Mr. Adderley writes to the Time. to support the view
that you should not attempt to reform the criminal, but only to nauseate him with crime, and for that purpose attacks Lord Grey for asking longer sentences for men who are "so inveterately addicted to thieving that there is little chance of their ceasing from it." Even Mr. Adderley, we suppose, wishes to protect society from confirmed thieves, and would not expect to nauseate them more completely with crime by short sentences than by long. No matter what your theory, the habitual criminal, being a greater menace to society, should be withheld from it longer than the occasional criminal, and all Lord Grey asks for, is not to assume beforehand, as Mr. Adder- ley and the Chief Justice wish to do, that nothing can be done, or ought to be done, in the way of weaning the professional criminals from their life of crime. But if anything of this sort can be done, and we know that it can, and very effectually too, it is absurd to complain that it requires longer sentences than Mr. Adderley's nauseating medicines.
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