MISS CARPENTER ON PRISONS.* WHEN Lord Brougham in his late address at Sheffield, spoke of Miss Mary Carpenter, as having written the "fullest account of the whole subject" of English and Irish Prisons, he paid a most deserved compliment to a most deserving laborer in the cause of Social Science. Mary Carpenter is the daughter of Dr. Lant Carpenter, well known as one of the leading Unitarian clergymen in England thirty years ago; and she has given herself for so many years to the study of Crime, especially among children and women, that she may well be reckoned a high authority. In the present instance she has written of a matter which concerns Americans greatly; for the present state of Prison Reform among us, when compared with what it was twenty years ago, is such as to make us blush for the indifference with which we have viewed a momentous subject. There is scarcely a country in Europe, not excepting Spain and Greece, which has not within the last fifteen years materially improved its prison system, while ours is probably worse than in 1850. In Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal, the changes have been many, and the general improvement very marked. In England and Ireland, however, a fundamental change of system has been adopted, which is more important to the world than any of the ameliorations introduced in other countries. We refer to the introduction of what is called Penal Servitude, with its concomitants, the Work System of Captain Maconochie, the Ticket of Leave, the Intermediate Prisons of Sir Walter Crofton, and the Patronage of Discharged Convicts, best illustrated by the labors of Mr. Organ of Dublin. Penal Servitude takes the place of the vicious methods of Transportation and Prison Ships, which are now definitely abolished, and has been enforced, under conditions the most favorable to reformation of the criminal, in Ireland alone. But by virtue of certain changes in the law of England, made in 1864, the favorable conditions which Sir Walter Crofton instituted in Ireland, are now being introduced in England also, where Sir Walter himself now lives. We cannot here go into the details of the world-renowned Irish Convict System, for which we must refer our readers to Miss Carpenter's book. A synopsis of it may also be found in the Special Reports of the Massachusetts Board of State Charities, (Senate Document No. 78, and Public Document No 19, Supplementary, 1865.) But we must say a word of the real originator of the new Prison System, ALEXANDER MACONOCHIE. When in 1832-4, Archbishop Whately suggested to Earl Grey, that sentences should be imposed on criminals, not for time, but for a certain amount of work to be done, he made a happy statement, which it was left for Captain Maconochie to verify and illustrate. This veteran sailor, the pupil of Nelson and Cochrane, the companion of Sir John Franklin, has won his best laurels in the reformation of rogues. Sent by Lord John Russel in 1840, to take charge of the humble convict depot of Norfolk Island in the South Sea, he converted it into an orderly and moral community by the application of the principle which Whately had laid down, but which Maconochie had also developed for himself. The story is one of the deepest interest, as is the whole career of Maconochie. This too, our readers will find detailed in "Our Convicts," although the later labors of the old Captain are not there dwelt upon at any length. He was for a while the Governor of the * OUR CONVICTS. BY MARY CARPENTer. London: Longman's. 1864 Boston: W. V. Spencer, 138 Washington Street. · 1865. 232 Birmingham Gaol, and is said to figure as one of the heroes of Charles The Work System is the work of Captain Maconochie, whose theory of it contains several things which have not yet been put in practice in Ireland or elsewhere. But Sir Walter Crofton, who in 1854 took up the work which Maconochie had begun, has shown in Ireland, and is showing at the Winchester goal in England, how valuable an aid it is in the reformation of criminals. On this subject, and on many others, Miss Carpenter's book is an Encyclopedia of facts and arguments. It lacks methodical arrangean Index; ment, and what is an indispensable part of such a bookbut it will repay the reader for a complete perusal, which will alone disclose how rich it is. S. AN EXAMINATION OF SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON'S PHILOSOPHY, AND of 1865. EXTREME transcendentalism, and the opposite metaphysic of Mr. Mill are alike attempts to produce offspring from a single parent. One would obtain knowledge solely from within, the other solely from without; while in truth knowledge is the joint product of native mental resource and sensible experience. Transcendentalism elects the masculine term, and has accordingly a virile and genetic force, which it is exhilarating to see; while Mr. Mill's system places the mind in a purely feminine attitude without doing justice to it in that position; for he concedes to it no vital, gestatory power, but only an ability to take in and arrange what comes from without, as furniture is taken into a house, and set in order. The cardinal doctrines of Mr. Mill are, that there is nothing higher than knowledge, and that knowledge is no more than the sum and correlation of our sensitive experience, shed out and extended by inference. To what straits this drives him is suggested more than sufficiently by the fact that he declares our inability to conceive of a round square, or of an object at once wholly white and wholly black, due merely to the accident of our never having seen a round square or such a white-black object! We have no right, he says, to declare this Yes - No, impossible. In other words, for aught we know, the shortest distance between two given points may be also, and in the same sense, not the shortest distance! To absorb all the sun's rays without reflecting any, may, for aught we know, be compatible with reflecting all his rays without absorbing any! Mr. Mill is a brave man, and toes the mark in every instance; but what to say of a system which pushes a powerful