we attach a vast importance to the act under such circumstances as the above, as, it proves, beyond all contradiction, that the colonists would prefer to leave their farms uncultivated, and their property uncared for, or pay a ruinous rate of wages for free labor, rather than be associated with men immersed in all villany, and debased by mutual contamination. Nor, when we bear in mind that the colonists were not at all times convinced of the integrity of their officers, or that the labor of the convict at the probation stations, was always applied for the benefit of the public; are we astonished by the announcement in the newspapers, that the same Legislative Body which successfully struggled against transportation, appointed a committee to enquire into the working of the remnant of the system still existing. But the head of the convict department, the Comptroller General, unwilling to encounter an unpleasant investigation, refused to appear before the bar of the House of Assembly, and subsequently, we believe, left the Colony altogether, to escape the tender mercies of the sergeant at arms. Let the Home Authorities then take warning by the facts spoken of from the south, and let them be well convinced that they do not fall into the same error. The ticket-of-leave system will soon begin to unfold to the public whether the convicts are improved by their present mode of treatment, or whether, as in the case considered, they have been made so much the worse, in proportion as they have been kept under discipline and under the teaching of each other.

Looking back at the bitter fruits of the old "system," we are not astonished at the colonists having almost a loathing for both convict and his labor; they found him a serpent in their homesteads and an unwilling drudge in their fields, all occasioned by the debasing "system." Indeed we think that these circumstances which we have brought to view, will afford full and sufficient explanation of the hostility of the colonists to receiving any more convicts, and that to them, rather than to motives of "pride," may be attributed the opposition the system has encountered in the face of a pressing demand for laborers; but we still hope that the dawn of a new era is breaking on this all important subject, and that under a proper and well regulated system, wherein the convict would be properly trained at home, and only those who show good symptoms of reformation sent abroad, the hostility of the

colonists will be withdrawn. We also fully anticipate that the colonies will be again thrown open to the reception of all that can be made useful, as industrious and well conducted servants, by which arrangement we feel confident the interests of every party would be promoted.

In the present state of public feeling, and the manifest desire to restore these men to a recognised position in the social scale, we are not without hope that most of the evils and injustices to which we have drawn attention will be promptly met and checked, or that at all events the convict will not be made a worse moral subject by his incarceration than he had previously been. Years must elapse ere the evils arising from the mal-administration of the old convict system will have died away; in hundreds of cases they can only cease with the life of the convict, in others an improved system, even now in the twelfth hour, might have its due effect. We therefore hope that the present endeavor to improve the moral condition of the convicts at home will be equally extended to those in our colonies who have been the victims of a less discerning course of discipline. And we anxiously pray that such selection of officers may be made, both at home and abroad, as will ensure to the convict a fair chance of availing himself of the benevolent intentions of the advocates of the reformatory movement. Our principal ground of hope, however, attaches to the application of the reformatory discipline to the juvenile convicts; in their case the mind is not past moulding to a sense of better things, besides, this is striking at the root of the evil. Let the erring youths of our present community be taught the right path, with moral training accompanied by the ordeal of suffering for justly punished deeds, and there will be little dread of an important diminution in our calendar of crime. The iniquitous haunts of villany, once swept out, must yield to the enlightened progress of the day, and these youths, instead of becoming hereafter the fathers of a race destined to pursue the same vile courses, which they inherited as a birthright, may become the honest and virtuous fathers of children born to a good example and a comfortable home.

So many admirable papers have been written, and practical suggestions thrown out, as to the management of our juvenile offenders, that we feel it unnecessary to enlarge on the subject; but, from what we have already written relative to the appointment of officers, it may be judged with what pleasure we perceive

that the subject is now considered the most essential item in the great scheme of reformation. A judicious selection of teachers, unaccompanied by sectarianism and polemical differences, will, to our mind, produce the most beneficial results. But if party feeling and religious animosity are allowed to disturb the harmony of the reformatory institution, particularly in Ireland, the primary object will soon be swallowed up, in the unfathomable gulf of controversy and strife about words.

