The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-01-27
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without seeing that plainly it Is impossioie
10 discard all idea OF physical punishment
with due regard to the security OF society
and the repression Of vice. 1t will not do TO
furnish criminals with luxurious board anu
entertain them with moral iloIni'lcs IN hopes
that they will be reformed. There must DC
some hardships ofservice, such rs honest lhen'
iaboring under the pupIlage OF that Stern
nurse of virtue, Adversely, have often to eA'
perience. There must be some OF tne p'i'a
tons and suferings that SAVIOR OF re'r'ou''on
TO teach transgrcssors the consequences VI
crime and to warn them against II. Even
Governor SEYMOUR made confession DAM
aging to his policy of pardonS. lie parooneo
man who had enjoyed the comforts OF
prison life, and he wrote him letter COM
nlaininc that be had turned him out to StarVe
and freeze.
That mild and genial corrective counter
irritation at the whipping.post the philan-
thropists never mentioned. Yet it Is one OF
the best preventiyes Of thievng known.
Two pickpockets were caught In this city
and put in the penltentiary. They con-
fessed that they had made the tour Of the
Gulf States and reached Virginia In their
Journey north, but stated that they commit
ted no crime in North Carolina. why
said the gentleman to whom they were con-
yersinc. "Decause," said the man speaking
for both. "she is id barbarous State,
"who still keeps up the whipping-post, and
"we could not run the risk Of being whip
sped. We preferred to 60 to the peniten-
"tiary." And yet they are talking in the
Virginia Legislature about abolishing 1t.
Better put it in full operation. 1t would
save great many from becoming criminals.
But let US proceed with brief sketch OF
the second days sitting Of the Prison Re-
form Society:
The subject contemporaries was introduced,
and provoked an incorporate debate, which
was checked by an admonition that time was
short.
A resolution in praise of the services of
EDWARD LIVINGSTONE, Of Louisiana, in re-
forming penal laws, was passed. A report
OF the Executive Committee, by Dr.. BEL
LOWS, was next introduced. After recount
ing the numerous causes Of crime and the
evils Of present systems, the report went on.
to speak of social life in its relations to
crime. 1t assumed that woman without
vanity was dangerous. If tho real motive
and instigaion Of the Irish girl to work and
accumulate her savings were taken from her
she would become good for nothing. Mems
natures cannot he developed without making
their wants imperative, The sympathy and
affection Of the sick-room was means OF re.
lief from disease. In hospitals, where they
arc absent, although every comfort is afford.
Ell, the mortality is even greater than in the
domestic circle, where poverty reigns. On this
ground the paper argued that the criminal.
seldom affected by hard treatment, often he
came Softened and repentant under kind
word.
MIR. POWELL, OF New York, did not like
the views Of the report about female vanity
and dress. What was more injurious to the
community than the vanity Of dress aud
costly dressing? He held up the prim md
modest Quakerrss as an example to be adj
mired. Women thus dressed they could
rely on as helpers in prison reform. He cited
case OF a hardened prisoner who was eX-
cited to tears by one OF these modest and
plain ladies giving him rose.
Governor SEYMOUR took the opposite side
from Mr.. POWELL. The good effects Of
female pride was great truth. He had seen
farmers wives and daughters returning from
| the city luXurlously dressed. The sight at
first dispeased him, but after thinking Of 1t
he became convinced that the vanity of those
girls adds beauty and vitality to our system.
You must keep alive IN men that better feel
ing if you would restrain them.
Governor SEYMOUR said that you must
| quicken the scnsibities OF prisoners. Whip
ping would do for that.) Our jails were filed
with men who seek them as places Of refuge,
and the Governor told the story above re-
cited.
Mr.. COATES expatiated on the misfortunes
of discharged criminals; objected to home
for them, where all would have the brand
upon their loreheads. He would Introduce
| q
was committed by prisoner he would not
punish him, but give him some good advice.
This speaker suggested no plan for carrying
out his gentle system.
After this, intemperance as the cause of
crime again occupied the attention of the
speakers. Mr. PEARcE, Of Massachusetts,
and Mr.. COATES, admitted that intemperance
was not the only cause of crime; but tie
latter said that few criminals would have
been in prison but for intemperance. Mr..
Coates made lofty appeal to every member
Of the association to drink no more liquor
''if he respects the magua charter of our
"country, and has regard for mans life,
liberty, and happiness" Pretty good
Mr.. VAUx protested against naming intem-
perance as a crime. He did not look on itas
the primary cause of crime. The forger, the
burglar, and the murderer commit their
crimes rarely under the influence of liquor.
Education produces many criminals, but was
education crime?
Judge WALKER took q similar view, and
thought members Of Congress would say
from what they knew that drunkenness was
not per Sc cause Of crime. Good hit. |
Avarice and ambition do the thing there!
AS sample of positive contradiction In |
the body, one gentleman said there were few !
inebriates In the Pennsylvania penitcntiary. |
Another said three-fourths of them were
6runkaria