Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-03-28

BOSOM !. implanted "a fviow-ieeIing which,
unsolicited even, incllneS us TO conimisc
RATION and togood oiiiocs-yet, IL is equai-,
" true, that by a certain needless indo-
ence oftemper, generally charactcrizing
man, many olhls highest & most delight
ful duties, even where interest or passion
does not Interfere, are often wholly neg lee |
ted, or but halfperiormed.
To tins want of particular and active !
observation, chiefly, aScrbe the wretch |
ed. may say, the destructive Police Of
our common Jahs, SO far rs their gov
eminent has met lsy eve. To this, / as
cribe the failure to remedy those obvious
aud g.aring defects in their construction;
defects which cannot fail 10 bring upon
the unhappy captive, (Siiould he live to
see his iiieration,> disease and premature
death. Prisons have been Justly deemed,
IN The hands ct arbitrary power, engines
more dreadful than either Scaffolds or
Jibbets because. through their means,
men, under specIous prctcnces, can be
snatched from the view os compassion, to
be forgotten under course OF protracted
wretcheduess, or To he dispatched with
greater safety 10 their oppressors. I'M
der our government OF laws, with views
lar different, and even with purposes well
designed. the effects flowing from the con
dltion of our Jails are equally as bad,
sometimes worse; for in some situations
otour Prisoners, ii has seemed to me that
death would have been mercy, whether
dispensed ia the poisoned draught, or by
the assassIn's poignard. The common
Jails are generally constructed with grated
windows, destitute of glass or other de-
fence against the weather-Irue, "a certain
portion of straw is supplied to the apart
ments but 1t IS an established rule of
these horrible abOdeS, to withhold from
all Prisoners with the exception of debt
ors,) the warmth derived from fire. Here,
then, the captive is brought, no matter
now severe the seaSon-no matter how
destitute he may be of clothing and
whether or not his shvering limbs are
loaded and benumbed with irons, depends
upon the degree rather than the truth of
the charge against him: upon the mrek-
ness and patience with which he submits
to privation and pain and upon the SYM
pathy of his Keeper. know not from
what age the model and government of
our Prlson-Houses have been taken; but
surely, surely, they do not become d pc
Rod of civilization and refinement of
moral and christian illumination. Why,
then, is not the evil corrected! The au-
swer is in part supplied by the fact, that
men are not III general excited by what is
not Immediately and strongly presented
to theITsenses. The unhappy individual
who Is immured, Is not followed to his
" dread abode by the Magistrate who
commits him. When brought into court,
ms sutierlngs in confinement are often I'M
known even to his advocate, andifknown.
fHpU tya mn art. a
and are not insisted upon Hence. the
majority of the inferior magistracy, bo-
DIV of men deserving, at least, for their
moral worth, for those principles which
would chiefly impel them to cousidera-
ton ofthls subject these men, who have
the power, IN great degree, TO apply the
corrective, do not observe, OF do not re-
collect, the excessive misery to which a
portion of their fellow beings are subject
ed. The continuance of I he present
state OF our Prisons, may, perhaps, beat
tributed, too, In part, to cause more re
preheDsbie than that already mentioned.
lis orr good fortune TO live under :. civ
ii poiIty, freely and voluntarily adopted
polify which we can modify al will. OF
lenders, then, against orr civil institute
lions. certainly iDcur the penalties OF sho
laws with less excuse, and OF course with
less pitt than they would do under a gsv-
ernmcnt less equitable Every mem Der
of society feels in some measure injured
by evcryinfraction ola compact, TO which,
IN the strictestsense, all are parties and
Is hence less tender aud considera.e with
regard TO him who thus rebels against The
common veal This feeling, though lust,
may, however, impel to dangerous results.
tits believed, that lis effects have air adv
been pernlclous in the extreme. Refor-
nation III the offender, not less than ex-
ample to the community, is one benign
purpose of our Penal Code never cen it
be supposed the intention either of the
Legislator or the Judge, to mock the IN
happy wretch with the forms of law, or
the semblauce of clemency, andto DESTROY
at tie same time his health or his life, by
an exposure To the severest modes ofin-
Fiction.
To those, then, who have authority TO
alleviate the sufferings Of The Prisoner,
and who their compunctions with Tea-
sonings upon his dement's lei me say, Isl.
that the very best of men NAV fall into
and obscure situations ma be-
come the prey of false and malignant ac-
may fall the victim of the laws
stern fiat thai in administering the laws
and with mercifuI dispo-
sltIons, you may still act blindly and OBJ
pressively. 2d. that in the case of the
cuIprit whose guilt is placed beyond doubt.
say 10 YOU, he is still citizen, a member |
OF the social body, aud except so far as
~ the particular instance in which If. may |
have forfeited them, YOUR equal in every |
social right. Then nv what authoritv