Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-02-06

tne observations, and reasonings, OF the Board
OF Directors Of the Penitentiary, in their re-
port, ask the indulgence Of the house for
some preliminary views. before they recon-
mend TO their adoption the measures deter
mined by them to be expedient at this june
ture.
The community can only deplore, but the
vour to prevent, or must provide adequate re-
NEEDLES tor the moral, aud physical evils, neces-
sarily attendant upon the social state of man.
as far as their authority extends.
IL would be easy to point out the plajn orr.
Gun OF the worst of human, mseries, and lthe
true source ofall crimes, in the ili-gayernsd
passions, the inordinate desires, the unrestrain
ed appetites and the imperious wants, to which
man, by his nature, must perhaps ever Ire
subject in SOME degree. Butihe time requi-
| site would be much better employed ia shew-
ing how, from the pliable nature, the docility,
and capability vi the human species, a moral,
intellectual, and physical improvement Of it
| might reasonably be expected, pr0p0rtionate
to the illness and force of the means applied
| by constitutional authority.
Not an Improvement Ofinfinite extent, as
has been most unphilosorhicaiiy thought -
Tor the laws imposed on the nature 0f man
must eternally coniine his powers, as well as
| his durati,'n, within narrow limits but an in
|
ed, hoped for and expected, from determin-
ed resolution to combat that opposition, and
| TO remove those distractions, which the ever
selfish, who profit by the folly and imbecility
OF Their fellow creatures, know SO well how to
excite ahdto create. new form of tyranny,
exercised in the denunciaton ola benevolent
philosophy, springs from the unsocial passions
OF ambitious individuals, and banshes from
the deliberations, and the administration Of
| fhsA CT r.
and such reasonings. Profound thinking is
painful; humane feelings are Improbable -
disinterested labours are unwise; therefore imi-,
tative, cold and merce nary art, is substituted
Tor all, and man is continued lower in the
scale OF nature than was intended for him, To
save The trouble of raising him higher the
possibility of which is Of course denied, to
afford an apology.
II would he pleasing task to stew, that if,
all those who give religious instruction to So
ciety, instead Uf dwelling upon unsettled arti-
cfes Of faith, would make it their chief labor
to demonstrate, how mildness, and innocence,
and usefulness in this world, to the full extent
OF the means and powers possessed, are ndis-
pensable to happiness here and hereafter /;
much moral improvement, and consequent
relaxation of penal law, might jrs.y be ex-
pected. 1t would be no difficult labour to
prove, that if the parents, and teachers of
L Jouiis COuiu Dc iiuuCtQ 10 atteNQ more I'D
the physical education of their pupils, they
might expect far greater success, in the main
object of their moral and intellectual improve
ment. By steady and judcious use Of
means known, to science for the confirmation.
maintenance and restoration of juvenile health,
! the constitutional energy of the brain, and the
celebrity, and certainty, of its influence over
| the system might be increased, of which,
/ greater social powers, a more constant equili-
briun of sensation, perception, and thought,
more uniform tranquility of mind and less
active propensity to vicious indulgence, would
be the sure consequence.
When that science, which teaches the de-
pendence of mind on body, RECEIVERS its place
from the empty metaphysics at present ia
favor; aud is better known to the world, it
\ may become as easy as 1T is always beneficial,
to shcw, that the Oyerstrained ambition of cum
slant superiority over all others, 50 perdicious
in free governments, and so invariably accom-
panied by envy, and causeless malice, and
promptiiude to calurnny, or to injustice, is in
Itself diseased condition of mind and body,
that might have been prevented, and may be
relieved by purifying regimen of daily en-
ployment in the fields; which should ever be
enforced, before the tormenting habit of as
piring thoughts, and hopes Of triumph over
equals, has rendered the propensity to en-
crOachment perpetual, or the inclination TO
violence, obstinate and urgoyernable. Ifsuch
s symptoms were early marked and promptly
treated with rusticalion by the people, or by
distrust in popular assemblies much of that
mischief might be prevented, which usurpa-
lion of the rights, or control by force or fraud
over the free will OF Others, in whatever de-
gree it may prevail, must certainly produce,by
, destroying that free play and consequent fair
equilibrium OF influences, so necessary TO the
+ preservation of popular governments. Peri-
clrs might thus have been rendered another,
and an ADLER Solon Cesar another, and
greater Cato; Napoleon second Washing
> ton !; and the sweeping desolation caused by
each, throughout the sphere of his influence,
I might have been effectuaily prevented. The
endeavor, however difficult, might not be des-
] perate, to open the eyes of the public to the
! certain fact that spirited, judicious, and per-
seyeriDg Legislative encouragement Of all the
useful arts, which administer to the wants of
man, and of the elegant arts which improve
his taste, while their exercise cost nothing but
unbought genius, must, in the end, haze a
: greater tendency TO prevent crime, by afford
t ing employment to the needy and idle, and
: giving refined feelings to the gross and brutal,
than the best penal code, unsupported by such
aids.
All such views ofthe capacity for improve
D inent Of eur species are apt to be. treated as
f idle specuations or enthusiastic visions. Yet
5 history gives numerous authentic proofs of
the commanding influence Of legislation over
G the character of map,as welas over the destiny
c Of free states. The laws advised by Lyeurgus,
f made every Spartan daring, intrepid, pa
ient, obedent active and robust and Spar
Ia long ruled the confederacy 10 which that