3. When we have convinced a man, that it is for his interest to be virtuous, and have also taught him to detest vice and to love virtue, his moral reformation is in fact completed. Still, in going abroad into the world, he is liable to temptations. We must strive, so far as may be in our power, to guard him against them.

The ever-acting and the strongest temptation that can assail a man, is that arising from physical want. Let a man be perishing with hunger, or, if not actually perishing, let him be suffering from want, and, still more, let his family be suffering with him, and let the means of relief be placed before him, guarded only by the moral principle within his breast, and the trial is commonly too severe for frail human nature. Especially may we suppose, that this will be the case, when, by former habit of crime, a man's moral principles have sustained a rude and lacerating concussion. Now, in order to save a man from so sore a trial, we must put it in his power, so far as we are able, to set absolute want at defiance. We do this when we teach him a trade, and by regular, daily labor, inure him to habits of industry and thrift. He who is able and willing to labor at any mechanical business, except from sickness or other providence of God, never need be in want. Against the dangers from intemperance and vicious associations, of course we cannot protect him. Here he must be left to himself, to work out his probation unassisted. But, in this respect, he is only in the same situation with others; and, if we have placed him. in as good condition for well-doing as his brethren, we have done all that either justice or benevolence can demand.

In order, however, to render the measure of our beneficence complete, we ought, perhaps, to proceed a single step further. When a man leaves a penitentiary, after a confinement of several years, he finds himself in a considerable degree a stranger, and especially a stranger among the virtuous. He can offer no recommendations except those from the prison, and such would commonly do him more harm than good. He may be at a distance from home, and it will cost more than he possesses to restore him to those who would take an interest in his future welfare. Under these circumstances, unable to obtain work, he is liable to become depressed in spirits, and to be driven almost immediately into the company of his former associates. This moral danger ought to be

provided for. In some prisons a suit of new clothes, and sometimes a small sum of money also, is given to the convict on his discharge. This is well, as far as it goes. But it is to be remembered, that two or three dollars is a very slender fortune to a degraded and isolated stranger. It is very desirable, that some provision be made for the employment of convicts, at reasonable wages, as soon as they leave the prison. They would thus have an opportunity, at once, of reaping the advantage of the habits of industry which they had acquired. They would thus taste, and many of them for the first time, the high consciousness of a virtuous independence. This one experiment would, in many instances, be decisive of character. It would stamp them resolutely virtuous men through life. Nor is this all. Men who would not employ a workman coming immediately from prison, would willingly employ him after he had spent a month or two in this sort of probation. The advantage would thus be manifold. Every convict would be enabled on his release to support himself, to show himself worthy to enter the society of the virtuous, and thus to regain the reputation which he had lost; and, besides this, the course of every individual could be thus the more distinctly traced, so that the benevolent could the better follow him with their encouragements and warnings, and the legislator, by observing more accurately his subsequent life, would be able the better to modify the system of criminal law and of penitentiary disciplines

If such principles should direct us in the treatment of criminals, and we see not how reasonable men can entertain a doubt on the subject, it will follow, that arrangements should be made in every community for carrying them into practical operation. The subjects of prison discipline, amongst us, are debtors, children and youth, adult offenders, and discharged convicts. Let us briefly inquire, what arrangements the principles just unfolded would teach us to be necessary, in order to provide for the proper treatment of each of these classes of our unfortunate fellow-men.

1. A large portion of the unhappy inmates of our common prisons are debtors, held in bondage and in idleness for very small sums, and held there commonly from spite. It is not our intention, in this place, to discuss the subject of imprisonment for debt. We have not space to con

sider it as its importance deserves. We will only say, that we presume there is scarcely an individual in favor of this relic of a barbarous age, who has ever made himself acquainted with the facts in the case. As a means of collecting debts it is manifestly almost wholly useless; for those on whom it is inflicted, are commonly the abject poor. It deprives the laborer of the use of his time, and therefore plunges him more deeply in embarrassment. It accustoms him to the society of the vicious, and inures him to habits of idleness; and is thus the fruitful parent of crime. In short, let the subject be considered dispassionately, in any view in which it can be presented, and we are sure, that every thoughtful person will earnestly desire the total abandonment of the

system.

