in a complimentary manner by the association in thoir report ; that article , we repeat , was founded on facts—easily accessible facts . We named the localities where these foreign reoeption houses abound , we indicated the . class from which their chief supporters wore drawn ; nay , we pointed at two well-known patrons in particular , one an ornament of the patrician branch of theLegislaturo , tho other an equal embellishment to the more p lebeian assembly of law-makers . The committee in their report say : —
It shnll not be tlio fault of tho Committee of the Associate Institution , if any man—however dignified in s t ation , or powoful from -wealth or oflico—• whether merchant or member of Parliament—whether peer or com'monc r ^ fHioHbe-dotected » ns » an *« bettor ~ Qf * this-disgust <« - ing and degrading commerce in foreign strumpetsescapes tho lash of public conaure and execration . Well , lot tho association make a beginning . Thovo is not tho slightest diflioulty in proouring tho name of " tho commoner who familiarly Ogurcs as-* ' Papa" in Grcek-stvoot , and the peer whoso whiter kid-glove liberality is so notorious in an adjacent foreign rcooption house . On looking over tho report , it slruok us lluvt tho
Untitled Article
The Treaty of Tien-Sien , Death of Keying . — The following is from the Times : — "If our information be correct , the two most important articles of this treaty—the Resident Minister at Pekin , and the right of Englishmen to go to any part of the empire for curiosity or trade—were in peril at the very last moment , and were obtained by England single-handed , and only by a stroke of happy audacity . Whenever these stories of baffled intrigues become lawful
history they will add another illustration to all we already know of Russian diplomacy , and tend lo show the bad results of keeping doubtful company . When the Russian and American eagles take a companion flight , the younger bird does the work and the elder eats the prey . There is , however , one fact eonnected with these strangely involved intrigues which ia not without its interest . We mentioned some time since that Keying , the negotiator of the Nankin Treaty in 1842 , had acted a sort of independent guerilla part in these negotiations , and having been countermined and exposed , had gone back to Pekin . We now hear that the life of this poor old man has heart
sacrificed . On his way back to the capital , the . General commanding at Tung-chdw arrested him as a deserter from his post . Two princes of the blood royal immediately memorialised that he might . be executed . The Emperor ordered him to be tried , and the court sentenced him to public disgrace and decapitation . Just as the advices left the decree had comedown . The Emperor says that in his mercy he took Keying out of disgrace and sent him to try to soothe the foreigner , believing he knew how to do so . Lo ! the next he hears of him is that he has abandoned his post under a plea of having something important to communicate . When arrested and ordered to write a defence and
state his secret , it turns out to be merely a piece of advice to jesort to a policy which , after triaT , had been decided against , —probably the rousing of the population against as . For all this , and much more which is minutely detailed , the Emperor agrees to the sentence of death passed upon Keying ; but , inasmuch as it would give pain to him to see one who had once held such an honourable position left in the marketplace a headless corpse , Hienfung , in his boundless mercy , " anxious to reconcile justice and clemency , ' desires two high officers to visit Keying , and request him to put himself to death . This strange mercy raa its course . Keying is dead .
Tim Queen ani > tjje Canadians , —Mr . J . G . Nbrna , who arrived recently in this country from Toronto , with a petition to her Majesty from a considerable number of tho principal inhabitants of the two provinces , has received the answer of her Majesty through Sir E . B . Lytton . The petition stated that a Crystal Palace , for an exhibition of the products of Canadian industry and skill , is in course of erection in Toronto , and will be completed about the 1 st , of October ; and that , as her Majesty had been graciously pleaded to , honour .. wjith her , presence tho inauguration of similar undertakings in ! England , the memorialists prayed that she would confer a mark of favour on her subjects in Canada by giving authority to some member of tho Royal Family to proceed to Toronto to represent her on the opening of the
Crystal Palace . The reply says , that , though under the necessity of declining tho request of tho petitioners , the Queen appreciates tho loyalty to the Crown and tho attachment to her person and family which prompted tho wishes of the petitioners ; and concludes with an expression of hope on the part of heor Majesty that tho forthcoming exhibition at Toront will produce important and useful results to Canada . L The ^ i . oifi' ^ Y . ^ iP ' ff . ^ H ' . rr'A , JfoW i . ft ° J , Sftrto .- 8 ft -Vft . t'" ~ i .. , ¦ ' <» According toI what lias transpired of tlio dlsoussions of tho JZoUveroln at Hanover , U is probable that tho proposition of l ' ruasia to make ft general reduction in tho transit duties will bo adopted . That measure will not bo ftppHod to Austria alone ; , but will bo extendedI to thelotuer qorman states , namely , Mecklenburg , I « ubeok , « nmburff , and Bremen , which do not belong to J »»« f ° » £ vorein , aa well as to foreign outes . H « wvjr , Old ^ bourg , and BrunewioU voted In favour of the total abolition of tho transit duties . "
Untitled Article
We are unayoidaably obliged to postpone the report of the trial at Liverpool , Scott v . Dixon , but hope to have it in our power to lay a full report before our readers in our next publication .
Untitled Article
* Juvenile Crime : Us Camo . Charaotet \ and Cure . By Samuel PhlUipa Day . J . F . Ilono .
Untitled Article
of So , 4 AS , September 18 , 1858 . 1 THE LEADER . 969
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1858, page 969, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2260/page/17/
-