ple to believe to be within the reach of a single mind successfully to accomplish." *

3. The penitentiary system, contemplated as a means of meliorating the condition and promoting the welfare of mankind, might have been comprised under the view which I have taken of our penal jurisprudence, but its intrinsic importance has induced me to give it a distinct consideration. The first idea of a reform in American prisons belongs to the Quakers of Pennsylvania. They had always protested against the very severe laws, which the colonies inherited from the mother country. In 1786, they succeeded in making their voice heard; and, from this time, the punishment of death, mutilation, and the whip were successively abolished, in almost all cases, by the Legislature of Pennsylvania. In 1797, the reform of Pennsylvania was imitated by New York, and has since gradually made its way into favor and been adopted by most of the United States.†

In regard to most of the institutions established in this country, we have had the experience of Europe with which to begin; but, in establishing and building up this institution, American as it is in its origin, it was inevitable, that many mistakes should be made, which a stock of experience would have prevented. At first, classification of the criminals was attempted, in order to counteract the usual effect of their mutually contaminating each other when placed in rooms promiscuously. Still this mutual contamination was very little, if at all checked. This plan proving a failure, new prisons were built, in which a solitary cell was appropriated to each convict. This he was not to leave day or night, and all labor was denied him in his solitude. No expense was spared to render this experiment successful, and the public was impatient to know the result of the new trials. The northern wing of the Auburn (N. Y.) prison having been nearly finished in 1821, eighty prisoners were placed there, each in a separate cell. This trial, from which so happy a result had been anticipated, was fatal to the greater part of the convicts. In order to

* Miscellaneous Writings, p. 437, to which this and the preceding paragraph are otherwise considerably indebted.

+ See Penitentiary System of the United States, by Messrs. Beaumont and Tocqueville, Dr. Lieber's translation, pp. 1-3.

reform them, they were subjected to complete isolation. But this absolute solitude, if there is nothing to alleviate it, is beyond the strength of man; it destroys the criminal without intermission and without pity; it does not reform him, it kills him. The deepest depression and melancholy, insanity, despair, and death, were the lot of the unfortunate men on whom this experiment was made.

Up to this time, the system of penitentiary discipline was nowhere crowned with the anticipated success. Especially this last experiment, which had been tried at so much expense, was of a nature to put the entire penitentiary system in peril. After the melancholy effects of isolation, it would have been a natural reaction, to reject the entire penitentiary principle. With a perseverance, however, above all commendation, instead of accusing the system itself, the blame was laid on its defective execution. The idea was not given up, that the solitude, which causes the criminal to reflect, exercises a beneficial influence; and the problem now was, to find the means, by which the evil effect of total solitude could be avoided without giving up its advantages. It occurred, that this end could be attained, by leaving the convicts in their cells during the night, and by requiring them to work during the day in common workshops, obliging them at the same time to observe absolute silence. This change

was introduced in 1823.*

The establishment at Auburn soon excited public attention, in a very high degree. It has met with extraordinary success, and has placed the penitentiary system beyond the risk of failure. The chaplain (the Rev. B. C. Smith) has described the system, as it is seen at Auburn, with equal clearness, beauty, and, I presume, truth.

"It presents itself to us," says he, "with all the advantages of an extreme simplicity. It is thought, that two depraved beings united, will mutually corrupt each other; they are, therefore, separated. The voice of their passions, or the tumult of the world, has bewildered and led them astray; they are isolated, and thus led to reflection. Intercourse with the world had per

* Penitentiary System of the United States, &c., pp. 3-6.

verted them, they are condemned to solitude and silence. Idleness had depraved them, they are made to labor. Want had led them to crime, they are taught a useful art. Intemperance had enervated their bodily, mental, and moral powers; they are trained to habits of entire abstinence. Ignorance had held them in darkness, by instruction in the Sunday School they are enlightened. Inveterate habits of sin had almost obliterated their sense of moral obligation, they are brought under the redeeming influence of religious truth. They have violated the laws of their country, they endure the punishment of this violation. Their lives are protected, their bodies are kept sound and healthy; but their mental suffering is unequalled. They are miserable, they deserve to be so. Reformed, they will be happy in the society whose laws they will have been taught to respect. It is difficult to conceive of a system more perfectly and philosophically calculated to secure the great end which it has in view.

