New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-01-17


our late lamented Governor on his political death
bed, together with the case of Huntington here Of
Tuckeiman in Boston and OfvariOus other interesting
feOns all the country cannot but attract the at
tenton Of all thinking men with new force to the sub
ject Of the proper treatment of criminals. IL is the
hardest Of all problems TO solve satisfactorily; but
it is also the most important of all to the peace and
safety of our daily walks and nightly sumbers a
foreign invasion comes along but once in a very
great While, and there will never be any lack Of
scierce skill and resources, material and personal,
for giving good account Of one, should it come our
way. 1t is the domestic army Of enemies, whom
we pass daily in Broadway without knowing them,
aud by whom We are in nightly danger of being
knocked on the head 10 the street, murdered in
our beds, not to mention the minor methods Of
their warfare-burglary, arson, pocket picking,
forgery, panel.thieviDg, and policejusticiDg, BY
which they lay US, their natural foes, under con-
trbuton-t is these, We say that endaDger tina,
sweet sense Of security and comfort which it is the
business of civil government to secure to all its
members. And it is one of the most promising
signs of advancing civilization that thi, subject.
commanding the observation and the reflection of
many of the best minds Of America and Europe,
and we may hope that their readings atCer some
thing better will end happily in finding tor d.
least in approximating toward it. As the reading
of this social riddle must be the average result of
many and divers mental forces bestowed upon it,
we will make bold to speculate little about il our
selves
AID here we beg the more tender footed Of our
readers to observe that We do not propose going to
the root of the matter and considering the question
Of the reconstruction of Society. We shall strictly
eonfne ourselves to that of the reconstruction of
our Peniteniary system. Without entering, then,
into the consideration of capital punishment, we
shall assume that in the present state of the world,
that penalty cannot be relied upon for the
eIcision of all the offending members of the body
corporate. In Bluff King Halls days, they hanged
70,0C0 year, and still there were mighty remnants
left That ultimate argument can only be applied
in a few Of the EXTREMIST clses at the most, 10
these coster mODger times. The secondary punish
ment of the separation of the convicted class from
society-either by their Punishment 10 penal colo
MES or by their seclusiOn within penal walls-mus.
be the main resource still for dealing with these
troublesome subjects by civilized and Christian
tiors. And we are happy 10 know that, in proper.
ton as the duty of the honest classes TO the dis
honest as fellow men if miserable Sinners has been
understood and acted upon, has the number and
the enOrmiy Of crimes diminished. Even in En-.
gland, for all the present Outcry abOu! ticket of.
leave men and the penic that prevails as to burgla-
RES and other high oftnses, the number Of such
crimes is very much less than It Was fifty years ago.
when there was but half the population. The
chronic habit Of highway robbery has been long
broken up, and such adventures no longer make
regular topic Of breakfast table gossip as they did
il Horace Walpoe'S day. Ladies of quality now
a.days do no. need the pIecaution of carrying
purse of bad guiness for the gentlemen of the road
one of his visitors used TO do. And so it is in
TIL, country. Any one doubling the truth of tbs
assertion nay soon satisfy himself by turning to
the Annual Register for England and TO almost any
file Of old newspaper. for America
These beneficial results, to tie limited extent in
which they exist are due toa recognition of the pos
sibi Of the reformation as well as of the justice
Of the punishment of civil offenders. This idea has in
some degree, though very imper:ecty as yet any
where entered into al the modern attempts a. the
Improvement Of Prison Discipline. II should be
made the primary and peryading one. The doc
trines which Pope Clement N. inscribed on the
walls tf the room in the Hospital Of San Michele
at Rene devoted to young criminals that
il was fl IS the instruction and correction Of
lest Jou,hs so that they who had erred
"uight be taught to become good members
OF The State" should be writtea over every
P..ss5-t cor n Cb.si.sn lsD5s. And so should the