MILITIA SYSTEM. 63 



penal laws of the State. The committee appomted by Gover- 

 nor Lumpkin were, William Schley, Joseph H. Lumpkin, and 

 John A. Cuthbert; all gentlemen of eminent legal attainments. 

 They reported to the Legislature of 1^33, and that report is the 

 existing code of penal laws, with some modifications and amend- 

 ments. This system has been in operation since 1834 ; and 

 although the test of fifteen years has pointed out defects, expe- 

 rience has suggested no better mode of administering the cri- 

 minal justice of the State. Some of its penalties are severe — 

 necessarily so — but not more so than is demanded by the safety 

 of the State and the security of its citizens. None of its pro- 

 visions are sanguinary and cruel ; and while they may be ob- 

 jectionable to that sort of fanaticism which would abolish all 

 capital punishments, they accord with the principles of justice 

 and come up to the enlightened humanity of the age. Its sanc- 

 tions are not in a temper of w^anton cruelty, but of conservative 

 and reforming equity. It has dispensed with the hideous re- 

 lics of barbarism — the mutilating knife, the brand and the 

 post, the pillory and the scourge. There are thirteen crimes 

 which, according to the penal code, are punished capitally. 



There are, no doubt, defects in the code which experience 

 will suggest and which time will reform. The experience of 

 every year has resulted in improvements in the discipline of 

 the State prison. It has, after years of pecuniary embarrass- 

 ment, surmounted its misfortunes, and now sustains itself and 

 brings a small revenue to the State. 



MILITIA SYSTEM. 



The militia of Georgia are organized into Divisions, Brig- 

 ades, Regiments, Battalions and Companies. Each Division is 

 commanded by a major general, whose staft' consists of one di- 

 vision inspector with the rank of lieut. colonel, one quarter- 

 master and two aids, W'ith the rank of major each. Each 

 Brigade is commanded by a brigadier general, w^hose stafl' 

 consists of a brigade inspector with the rank of major, a brig- 



