Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1843-09-20

cndnc0, Caused Inc love Oh human
heart to be its ruin, and changed tender
ness into sensuality and crime these
men live in the ceiIed houses Of Broad,
4 way. and .sitin council in the City Hall
J and pass regulations toclear the streets
they have filled with sin. And do you
| suppose their poor victims do not feel the
injustice of society thus regulated
/ Think you they respect the tatos? VII
cious they are, and they may be both
| Ignorant and foolish; but, nevertheless
they are too wise to respect such laws
Their whole being cries out that it is a
mockery; all their experience proves
that society is game of chance, where
the cunning slip through, and the strong
leap over The criminal feels this, even
when incapable of reasoning upon it,:
The laws do not secure his reverence,
because. he sees that their operation is
unjust. The secrets of prisons, so far
as they are revealed, all tend to show
that the prevailing feeling of criminals,
Of all grades, is that they are arranged.
What we call Justice, they regard as an
unlucky chance; and whosever looks
calmly and wisely into the foundations
on which s. ciety rolls and tumbles, CT
cannot say on which it rests, for its foun-
dations heave like the sea- will perceive
that they are victims ofchance.
For instance, every thing in school
books, social remarks. domestic conversa-
lion. literature, public festivals, legislative
proceedings, and popular .honors. all teach
the young soul that 1t is noble TO retalale.
mean to forgive an Insult, and unmanly
DOL to resent wrong. Animal instincts,
instead of being brought ito subsection to
the higher powers of the soul, are thus
cherished into more THAI. natural activity.
OF three men thus educated, one enters
the army, kills hundred Indians, hangs
their scalps on tree, is made malor-gen-
eral, and considered fitting candidate for
the presidency. The second goes to the
Southwest TO reside /: some roarer" calls
him rascal - phrase not misdpplied
perhaps, but necessary to be resented he
agrees 10 settle the question of honor al
ten PAGES, shoots his lnsu ter ,hrough The
heart, and is hailed by society as brave
man. The third lives in New ork; a
man enters his Office, and, true or untrue,
calls him knave. He fights. kills his
adversary, is tried by The laws of The land,
and hung. These three men INDUCED the
same passion, acted from the same motive,
and illustrated the same education; YET
how different their fate aE ....e=.a.
With regard to dishonesty. too - the
maxlms Of trade, the customs of society.
and the general unredecling tone of pub
lie conversation, all tend TO promote IT,
The man who has made "good bargains
is wealthy and honored; yet the details of
those bargains few would dare to pro-
nounce good. Oftwo youog men nurtur-
ed under such influences, one becomes a
successful merchant; five thousand dollars
are borrowed of him, he takes mortgage
on house worth twenty thous md dollars;
IN the absence of the owner, when sales
are very dull, be offers the house for sale
10 pay his mortgage; he bids it in him.
self tor four thousand dollars, and after
wards persecutes and impressions his 6eb-
or for the remaining thousand. Society
calls him a shrewd business man, and pro.
nounces his dinners excellent The chance
is, he will be a ma gistrate before he dies
The other young man is unsuccessful !: his
necessities are great. he borrows sonic
money from his employers drawer, per-
haps resolving to restore The same; the
loss is discovered before he has chance
TO refund il; and society sends him TO
BlackwePs island, to hammer stone with
highway robbers. Society made both
those men thieves. but punished the one,
while she rewarded the other. That Grim.
mails so universally feel themselves viz
TINS OF injustice, is one strong proof that
it is true for impressions entirely with
out foundation are not apt to become uni |
versal. Ii Society does make lis own
criminals, Row shall she cease 10 do it !! |
1t can be done only by change in the
structure OF society, that will diminish the |
temptations 10 vice. and increase the en-
couragemen;s to virtue. If we can a5oI !
Ish porerty, we shall have taken the great
est step toward the abolition of crime, |
and this will be the final triumph of the /
gospel OF Christ. Diversities of gifts will I
doubtless always exlsl, for The law written
on spirit as well as matter, is infinite va.
rlety. But when the kingdom of God /
comes !" on earth, as it is in heaven" there
will not be found in any corner of it that
poverty which hardens the heart under
the severe pressure of physical suferipg,
and stultifes the intellect with toll far mere
animal wants. When puplic opinion re-
CARDS wealth as a means, and not as an end,
men will NO longer deem penilenliaries
a necessary evil, for society will then cease
to be great school for crime. In the
mean time, do penitentiaries and prisions
increase OF diminish the evils they are in
tended to remedy? The superintendent
at Blackwell told me. unasked, that ten
years experience had convinced him thai