more successful can only be accounted
for by the awfully depraved affections which habitual vice produces;
when every principle of action, which should be subservient to virtue,
becomes actively employed in the cause of wickedness; for, whatever
may be the impulse which first induces offenders to do wrong, they
become, in course of time, so totally lost to all sense of what is
good as to "glory in their shame." Whether it maybe possible to devise
any plan of prison discipline sufficient to remedy the evil, I
cannot pretend to say; and I shall only repeat the burthen of my
song--_educate and protect the infant poor_; and it will be found that
_to prevent_ is not only better, but easier, than to _cure_.

[Footnote A: I will make a short extract from one of its reports,
to shew, that the chief end they have in view, is the prevention of
crime. They state, that "in the course of their visit, to the gaols
in the metropolis, the Committee very frequently meet with destitute
boys, who, on their discharge from confinement, literally know not
where to lay their heads. To assist such friendless outcasts has
been the practice of the society; and to render this relief more
efficacious, a temporary refuge has been established for such as
are disposed to abandon their vicious courses. This asylum has been
instrumental in affording assistance to a considerable number of
distressed youths, who, but for this seasonable aid, must have
resorted to criminal practices for support. On admission into this
establishment, the boys are instructed in moral and religious duty,
subjected to habits of order and industry, and after a time are placed
in situations which afford a reasonable prospect of their becoming
honest and useful members of society. To extend these objects, and to
render its exertions more widely beneficial, the society solicits the
aid of public benevolence. Its expenses are unavoidably serious, and
its funds are at present very low; but it is trusted that pecuniary
support will not be withheld, when it is considered, that on the
liberality with which this appeal is answered, depends, in a great
measure, the success of the society's objects--the reformation of the
vicious, and the prevention of crime."]

That this remedy is effectual, experience has taught me and many
others; and experience is a guide on whom we may safely rely. It has
shown me that by taking children at an early age out of the reach of
contamination in the str