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received, with indulgence and kindness, by the philanthropic reader, who will see that it is only by frequent disquisition the world can arrive nearest to that perfectability in its criminal code, which would best secure it against the erroneous dictates of ill placed humanity, and the exterminating policy of a furious zeal. Persons, who suffer under the operation of criminal law, consist of two classes; those merely accused, and those who have been convicted. Those of the first class, although supposed innocent, are, for want of sufficient bail for their appearance, held in confinement, but arc, under these circumstances, entitled to every indulgence not absolutely inconsistent with a due regard to their safe keeping; and they should have easy access to their friends' papers, counsel, and every means necessary to enable them to remove those charges, the establishment of which would not only ultimately effect their liberty and property, but also their characters. How cruel and unjust, how degrading to innocence and morality must be that policy which drives the untried and probably innocent man into the society of the convicted; or, by establishing unnecessary restraints and embarrassing formalities, deprives him of those comforts and conveniencies, which innocence would entitle him to, and that easy access to friends, &c. which may be necessary to establish this innocence. It must be evident to all, that the apartments intended for the accused should be separate from those of the convicted, and that, in their erection, view should be had to every convenience compatible with the safe keeping of the prisoner.

Prisoners of the second class forfeit, by their crimes, that consideration due to those of the first class. That punishment which is due to their offences may be necessary to their reform, but it should be inflicted with all possible view to this latter, as the more important effect. The employment of the criminal in some laborious pursuit is proper on various accounts; it inures him to industry, it renders him, in the only possible manner, useful to scciety, and it transfers the expense of his punishment from the public to himself. The indiscriminate association of criminals is dangerous to their morality and preventive of reform: it should therefore, as far as possible, be avoided; or, if their necessary employment at labor would admit, solitary confinement should, in all cases, be resorted to; and, where such could not conveniently be adopted, the prisoners ought to associate in the smallest companies that circumstances would admit. It seems cruel to advise solitary

confinement in all cases, but it is proposed with a quite different view. Solitary conefinement will leave more time for reflection, and will promote reform quicker and with more certainty than by living in the sin, noise and turbulence of numbers; and as it should be hoped that the power of pardon would often be exercised towards the repentant, it may likewise be wished that the continuance of punishment would not be deemed necessary after evident proof of reform.

It may seem unaccountable that many, after suffering all the hardships of a laborious imprisonment, should resort to a repetition of those acts which led to their first disgrace. In some instances this proceeds from an incorrigibly vicious disposition of the mind, but, in most cases, it very probably proceeds from that great parent of evil, poverty. The unfortunate prisoner, after years of durance, is discharged without property, friends or patrons. His first efforts to procure employment generally prove fruitless, and even his subsequent endeavors are scarce sufficient for his subsistence; he encounters cold, hunger, and rags; he feels displeased with a world that seems to cast him off; in despair, he wishes even for that retreat from which he but lately so joyfully escaped, and, in his despondence or frenzy, he seizes that which must relieve him in one way or another; if he avoids detection he sets up business and ceases to be a thief; if detected, he pleads guilty and finds happiness in the midst of felons.

It has been conceded that it is right by employing the criminal at labor to transfer the expense of his punishment from the community to himself, but it must not be inferred that the public ought to profit by his labor. Such an idea would suppose that the community was interested in the immorality of individuals, whose misfortune would thus become a source of revenue. paying to the prisoner, before his enlargement, a fair valuation for his labors, after a due deduction for the expense of his clothing and maintenance during his confinement, would be an act of justice, and would give him a new interest in practising industry.

The

The next consideration respecting criminals is, whether their punishment should be in a situation exposed to public view, as in the making of public roads; or apart from public view, as in close penitentiaries. It requires no argument to prove that the latter should be preferred, and that the former will, in general, produce an obduracy that unfits the unfortunate sufferer for any other

situation.