Being anxious to examine for ourselves the extent of improvement observable under the new system of reformation, so far as it has been tried in Dublin, we recently obtained admission, through the kindness of a friend, into the Smithfield Reformatory in this city, the first Institution of the kind established in Ireland, and that principally referred to in the evidence of Captain Crofton. We selected, as the time most likely to see things as they really are, not what they appear to the casual visitor, the hour of between 7 and 8 o'clock P.M., such being to our knowledge the period when order and regularity are somewhat thrown aside, being a sort of idle interval between the cessation of work and the arrangement for supper and bed. We did not want to see this Institution at a time when the prisoners and all things in the prison were in inspection trim; we had seen enough of that, and were prepared to know that the visitor might find all things very orderly and well regulated while his visit lasted. We desired to slip in, so to speak, and find matters in the undress of homely life. With what pleasure we record this visit-instead of finding the prisoners lounging about as was usual at that hour, indulging in idle, and often profane discourse, or chewing the cud of bitter and remorseful thought, we found that a lecture room had been established to improve and open up their minds, and if possible, win them back for society here, or make them steady, law-obeying men for one, or other of our colonies, Canada or Australia. In this room we found all the prisoners assembled, apparently contented, and listening to a most instructive, useful lecture, and one calculated to convince them that their moral improvement had really become an object of interest to the legislature; that they were not altogether forgotten in this world, and that the governing hand that was compelled to draw the sword of justice to punish, was also desirous to sow the seeds of instruction and goodness in their breasts, before returning it to its sheathe. The subject of the lecture was

"Prisons Past and Present." The lecturer-himself a young man, and, we understand, one who had raised himself above the accidents of birth and circumstances by an industrious tuition of his own mind, and who is now, we trust, on the road to a position where his talents can be made of still greater service in connexion with this good work-the lecturer pointed out to his audience with much ability, the well known history of former Prison Administration, culling therefrom (alas how few were his opportunities!) any bright and honorable exceptious to that reign of tyranny and bad management, and presenting, with just indig nation, for the abhorrence of his listeners, the abuses and cruelties of that mistaken period.

Having paid a passing tribute to the virtues of John Howard, Elizabeth Fry, and others of their class, he proceeded, in a manner well suited to the occasion, to impress on the prisoners the opportunities and advantages now offered to them, the gratitude that should inspire them that they had escaped the lot of their early fellow sufferers; and he then further impressed the necessity of strict morality and mental improvement, as being indispensable to their future happiness and advancement. This we felt to be a step in the right direction, but it is only one of many that are necessary; however, we are sure the rest will follow, and that the men confined here will be duly improved by the exertions made for that purpose. We were gratified to observe that one of the Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland, Doctor Lentaigne, was present on the above occasion, an attentive observer of the whole scene, and, no doubt, improving the opportunity for his own future guidance. This shows that, in one instance at least, "the right man is in the right place;" for were this gentleman only disposed, as is too often the case, to confine his attention to the ordinary and indispensable routine of office hours, he would, at the moment of which we speak, have been comfortably enjoying his own family circle; but his heart is evidently in the work, and we wish him all success in his arduous calling.

It is also gratifying to record, that his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant is a frequent though private visitor at the hours of lecture, as well as others of the Directors, and we doubt not that the experience gained by such men under such circumstances will tend to produce the most beneficial results. But whether beneficial results follow or not, those persons who are now devoting their time and talents to the improvement of this

unhappy class, are showing an example worthy of the highest imitation, and, even should their endeavors fail to produce the desired good, whether through the mismanagement of others, or the innate depravity of those they are endeavoring to save, they may be happy in the consciousness of having tried to grapple with and overcome a state of affairs ruinous to their country, disgraceful to humanity, and degrading to civilization.

ART. VI.-STEAM AND TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNI

CATION.

General Remarks on Steam and Telegraphic Communication at the present day, with reference to the United Kingdoms as the centre. By Thos. Knox Fortescue. New Edition. Dublin J. Robertson, 3 Grafton street, 1852.

We have for some time been flattering ourselves with the hope that Ireland is becoming decidedly practical; and we feel no small pleasure in giving expression to our humble opinion, that the experience of each day tends to confirm the idea, and to afford the most solid proofs of the just ground upon which it was at first conceived. The character of the people appears to be undergoing a complete revolution ; to be in a transition state between its former restless and Utopian nature, and that happy species of existence, of which thrift, industry, and foresight, may be said to form the principal ingredients. Through whatever part of the Island we travel, (and for our part there is hardly any of it we have not seen withint hose last few years,) it is impossible to avoid beholding the steady development of these essential attri butes of a Nation's greatness, either as exemplified in its seaport or inland towns, in the great agricultural improvements which have taken place, or in the more business like conversations which we hear on the Railway or at the Hotel. That all this is the natural effect of the comparative cessation of political agitation, (even while admitting the exasperating causes which produced it,) is evident at first sight. The