Middletown transcript., 1875-05-22
Letter From New Castle.

DEAR TRANscR1pT-The act Of ths
late Legislature which heightened tht
term Of the Criminal Court week. BY
postponing the opening Of the Civi
Court till the second Monday Of the
general term-gives SO much more time
than is necessary to accomplish the
work Of trying the cases Of crime
docketed for this spring session, that
two days of last. and four Of this week,
the Court has not been engaged-this,
too, notwithstanding the 'great in
crease Of crime" in New Castle county
Chadwick's case, will not. it seems,
be tried this spring, and, for want Of
business, Courts were adjourned Tues
day afternoon. until next Monday
The Wilmington incendiary cases
seemed to have excited greater interest
than anything which has transpired 50
far. Murder even hardly involves
greater diabolism on the part Of the
perpetrator than arson; and the fire.
quency with which incendiary fires oc-
cured in Wilmington last winter, was
truly appalling. The arres. Of Moore,
England and Titus put stop to them,
and it is to be hoped that the extreme
penalty imposed by the Court, upon
the convicted offender Titus, will oper-
ate to deter the rest Of that gang. and
any other scoundrels who may be in
clined to .'light up stables or other
buildings, from the commission Of the
great crime.
Can any reader Of the testimony in
those cases, fail to be struck with the
absence Of restraint upon the youth Of
Wilmington ? And the same is doubt
less true of other cities and towns.
And with this and other evidence of
the independence Of home and family
government. on the part Of our boys,
can any one feel surprised at the retro
gression Of society in manners and
morals, and the consequent, fearful ia
crease Of crime? The increasing cor
ruption Of our people is the natural and
inevitable out-growth of defective and
bad family government. If children
are not trained to admire and love what
is honorable and fare; if they are not
instructed to loathe what is mean and
vicious, how can they be expected to
make honest and honorable men, and
modest and virtuous women? Laws
cannot do it: punishment never will,
alone, effect the desired result. Force
Of any, or all kinds applied externally,
must fail to produce the results needed
There must be power aoithin-an
internal suggestion '-co-operating
with external influences, the failure is
inevitable Education, moral, social
and intellectual, that is the lever, and
the only one, that can move this world.
Plant in the mind and heart principles
and maotives to do right, and righteous
actions will as surely be seen, as that
the earth's surface is illumined by the
light Of the sun. .Placard the Ten
Commandments on every tree in Africa.
and send there all your judges and
juries, with their sheriffs, scaffolds, pill
lories and whipping posts, and when
yeu have whipped, pilloried and hung
the last man in the country. he will
have been savage to the end But
drive into their thick sculls and stupid
minds, by persistent, kindly instruction,
the fact that God made them; and
teach them what they are capable Of be-
coming. what, as men, they may, and
you begin to mould into shape an hon.
orable man, even Christian gentle
man and in the course Of ages, you
may, by education, have wrought
miracle-you will have converted tribes
Of savages into enlightened, Christian
beings On the contrary, neglect the
moral and mental culture of children
suffer generation after generation to
grow up in ignorance, idleness and vice,
and you will end in having converted
Jordan into desert-in having turned
civilized nation into barbarians. That
our society is retrograding-that bad
manners, corrupt morals aud consequent
crimes, are on the increase, who can
successfully deny? In the name Of
purity and holiness, let us examine this
matter. and see what we are becoming,
and whittier drifting
MORE ANON.
New Castle, Del, May Goth, 1875.