which, like knowledge, and like wealth, may be made as conducive to evil as to good. But let all the virtuous and the wise feel its importance, and faithfully avail themselves of it, and employ it with the calm, and steady, and persevering zeal which should characterize Christians; and, with God's blessing on the work, it will not long be doubtful to any mind, whether indeed the enterprise be feasible, of the conversion of the world.

I will only add my hearty good wishes for the prosperity of your Association; and my hope that, while we are aiming at the advancement of our religion at home, we may all be excited to do what we can, to bring (6 every knee to bow in the name of Jesus, and every tongue to confess him to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

With great respect and affection,

I am truly yours,

JOSEPH TUCKERMAN.

Chelsea, June 8th, 1826.

doubtful cases be ascertained, and these individuals ranked in one of the other classes, where they might appear to belong. As evidence of this I would state, that I have repeatedly had the means, subsequent to my examination at the jail or poor-house, of ascer taining as to many of those classed as doubtful in my certificate, and in every case, without a solitary exception, such information has transferred them to the intemperate, and not to the temperate class. As I consider this somewhat important, I would particularly invite attention to the supplementary certificate of the jailor of Jefferson county. So confident am I that there is no exaggeration, that what I exhibit as facts will bear the closest examination, instead of soliciting the indulgence of the public, from an apprehension that too high a coloring, in some instances, may have been given-I here fearlessly-not as a mere bravado, but in sober earnest, invite and challenge the strictest scrutiny.

1

It now remains for me to show how I obtained my information in relation to the expense incurred in the administration of criminal justice. This was by far the most difficult part of the business of my agency. The course pursued was this:-I called on the clerk of supervisors in each county who examined the entries made of the accounts of the different county officers, as audited by the board. Those which belonged to criminal business only, were the bills of the district attorney, the jailors, grand jurors, justices and constables. (In these were occasionally items belonging to civil business.) The bills of the county clerk, sheriff, and crier we examined, and separated the items which related to civil from those which arose out of the administration of criminal justice The pay of judges, petit jurors, and constables for at tending court, the clerk apportioned according to his own judgment-in some few instances taking one-half, but generally onethird, and in some counties, where the criminal bore a small proportion to the amount of civil business, only one-fourth. The pay of supervisors was so much of it included as was supposed to be a fair compensation for that portion of their time which was occupied in auditing these accounts. other small accounts, were entirely omitted in a few of the first This however, and some counties that I visited. In fact the expense of criminal business,

as put down in the several counties, will be found, in almost every case, to be below the actual expenditure.

As I have before in substance remarked, the pecuniary considerations connected with the subject of temperance, are absolutely so contemptible, when compared with those of a moral nature, that it is humiliating to be obliged to give the former so great a prominence when presenting motives designed to influence the minds of our fellow-men; still, if there are those that cannot be affected except by the love of gain—if there is no cord in their hearts that can be touched by representations of domestic misery -of bodily and mental suffering-and even the everlasting displeasure of their Maker, we must, however humiliating and revolting to our feelings, let dollars and cents, the god of this world, make their appeal.

It now, Sir, remains for me to give the information thus obtained, in doing which I shall take the counties in alphabetical order -omitting the form of the certificate, except in Allegany, as it is essentially the same in all ;-giving however, the explanations. which are embodied in many of them, together with the names of the officers by whom they are subscribed. And here it may not be improper to remark, that in many cases, these gentlemen were not members of temperance societies, yet I uniformly received from them the most courteous treatment; and they promptly entered upon the investigation, although often at a sacrifice of their own convenience, and considerable interruption to their business. There were, it is true, a few cases in which their prejudices led jailors and keepers of poor-houses, (more particularly the former) to make the number of temperate as large as possible. In such instances the "particulars" contained in their certificates will serve to explain and correct this bias. There are some instances, also, where I did not, and do not now believe, that the classification is strictly correct. There are a few cases where prejudice against the temperance cause may perhaps, have classed as temperate those who might with propriety have been placed in one of the other classes. Temperance men too, I have often thought, erred quite as much, in some instances, from extreme caution. The explanations given in the certificates themselves

will generally be sufficient to correct these errors. For instance where the charges are given on which the temperate were imprisoned, it is generally designed to show the degree of moral turpitude implied in the charge. But the specifications to which I more particularly allude, and to which I attach the most importance, are those where prisoners are classed among the temperate or doubtful, who were committed for "whipping their wives," for "assault and battery," for "vagrancy," "for want of sureties to keep the peace," for "profane swearing," &c. &c.

After the explanations I have given, you will, I trust, be able to understand the plan I have adopted-the reasons for it-and you will decide too, as to the manner in which it has been executed. In giving the statistics I commence with Albany county.

Jail.

Whole number committed in one month preceding this date 114

Of the temperate, two for assault and battery; one on five indictments for obtaining money under false pretences, grand larceny, perjury, &c., makes free use spirits; four others also make use of spirits. Of the doubtful, six are known to make use of spirits, and two are vagrants.

Of the intemperate, at least TWENTY have been committed for abuse to their families!! The whole number of commitments during the year ending the 19th day of November last, was 1,216. GARRIT HOGAN, Jailer.

Albany, 25th Dec., 1833

Further during the past year, I have no doubt that there have been, among the prisoners, at least ONE HUNDRED CASES OF DE

LIRIUM TREMENS.

The only death in jail during the year was that of a woman of delirium tremens:

GARRIT HOGAN, Jailer.

A Summary view of this Prison for the past year. Imprisoned in consequence of intemperance, at least eight hundred and twenty.

For WHIPPING THEIR WIVES, or abuse to their families, not less than Two Hundred.

Delirium tremens, ONE HUNDRED CASES.

But look a little further, and examine the following statement of the police magistrate.

Mr. Chipman: Agreeably to your request, I took particular notice of every case that came before me at the police office in this city during one week; and I now certify, that of the FIFTY complaints of a criminal character which were made during the first week in January last, FORTY-EIGHT clearly originated in INTEMPERANCE. One of the other two cases partook more of the character of carelessness than of criminal design. The other was the case of a child whose parents are habitual hard drinkers, but are not what are usually called drunkards.

And the above, I have no doubt, would be a fair average of all