The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1854-07-21

| NibothC VI l0UOEduCt dtu QtSlllHtiOi1s
bat rather the fatal possession of al-the learn
ed and afiiuent--the ignorant and debased 1t
is the moral disease Of our common humanitv
the great fountain from whence flow the tlrbid
streams of sorrow and crime, which corrupt So
ciety. For this moral disease, we must point
10 the remedial inhuenerS of pure religion
We know of no other complete and eificacious
remedy. Human philosophy, il is true, has, in
different ages, attempted the task; but its plans
have ever proved chimerica and abortivp.-
Leaving for the present the consideration Of
such instrumentaities for the prevention or sup
SUPPRESSION of crime as belong appropriately TO
the Christian philanthropst, let us take hasty
glance at those which legislators have employ
ed.
The history of criminal jurisprudence es-
tabllshes the fact that, until the latter part of
the last century, neither mercy for the offender,
nor measures of any description for his relorma-
ton, formed part the penal codes of Europe,
or of those OF the American colonies. The spirit
of ofvengeance pervaded them. Were il discover
ed that given species of offence or crime was
on the increase, laws more sanguinary We're at
once adopted. Ifthe whipping post, the tread
mill, the dungeon, and banishment seemed 10
have lost their terrorS, the Scailod was SubSi-
tuted, and culprits Were swept bv scores from
The face Of the earth But little, if any diScfimi-
nation made between offences resulting
from ignorance and misguided destitution, and
crimes committed by the hardened and desperate
villain. An offence of wayWard youth, which
at this day: and in our country, would consign
the Juvenile perpetrator to a House Of Refuge or
Rrtormaory School, at the time would have
been punished by a cruel corporal inhlction, or
Punishment, if not by death. But with all this
severity crime increased The offender appear
ed to feel pride, If not sense of resentment,
in deiying the vengeance Of the law.
This excessive severity of the penal code,
however, has happily been mtigated in most
Of the countries OF Christendom. The dungeon
and the scatloid have 10 some extent given way
TO mlIder and more uSt forms of punishment
And systems have been adopted, having in view
the reformation Of the offender. This is especial
ly the case in our own favored land.
But our attention is called TO the particular
occasion of this meeting, TO the House Of Re
tuge. CT the many agencies devised br the
wise, the patriotic, and the humane, for the pro-
lection of society, the prevention of crime, and
the relefot the unfortunate, there is none which
more forcibiy commpndS itself to our admi-
ration and support For myself, | must be
permitted to say, can scarcely find language
to express The delight and confidence which a
somewhat minute examination into It's design
and practical operation has excited in my mind.
| can sincerely declare, in the language Of the
late De WITT CLINTON, "that ! regard it as
one of the very best institutions that has ever
been devised by the wit or established by the
beneficence OF man. to accomplish the end de-
signed.
1t is now more than quarter of a century
since the attention ofth founders ofthS inst-
tuition was drawn 70 the urgent wants of a
helpless and diSgraced class of your population,
for whose relief and reclamation the law and
the institutions of the country seemed to pro-
vide no adequate means. At that time, as we'll
as now, your city and the surrounding country
contained a community of idle and yagrant
youth; often parentleSS and homeless, without
education or moral training; aud whose nevta-
ole destiny seemed TO be career of ignorance,
of vice and crime, ending in imprisonment and
perpetual disgrace. In the Judgment Of these
good and right-thinking men, the chilling and
hopeless iniamy fthe prison was a cruel aud
unWise punishment for this helpless and ire
SponSble class of offenders. They established
the House of Refuge, for the reiefand relorma-
ton of these unfortunate creatures. The very
name is suggestive! A REFUGE A retreat
from the haleiul influence of older associates
matured in vice and crime; from the haunis of
ignorance, of drunkenness, and deStitution And
how happily ii combines the ends OF justice and
mercy. 1t vindicates the law, protects society,
and yet adapts itself to the wants of The often
der, and if possibr bestows the richest blessings
upon him. by eradcating from his mind the
seeds OF vice, and implantIng therein the les
sons OF religion and morality
The leading object of your admiral institution
is the moral and intellectual reformation OF iu-
venIle offenders and in the efforts 10 accom-
pliSh this work, If is wisely assumed that, even
| under the most iorbdding circumstances, there
is still redeeming quality in human nature,
especially with the young. ''lt is" says an able
writer on the subject, EEdeSigned 10 take cogni-
zance OF CRIME in IFS embryo state, and redeem
from ruin, and send forth for usefulness, those
depravrd and unfortunate youth who are some
times in a derelct state, sometimes without sub
! ssteGce, and at all times without friends 10 guide
them in the paths of fvirtue." OF the wisdom
and utility OF its general design it were scarcely
| necessary to speak lis good works are too obyl
Gus and manifold TO leave room for doubt or spec
uiatlon. 1t is not only by the direct blessings
| it bestows on those who become lis inmates,
that its suerits are 10 be measured. It's mission
| is not only to stand between the Criminal Court
and the Prison, and claim the juvenile delin-
! quents, with the view to their reformation: but
IFS spirit goes abroad into the streets and alleys,
and breaks up the evil associations of the idle
and vicious 1t relieves the helpless, and per-
| haps criminal parent, from the care and charge
of refractory child. 1t gathers from the haunts
of vice and wckedness the il-disposed and er-