46 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



which would have damned us just as certainly as they 

 damned them* They are the unfortunate creatures of 

 circumstances — circumstances over which they have had 

 no control* Moreover, it is well that we more fortunate 

 members of society should remember that we also are 

 creatures of circumstances, and that whatever measure 

 of salvation we have attained is due to circumstances 

 over which we also have had no control* What these, 

 our less fortunate brothers, need, is not punishment, but 

 education* The Light Within is not extinguished* It 

 is only dimmed; and love may kindle it into a flame 

 far brighter than our own* 



Before William Tuke founded York Retreat for the 

 Insane, which took place towards the close of the 

 eighteenth century, the treatment of lunatics was con- 

 ducted on precisely the same lines as is the treatment 

 of criminals to-day* The protection of society was the 

 only thing thought about, whilst the welfare of the 

 lunatic was absolutely ignored* Punishments were 

 then the order of the day for lunatics, just as they are 

 now for criminals* We look back upon those days as 

 days of barbarism, and we think of those who treated 

 the lunatics of those days as being but little saner than the 

 lunatics themselves* The only thing we think of now 

 in the treatment of lunatics is their recovery ; or, if 

 that be impossible, the amelioration of their unhappy 

 lot* And the consequence is that society is far better 

 protected under the new regime than it was under the 

 old* Now the lunatic and the criminal are first cousins, 

 and I say, without the shadow of a doubt, that when the 

 object of our criminal law is the well-being of the 

 criminal, society will be far better protected than is at 

 present the case* Future generations will look back 

 upon our treatment of criminals much as we look back 

 upon the treatment of lunatics by our forefathers* 



Then again the Early Friends stood very firmly for 



