The North-Carolina standard., 1845-10-08
For The North. Carolina Standard
North Carolina Penitentiary.

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AUGUST elections on the affirmative SIDE OF inns
oncstion II is a maxim as well established ana
ne ,nive lIv admitted 10 be true as perhaps any
other not susceptible Of mathematical demonstra-
tic n that tho effectiveness OF punIshments Pt"scflo
ed for the prevention of crime depends much more
ON the certainly Of nfcton than on their severity.
evil practice by Immediately and invariably 1ntlIct
Man or beast NAV quickly be broken from any
mo moderate punishment for ecery ytransgressIon-
Bn, if il is only oceasioaly punished andat other
Times allowed 10 90 unpunish"d, the utmost sever
itv will prove Intellectual How many thousands
of what we call rational beings, do we see XIII
themselves with spirituous liquors every year
Is not this mainly owing to the fact that some men
lead life of habitual intoxicatIon Tor scores OF
years. and vet enjoy good health, living to good
old aoe2 We should have very few drunkards
among us if it were known that habltual Intemper-
ance would produce death with absolute certainty
in a year. or five years, or even IN ten years.
Whip a dog every time ne enters your ParIoi OF
kitchen and you will soon be unable to coax hlm
to put his nose inside the door. But fhe is some
times allowed to lie by the fire and sometimes
severely lashcd he will take ten thousand stri pcs,
and be house dog in spite ofthem. 1t is notorl-
Gus that throughout this country and perhaps the
civilized world, there is growing opposition to
the nfiction of the punishment of DEATH and II ls
equally notorious that this feeling causes great
many criminals who are known 10 deserve some
punishment for their crimes. to escape punishment
altogether, or at least TO suffer that which ls alto
gcther inadequate At the last Superior Court in
the County in which the writer resides free
black was arragnfd and tried for carrying fe-
male slave TO the North, so that she is lost to her
owner So far rs have converscd with the citl-
zrns ofour County, not one doubts or doubted his
guilt Yet he was acquitted. Some of the jury
are said to have been for hanging; but feeling per-
Ilaps that this punishment was little too severe
IL. lJoIF H. IL Of
had Pcnentiary this offender would no doubt
have now been an inmate oft His acqnlltnl, so
far as am informed, is universally looked upon
as likely to lcadto very mischievous consequences
There were at the same time several other free |
negroes confined in Jail under the charge OF break
ing open a store and robbing it of large sum OF
money Ofthrse some confessed their guilt, and
took the lash, rather than remain in Jail until the
next term The others are still confined and at |
the worst can, but take the lash too. Now put
it TO every grown man in North Carolina to say
whether he docs not know free negroes who
would be willing to take Ihirty-ninc Iashes certain,
upon being allowed to break into any house where
there was a considerable sum Of money, and pos |
sess themselves Off, withoLt farther punishment
Add the chance of free escape to the inadequate |
ness OF the punishment, and how vain is the law
for one would cheerfully pay my share Of the |
tax necessary for building pcnltentlary, II none
but free negroes were TO BE- confined IN it. should
consider il money we'll laid out How often docs |
it happen in our State, that men guilty of unlnstl-
fable homicide and even murder, escape with
punishment merely nominal, (somctimrs they es-
cape even that,) in consequence of the unwilling
ness of juries TO bring them to the galows
risk but little in saving that there Is scarcely i
man in our State but that would cheerlully bear |
his portion of the burden OF building penitenta-
Ty, if he could thereby get rid OF some one
particular mischicvous character in his vicinity. !
AS our law at present stands there is but little
couragernent held out 10 induce honest people TO |
catch and have the rogues convicted. have an
unprinciPIcd, mischicFous, thievish neighbor who
trades with my negroes, lets down my fences, and
turns his stock into my cornfcld, steals my lambs
and pigs &c. What shall gain BY having him
convicted in our courts2 Conscience will not al
low me TO have his life taken account Of lit
tie pelf; and if have him whipped, what do or
the community gain bv it2 The convict who has !
suffered this ignomiaious punishment, is only |
thereby rendered more reckless and mischievous. |
live had a penitentiary where he could be kept |
at work and out of the way of doing mischief for !
five or ten years, then there would be Il strong
motive for me to have him caught in his villainy
ard convicted
There is one argument against the establish
ment of pcnitentiary which l have been NOR
titled at seeing admitted into the Standard, al
though in the shape of extract from another |
newspaper. Iallude to the objection that the me-
ehanical labors Of the convicts in a penitentiary
would injure the business of honest mechanics |
ont of it. 1 have, Mr. Editor, too high an opinion
the correctness ofyour principles and the sound
ness of your understanding to believe for moment
that this extract could have been admitted into
your paper otherwise than By inadvcrtcnce
was not surprised TO it in the Richmond Wing,
because had seen many banllings of the same
family and hue in the same sy on previous oc-
easions: but really it is too dirty for the North
Carolina Standard l know nothing of the stand
ing of the Georgia paper from which the extract
IN the Standard was taken, but feel confident it can
not be very high. And what is this mighty ar
gumcnt forsooth which is to induce the inteli-
gent citizens Of our State to vote down the pcnilen
tary project7 Hear it, people of North Carolina
weigh 1t we'll; look at ii; mark It, A bad man,
coHUlcted Aief. a rGniSAer, mdn-kifter must
be kept IN Jail and feI in idLeness al Tie public
expense, must be aohipped and turned loose, brhn-
ded and turned loose, mus! be hung; but for The
sake ct the public morals and The common good
don't, don't, DON'T let him loork; If you let hin,
1cOrk honest folks a1M be tArO1cn oui of enrploa-
ment and sIGrve. The world for some hundreds
of years has been quarreling about The real invcn-
tor of the art of printing ands yet dsputing about
the true inventor Of the steam engine Away
with such patry squabbles Here is a subject
worthy Of your researches, worthy of the ablest
pens The mists Of time are hourly enshroudino
the past in dark obscurity. Hasten then, ye mon
OF genius ye gaslig ofthe world TO rescue from
-oS,h kn., l.