188 
NOTE ON PENITENTIARIES. 
gladly see amended, if it could be done consistently with the efficient maintenance of the 
general whole of which these are particular parts ; nor can it be pretended that the object of 
the prevention of intercourse between the convicts, by a thousand modes of communication 
beyond the reach of any degree of vigilance, either has been or ever can be attained, to the 
degree supposed by many who simply witness the apparent silence that reigns throughout the 
work-shops. 
At the last session, provision was made for the appointment of a commissioner to examine 
certain locations in the northern part of the state, with a view to ascertain the practicability of 
employing the convicts, in a new prison proposed to be erected, in the labor of mining. The 
system may therefore be represented as still in a somewhat unsettled state ; and a short period 
may witness the application to it of changes, of which it might not be easy to predict either 
the extent or the nature, even if it were proper here to engage in any speculation of this cha¬ 
racter. . 
A few words, before passing from this subject, are due to another excellent institution 
which occupies a not unimportant position in the penitentiary system of the state — the insti¬ 
tution for the reformation of juvenile delinquents, in the city of New-York, commonly known 
as the House of Refuge. This was the first establishment of this kind in the union, having 
been founded in the year 1824 ; though it presented an example which was speedily followed 
by other states. It grew out of the philanthropic efforts of a private association of gentlemen 
in New-York, who were incorporated March 29, 1824, under the title of the “ Society for 
the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents;” among whom it will not be deemed invidious to 
particularize as among the most prominent and active, the late Thomas Eddy and Cadwallader 
D. Colden, and also Mr. Charles G. Haines, who, as chairman of a voluntary committee, was 
the author, in 1824, of a very able and valuable report on the history and discipline of peniten¬ 
tiaries in the United States, from which much aid has been derived in the hasty preparation of 
these pages. It was founded on a basis of private subscription, aided by annual assistance from 
the state; and is administered by officers chosen by the society, and superintended by its 
constant vigilance, under a system of general laws for its government, enacted by the legisla¬ 
ture. It thus partakes of the character partly of a private, though mainly of a public institu¬ 
tion ; while it has been one of very eminent utility for the rescue of thousands from a career 
of crime and ruin. It is conducted for the most part on the general plan of the Auburn esta¬ 
blishment, though moderated in severity, and adapted to the different class of subjects em¬ 
braced within its action ; children of both sexes are received in it under the age of sixteen. It 
is a just subject of pride to both the state and the city, as well as of gratitude to its founders 
and supporters. 
