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where they would be obliged to labour, and be kept under restraint; but I never heard one say, that he was afraid of being hanged!'

To the plan of punishment we have suggested, a host of objections may readily be anticipated; though we think there are none, to which a satisfactory answer might not be given. Besides, we beg it to be understood, that we profess to throw out only a hint, not to propose a digested system. We are fully aware, that the subject is one of great practical difficulty; and none, but the merest quacks in legislation, would think of representing the suppression of crime, as a thing to be effected, by any plan whatsoever, without vigorous and persevering exertion. But we do know, by experience, what punishments have failed, and which have been found the most effective. To the latter, therefore, it is natural to resort, in the hope, (not, surely, altogether ill-grounded,) that it will, in a great degree, answer the intended purpose. Such a hope, we may reasonably entertain, with regard to punishments of the nature suggested, because they have repeatedly been found efficient. But as the same cannot be said of capital punishments, which have constantly been found wanting in effect, we think they ought to be abolished.

We have been repeatedly accused of misplaced, excessive, and diseased humanity; of feeling more for the assassin than for his victim; and of disregarding the security of the virtuous, in our sympathy for the depraved. But here we will meet our opponents upon their own ground. If their charge be true, it shall be true no longer. We will adopt, for a moment, the maxims of the selfish, and strive to feel for none but ourselves. The danger of destroying the innocent, the hope of reforming the guilty, and the nature of their condition hereafter, shall, to us, be "trifles light as air." We will consider only, how, at any rate, and by any means, protection may be gained. We will resign at once every just principle, and endeavour to suppress every generous feeling. Benevolence we will banish from our bosoms, if we can but shield them from the assassin's dagger. Or, if this be going further than our opponents wish, we will at least confine our humanity to the murdered victim and the virtuous public; and, on behalf of the latter, we will strive to obtain an effectual defence against such deadly assailants. How, then, is that to be accomplished? Let us inquire, if the punishment of death will give us the security that we seek. Do we find, that murder has been diminished by its operation? No. On the contrary, in spite of its rigorous infliction, it has multiplied at a frightful rate. Instead of keeping to the level of the population, its increase has been more rapid, in

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the proportion of thirteen to one.* Shall we, then, rely on such a punishment? No; for our safety requires its abolition. Have other punishments been more effectual? In Tuscany, imprisonment and labour almost extirpated crime; the prisons were sometimes empty; the frequency of murder was diminished, and atrocious offences became very rare. Shall we, then, contend for a change of system? By all means. We are urged to do so by self-love-the spring of human action. We will plead, then, for mildness to criminals, that security may remain to us. However regardless of human life, if its sacrifice tended to our own protection, yet, as it is safer to spare than destroy, we will for once be merciful, from a principle of policy.

Proceeding thus, upon the narrowest and most groveling of motives, that of considering personal security as the only object worthy of regard, the meanest wretch that crawls, if his eyes were open to his real good, would say, with the eagerness of timid apprehension,-let capital punishments be abolished. But if, with the prudence that is anxious for its own safety, be united the justice that regards the rights of others, and the generosity that longs to improve the condition of human nature, how much stronger will be the desire, that, from every community of intelligent and civilized beings, the barbarous abomination may be banished for ever. Still more ardent will this feeling grow, as religion exerts her benignant influence on the heart, and urges her disciples to abstain from destruction, when restraint only is an adequate defence.

In conclusion, we feel it our duty to apologize, for the unusual length of our reply. But it was impossible, otherwise, to give a full and satisfactory answer to the advocates of the punishment in question. This, we trust, has been done; though we are, at the same time, fully aware, that, in any other point of view, what we have urged upon the subject is but a rough and imperfect sketch. Many important considerations we have

This proportion, as exhibited in the previous tables, is less than the truth. If the length of time, for which the average is taken, be extended but one year, it will make a further increase in murder of 21 per cent., the executions for that crime in England and Wales having been

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Increase per cent. in 7
Years, more than
140 per cent.
119

Which, upon an average of six years, was only..

Additional increase, on an extension of one year

21 per cent.

Returns to Parliament from the Home Department.

The Grand Duke's Edict, 1786. Muirhead's Travels, 389, 390. Lemaistre's Travels, vol. i. p. 337; in which latter work, speaking of Tuscany, the author says, " Assassination is unheard of." Contrast this with England; "look on that picture, and on this."

been compelled to omit entirely, and at many others we have merely glanced. But our limits, extended as they have been, would not permit us further to enlarge. We hope, indeed, that there was no necessity; but that the statements and observations, which have been presented for consideration, (in all cases, upon respectable, and, in many, upon undeniable authority,) will be considered fully sufficient to warrant the abolition contended for,―a measure which is strongly required, no less by a regard for THE REAL SECURITY OF THE PUBLIC, than for the principles of justice, and the feelings, of humanity. Selfishness and benevolence are both concerned to promote it; and deaf alike, must they be, to the suggestions of interest, and the pleadings of pity, who can raise their voices in the cry for blood, when every drop that is shed but impairs their safety.

