the ship-dress. On descending the hatchway,
no conception can be formed of the scene which presented
itself. I shall not attempt to describe it; but nothing short
of a descent to the infernal regions, can be at all worthy of a
comparison with it. I soon met with many of my old Botany Bay
acquaintances, who were all eager to offer me their friendship
and services; that is, with a view to rob me of what little I
had; for, in this place, there is no other motive or subject
for ingenuity. All former friendships and connexions are
dissolved; and a man here will rob his best benefactor, or even
messmate, of an article worth one half-penny. If I were to
attempt a full description of the miseries endured in these
ships, I could fill a volume; but I shall sum up all by
stating, that, besides robbery from each other, which is as
common as cursing and swearing, I witnessed, among the
prisoners themselves, during the twelvemonth I remained with
them, one deliberate murder, for which the perpetrator was
executed at Maidstone, and one suicide."

These horrible accounts must, we suppose, convince every one of the
necessity of keeping criminals separate from each other. In vain do you
hope by classification, labour, discipline, and moral instruction, to
reclaim men from their vices in prison, so long as you allow them to
associate freely together. No compromise will do, short of preventing
their conversing with each other. Whether solitary confinement, as
practised in Pennsylvania, or public labour in silence, as in New-York,
be the better mode of punishment, may admit of argument; but that either
is incomparably superior to promiscuous intercourse, is unquestionable.
And we do conjure magistrates and legislators in every part of the
United States, to rouse themselves from apathy on this momentous
subject. It is due to their country and to posterity, to strive to
remove an evil, which, like the Upas, extends its pestiferous influence
in every direction. Let them reflect that the object of punishing
criminals is to protect society. This object may be promoted by the
reformation of the transgressor; but if he is placed in a situation
where contagion is inevitable, the punishment, however severe, is not
conducive to that result. A severe punishment may, indeed, be
influential in deterring others from pursuing similar courses; but if
he, on obtaining his