Not the slightest idea of organized reformatory measures as connected with prisoners, ever entered into the hearts of men until almost within the memory of persons now living; and the first thought of systematized prison labor as an element of discipline was an American idea, reduced to practice in the early part of the present century. Such was the policy of our own English ancestors, who punished almost everything with death that had in it the nature of crime, from shop-lifting to the amount of five shillings to offences of the greatest magnitude as rape, murder and high treason. Thus, 80,000 suffered in a single reign, and about 20,000 in the next. SALE OF CONVICTS TO THE COLONIES. There was a period of time, from the early part of the 17th century onward, when a happy thought held sway with our forefathers, and the sale of prisoners for limited terms of service to the colonists in America emptied the jails of England and Scotland, so that the axe and halter had temporary rest. Thousands of men and women, boys and girls, escaped gibbet and scaffold and made forced passage across the Atlantic, to assist the star of empire then beginning on this continent to organize its westward way. The supply of convicts, which had been sufficient for the useless purposes of the executioner, was soon found entirely inadequate to the American demand for useful appliances; and that a convict, however bad his home record, could raise more tobacco than it cost to pay for and support him. The resulting profit stimulated a demand that after emptying the jails of condemned inmates, to which were added many tramps and vagrants whom the overseers of the poor desired to get rid of,-remained so far unsatisfied that a considerable amount of kidnapping was practised along the English coasts, and many innocent young persons were thus violently removed. Thousands of Scotch, Irish and English prisoners of war taken in the various rebellions, including many men of position and culture, were also disposed of in the same way. LEADS TO THE SLAVE TRADE. Having thus exhausted their supplies, the shipping merchants of the realm transferred their enterprise to the coast of Africa,—where they had to some extent already established it, concurrently with operations in England, and undertook to relieve the African chiefs also of their surplus prisoners and captives, or such as they might otherwise feel obliged to put to death. These the navigators offered to transport also to the American continent, and they were willing to make little presents in money or merchandise for the privilege of doing so. This was permitted and encouraged by the English sovereigns, who levied a small tax per capita, for the royal purse, upon the black prisoners so exported to the colonies. Thus the royal interest was awakened and conserved in this life-saving procedure. It was discovered that the prisoners of the African chiefs were inexhaustible in number, as each began to make prisoners of all he could catch that could be accused of having been born outside the boundaries of his tribe, or who had incurred displeasure within it. In the case of the African prisoners, justice was not only blind but deaf; the evidence, if any were produced, rested on the equivalent of dicers' oaths; and as the black would not sell for limited periods as well as white captives, it was deemed appropriate to make their terms of service perpetual. This latter mode of penal and prison discipline continued long after the independence of the United States, and came to be regarded by the mother country, which invented it, as the especial and conspicuous iniquity of her daughter States in the west. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. It is not our purpose to discuss at length the topic of capital punishment, but as it is inconsistent with the general theory of this paper, which will develop itself as we proceed, and in the way of such prison discipline as we seek to establish, we cannot avoid giving to it at least sufficient consideration to justify our utter condemnation of its practice. The system in Christian countries rests for justification mainly upon alleged spiritual authority, and in less enlightened nations on vengeance alone; as it did also in those early times among the Hebrews, when the executioner was an avenger of blood, and retaliatory laws appeared best adapted to the undeveloped characteristics of the people. The numerous Biblical references that justified it then, might be supplemented by many others more appropriate to the progress of society, and destined, perhaps, to influence its later and improved condition; one of them is as follows: "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but that he would turn from his wickedness and live." Our Anglo-Saxon ancestry caught the spirit and practice of the Mosaic law more accurately than we have kept it; but if to return to this law in all its sanguinary forms were inexpedient, then it may logically follow that the scriptural mode is not absolutely mandatory on us, a departure from its prescribed methods and abridgement of its enactments being regarded as an improvement. The constable in Anglo-Saxon days was required by law, if he caught a murderer in the criminal act, or so soon after as to have the knife in his hand; or the robber in his criminal act, or so nearly so that he had the stolen goods in his hand or on his back; then it was the officer's duty to slay him on the spot, before he could find refuge or sanctuary. The officer was liable to fine and punishment if he failed to do so, or allowed him to escape. So, also, the same Anglo-Saxon ancestors, for certain crimes, cut off hands and feet, cut away tongues and plucked out eyes, with other nameless mutilations, looking still to the Old Testament scriptures for precedent and authority. Since that time, a thousand years ago, our English race and other European nations have been making progress, though