in drink is so powerful, and the gratification so easy, at every turn of the street, that the greater number spend a large portion of their time and earnings in repeated indulgences of this depraved appetite, during the day, and return to their families in a state of partial or complete intoxication. The pernicious consequences of such habits, to the individual and to society, are too striking to need any elaborate description, to enforce the propriety of adopting every suitable means of legislative and municipal regulation, for their prevention.

A further source of vice and criminality is to be found in the horseaces which regularly take place in New York and some of the neighJouring counties. These draw together crowds of people, who engage n wagering, all kinds of games of hance, and in debauchery, which produce habits that lead to the uin of many, and drive numbers to he commission of crimes. Horseaces, billiard tables, and all games of hance, ought to be strictly prohibitd. Baiting of animals with dogs nd every species of amusement hich may tend to harden the heart, nd render the manners of the people erocious, ought to be prevented by well regulated police. Laws are ade for the preservation of decency nd order on the first day of the week; nd it remains only to have them ore faithfully executed. Perhaps here is no city of equal extent, here fewer crimes escape detecon and punishment, or where greatr order and tranquillity prevail. oo much praise cannot be bestowed n those to whom the peace and fety of our city is entrusted, for eir unwearied attention and vigince in the discharge of duties, e extent and importance of which e not generally understood or fully stimated. But, notwithstanding the proved state of our police, and the

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Another object, more immediately connected with the subject of this work, is the present mode of punishment for petty crimes The only prison in this city for the punishment of those convicted of small thefts and other petty offences, is the Bridewell, part of which is also appropriated to the safe-keeping of prisoners before their trial or conviction. At present, vagrants, disorderly persons, and convicts for petty offences, are confined in this prison; and are put inte rooms together, without any discrimination, or regard to difference of character. No proper or adequate means are used to prevent profanity, intoxication, filth, or idleness. this condition, corrupting and corrupted, their imprisonment, so far from tending to produce the amendment of the culprits, or to secure society against the effects of their future misconduct, serves, by the contagion of example and the exasperation of bad passions, to render them an hundred fold more vicious and untractable. It is, in truth, a nursery of criminals for the State Prison. As a remedy for this defect in the penal system, it is suggested, that a building should be erected by the corporation, large enough to contain sixty cells, of the same dimensions as those in the State Prison;-that the police magistrates should have power to try, in a summary way, and to sentence to solitary confinement in these cells, vagrants, drunkards, riotous and disorderly persons, &c. for a time not exceeding thirty days;-that the quarter sessions of the city should sentence persons convicted of assaults and batteries, petit larcenies, and

such offences as are not aggravated or atrocious, for a time not exceeding sixty or ninety days. The convicts should be kept in these cells in perfect solitude, and on spare diet, in the manner practised in the State Prison. Such a punishment, for sixty days, would be more severe and terrible, and tend more to the prevention of crimes, than confinement, for one or two years, to hard labour in the State Prison. It would also tend more to the reformation of the offender himself. Detached from vicious companions, from temp. tation, and from all means of gratifying hisdepraved appetites, conscience would have time to awaken a sense of guilt and remorse for his past folly and misconduct.

Should a plan of such obvious utility be adopted and carried into execution, it would not then be necessary to send convicts to the State Prison for a shorter period than three years. For every person once confined in the solitary cells, who should, after his release, commit a second offence, would deserve to be sentenced to hard labour for, at least, three years. Indeed it might, with propriety, be left to the discretion of the court, in certain cases of second offences, to inflict the same punishment as in cases of grand larceny; since it can hardly be supposed, that any material or lasting effect can be produced on a criminal, by the labour and discipline of a penitentiary house, in a shorter time than four or five years.-And if he is incorrigible by means of solitude, temperance, and cleanliness, he will not merit if he is guilty of a second offence, a punishment less severe than imprisonment for that length of time.

Before concluding this account, it may be proper to make a few remarks, the result of some observation and experience, on a subject which

may have an essential influence on the present scheme of punishments.

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It has been observed by Beccaria, whose opinions have the force of axioms in the science of penal law, that, as punishments become more mild, clemency and pardon become less necessary;"-that clemency belongs to the legislator, and not to the executor of the laws; a virtue which ought to shine in the code not in private judgments. To show mankind that crimes may be pardoned, or that punishment is not the necessary consequence, is to nourish the flattering hope of impunity.""Let then the executor of the law be inexorable, but let the legislator be tender, indulgeut, and humane."

These principles, though just in theory, necessarily presuppose a perfect system of penal law, by which each punishment is with such exact justice apportioned to each crime, that no difference of circumstances can arise in any case, which ought to vary the punishment prescribed for the particular offence. No code so perfect has yet been framed, and until such an one is promulgated, it is necessary that the power of pardon. ing should reside somewhere, to prevent that injustice in particular cases which the legislator did not foresee, or could not avoid. By our constitution this power is confided to the governor, the chief executive magistrate.†

And under the penal laws, except in those cases where the punishment of death still remains, the power of pardoning may be exercised without

violating the principle advanced by the philosopher of Milan. It may be asserted, that, in the deliberate and impartial manner in which justice is administered in our courts, it is scarcely possible that any man can be presented by a grand jury, tried and convicted by a petit jury of twelve men, in the presence of the court and the world, without a degree of guilt deserving of some punishment. Imprisonment for a short period, under the mild and humane regulations of the State Prison, cannot, in cases the most favourable to the prisoner, be deemed unjust. It may be laid down, then, as a general principle, that no person, convicted of a crime and sentenced to imprisonment, ought to be pardoned, until he has suffered a punishment proportioned to the degree of his guilt, or at least so much as may satisfy the community he has injured. Under the guidance of this principle, it is believed, that the power of pardoning may be made conducive to a more perfect dispensation of justice, and subservient to the plan of reformation intended by a penitentiary prison. It will not be thought useless to endeavour to fix some general rules for the exercise of a power, which, if arbitrary and capricious, may produce consequences neither foreseen nor intended; but if exerted with sound discretion, so far from weakening the laws, will strengthen their operation.