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While we speak thus, we wish it to be understood, that we are moved to these opinions by no mawkish sensibility. We believe as much as other persons in obliging men to pay their debts. We will cheerfully uphold any system which really aids in the enforcement of contracts. But when a man has nothing to pay, of what use can it be to lock him in idleness? If the object be to reform him, what possible means are taken to accomplish such a result? If he have property or friends, he can easily obtain the freedom of the limits, and is thus scarcely conscious of restraint; while, if he be poor, forsaken, or friendless, he must bide, at the will of his creditor, the filthiness and vice and loathsomeness of a dungeon. We say again, if the morality of debtors requires to be quickened by penal law, let a law be devised that shall really meet the exigencies of the case; but let us not, under cover of such intention, retain a system, by common consent, almost inoperative for the enforcement of contracts, and yet liable to be employed as an instrument of the most revolting tyranny and the most atrocious malice. At the present time, to suffer this subject to remain without examination is wholly inexcusable. Imprisonment for debt has been abolished in several States of the Union, and the statistics of commitments for debt are published. The results of the different systems can be very easily collated and compared. If, with all this information at hand, legislators are contented to suffer the evils of imprisonment for debt to exist within their jurisdiction, they must certainly stand convicted of a gross violation - No. 104.

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of the obligations which they assumed when they accepted their official trust.

2. With these remarks we take leave of debtors, and turn our attention to those who are more properly criminals. Among these, the most obvious distinction which presents itself, is that between the sexes. Female convicts should manifestly be under the care of women. They should be placed under regulations, in many respects different from those to which the other sex is subjected; the discipline of their prison should be milder; and more should be left to the influence of personal kindness, than would be wise in the treatment of

men.

3. The next important distinction between offenders is that of age. A large proportion of the crimes against society is committed by children and youth from eight to fifteen years of age. It is obvious, that the treatment proper for such offenders must be very different from that demanded by the hardened criminal.

Of the children and youth who have exposed themselves to the penalties of the law, a large number have been entirely destitute of all moral and religious instruction. Some of them have even been taught dishonest practices by their parents. Others are desperately poor, and have never enjoyed an opportunity of earning their own subsistence by becoming apprentices. Others again may have pilfered from mere recklessness, as a matter of foolish sport. Some, the children of honest parents, have been suffered to grow up in uncontrolled indulgence, and find their inclinations for the first time checked when the hand of the constable is laid upon their shoulder. No parent can for a moment doubt, that, of such young persons, a large proportion might, by a system adapted to their condition, be radically reformed. But it is obvious, that the system suitable for such offenders would be very different from that required for hardened criminals. It must be parental, flexible, educational, encouraging. It will, therefore, evidently demand an establishment for itself.

4. Adult offenders may be divided into two classes; those confined in county jails for detention, or lodged there as a punishment for minor offences; and those who, for graver crimes, are sent for longer periods to the State-prison, or general penitentiary. Although, from the necessity of the case, separate prisons are appropriated to these two classes.

persons, yet they are, in principle, so nearly alike, that they may be considered as substantially the same.

Besides these, as we have remarked, the necessities of criminals require, that there should be attached to each prison an establishment, at which the released convict might be provided with profitable labor, and through the medium of which he might be the more readily restored to a position in reputable society.

If the above remarks be correct, it will appear evident, that every community requires three classes of establishments for the treatment of criminal offenders. 1st. Houses of reformation for juvenile delinquents. Excellent institutions of this kind exist in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. 2d. Penitentiaries for the punishment and reformation of adult offenders; these are either county jails, or State penitentiaries. And, lastly, with these should be connected, as we have just remarked, workshops, at which the convict, upon his discharge, could immediately find profitable employment, and also be enabled to gain whatever reputation his character may deserve.

If it be said, that the expense of all this would be greater than the community would endure, we reply, that it is for its very economy that we recommend it. Should such a system prove as reformatory as we think there is reason to expect, though the whole expense were borne by the community, it would be a truly economical expenditure. But we do not believe, that a complete series of arrangements, such as we have suggested, would, together, cost any thing more than the first investment; nay, we believe, that the whole together would, if well managed, defray the interest on the capital employed in their erection. Penitentiaries, which used to be so great a public charge, can, it is well known, be made to support themselves, and at the same time the inmates be better provided for, more cheerful, and in better health, than formerly.

We grant, that the house of reformation for juvenile offenders would not pay its expenses, as the labor of children is of very small value. But the prisons for adults, and the establishments for employing convicts after their discharge, ought to do more than support themselves. There is surely no reason, why three or four hundred able-bodied men, kept diligently at work, should not, in this country, where wages are