New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-07-01

make the experiment But whether made
now or not, that it VII be made cannot be
doubted all history attests the certainty OF
such change.
In the younger and grosser times crini-
nal was regarded as absolutely nothing else
than a criminal, on whom vengeance was to De
wrought with implacable dispatch. His Of
Tense put him beyond the pale of mans sym
PATTY. ana. till Christianity, beyond that OF
Gods forgiveness. But now the world
has learned better, and he is regarded as not
altogether inhuman and devilish. To the
object Of punishment new and momentous
addition is made 1t is that Society not
merely aims at It's own protection, but at
the reform of It's assailant. 1t has not
merely wrong 10 wreak. but duty to
perform. This is great truth established.
and bears within it the germs of others still
greater.
For why is it that no offender can 50 far
extrude himself from Society. or SO wick
edly violate all its order and all the rights
of his fellow men as To release the latter
from every obligation toward hun, and to
authorize them to seize and hustle him
of existence like venomous reptile ? 1t
is because. after all his crimes, there still
remains between him and them something
that crime nor aught else can touch; name
" the relation of humanity. 1t is be-
cause he, criminal and they, crimeless, are
essentially and vltally the same. and be-
cause that essence and vitality has been
only covered up, not destroyed nor tar
nished by his faults And finally, it is be-
cause they recognize that the responsible
itv of those faults belongs not to him alone,
but to them also-in short, to Society,
which has had him under its Institutions.
and, by long and complicated series of III
nuences, has made him what he Is, having
perverted and imposed upon his original
dispositions those vicious tendencies and
impulses which occasion has developed into
crime.
We do not deny that there have been
characters of so perverse Kind that crime
seemed as natural to them as breathing or
seeing. But in those cases it could as little
be called crime as could the acts of luna
tie. 1t was merely the symptom of NAL
adv. We have heard of a lady otherwise
possessed of excellent and exemplary
qualities, who never entered a mllliner's OF
jewellers shop without an irresistible I'M
pulse to fitch something. There was no
malice nor evil in the deed, and its only APP
proprlate punishment would be to subject
her to the treatment of a physician, could
one competent be found. AS 1t was, the
traders, knowing her iniirmity, found their
account in letting her take as much Is pos
sible, and sending the bill to her husband.
But in instances of sudden crime, COM
mtted by parties who had before given no
reason to expect it, we should by no means
be quick to contradict those modern think
ers who find the motive of the act either IN
ignorance or in the action Of immature and
deficient social institutions. Take the case
of DR.. Webster for iustance-a weak, pas
sionate man, of cxtravagant habits and
much personal vanity, out of money and pur-
sued by relentless creditor. Now 1t Is
not an exaggeration to say that, in truly
iratcrna order of things, such man could
never be placed in condition where his
peculiar moral and mental constitution would
be brought into a crisis so terrible and fatal.
Had Society been right, his develop
ment and life would all have been
To usefulness, independence and honor. So
too in the case of Count Bocarme now on
trial in Belgium for numbering his brother
in-law. The murderer in his childhood was
unidentified and unhappy his youth was
little else than series OF mlsiortunes.-
When ne reached manhood. his health be-
ING partially restored, his mother contracted
marriage for him. His hitherto dormant
mind manifested taste for chemistry, and
he studied and experimental with ruinous
passion For his children he had the ten
derest attachment. Having spent his own
fortune he counted on their inheriting that
Of his brother-in-law, cripple The latter
suddenly determines to marry Thus the
children Will lose the fortune. To avert
this the father poisons It's owner under CIR
cumstanCes of mysterious atrociiy.
Now We do net need 10 say that we feel for
this crime all the aversion with which such
a spectacle can be contemplated. We assent