ner quite as bold and singular, that
the state has really no right to inflict any punishment that is not of a
reformatory character. It is true he admits of punishment--could a man
of his experience do otherwise? But he admits it only as a part of his
_curative process_. It is to induce "submission and penitence." He can
so far blind himself by his love of theory, or rather his tenacity to
one point of view, that he seems to suppose, that _reform of the
criminal being the direct object_, he would commence his treatment by
penal inflictions. "As already observed, a fever must be reduced before
its ravages are sought to be repaired; a wound must be probed and
cleansed before it can be healed up." And this surgical instance seems
to have satisfied his mind, that the exacerbations consequent on
punishment are an indispensable preparation for a moral restoration. As
to the old-fashioned notion that punishment has for its legitimate and
primary object to deter others from offending, he denounces this, if
pursued as an independent aim, as a flagrant injustice; he regards such
criminals who are punished for this end only, as sacrifices cruelly
offered up for the benefit of the public.

"In the infancy of society," reasons Captain Maconochie, "and under
every form of pure despotism, the individual is nothing, and the
commonwealth, or its chief, every thing. But just as intelligence
and true knowledge of state policy extend, does this state of
things become reversed; and in England already, the maxim is become
almost universal, that private rights are never to be invaded
without compensation. In two departments only is there still a
systematic deviation from this rule in practice. Impressment, in
which the compensation made, though it has increased much of late
years, must still be considered inadequate--for otherwise the act
itself would be unnecessary; and the punishment of offenders with a
view to _example_ only, in which they have no concern, and to which
their individual interests are yet unhesitatingly sacrificed. In
both cases the same plea of state necessity is offered in
justification; but it will not do. As society advances, and
individuals become more sensible of their own worth, their claims
to regard above such abstractions become more and more
evident."--(_General Views_, &c., p. 11.)

We would modestly suggest that before this curious analogy