intelligence to confusions and imbecilities like these? The pursuit of metaphysic, at least in its present state, is a very poor employment; yet a treatise upon this subject which should rescue it from onesidedness, and do justice to man's mind while recognizing its relation to man's sensible experience, would render a service to our century which it were not easy to surpass; and perhaps some one of us, who sees, (or at least thinks he sees,) the way out of the present imbroglio, should constrain his inclination, and set about this work. If only matters of immediate practical interest did not press upon us all with such tyrannical urgency! As a criticism upon Sir William Hamilton's collossal confusion, and upon the orthodox atheism of Mr. Mansel, the present work is above praise. Mr. Mansel, in particular, is crushed like a mosquito by the sharp spat of a man's hand. Yet the moment Mr. Mill comes to construction, he is trying to an enterprise which not even his vast make one side of a roof stand alone ability can redeem from ridicule. D. A. W. PUBLISHED WEEKLY, ON SATURDAY. BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, At its Office, No. 48 Beckman Street, New York. There is need of an "Anti-slavery" Journal so long as the Amendment to the Constitution remains a dead letter. The "Standard" is to be carried on until the battle is fought out. It is very ably edited. It should be received into every loyal household in the country. - Ed. Radical. The Student and Schoolmate, Is the best Magazine for the Young now pulished. Edited by the well known "OLIVER It has other able Contributors. OPTIC." Among the attractions for the XVIIth volume now just commenced, will be a series of lessons in PENCIL DRAWING. The Springfield Republican says of this magazine: "The Stu lent and Schoolmate in Boston, not quite equal to “ Our Young Folks" either in outlay or in price, but with decided merits of 18 It is less imaginative and more practical than its attractive neighbor.” THE HOLINESS OF HELPFULNESS. T HIS eloquent discourse which was printed in the first number of THE RADICAL, is to be republished in cheap pamphlet form for a more general circulation. There can be no doubt of the good influence which this discourse everywhere carries with it. We have received testimony from all quarters to its great merit. It will be ready by the 15th of March. We can furnish any number at ten cents for single copies; twenty-five for two dollars. Address"THE RADICAL," Boston, Mass. There is in Chicago a certain radical Unitarian preacher, whose simple eloquence furnishes the chief interest of the traveller's Sunday in that eny; who has been employed by that State to visit and assist the soldiers in their camps and hospitals: and whom Boston has twice sought as the successor of Theodore Parker, -and this man was, but little over fifteen years ago, plam Robert Collyer, blacksmith and Methodist class-leader. -Fraser's Magazine. The Political Exigencies of Political Submission: AN ADDRESS Delivered on the Day of National Thanksgiving, Dec. 7, 1865, in the First Congregational Church, Watertown. BY JOHN WEISS. Published by Walker, Fuller & Company, 245 Washington Street, Boston. PRICE 25 CENTS. OF WALKER, FULLER & COMPANY. RECONSTRUCTION OF BIBLI-TRANSLATION OF THE OLD The false theories which have so long and generally prevailed in Christendom, in regard to the divine sanctity and plenary inspiration of the Bible, have produced a harvest of besotted superstition on the one hand, and of sweeping skepticism on the other. It requires great moral courage, especially in a professed religious teacher like the Rev. Mr. Sawyer, to publicly combat these theories, and to bring the Bible to the test of reason and historical verity like any other work. He has done it in the right spirit, in a scholarly manner, and for the honor of true religion; and for this he is deserving of the thanks of all who prize mental and spiritual enfranchisement, and believe in the continuous enlightenment of the human mind, whether pertaining to the dead past or the living present. We therefore heartily commend this treatise to every honest seeker for the truth. The Liberator. DANIEL, with its Apocryphal Addi tions, translated, arranged, and the prin Questions of its Interpretation considered. By Rev. L. A. SAWYER. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. TESTAMENT. By Rev. L. A. SAWYER. Vol. II. HEBREW PROPHETS. Cloth, $1.25; morocco, $1.50. Vol. III. containing the Books of Psalms, Proclesiastes, with notes on verbs, Job, Canticles, Lamentations, Ecthe same. Cloth, $1.25; morocco, $1.50. "The author has been commended in some quarters, and severely censured in others. He still pursues his task, and is working with energy and resolution to the end, His aim, judging from the present portion of what he has accomplished, is to simplify the Scriptures, bringing them nearer to the popular comprehension." Mr. SAWYER is a bold man, and is enthusiastic in this work. In this volume perhaps he comes more into contact with orthodox sentiment than in either of the preceding volumes. Utica Herald. A REVISED ENGLISH BIBLE THE WANT OF THE CHURCH AND THE DEMAND OF THE AGE. Comprising a Critical History of the Authorized Version, and Corrections of numerous Mistranslations. 1 Vol., 12mo. $1.00. PROGRESS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE PROTESTANT CHURCH OF FRANCE. Being Essays and Reviews bearing on the chief Religious Questions of the Day. Translated from the French. With an Introductory Essay on the "Oxford EsSAYS and REVIEWS." By the Editor, JOHN R. BEARD, D, D. Post 8vo. $1.75, RELIGIOUS DEMANDS OF THE AGE. BY FRANCES POWER COBBE, author of Intuitive Morals." 16mo. Paper 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents. This is not only a clear and forcible statement of Mr. PARKER'S theological position, but a masterly summary of the whole matter of inspiration, authority, &c., now agitating the Christian world. Published by WALKER, FULLER & Co., 245 Washington Street, BOSTON. A full Catalogue of our Publications sent gratis on application. |