

THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



19 





wicked to steal \ 



^ your u—~- onmewhat re-assured by the words, 



ai w ^taff J^i« ™y of childreil > so un " 



^ the tone 



I doant know. 55 



^ten so touching, said 



'^f/hass!.e been dead?" 

 . How long has ^_« ! doant ki 



JjJSi p or Mother never tell you it is wicked to 

 *f fall baog of the head : a long silence, and then a 



Hubkri ;VnwSsllSure on stealing ; a promise 

 *?£ Id wati tin. always, till by «ood behaviour he 

 ^ ! 8 ^ out his offence : that that was the only 

 184 7'St and that by good character he might soon 

 Setrearn the means to buy some apples of his 



m ' ^Iwo hrtvi I see frequently. The one meets me 

 Both these bojs 1 see ir q j 



- -■ — 



those four volumes octavo, all those bones and heaped- 

 up skulls of dead and buried legislation from which 

 my marvelling mind kept drawing conclusions most 

 forbidden,— to find, at the end of all, at the last round 

 of the ladder, that * the climbing of it was indeed a 

 useful practice for beginners, and that I must now kick 

 it down behind me, and begin to study the Laws of 



England as they are 5 ! 



1 The Laws of Nature !' And what, then, eajs 

 Nature about Natural « Punishment V Let us humbly 

 examine the question ; and look into it carefully, un- 

 flinchingly. Let us lay this hideous thing Punishment 

 under the dissectmg-knife, and probe into the very 

 essence of its nature. What is it ? 



The child, not yet able to walk or speak, puts its finger 

 into the candle : it burns : in an instant the arm is drawn 

 back wih an instinctive jerk. There's a ro r : an 

 angry look at the unconscious mutton and its pointed 

 tongue of flame, and (with perhaps an occasional 



•fain is not forgone" , m*«> •*- "! . . ., 



2k What that work is we will inquire presently. 

 Anther bov meets me with a sort of under-glow of 

 «£ nee Sidtoua of notice ; evidently with a 

 STitem : be knows not why of course, but 

 J£ an indistinct association of my look and voice with 



The schoolboy — but who on earth is to follow him/ 

 At every hour, at every game, at every jump, at every 

 trick, he is trying and testing and proving, and tor- 

 turing if lie could, the * Laws of Nature.' No dashing 

 French cavalier galloping round the serried phalanx of 

 a British « square- for cavalry 5 ever tried with more 

 daring and dauntless cunning to find out one unguarded 

 spot. In vain ! Nature hedges him around with her 



Kow without going the length of assuming that all 

 bovs caUt stealing would blush extempore, and hang _ r _ „ ^ 



tfatfr heads and crv ; or have that sad startling answer chevaux-de-fnse of warning pains and penalties, some- 

 * i/„.i...l a**a x» T wmdd ask von. Madam or Sir, to i times mild, sometimes *harp, always proportionate to the 



always discriminate to the offence, always 



■ % / °* i 



* Mother's dead !" I would ask you, Madam or Sir, to 

 «look on this picture, and on this, 55 and say which of 

 two modes of treating juvenile crime, is the one 

 ^ likely to cure it, and to protect us from it — 

 the first, or punitive system, or the second, the § re- 

 formatory 5 system \ 



1 But Crime must be « punished ! 5 



'With what view V 



'Oh ! to prevent it, of course. 5 



1 But how dues the Punishment of the Criminal pre- 



rent Crime V 



6 By the example, doubtless, to other offenders/ 



'Then it is not on the * tit for tat 5 principle that you'd 

 inflict it ; not to avenge it upon the individual V 



'Certainly not : it is inflicted in order to deter others 

 from repeating the offence ; that society may be protected 

 km depredation and assault, from " injury to person 

 and property.' 55 



Such is the answer. It has stood good for some hun- 

 dreds of years : mayn't one say thousands ? The c British 

 Constitution 5 is a chicken to it. It is older than the 

 Pyramids: almost really "as old as the hills I" At 

 hut so all people say, and most people think. A soli- 

 ttty rider on a still autumn evening, of the year of 

 pMe 1854, with a flushed cheek and a shaking hand, as 

 this thought passes through his mind, draws in a long 

 hj*th between his closed teeth, as if it was some 

 plaster for the heart-burn, and when he can draw 

 in no more, dares to ejaculate it all— breath, thought, 



WOrda, authority Antinmfcv. RtMtitth fWiRtitntion. and I 



ton't kn 



i 



I 



t know how much more, in this hot short phrase — 

 This '^Punishment ! ■ This hateful Punishment ! ' 5 



know not how or why it is, that when one's 

 •wights are strongly excited, and most especially if the 

 toniing ember of compunction is thrusting its red-hot 

 ™ into the Council that sits under the waisteoat- 

 wttons,— an odd phenomenon is apt to occur: floating 

 Wences or phrases long ago familiar, vet never marked 



nguely 



invasion, 



alighting on the exact transgressing member^ She 

 bites him, burns him, kicks him, scratches, pinches, 

 bruises him. There is not a trick he can put upon her, 

 but she has a trick in return ; yet she never for an 

 instant loses her temper. It is all his own act aud deed 

 producing its own certain and cognate result. c Punish- 

 ment it is absurd to call it : it is simply an educational 

 experience of physical causes and efftcts. By it he 

 learns: by it he is warned, guided, preserved to 



manhood. 



