Morning journal and courier., 1880-01-05
Intellect and Human Passions.
Judge BIydenburRh-Lectur on Crime k at LOOmls' Temple of Music--A Large
 and Interested Audience.

Judge BIydenburgh-Lecture on Crime l at LOOmls' Temple of Music--A Large |
 and Interested Audience.
 Mir. Levi N. Blydenburgh, ex-judge of the Court of Common Pleas, lectured on "Crime" at Loomis' Temple of Music last evening. The hall was packed Included in the assembly were many personal friends of the speaker. Preceding, music was given by Thomas orches-
 tra, following which the speaker was intro
 duced by MT. E. R. Whiting, president of the | society The lecturer began by promising
 that crime was to society what disease is to
 the body, and like disease it germinates unseen
 until complete development into some overt act possibly forces it's recognition by society, and directs attention to the need of remedy.
 Ever since the dead leaves of primeval forest
 first rustled beneath the tread of man, crime
 has stalked abroad over the earth, Crime
 from being almost unrecognized in the days
 before the dawn of civilization began to
 take on it's hideous aspect as mans knowledge I grew and extended. Man has learned in part,
 at least, the lesson that the field of virtue fur
 nishes the soil from which springs the fruit | of human joy, that vice is the harvest field of
 pain and sorrow. Truth is the sunlight of | the soil, and perfect adhesion universally to
 truth would make earth 8 paradise. The | Qafkn0SS or the age WQ6Q men paSSlOQS rHu | riot is succeeded by the light which emanates 1 from truth, and we turn from the dark pie | ture of savage violence to the brighter pie ture, unfolding and yet to unfold, when the | intellect becomes the dominant element of
 society. Mind and matter are the two great
 forces of nature which go to make up man, | which are antagonistic forces, each apparently
 striving to utilize it's power by influencing the
 race in an upward or downward road. Virtue finds it's champion in the intellectual tenden- cieS of men.
 Crime emanates from the material or ani- nal passions of the man. So, whether you
 bring to the discussion of this question the
 prejudices of the Christian or Materia1ist, the
 Mahommedan or the Buddhist, the Spiritualist
 or the Pagan, each must concede the
 fact that crime has it's root in the
 soil of the material, and gains no
 Society as yet has failed to define perfectly
 what constitutes criminal or crime, and so-
 ciety also has failed to give us 8 remedy for
 crime. The law of cause and effect. attrac-
 tion and repulsion, animal magnetism and he- , reditary endowment, all figure conspicuously ) in the origin, development and perpetuity of crime. q Until these great questions are venti-
 lated, until the torch of reason has thrown its
 rays upon these vital subjects and society and law have become revolutionized to harmonize ) with the scientific progress of the nineteenth century, crime must always prevail.
 The lecturer referred to the oft-repeated
 saying that we live in 8 progressive age.
 As we take retrospective view of Rome, of Athens, or of Egypt, how are we further ad- l Vanced in arts, in architecture Where are
 our Demosthenes, our Oimon, our Socrates, | or legion of sages and seers of the earlier . civilizations which in thought and intellect far surpassed our present generation. Yet , we can boast of many wonderful inventions and discoveries of the nineteenth century which, so far as authentic history has record ! A@ kl.~ tians, Athenians or Romans. It is mans , nature to gain. Individual accumulations, personal eggrandlZement, go to show that
 truth of the familiar quotation, 'The love oi t money is the root of all evil" However, al
 things have virtues. The love of gain is the | highest and most potent incentive to progress and civilization. The savage pursues his enc . l my, so does the civilized. Thousands of hon
 est toilers, perhaps not from choice, but , l through circumstances and conditions whicl ! compel, are engaged in the manufacture o l implements of war to sacrifice human blood all this in our boasted civilization. These ar' ! 1 used in countries in Europe, where 100, ,OO( , men live in luxury and idleness, and by ani
 through the agency of these implements O
 warfare keep in submission the millions O a serfs and peanuts. This is not right 2 something is wrong in society. Tn 2 Iaborer is worthy of his hire. Yet the civil
 zation of the nineteenth century does no !, | and has not the power to give it to him unti ! society become revolutionized. Injustice vii
 be served out to the weak and oppressed ant
 crime is the inevitable result. To-day a mal
 who violates law of society, frequently un e conscious of defying public policy, is caugh 5 in the meshes of the law and compelled to sub init to the treatment as the most rampan - criminal. Legislation is corrupt. We have to- 8 much legislation of an unwholesome charac ?. ter. Society demands 8 sitting process 7 In our common and statute law preserve tn " 1 good, the wise and just, and expunge the use less and the unwholesome. Make mankind a r near equal as their nature will permit. w v must live not for selfish ends but to promot . the general welfare of the human race. Su . perstition always has and probably always vii Q prevail, but let us tolerate each others whim
 and caprices, and strive to sustain truth at al n times until we as 8 race may reach the acm :. of human perfection. AS a wanderer amon U the monuments of the past, we stop and pon @ der at the sight of the stone where tn @ ancient Druid offered human sacrifice upo d the altar of his faith and in the name of re ligion committed crime. Amid the moor y of Norway the icy breath from the bosom c l. her crags and peaks whispers the legends c
 her ancient gods. Upon the steps of tn
 I Temple of Jupiter we remember the story c ' that supreme Joye of Rome who held tn e lightning in his hand, and upon the swolle L. current of the Nile that to-day as in days o a yore brings plenty to the land of Egypt "
 float along gazing at the silent Sphinx ther 6 to seek knowledge from their stony lips. Ye g we pass the shadow of the pyramids and tn = mind turns to the light Of the strugglin 5 living present. We commend humanity
 hope.