1. Where the punishment is fixed by law to a crime of a general legal description, comprehending a great variety of different acts, which must, from the course of human conduct, be accompanied with evidence of greater or less depravity; there this attribute of the chief executive ma

gistrate seems necessary, to remedy the imperfection of the general law, and to render the punishment more equitably proportioned to the guilt of

BELFAST MAG. NO. XXXIX.

the offender; since, from the inevitable want of foresight in the legislature, of the circumstances of each case, it could not be so predetermined by them. Thus forgery and counterfeiting, as well as passing money, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeit, punished by imprisonment for life, is a crime, the objects of which are endlessly diversified, comprehending acts of different degrees of turpitude.*

2. Where the law has only defined a limit in the time of imprisonment, leaving it to the discretion of the judge to fix the duration of punishment within that limit, according to the circumstances of each case; there it may be generally said, that the executive ought not to interpose; unless when the discretion of the court has been manifestly exercised under some misapprehension, where circumstances, favourable to the convict, come to light after trial, of which he could not avail himself at the time, but had they been known, ought to have prevented or lessened his punishment.

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3. Unequivocal evidence of reformation in a convict, after his imprisonment; to ascertain which, as well as the propriety and safety of discharging a convict before the expiration of his term of punishment, the judgment of the Inspectors of

It may be fairly questioned, whether this and some other crimes are not improperly punished by imprisonment for life. number of years, it would be in the power If the sentence did not exceed a certain of the court to apply the punishment in a manner more justly proportioned to the offence: there would then be rarely, if ever, any occasion for the executive to reMost of the governmit the sentence. ments of Europe, excepting England, have, in circumstances of society and manners far

less favourable than those of this country, gone further in the melioration of their penal laws; and the punishment of death is gradually disappearing from their codes.

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the prison, from their situation, may be of essential importance. Indeed, this precaution has been taken by the late, and present governor of the State, who have applied for the requisite information to the Inspectors, the majority of whom have joined in a recommendation for pardon, where they thought it clearly merited by the convict, Previous to such recommendation, however, the inspectors think it their duty to inquire, whether the prisoner was convicted by clear and undoubted testimony; which may be ascertained by the report of the judge before whom he was tried; whether the circumstances attending the commission of the crime denote a greater or less degree of depravity; whether the prisoner has already suffered a punishment sufficient to satisfy society, and to afford a reasonable ground to believe that his release will not diminish the dread of future punishment in him, or inspire the hope of impunity in others;-whether, while in prison, he has conducted himself with uniform decency, industry, and sobriety, and has never attempted to violate any of its regulations;-and, lastly, whether from what is known of his temper, character, and deportment, it is probable, that if restored to society, he will become a peaceable, honest, and industrious citizen. These inquiries ought to be satisfactorily answered in favour of the convict, before he is recommended for pardon; for it is not a common or ordinary course of good conduct and industry, but a pre-eminent and unexceptionable behaviour, that should entitle a prisoner to this grace. A convict radically and incurably depraved, in hope of gaining favour, may, for a season, so far disguise his genuine character, as to deceive his keepers and inspectors. Sufficient time should be allowed to discover his real disposition, which, on some

occasion, at an unguarded moment, will show itself. In short, pardon ought never to be granted from the momentary impulse of compassion, the indulgence of which may be gratifying to the individual, but, as regulated by no fixed principle, must be injurious to the public; nor ought it to be granted, merely at the instance of friends or relations, or from considerations of family, but from the clear and unbiassed dictates of justice and humanity, and in such a manner that the community may be satisfied that the influence of the law is not impaired, nor its severity relaxed, without sufficient reason.

No man who enters the prison with vicious habits, can be reasonably expected to be divested of them in less than four or five years; and it would greatly injure the penitentiary system, to pardon any prisoner before the expiration of that time, unless in extraordinary cases, which may pos sibly, but very rarely, happen. When sentenced to imprisonment for life, no person ought to be released until after seven years confinement. If, under the circumstances which have been mentioned, and on principles here stated, pardons are sometimes granted, instead of counteracting the force of the law, they may be made to harmonize with and support the general scheme of punishments so wisely adopted. Its success must, in a great measure, depend on the wisdom of the regulations devised for the internal management of the prison, and on the prudence, disinterested attention, and perseverance of those to whom that management is entrusted.

To exhibit a simple and faithful account of those regulations, and to furnish such useful hints as the writer, from his own experience and the suggestions of others, could impart, is the purpose of the preceding pages. He is sensible that the plan of inte