The youth enters upon a deeper course of lessons. 

 The physical Laws of Nature with their physical warning 

 of pains and penalties, on one side, and rewards and 

 pleasures on the other— that fair hedgerow of joyous 

 flowers and prickly brambles lining on each side the road 

 of safety — swell into richer hues, caught from the 

 moral world, and protected from rude invasion by thorns 

 of deeper smart on the way-side of Duty and Happiness. 

 Yet all in warning mercy Btill ! The midnight revel 

 and excess followed by the waking agony and depression 

 corresponding to the very cups, varying in intensity 

 with the very number of the stupid 'toasts 5 — all with 

 such an exactitude, such a Minie precision of cause and 

 consequence, that almost an idiot might learn ! 



The grown-up man— but is it necessary to pursue it 

 further! the dyspepsia of the glutton, the ennui of the 

 idler, the gout, and other mystic inward gra veilings of 

 Mr. Sober Excess, the poverty of the slothful man, the 

 isolation of the selfish man, the fever that penetrates 

 the inner chamber of the careless neglecter of his 

 penury -and- disease- stricken neighbours — are they 

 'Punishments 5 or Warnings? Look at them well : com- 

 pare them with the gentle flame that checked the 

 errant finger of the little child ; you will see the same 



But would not com mo u sense and common sanity of 

 argument require that before you assume that the 

 unishment of A. who has committed a crime, will 

 operate to the prevention of X. who has committed 

 none at all— that you should Srst of all be able to show 

 some evidence of its salutary influence upon A. himself ? 

 If the tramp ! tramp ! all day up the interminable stair- 

 case of a grist-less Mill, and the turning of a crauk (that 

 is grinding nothing/) — be found to harden the heart that 

 wauls softening, and blister the hand and its truest 

 instincts with oh 1 such a sacrilegious mockery of 

 Heaven-born labour, all in vain, is it reasonable to 

 a ume that the effects upon paulo-post- futurum trans- 

 gressors who * may, can, might, would, could, should, 

 or ought to 9 sin, subjunctively, — will be more successful ? 

 Do Grapes grow on Thorns, or Figs on Thistles, inside 

 the garden- walls of a Goal \ 



If not — if the antiquated fallacy of severe punishment 

 on guilty A. to terrify inuocent X. from uncommitted 

 crime, be simply a blunder equally against true justice 

 and the true philosophy of human action — and if the 

 idea of individual vengeance have been long ago re- 

 jected and disclaimed by our criminal code— what, 

 then, is the true practical doctrine of ' Punishment V 

 What ought it to be I What is the right of Society 

 against those who have wounded her peace, outraged 

 her in property or person, transgressed her laws ? Let 

 us give this practical question a really practical investi- 

 gation—not through the narrow lens ot * eve-for-eye-and- 

 tooth-for tooth 5 legislation, not through the miserable 

 fallacy of i example-punishments/ ta be hereafter known 

 as the exploded 'scarecrow theory'— but by the broad 

 and free light which lighteth every man if he will only 

 come to the Light, and read the Laws of Nature as 

 revealed and interpreted by One who was patient to 

 be called the * Friend of Sinners.' B. 



Home Correspondence. 



The Meat Manufacture. — In the interesting paper on 

 * Italian Rye-grass, 55 read by Mr. Morton before the 

 London Farmers' Club, which appears in your Gazette, 

 March 10th, in describing the produce under the irriga- 

 tion system, page 154, the following observation occurs : 

