The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-01-17


His kindred, neighbors foes and friends
His pity may command
The sick, the prisoner deaf and blind
And all the sons of grief
In him a benefactor find;
He loves to give relief
Prayer was then made by the pastor, after which
the 34lst hymn was sung =
Hail. Love divine joys new;
While thy kind dictates pursue,
Our souls delighted share;
Too high for sordid minds to know,
Who on themselves alone bestOw
Their wishes and their care
The pastor introduced to the congregation Mr..
Spear who they aware, he said had long devoted
his time to the subject Of PRISONS and to procure
the abolition Of the death penalty. Our late Min
lister in London, Abbott Lawrence, had sent to
the Governor of Massachusetts a paper, inquring
into the criminal laws and statistics Of the United
States This had been referred to Mr.. Spear, who
was the person best acquainted with the subject. Mr.
Spear was then sent to England with the informa-
ton required and for the purpose of making nvesti
cations in regard to the criminal laws there The
pastor read the letter Of introduction which Mr.. s.
bore from the late Daniel Webster to Sir George
Grey and another from Mr. Everett to the Hon. Alb
lott Lawrence Mr.. Spear was now in position
to give such information as he had collected in
England. Mr.. S. then came forward, and prefaced
his discourse with the text: ~ sick and We visited
me; was in prison and ye came unto me-" How
solemn and how impressive were these words. Christ
did not forget long neglected class-the
prisoners has said, "inasmuch as We have
We have done it untome. They had herethe highest
divine authority and he might say referring to the let
ter read from MrWebster they had the highest human
authority. In his last conversation with that dis
tinguished man, he had told him, 'if my name is of
use to you in your labors, use it as you can" He
(Mr. S. had taken advantage Of two Of the modes
Of communicating his information namely, the
press and the pulpit. He could not get any writer
NJ 20 $A .nfo 81
punishment. Every person going abroad selects
some particular object Of travel. He (Mr. 81 had
gone not to visit the palaces Of Europe but the dun
geons. He was very kindly prepared for such
evening" had read the letters Of Mr. Webster and Mr.
Everett, and he had also read the questions sent
over by her Majesty government. He did not pur-
pose going into the abstract question OF capital pun
did feel very solemn, that there are five persons
in yonder prison. who, within twenty days, to be
brought out to the scaffold and executed-klled-
put to deathlmurdered, He was not against every
avoid two things-the wrath of God and the punish
ment ofman. Of the thirty-one States Of the Union,
none had abolished capital punishment except Michi
gan and Rhode Island 1t had been said that crime
increasing in Michigan but that was false and he had
the authority of the Secretary of State for saying
In Maine and Massachusetts the law is that no per-
son shall be hanged until year after the sentence is
passed. and not then except by the order Of the Go
New York, they would not send these five men to
the scaffold, for time is great softener The pill
grim fathers had sixteen crimes for which death
would be inflicted; they endeavored to copy Noses.
but Moses had no less than thirtyfOur capital
offences. He would remind them Of what Christ
said in the case of the poor woman caught in adu-
terry: "Let him." said Christ, .who Is without sin
among you cast the first stone at her." He wanted
that condition to be followed and let none those five
men be hanged until q man sfOund in New York who
has never committed crime. He thought it was w0r-
thy of remark that Prof. Webster, when in Europe
would 60 out without his breakfast to see man exc
Cuted. And what good effect had this upon him In
sixteen States the executions were private-none
admitted but invited guests. Heaven and earth
men hanged? If a man is converted and brought to
the Christian religion ought he then to be hanged?
And if he is uncovered, would they send his soul
70 endless torment He had free access to these five
prisoners they did not want to be stared at like wild
beasts but those who went to them through SYM
patty they were glad to receive. When he was going
TO England, Wendell Phillips asked him to take two
black girls to their father-a fugitive slave in Eng
land; but when he brought them down to the agent
of the steamboats, British one, too-he refused to
take them because they were black. The only alter
native to register them as his servants-a cir
cumstance which made some of the American jour
mails say that he couldn't go to England without pair
Of female However, he had the satisfaction
If placing the girls in the hands Of their father in
Liverpool His first course in London was to call on
the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, who was very courteous
to him. but told him he could do nothing to advance
his purpose since he was already furnished with the
letter Of Mr. Webster, which was quite sufficient for
his purpose. Sir George Grey wrote letter back to
Mr.. Webster, showing the friendly feeling existing
between them on the greatest of all subjects of
the proper treatment of criminals Sir George Grey
gave him some very valuable prison reports, which
he had bfought back with him. These reports COM
prised the best information that could possibly be
procured. They might ask what was the difference
between an English prison and an American one
The English prisons are enormous taxes connecticut
makes profit on her prisons, and almost
clears expenses. All they do now here, when the
term Of imprisonment is over, is to discharge the
convict and he cannot again get employment, and Is
driven back to the course OF crime again, until he
finds his way back to the State prison. They do not
do much for discharged convicts in England and they
do not do much here either. There is one exception
to this rule; there is one family in London-that of
Elizabeth Fry-which provides for discharged con-
victs. The santed mother is at rest where there
are no prisons, but her daughters continue her
labos Of love-God bless them for it, Mrs. Fry
labored twenty years to carry out the one dea-and
that was to place female turnkeys in charge OF
every prison Of England her plan is pursued. Is
there one woman here who labors at the one idea2
lsthere here who will go to see these five con-
victs2 Woman never looks so lovely as when
certain part in all reforms which cannot he accom-
plihed without her. They talk of womans rights
and privegesher rights and privileges are to visit
the cells and the orphans, and the sick and needy,
needed no convention for this. There is hardly
anything more interesting in London than
the ragged schools. From London he went
TO Paris, and there he found more difficulty.
In that city every thing is open except the prisons
lie told there that he would not be admitted into
the prisons, nor permitted to write anything on the
subject of capital punishment, as Victor Hugos son
was already sent to prison for that offence. But he
showed the letter of Daniel Webster, and next day
he received note that all the prisons of Paris were
open to him. In the womens prison there were