420 REVIEWS. 



And after adding two other instances, she says : 



"Now these three cases are probably representatiye ones of a large class of 

 our Convicts, and they give us some idea of the way in which they became cut oS 

 from society. No individual person appears directly to blame for the condition 

 of any one. And yet we can hardly hold any one of them morally responsible 

 for his position in our Convict Prisons. What would any of the children of the 

 upper classes become if so tossed about in the world ? Is our society rightly con- 

 stituted, or truly Christian, if young, inexperienced persons, without proper paren- , 

 tal guidance, are to be so left to the hard usage of the world J" 



The following may be taken to be principal sources of criminal con- 

 duct in the young, and means of training them to increased skill and 

 recklessness in their evil courses : Gross ignorance and neglect in 

 childhood, from the poverty and wretchedness of parents ; direct 

 incitements and encouragements to crime by wicked parents ; schools 

 for crime kept by persons who profit by instructing children in the 

 various arts of thieving ; repeated short commitments to prison for 

 the earlier offences, hardening and corrupting the character, and com- 

 pleting the education in all the forms of criminality ; corrupt and 

 impure literature ; such places of amusement as low penny theatres, 

 singing and dancing rooms, &c., and ready access to intoxicating 

 liquors. Striking examples are given of the effects produced by these 

 various influences, which cannot but deeply affect the heart of the 

 patriot and the Christian, and arouse him to greater exertion in stop- 

 ping the sources of evil and checking criminality in its bud, instead of 

 letting it grow and strengthen until it is a fit subject for the severest 

 punishment. 



The third chapter, '* On the Principles of Convict Treatment," one 

 of the most valuable in the book, is chiefly employed in establishing 

 the principle that reformation must be a leading object in all punish- 

 ment. We quote from its commencement a passage of great force : 



" Whatever may be the cause of their present condition, and however much or 

 little they may morally be themselves to blame for it, the habitual offenders who 

 constitute the largest proportiim r.f the inmates cf Couvict prisons are in a state 

 of absolute antagonism to society and disregard of ordinances, human and divine. 

 They are usually hardened in vice, and they concern themselves with the law 

 only to endeavour to evade it. They disUke labour of all kinds, and to supply 

 their own wants exert themselves only by preying on the property of others. 

 They are self-indulgent, — Ioav in their desires, — ignorant of all knowledge that 

 would profit them, — skilful only in accomplishing their own wicked purposes. 



"But they are still men and women, possessed of an immortal nature; stil! 

 they are the children of the same Heavenly Father ; still they are onr fellow- 

 citizens. 



