release, instead of being disposed to conform to
regularity of conduct, is only determined to practise more skilfully the
very crime that was the cause of his commitment; or if, from his moral
sense being deadened, in consequence of having heard others boast of
their villainous exploits, he is ready to engage in new and more
desperate attempts, the influence which his punishment may have had on
others, is in danger of being overbalanced. What, in such a case, does
society gain by the severity of the law? Is it not clear, that all the
expense, trouble, and loss of time attendant on the prosecution, are
almost fruitlessly bestowed? And here, it is impossible not to lament
the accumulated evils arising from the slow operation of law. A man is
charged, perhaps innocently, with petty larceny. The tribunal before
which he is to be arraigned is not in session; accordingly, unable to
procure bail, he is committed to jail, there to lie for three, or
perhaps six months, and all the time uncertain whether he is to be
acquitted or condemned. In the mean time, his character has deteriorated
while his enjoyment has been abridged. Can such a method be consistent
with civilization? Would it not be preferable, at the hazard of some
injustice, to revert to the summary process of barbarism? Can it be
right, that a magistrate shall be empowered to incarcerate a man for
months, while he is debarred from pronouncing definitively on his guilt
or innocence? There is an incongruity in all this, of which savages
might be ashamed. We trust that the time is approaching when a better
system will be established. Consolatory is it to consider, that in
various countries of Europe, as well as in America, the subject of
prison discipline, and of criminal jurisprudence, occupies the attention
of philanthropists and statesmen to a degree never before witnessed, as
from their simultaneous exertions much good may be anticipated. One of
the causes assigned by Dr. Robertson and other historians, for the
resuscitation of Europe from the intellectual degradation of the middle
ages, is the discovery at Amalfi, in the twelfth century, of the
Pandects of Justinian. Would it not then be irrational to conclude, that
the improvements now taking place in law, will not be followed by a
correspondent amelioration in society, since it is obvious that a much
higher degree of civilization is attainable by man, than any country has
yet exhibited?

To those who wish for inf