"And what it promises in theory," continues he, “I confidently affirm, it accomplishes in its practical operation. This I should maintain with great confidence, had I no other evidence of it than what I find in its apparent effects within the prison walls. It does appear to lead the thoughtless to reflection; the reckless, to circumspection; the vindictive, to a mild and forgiving temper; the lawless and refractory, to habits of cheerful obedience; the intemperate, to a sober determination to abandon a course which has led them to infamy and the prison; the ignorant, to an ardent thirst for instruction; the irreligious, to a clearer view of the obligations, a more conscientious regard for the precepts, and a juster appreciation of the hopes and consolations, of our holy religion."

Again, he says, "These are confidently claimed to be the actual and legitimate effects of the system, as a whole. Without the checks and constraints of its admirable police organization, the religious instructions, I am fully aware, would be of little or no avail; and I am as thoroughly convinced, that, without the aid of religious influences, the other part of the system would fail to produce any radical or permanent changes in the character of its subjects. In the combination of both, lies the

secret of their power. The one, by coercion, suspends the operation of vicious influences upon their minds, and holds them in a favorable posture to be acted upon by moral motives; while the other pours in upon them the light of truth, and brings to bear the great and commanding motives of the Gospel, which never fail, when once they gain access, to affect and amend the heart."

Still again; "It is extremely interesting and gratifying, to witness their power, when brought into united operation, in subduing some of the most obdurate and desperate of men. Many a man who enters the prison with a brow of brass, protesting his innocence, swearing revenge, and bracing himself up to go through his term with unflinching obstinacy, is soon found weeping in solitude over his folly, confessing his guilt, voluntarily disclosing his secret crimes, professing gratitude for his arrest, yielding quietly and cheerfully to a rigid course of discipline, and, on leaving the prison, acknowledging with tears, that his imprisonment has been his greatest blessing. Something like this is the evident effect upon the minds of the convicts, in a great majority of instances. The number of those who pass through their term of imprisonment unaffected, without any similar changes of feeling and purpose, is comparatively small." He concludes thus; "Such," I repeat, "are the apparent effects of the system here; and we have all the evidence of their reality, that the circumstances of the case will possibly admit.”

These statements are sustained by the most convincing evidence, of which the nature of the case admits, and to which no exception can well be taken, to wit, letters written by gentlemen of respectability and intelligence, testifying to the habits and characters of the discharged convicts. The chaplain states, that he has received 449 such letters, and that he has examined them all. He classes the convicts thus, unreformed, 78,- deranged, 3, somewhat improved, 63,-much improved 76, — decidedly reformed, and sustaining good characters, 229, total, 449.*

The only plan of penitentiary discipline, which at present rivals the Auburn plan, is the one adopted by the State of Penn

* See Tenth Annual Report of the Boston Prison Discipline Society, pp. 16, 17.

sylvania, which, in 1829, reformed its system of prison discipline; having built a new penitentiary near Philadelphia. According to this plan, the isolation of the convicts is strict and perpetual. Each has a distinct cell to himself, in which he labors, and which he never leaves. No one convict ever sees another; to his former associates, to his relatives, and to all the concerns of the world, he is buried alive. The prison is so constructed, that, on Sundays, the prisoners, may by putting their ears in a particular position, listen to the voice of a preacher.

This system has been earnestly advocated by the late Mr. Roberts Vaux and Edward Livingston, among many others; and certainly strikes a transient visiter as containing every thing desirable in a prison, as the writer himself can witness, who saw it in the summer of 1835. The late William Roscoe has written against the system; but perhaps it has not yet been long enough in operation, to furnish us with results sufficient to institute a decisive comparison of it with the Auburn plan. Experience is the only sure teacher; - great expectations have been formed of this system, but its results, as far as we have them, have not yet met those expectations. Perhaps the system may yet be modified, so as to accomplish its benevolent ends. Mr. Louis Dwight, author of the eleven very valuable reports of the Boston Prison Discipline Society, and who has had more experience on this whole subject than any other man, insists that this system does not possess the merits which have been customarily ascribed to it. He states, that all communication between the convicts is not in fact cut off as is generally believed; that, compared with the Auburn plan, it is unhealthy already, and may be expected to become more so continually; that it tends to produce insanity; that the superintendent of this prison has resorted to (compelled to such a course we may presume) the utmost severities of discipline, mild measures not sufficing; that it is inferior in respect to the earnings of the convicts to the Auburn plan; that, there being no chapel, no Sunday School, and no morning or evening prayers, the system does not admit of effective moral and religious instruction, and, therefore, that it is inferior in its reforming power and tendency; in proof of which, the recommitments are more numerous than on the Auburn plan.