Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-03-11

MANAGEMENT of the institution, to the manner
in which its accounts have been kept, or to the
circumstance that it has been located inludl-
ciouslv, where it had not convenient and pro-
6table market for its manufactures. | have al
so endeavored TO shew, with what success the
committee will Judge. that the confinement Of
criminals to hard labor, even under system OF
defective management, is less expensive to the
State than the present system, which confines
many malefactors in the prisons, without labor;
and that, if it were even true that the Penlten
tiary system was more expensive than the one
now in force, it does not follow from that CIR
cumstance, that it ought to be rejected; but that
if, by experience, it has been found to be :he
most beneficial system to society, to give ,he
greatest security to the rights ofpersons and OF
property, to prevent most efficiently the COM
mission Of crimes, and, in word, 10 nave the
highest moral effect, it ought TO be adopted
will now turn the attention OF the commit
tee to the moral effect Of the Penltentiary sys-
tens for, after ALL it is its superiority IN lhls res
pect, which gives it the decided preference. IL
is on this ground stand here its earnest adyo-
cate. 1t is because am convinced that Its mid
and rational system of penalties renders the ad-
ministration of the penal justice OF the country
certain and pure, bv preventing courts and Ju-
ries from sacrificing their integrity on the altar
of humanity; because it tends, if any thing can
tend, to reform the morals and habits Of the
criminal; and because it relieves society from
the pain and degradation Of Witnessing the in
Fiction of set Of cruel and bloody punishments,
al war with the best feelings of the human heart,
and with the spirit of this enlightened age, that
urge the adoption of it in the present bill.
Before proceed to lay before the Committee
the argument on this most interesting part OF
the subject, il will be necessary for me to give
a brief sketch of the history Of the criminal
law of Pennsylvania The principles of the
Penitentiary system were introduced into the
law of Pennsylvania at a period coeval with the
existence of its colonial government. In the
laws agreed upon in England between the pro-
prielor and the first settlers, it is provided "that
all prisons shall be warehouses for felons, vag
rants, and loose and idle persons, whereof one
shall be in every county" The Legislature,
after the establishment Of the CO.
lony, under the auspices of its enlightened foun-
der, proceeded to enact system of penal law,
by which treason, burglary, arson, rape, and
other great offences, for which thousands had
suffered death in Great Britain, were declared
10 be no longer capital. The crime Of wllful
and premeditaed murder was the only one pu-
nished-with death; and the Legislature seemed
to have retained that punishment for that crime,
not because they were convinced OF its polit-
Cal necessity, but because they supposed it was
enjoined upon them by the law OF God. This
mild system was continued by re-enactment,
from time to time, till its beneficial effects be-
came apparent 1t was then made perpetual,
Enolapl IN racaiya the Rnyal nc
sent. 1t stood in opposition to the policy OF
the mother country, and was rejected by the
Queen in council The Legislature, however,
pei sisted in its benevolent design, and imme-
diately re-en act it, and continued it in force
till l7lS.
About this time a contest arose between the
crown and the colony. The Quakers were
threatened that, if the criminal code OF Eng
and was not adopted in the colony, the act Of
LIST Geo |. prohibiting an affirmation in cases
IF qualification to Office and to i've evidence in
criminal causes, should be extended to the CO.
ony. Disputes arose between the colonial Le-
,i,iature and the Governor, which gave occa-
sion 10 charge the colony with disaffection, and
% widen the breach between it and the mother
country. The declining health Of the Proprie-
or deprived it of his influence, and threatened
i with surrender of the government into the
hands of the crown, and it was finally forced to
Yield To compose these differences, the act
IF I7Is was passed, and the inhuman code OF
England, with its 60 felonies OF death, was a
lop,ed This system continued 10 stain the
statute book with blood for period OF sixty
Eight years, till 1886, when the Revolution had
accomplished our emancipation. There is no
historical record which shows very conclusive
v what had been the effect Of the system prior
% 1918, but the firm resolution with which the
legislature adhered to it, shows that they, who
had the best opportunity Of Judging, were con-
,inced Of It's excellence. In 1886, the crimes
IF robbery, burglary, and the crime against ma
lure, ceased to be capital, and system Of pun
shment by hard labor in public, on the streets
and highways, was adopted. In 1870, the pen
tentiary system was introduced, on nearly the
same principles on which it now stands, and in
1894, the many cruelties of the code OF l7lS
we're finally abolished, and the present one COM
menced, by which the penalty Of Death is in
alcted on no crime but murder of the first de-
gree.
have been able to collect accurate materials
rom which to exhibit to the committee COM
oarative view Of the opera ion of these several
systems, from l779 TO 1918, a period OF thlr-
whine years. The crimes 20 which will turn
The attention of'the committee are, murder,
.obberv rane burglary crime against nature