And best protection, this imperial Realm, Them who are born to serve her and obey; For all the children whom her soil maintains By timely culture unsustained; or run To drudge through a weary life without the help A savage horde among the civilized, A servile band among the lordly free! -The discipline of slavery is unknown Cannot subsist, nor confidence, nor peace. * That the whole people should be taught and trained. The Excursion, book ix. CHAPTER XI. REPRESSIVE CHECKS TO CRIME. "No man either was, or is, by nature a wild and unsociable creature, but some have grown so by addicting themselves to vice, contrary to the laws of nature; and yet these, by other manners, by changing their method of living, and place of abode, have returned to their natural gentleness."PLUTARCH. Life of Pompey. "The precious seed which lies dormant in the human mind is sometimes suddenly and singularly vivified."FREDERIKA BREMER. "The general results everywhere encourage the hope that a new era is now commenced for our juvenile outcasts, and that, for the future, instead of treating them so as only to harden them in crime, they are to be dealt with as a wise and affectionate parent treats his rebellious, unpromising, child."-ALEXANDER THOMSON, of Banchory. THAT feeling which, formerly, caused society to regard a criminal with abhorrence, and as only a fit object for unmitigated punishment, is, to the honour of humanity, now confined to a few, such as the "London Scoundrel," who, believing in no logic but that of the hangman's rope, gloated with brutal satisfaction in the columns of the Times, over a wretched miscreant whom a human tribunal had prematurely sent before that of the Divine. The merciful genius of Christianity has, at length, permeated even our rigorous judicial code. Not in England only, but in all civilized countries, legislation has chiefly proved "More prompt To avenge than to prevent the breach of law." A growing disposition has, however, been for some time observed among our legislators and jurists to modify the severity of the penal statutes -a circumstance which in itself argues favourably for our progress as a nation and the extension of that liberty which is deservedly the boast of Englishmen and the highest glory of England; for, as an eminent writer remarks, " As freedom advances, the severity of the penal law decreases." But the idea of reforming the criminal is entirely of modern date, and beautifully in keeping with the first principles and precepts of our Divine religion, which exhibits to us a like treatment in the Eternal's dealings with men: as 66 Earthly power doth show likest God's, When mercy seasons justice." Viewed simply as a repressive force, a punitive system based upon reformatory principles is worthy * Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, book vi. chap. ix. of the support of every good citizen no less than of the State, whose chief duty it is to suppress crime, and with the least possible pain to the delinquent. No apprehensions need be entertained that a mild course of punishment will tend to increase criminal offences; for, as Montesquieu asserts, "the cause of all the violations of the laws arises from the impunity of crimes, and not from the moderation of the penalties." For a thousand years or more we have been madly endeavouring to repress crime by severe punitive measures, in some instances approaching the blind ferocity of the Draconic code; and all to no imaginable purpose, except to increase the giant strength of the ugly monster they aimed to crush, just as Prometheus, in the Heathen allegory, rose superior to his tormentors. But, viewed apart from the mere pecuniary loss saved to the State by the reformation of offenders, we must also take into account the direct moral advantage which it gains in the conversion of a criminal into a well-ordered citizen, determined no more to violate the laws of his country or forfeit the confidence of his fellows. It is curious how susceptible of good impressions even the hardest natures sometimes are; like to the statue of Memnon which is said to have poured forth its song of joy when touched by the rays of the morning sun. "Men," says Eliot Warburton, are always more true to their collective than to their individual responsibility. Remove a disorderly soldier to a well-disciplined regiment, and he becomes exemplary; convert a gossiping Venetian into a gondolier, and he becomes discreet; promote a thievish Arab into a muleteer's place, and he will straightway become an honest man."* Thus it was that Peter the Great created an army of steady, ready soldiers out of a troop of slavish serfs, and transmuted a nest of pirates into a commanding navy. Here was a moral and physical metamorphosis of which Ovid never dreamt. If the principle of criminal jurisprudence laid down by the eminent commentator, Blackstone, be correct, viz., that the end and measure of punishments should be "such as appear best calculated to answer the end of precaution against future offences," then indeed a punitive process based upon reformatory principles is the best, least expensive, and most effectual machinery to employ to attain such an issue. It is decidedly "the duty of all rulers to prevent, as far as possible, the necessity of punishing, and, when they do inflict punishment, to attempt reformation." Of course repressive must always remain subsidiary to preventive measures. To the latter we The Crescent and the Cross, vol. ii. p. 78. + Commentaries, book iv. chap. 1. Lords' Committee on Juvenile Crime, 1847. |