experimenting in a sea of blunders on criminal procedure, giving some color to the remark, that nations emerging from barbarism are alternately slaves and tyrants. The penalty of death survives, but prescription can never render its testimony as conclusive against truth, else the oldest errors would be sanctified by time and rendered perpetual by persistence. Capital punishment appears unwise, because, up to very recent times, when it was really inflicted according to law, it has cost an immense sacrifice of life, with no tendency either to protect society or diminish crime; as was rendered conclusive by the constantly increasing necessity for its action. And it is a blunder in our own time, because, in the reaction of public opinion, its possible injustice and impropriety defeat itself, rendering its application so uncertain as to afford escape for the greater portion of the guilty, and to lose all terror for criminals until they shall actually have received sentence and stand in the presence of preparations for death. In Austria, in 1876, while 143 were found guilty of wilful murder, only 3 were executed. During ten years in England, 1857 to 1866, there were 2,885 verdicts rendered for wilful murder; but 135 were convicted, as charged, and hanged; almost as many, 108, were acquitted as insane. In England, at the November assizes, 1878, in fourteen counties, there were 16 trials for wilful murder, which resulted in 8 convictions for manslaughter, 2 were adjudged insane, 4 not guilty, 2 guilty, as charged, 1 of whom was recommended to mercy, and 1 was executed. They would all or nearly all have been hanged, in like cases, up to the middle of the last century, at which time, according to Blackstone, 160 different crimes were punishable with death. In this country trials progress with still greater uncertainty, and the final issue is more complicated by disagreements of juries, bills of exceptions, pleas of insanity, new trials, executive pardons, commutations, etc., etc. Further, we object to the death penalty, because it is our belief that it is never inflicted without great damage to the community, especially in the vicinity of the execution. The celebrated Father Matthew has said, "I am convinced that the infliction of capital punishment has been a fatal source of the frequent murders which disgrace and stain the land." A few weeks ago, in an adjoining State, a man who had lived thirty years peaceably with his wife, killed her with an axe immediately after they had together witnessed an execution. The act was directly traceable to excitement produced thereby. Similar cases are numerously on record in this and other countries, so that it is with general truthfulness as to the situation, if not true in detail as to facts, that a writer reports a conversation between a French executioner and a curate on duty in the prison. The former was condemning his own trade from the results of his experience and observation, and the latter disposed to uphold it from its scriptural authority. "Do you think, Holy Father," said the executioner of the law, "that the mob come to a hanging as to a sermon, to amend their lives at a gibbet? No, they come as they would to take an extra dram to stir their blood for an hour or two. As I am an honest executioner I have in my day done mine office, among others, on twenty, all of whom were regular attendants at my morning exhibitions." Aside from this, it brutalizes that element of the public mind with which it is most popular, and from which crime so largely springs an element of idleness, intemperance, and general vicious tendency, and on which elevating instead of debasing influences are of the utmost consequence to society. Worse than that, it makes a farce of religion, and of religious hopes and consolations in man's final hour. "More arrivals in Heaven via the Scaffold!" or equivalent titles to sensational descriptions of executions, are almost daily seen in the comparatively respectable and reputable papers from various . parts of the country. In one State, near by, we have lately heard of three persons imprisoned together and awaiting execution, with some hopes of reprieve. One, a youth of seventeen or eighteen years, amuses himself with his fiddle, and treats with contempt the manner of the others, of whom he says that they drop on their knees or assume attitudes of devotion when they hear footsteps approaching. Late papers from a Southwestern State give accounts of disagreement between ministers of different sects, as to which of them is entitled to claim credit for fitting one, about to ascend the ladder, with suitable preparation for that final rest into which he is about to be elevated. As Another prisoner, also, whose case is reported, while we write, goes in ecstacy to execution attended by his spiritual adviser. they pass the cell of some female convicts, the latter cry out in loud lamentations. The condemned man stops and expostulates, "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. Heaven opens to receive me." When he reached the scaffold he declared himself as formerly a soldier, but now a soldier of the cross-and the trap fell beneath his feet. In this case the feeling of vengeance and retaliation, which is always more or less present at executions, and always influences the public mind, was recognized, and the father of the woman, for whose murder the man was about to suffer, was permitted to prepare the noose in the halter. Eight thousand excited spectators were present. In another late case a vast crowd had assembled to see three men hanged, and were very riotous when they found that but one would suffer- he, a young man of twenty-five years, who had shot, under circumstances of great atrocity, a successful rival for a vile woman's hand. His cell for some weeks had been furnished with every comfort; many young ladies of the best families had sent or carried him flowers, and tendered sympathy. On the scaffold he |