The National Register.
London, England, 1819-03-01 00:00:00

Paicr:

pal dsvisions, and not as.ign punisiluient of title first de'
gree to offences of en inferior rank."

In the discussions which took place in America be
twecn Dr. Franklin and his a-soriates, prior to the re-
laxation of their penal laws, this idea of the ap.
of specific punishments to specific crimes wos strongly
insisted on; and a very intelligent vet itcr &claret:,
that " he has no more doubt of eve7y crime having its
cure in moral and physical influr.,.ce, itan h^ has of
the efficacy of Peruvian hark in curing ti-e intermitting.
fever," lint let us observe he succeeds when he
attempts to enter into pat ti " Tae nuiy ditr-
evlty," say:; he, " is to Is al out the proton remedy or
remedies Nor particular Dufriehe de Nalaye.
in Lis elaborate treatise upon venal laws, ha. performed
the oftlite of a pioneer upon this ditiantit so:i)ect. He
has divided crimes into classes, see has atli.cc l punish-
ments to each of them, in a number of ingenious tables.
Some of the connexions he has ettabAisaed between.
crimes and punisi.meuts appear to he jest; but many
of his punishments arc contrary to the that principles of
justice iu man, and a:I or them are, iu my opinion,
improper, as far as he orders them to be intlicted in the
eye of the 'italic." This ingenious writer has not,
however, attempted to sobstitute any scale of his own ;

and notwit!r;t:lno• tin eff:irts that have since beets
made by other enii„L•c.ted it seems by nu
means probable .tuft this obi^ct can ever be accomplished
to any usclui or beneficiai exter.t.

The error, however, it' we way venture so to call it, .
is nut in the idea that every crime (or lather every
criminal disposition) has its cure in moral and physic-.d
influence, but in supposing that there is some certuil
punishment appropriated to every crime, woielt it it
could be discocred, would prove an infallible remedy ;
tier when we consider the ever variable nature of the
human mind, differing not only in different
but continually fluctuating even in the same person, it
is evident, that in order to effect any alteration either
of conduct or opinion, such measures must be adopted
as are suitable to the peculiar situation, disp sition, and
feelings of the party ; and consequently that this moral
and physical influence must be applied in such diver.
city of them, and with such variations of lenity and
severity', as may from tiros to time suit the circum-
stances of the can:. When we speak of punishing
crimes, we are in danger or' being misled by a figure of
speech. In fact, we do nut punish the crim.., but the
individual who commits the cii,ae; and whatever end
the punishment is intended to answer, it must Lear a
relation to the nature, disposition, and .::cunistances of
such individual. To hang up indiscriminately a certain
number of }arsons, because they have cununitted
certain set, without any regard to the peculiar circum-
stances under which such act was committed, or by
which every different case is distinguished or even
without any clear idea of the result to be produced
would be the height of injustice ; and with regard to
interimr punishments, it must be apparent, un the
slightest reflection, that the sane punishment applied
to different persons may praduce net only a &Herrn. ,
but a co: , ~,, effect, and that which may be neces-
sary to ittiocin one, may only serve to harden another.
To apply the sama punishment to al, is, therefore, a
kind of empiricism in legislatio 1, which pretends by *a
certain specific to care a certain crime, wit:Mint any re.
ference to tit', state of the party on whom the nostrum
is to be tried. The consequences of this have Leen must
thral to the interests of society, and under the pretext
of an impartial administration of justice, the greatest
po chic diversi.y has alwhys subsisted, but in the con-
, sequences produced. That which to one is agony,
another disregards ; and, transportation, which by :AMC
may be considered as the utino,t extreme of misery,
may to others resemble an excursion of pleasure. But
this insquality is the least portion of the evil The only
rational object which punishment should have in view,
is frustrated by this blind and indiseriminuting process;
and it is in consequence of this, that criminals, after
having gone through some prescriptive mode of disci-
pline, are no-ain turned loose on society, "more bar.
dened in their crimes, and more instructed." On this
subject then, one of the most important that can en-
gage the attention of the human faculties, it is highly
requisite that a thorough investigation should tat,.
place ; in the result of which, i, may perhaps appear,
that the talisman to which we have trusted is no lonzt r
to be relied on ; that there is no short and expcdii.:( ut
way of extirpating mural evil ; but that, if we wad. to