THE MALEFACTOR.

LONE, convicted, and forsaken,
Lying on his bed of straw,-
There, by justice overtaken,
By despair and terror shaken,
Lo! the victim of the law.

Named by men with execration,
Even at his hour of need;
View'd with more than detestation
As a blot upon creation;

Scarce with pity doom'd to bleed.

Deem'd by all who see or hear him
As a wretch unfit to live;

Good men seem to scorn or fear him,-
Few there be will seek to cheer him ;
Hope or comfort none can give.

All his evil deeds are telling,
All the good he did forgot;
Soon the heart that now is swelling,
In the grave shall find a dwelling,
Shameful death his destin'd lot.

Yet there are some hearts of feeling,
Who, in being's opening years,
Saw his youth bright hopes revealing,
Now to them his heart appealing,

Claims the tribute of their tears.

They will say he was not ever
Worthless, as men deem him now;
Later deeds of crime can never
From their souls his memory sever,

Ev'n when death has blanch'd his brow.

There is one will nightly weep him,
Daily breathe his name in sighs;
Imaged in her bosom keep him,

Tho' the blow from earth shall sweep him,
Guilt's atoning sacrifice.

He was once as bright as others,

Graced by wit, and sense, and worth;
Look'd on all his kind as brothers,-
If in grief he shared another's-
Shall he pass unwept from earth?

Strangers will prepare to-morrow
Recklessly the felon's tomb;
Crowds may view it without sorrow,-
Yet from mem❜ry friends will borrow
One kind ray to gild its gloom.

J. B.

ON THE PASSIONS.

MAN, the boasted lord of the created world, possessing, if not solely, yet transcendently above all other animals, the inestimable gift of reason,-is, above all others, the slave to a variety of conflicting passions, which fill his bosom with delight, lacerate it with anguish, or agitate it with remorse, unknown to all other creatures;-passions, calculated to raise him to the level of superior beings, but frequently so indulged, as to sink him below the brutes ;-passions, whose rage and violence bid defiance to control, and transport him in their fury to the condition of the raving maniac, or induce the commission of acts of imbecile folly, to be expected only from the unfortunate idiot, to whose vague mind the light of reason has never been imparted.

That all the passions, various and conflicting as they are, were intended by the great Creator for the happiness of mankind, is manifest from this, that each, under proper guidance, is adapted to promote our welfare and conduce to our felicity. They are, indeed, essentially necessary to this end, since, (as they have very aptly been styled,) they are the gales,

which are to propel us through the ocean of life. It is these alone which can give a zest to existence; without them, life would be one continued scene of monotonous indifference. Uninfluenced by hope, unbiassed by fear, the mind would be a painful vacuum, a stagnant lake, whose muddy waters could only be acted upon by those gross and sensual appetites, which we share in common with the lowest of the animal creation. Our talents would be completely dormant, for want of a sufficient stimulus to call them into action.

To the passions, then, we owe every thing which can interest the imagination, or excite the energies of man ;-those splendid exhibitions of talent, which have in all ages delighted and astonished the world; those acts of heroism, which have dignified and exalted our species. But, while they are thus necessary for the production of any thing, which can shew the human intellect in its proper light,-can shew, by the operations of reason, that the image of God is indeed stamped upon the mind of man; while, under due restraint, they can so largely contribute to our happiness, and to our exaltation in the scale of creation, there is not one of them whose power is so limited, that, if left to exert its influence without control, will not produce effects directly the reverse, in the misery and degradation of those, who are thus submitted to its tyrannic dominion.

Accident and circumstance, undoubtedly, often occasion the predominance of a particular passion; but it is by no means thence to be concluded, that the empire of circumstance is universal or omnipotent, and that all mankind are originally the same. An attentive observance of the youthful mind will shew, that the peculiar bias exists and is perceptible, at a much earlier period than is generally imagined. In our boyish days, and among our boyish companions, the ruling passions are developed, and continue their powerful sway through the remainder of life.

That noble emulation, which has produced so many and so important benefits to mankind, which has given rise to so many heroic achievements, early exhibits itself in the desire to excel our juvenile competitors, as well in those feats which constitute the amusement of our leisure hours, as in the studies which are to fit us for the future business of the world. Virtuous emulation may be considered the main spring of honourable enterprise; but, in some minds, this laudable principle degenerates into the base passion of envy. Unequal, from their sordid nature and impotent capacity, to the attainment of any excellence, they regard with malicious dislike the successful efforts of genius and virtue; exult with malignant satisfaction over their failure; and are ever ready to excite those

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