penal servitude for life. A sentence, I believe, inflicted
not so much for the crime, but on account of the position the prisoner
formerly occupied in society, and "as a warning to others." This is a
formula which, in many cases, is made to sanction monstrous injustice,
and in all cases, I may say, is practically inoperative. The only
parties warned by the fall and punishment of such an one as the
prisoner I here refer to, are those in the same respectable position in
life, because they are the only parties who have it in their power to
commit the same crime. The punishment cannot warn those who are not in
and cannot attain to the position which makes the crime possible, and
who could not find the opportunity to commit it, even if they were paid
to seek it; then why punish such men as this prisoner the more
severely, because he was in that position?

I know it is urged in opposition to that view, that such men ought to
know better, that they have no excuse, and so on, but we must bear in
mind that all who do wrong know it, the poor and the ignorant as well
as the rich and educated, unless they are of unsound mind. Then again,
do those in a good position in society require more warning than those
who have no character or position to lose? It would be difficult, I
think, for anyone to maintain that position! The fact is, that
conviction merely, without any subsequent punishment at all, would be a
much more effective warning to the former class than the gallows even
would be to the latter! The thief plies his trade while the scaffold
frowns overhead, it does not deter him, but the lynx eye of a policeman
would, even although the penalty was a months' imprisonment instead of
the rope. As I have already more than once asserted, it is the fear of
_being caught_ that deters the thief, and this fear increases and
intensifies as we ascend the social ladder; in the case of all first
offenders of the law, the punishment is an after-thought, and on that
account, as well as on higher grounds, we ought to temper justice with
mercy in dealing with all first offenders, more especially with those
who offend against property only.

In the case of the prisoner referred to, his crime would not have
enriched him more than about twenty pounds, had he succeeded in
escaping detection. He committed will-forgery, and of course although
the amount was small, still it was a great crime, but I think there
might be other methods found for punishing