In order to deter the yet innocent from committing crimes, it is not necessary that they should be spectators of the punishment inflicted on the guilty to hear the sentence pronounced, and to know that the criminal has been sent to expiate his crimes by imprisonment and labor, is not only sufficient, but productive of more good than could be derived from the daily exposure of the criminal in the performance of his allotted labor. Man is naturally fond of his liberty, and averse to restraint; the idea of being separated from his usual society and confined in solitude, or forced to associate only with a few, and these the worst portion of society, is so abhorrent to his feelings and wishes, that, independent of any other consideration, it must have a salutary influence on a conduct which, by its direction, may produce or prevent so unhappy a catastrophe. It is well known that the pain of confinement is alleviated by indulging the sufferer with the frequent visits of his friends; it should also be known, that an effect somewhat similar is wrought on the visitors by lessening the horror and aversion to an imprisonment which they never experienced. It then becomes doubly necessary that imprisonment of criminals should be solitary whenever practicable, and that unnecessary visits should be excluded.

One objection only occurs to such arrangement, and that is, the supposed additional expense of guarding them; but surely it must be more difficult and expensive to guard one hundred men, employed in one room by night, than it would be to guard twice that number if confined to different apartments.

One object more, connected with this important subject, should not be forgotten. The person to be employed as principal jailer should be remarkable for firmness, but suavity of deportment; he should be bold, enterprizing, discerning, and capable to report properly on each person's conduct, but he should not be unnecessarily severe, brutal or dishonest; he should love his prisoners, without their knowing it. In short, he should be inflexible in the performance of his duty, but he should not delight in cruelty, nor wantonly insult the unfortunate; much less sell his favors, or rather his forbearance for money. As often as a jailer transgresses, in these particulars, he should be dismissed from employment; humanity, justice and policy require it. The extra severity of a jailer is an addition to the culprit's punishment which was not contemplated by the law, and the force of his example must have considerable influence on the contemplated reform of the criminal.

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No. 7.

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Oh thou stupendous vehicle of light!
By heavenly wisdom form'd to bless our sight;
Thy inexhausted source of radiance pure,
From time's first infancy dost still endure;
Thro' boundless Chaos dark, the mighty bands
(Endless to number as the grains of sand)
Of flaming cherubim the Godhead bore,
And gloom and darkness reign'd alone no more;
Thy orb resplendent burst the bands of night,
And at his powerful WORD began thy course of light.

From thy magnific fountain, genial flow

The various blessings changing seasons show;
Thy rays enliven solitude profound,

Thro' thee, prolific showers enrich the ground;
Thy fervid influence hastens on the spring,

Whose dewy sweetness, health and pleasures bring;
By thee, we nature renovated view,

Glowing in life and animation new;

The fields, with verdure sweet, refresh our sight,
And branching forests glow in foliage thick and bright.

From its plum'd tenants, while they playful fly,
Harmonious, grateful strains resound on high;
By thy assistance, Summer's liberal hand
Scatters her plenteous blessings o'er the land;
Unfolds her beauties to the enquiring mind-
Ah! who to Nature's beauties can be blind!

By thy congenial warmth gay flowers arise,

Whose odors sweet with fragrance fill the skies;
While each clear stream, whose waters murmuring glide,
Reflects their colors gay which crowns their mossy side.

Matured by thee, rich Ceres' golden grain
Spreads joy and gladness o'er the fruitful plain;
Then when to autumn, glowing summer yields,
Embrown'd and falling leaves bespread the fields;
Each varying prospect fading on the sight,
Scorch'd by thy beams in summer's lustre bright;
No more abroad the playful zephyrs stray,
Where sweet unfolding roses meet the day;
Their sweets they pilfer, then on pinions light,
Fluttering, expanding rise, and melt in æther bright.

Thy fostering powers most prominently shine,
In that rich fruit which clustering decks the vine ;
Nor do thy beams benignant smile less sweet,
When frosts and storms in cheerless winter meet;
Whose hand despotic strips from earth away
The last remaining fruits of autumn gay;
Thy rays alone can soften and control
The gelid atmosphere that chills the soul;
Dispel the sorrows of the aching breast,

Enlivening thoughts inspire, and hush sad care to rest.

The weary exile, destined far to roam,
From his loved country, friends, and peaceful home,
Thro' bleak Siberia's frozen regions wild,

To wander still where comfort never smil'd;
Enraptured he descries thy orient light,

Tho' snow-crown'd mountains ever meet his sight.
The poor distressed seaman, nearly lost,

By night's hoarse tempests on the ocean tost,

With transport hails thy first faint beams of light, Dispersing clouds and storms, with heart-appalling night.

Fairest of all created beings, thou!

To thy great maker humbly would I bow:
Whose awful fiat caus'd thy wondrous birth,

And gave those laws which guide our circling earth.

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