The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-04-03
CORRECTIVE TREATMENT OF GRIM
INALS,

'AtA ANAaAttA No MNAN ANAAFAANEA 10 nave "a
bearing in a general way upon a most
unfortunate, as well as a most danger
Gus class of people, our critics have in
sisted that we designed to make special
application Of theory to certain cases.
To be understood by those who were
determinedly blind Was out Of the ques-
ton, so We preferred 10 let the matter
rest temporarily rather than engender a
strife Of words by insisting upon the
truth. We shall now surely not be ac-
cused Of allowing a misplaced sympathy
for the men who were recently executed
in this city to blind our sense Of tnstice,
nor he dubbed n ''palpilator" and read
out Of the best element" for giving
some OF the facts upon which our prin-
ciples against capital punishment Is
grounded. Not that we stand in any
great awe Of these Misrepresentation
but for the sake of future effect il Is
sometimes prudent for truth 10 stand
| temporarily with her finger upon hel
I lips-bidiug her time. That criminals
are for the most part born is fact 50
patent that no though tful, well-informed
person disputes IT, That punish
meut should have for its OBJ
ject the reformation Of the in-
dividual as well ss the protection Of So
ciety is acknowledged. Yet the punish
ment Of criminals proceeds almost uni
versally as though 10 such thing as ref
Ormation were desirable, not to say pos
sible. DR. :. B. Britain, in a work pub
lished some ten or fifteen years since,
discourses so logically and yet so hu-
namely upon these matters that we give
/ in his language some thoughts that
have, often in intangible shape, i'm
pressed the minds Of humani,arians who
see crime as a rank crop Of abuses gar
nered from the seeds of evil that ignO-
rance with unsparing hand has been
sowing broadcast throughout the ages.
Physical blindness" said he, sis a
great misfortune, and those who suffer
from this disability are very properly
sent to some asylum 10 receive polite
education, but moral blindness is re-
garded as a crime for which the poor
victim may be very justly sent to pris-
on here and to hell hereafter. The deaf
dumb and blind, as well as idiots and in
sane people, are all kindly cared for; but
il one be morally incomplete, or some
terrible, malady has its origin in the
very rudimenls Of his moral nature, he
is savagely treated even by professed
ministers ofjustice. Even in this model
republic, the high places OF authority
and responsibility are often occupied by
petty despots and licensed criminals
who sit in Judgment on their fellows OF
break their uecks on the scadold before
vulgar crowds. In the insulted name Of
Jesus, who came "not to destroy mems
lives but to save them" some professed
minister OF his gospel pronounces a ben
ediction, thus ending the horrid tragedy
Well may
Earth be sick and heaven weary
OF the heartiess words that States and
Kingdoms utter
When they talk of jus;ice.n
Punishments, 10 be salutary in
their influence, must be benevolen,
in their design and Of such nature as n
Increase the moral strength Of the SUBJ
ject. The legitimate object Of govern
ment aud the true dignity Of man should
in all cases be kept in view. Even those
who TO all appearances willfully seek
and cousummate their own ruin do not
thereby forfeit all claim to human SYM
pathy. We would watch over man
who, once sound and vigorous, had lost
his health by imprudent exposure, with
Tenderness and sympathy that would
abate nothing by the causes that in
duced bis Illness. To be morally way
ward is Of all other misfortunes most
greatly to be deplored. Before passing
irrevocable judgment upon a brother
fallen by the wayside, or framing laws
or imposing penalties that speak loudly
Of revenge and cruelty, bot whisper not
Of reformation or mercy, it is surely
meet for law-givers to consider this
question: "Who maketh thee to differ
from another, and what hast thou that
thou didst not receiver"