is almost imperceptible, and the decision of the legal authorities has depended on a mere chance.

42. I will give one case which is recorded by M. Pinel amongst other instances of insanity, which, had it come before an English judge, would very probably, and very justly too, have been visited with a capital punishment :—

"An only son, educated by a silly and indulgent mother, was accustomed to give away to all his passions without restraint. As he grew up the violence of his temper became quite uncontrollable, and he was constantly involved in quarrels and law suits. If an animal offended him, he instantly killed it; yet when calm he was quite reasonable, managed his large estate with propriety, and was even known to be beneficent to the poor: but one day, provoked to rage by a woman who abused him, he threw her into a well. On his trial so many witnesses deposed to the violence of his actions, that he was condemned to imprisonment in a madhouse." Now we may assert almost to a certainty that had the habit of self-government been earlier given by a careful education, insanity would never have occured at all, if indeed such a criminal has any fair claim to be treated as insane. In proof of this, we may quote the observation of one our most eminent physicians, to whose exertions the change in the treatment of lunatics is in great measure owing, that according to all his experience a person of really cultivated and disciplined mind is scarcely to be found among the inmates of asylums for the insane.

43. It would not be difficult to multiply instances in which the plea of insanity has been set up sometimes successfully, sometimes otherwise, by the prisoner's counsel in trials for serious crimes, but it would swell this essay to too large a size, and I pass them over. I will only choose an instance, therefore, of every-day occurrence to place in marked contrast the very different treatment experienced

by the insane, and the non-insane criminal. A child of a wayward disposition has been allowed by his parents to indulge his whims, unchecked, or he has been sent to a school where he could probably gratify them; when the passions awaken with increasing years, these whims, which he has never curbed, become uncontrollable impulses; he alarms his friends, first by his vices, next by his irrational conduct, and is then placed in confinement. What follows? The man who enters a well regulated lunatic asylum is gently treated by persons whose object it is to gain his confidence and affection; he has enjoyments promised him if he controls himself enough to make it safe to allow him so much freedom; gradually he is trusted more and more, tried in society to test his mental strength; and finally, dismissed to friends who take care that nothing shall occur to interfere with the newly acquired power of self-governHe learns by degrees the advantage of the habits of self-discipline he has acquired, and he probably remains a useful member of society.*

ment.

44. Let us now look at the felon. He, too, has been a wayward child; has been harshly treated by his parents by way of making him "steady," and kept to hard work and scanty fare. When he arrives at maturity he is eager for enjoyment, violent in his resentments, and having never known any control but that of his father's or his master's superior strength, he thinks himself free from all restraint the moment his own bodily power sets him beyond their command: he drinks, steals to supply his irregular cravings, and is sent to prison. Nothing could be better devised than his treatment there for destroying the little rational power he has. All his wants are anticipated, he is removed from all temptation, and nothing is required of

* In the year 1846, there were 251 patients in the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, Connecticut, and 115 were dismissed cured in the course of the same year.

him but to become for some weeks or months a mere sullen machine, thought and acted for by others. Such a regimen restores him to society more brutalized than before, because less accustomed to self-guidance; he leaves his cell where he could not have done wrong if he would, to face poverty, a damaged character, and the ale-house; and to fit him for this sharp ordeal, he is locked up in silence and solitude, and kept in order by the force of stone walls and iron bolts. The natural result is, that he is no sooner free than the old habits and tastes return, and crave for indulgence; he yields, is hurried into yet deeper vice; and when he is pronounced "incorrigible" and finally transported, we have already seen what likelihood of reformation he has in a convict settlement.

45. Let us now review the propositions which I have endeavoured to establish, and see how they bear on the question under consideration, and what conclusions will result from them. I have attempted to prove

I. That ignorance and neglect widely prevalent among the lower orders (always the majority in every nation) engender evils of such magnitude, and so felt mediately and immediately in every condition and rank of those forming the social aggregate called a people, that no statesman can disregard them without endangering the wellbeing of the whole.

II. That the rights of the individual consist in the power fully and freely to develop all the faculties of mind and body given him by his Creator for a certain purpose, which purpose he is called upon to fulfil, and for the neglect of which he is made personally responsible by that Creator.

III. That crime, being no part of this natural development and altogether abnormal, no individual can claim any right to commit crime as a part of his natural liberty and

that, in fact, he is abridged of it by his Creator in every way consistent with the exercise of free will.

IV. That Society, being a compact made by an aggregate of individuals for the defence of their natural rights, that aggregate has certain rights also conceded to it by common consent, and that these are—

1. The right to abridge individual liberty so far as to prevent actions endangering the public peace; but with the understanding that no individual loss shall accrue to those who have given up the right of private defence to public functionaries.

2. The right to claim whatever sums may be requisite for the expenses incurred in thus protecting life and property generally.

V. That as no right can be enjoyed without creating certain duties springing out of it, so the aggregate, called Society, has certain duties to perform, and these are

1. That the abridgement of natural liberty shall not be more than is requisite for the safety of person and property; and

2. That the sums granted for this purpose shall be laid out to the best advantage.

VI. That large sums having been granted and laid out, the benefit has not been commensurate, and that therefore a revision of the system is requisite.

My next business will be to consider the causes of the failure, and the best mode of preventing it in future.

46. If we ask any modern legislator what are the proper objects of the laws with regard to criminals, he will tell us that they are twofold: first, to deter others from entering on a course of crime by the sight of the punishment inflicted on those who have done so; and secondly, the reformation of the criminal himself: both of them merci

ful and legitimate objects, were it possible to unite them, but unfortunately so completely incompatible, that in proportion as you take means to effect the one, you prevent the other.

47. To deter from irregularities by the fear of consequences, those consequences must be tolerably certain, and sufficiently painful or distressing in some way to impress the mind with dread. If this be the case, there is little doubt but that it will make a considerable impression. When the Code Napoleon was introduced at Lucca, at the beginning of the century, stabbing had been a common offence: the first man who stabbed or killed another, after the French code was established there, was tried and executed within a week—I repeat the tale as it was told me by the natives when I was there—from that time no more assassinations occurred, so great was the impression made by that rapid and terrible example; but when, after the dissolution of the French empire, Lucca passed again into the hands of its duke, and the Code Napoleon was no longer enforced with the same wholesome severity, assassinations recommenced, though not at that time with the same frequency; for the habit had fallen into abeyance during the years that no one who cared for his own life could take that of another. We must therefore allow that the execution of that one man saved the life of numbers, for the deterring effect was complete. But the taste of the age shrinks from capital punishments; a popular writer has said, that "the worst use you can make of a man, is to hang him," and the saying has sunk deep into the public mind; for a great truth is hidden in that witty remark. It is true that when a man has been allowed to reach such a point of crime that nothing can save his neighbours but either his death or perpetual imprisonment, there has been a fault in the social system which permitted it; it is true that that man was created for a very different purpose, but

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