 " When Rye-grass is cut young, it contains with more 

 of water more of the substances corresponding to the 

 gluten of flour, which chemists tell us resemble the 

 fleshy parts of animal matter. Those who wish to 

 make flesh by consumption of Italian Rye-grass may 

 therefore be right in cutting it frequently, and having it 

 younger, 55 &c. If by " making flesh ,5 Mr. Morton 

 means " fattening 55 or beef making, and that protein or 

 albuminous compounds are more essential for fattening 

 than for milk, I may hope for space to explain my 

 grounds for a different conclusion. When cows are in 

 full milk soon after calving, they will give 16 quarts per 

 day. I have now five on hand which are giving this 

 quantity on the average, and are apparently maintaining 

 their weight and condition. An analysis of milk of 

 standard quality shows a proportion of solid or dry 

 mater al of 5 lbs. in the 16 quarts of milk per day, of 

 which 2 lbs. will be casein or pure curd. If we assume 

 the materials of food rich in protein, such as Beans, 

 oilcake, &c, to contain 25 to 33 per cent, of this, it 

 will appear that the 2 lbs. of casein or pure curd will 

 represent the protein of 6 lbs. to 8 lbs. of Beans, oil- 

 cake, or other substances equally rich in protein ; or, in 

 other words, a daily supply of this quantity of Beans 



across 



ilk 



toraelg 



it flaps 



_ . -, „.„„ ™ „ . in forgotten 



ramer. and f ft * «>„, aY j rom tne g p 0t wne re now, bat- 



ou. What is it that brings those 



^ j ~o oddly obtrusive yet so curiously 



F^Pos, across the mind in its distress, uttering the 



rWf *r™.,l„ __.*. - *_ ° . 



m 



tSL, a. *i Jty-ft sparest, s zx ™z 'sr isft 



to the 



the speed of the charger flying from certain death, as 



« free in winter) gome Cumgean leaf that ha8 lost its we n m ight the knife that cuts away the mortified part 

 ?** and parentage, that bloomed far back in forgotten of a diseased limb be called < Punishment. 



mi 





them ! 



U ^pfdput a marl upon Cain, lest any one finding 

 **wld slay him." 



. **ere the words that alighted impromptu, and 

 w^ peating themselves, as it were, over and over 



drin* u! \ 10( * e home, swung myself into my study, 

 ^ the door behind me. 



•iRiCH «» hhlneilt! thi3 hateful human Punishment : 



*Qn^ k d f Wn a volume of Blackstone, that most 

 ^v*ni and satisfied of < Commentators 5 upon Things 



> °r that once did be ; whose pleasant ample 



*mles. in iha ol( j editions, opposite the title- 



utu' h . i - — m «" a charnel-house of dead Law. 



^ U W bv an ix\A * !i _.«.., 



E^.tf *hat is now 



•No tk~ y < *u old P en eU-mark in the margin, my eye fell 

 *?*• following passage- *^ . 



r -. every hun.au law is only so far just and effi- 



«l nrrm™.f; ... r J , , J .* T ■** 



We pro P° rtlo & as it is founded on" the La 



Aibto* u 



Wtion th t M ^ *" Come, here, at least, is a pro- 



^t turiM ? eeds no ar g UI »ent or proof. This is die 



*infc i ' ^ l8 must lead ' out of the wood. 5 I begin 



1 ^Ih TV The Laws of Nature. 5 « Human law.' 



11 *B III , h out » and stat€d {t : ] 



f * of Nature! blessed, beautiful, merciful 

 ^^erv kc, *' h every morn and every * dewy eve 5 

 J *• LtvinT G^ nd evei T iR st*nt, from the living hand 



i^^Bkckai " VVeU don€, robed and ermined 



^ fcqttt %An °?^ ; For that one gem of a sentence 



an equation. 



In the sense that criminal-law-makers attach to the 

 word, and have taught men to understand it, the laws of 

 Nature exhibit no such thing as ' Punishment. 5 From 

 first to last the whole ■ criminal code' of Nature is 

 simply and emphatically prospective, reformatory, and 

 parental, acting upon the external and the physical, aud 

 still more potently and keen, with the tooth that ts not 

 seen, upon the internal and moral feelings of the in- 

 dividual. And if teaching such as this, so kind yet 

 never disguising truth, so gentle yet never relaxing 

 effort, keen in presence and perception, constant as his 

 own shadow in its attendance upon each individual, 

 often fail to teach,— what shall we say of the presump- 

 tuous hand which attempts by < examples' of human 

 « punishment 1 to prevent the crimes of others? 



The whole idea is a mixture of error and injustice : 

 of error because it is ethically false to the constitution 

 of human nature to suppose, or to make laws on the 

 supposition, that punishment can generate vicarious 

 motive or morality, and thus extinguish future crime ; 

 of injustice, because no human power or human laws 

 have the right to make men into the scarecrows of 

 hypothetical offences of others, not yet committed, any 

 more than into scapegoats of the past offences of others, 

 with whom the offender himself has no relation past or 

 future, and for whom he is not and cannot be re- 

 sponsible. . 

 Where did legislators get the preposterous notion oi 



this transitive operation of Punishment from the ^thief 

 in esse to the thief in posse I Upon » hat < discourse 

 of reason ' was the theory based ! The practical expe- 

 rience of the whole history of Crime in this country 

 flatly contradicts it, and condemns it, as false to human 

 nature. When men were hanged for horse and sheep 

 stealing the number of sheep and horses stolen was far 

 m-eater tend from a smaller population) than 



increase in weight on the average, and for a length ot 

 time, 7 lbs. to 9 lbs. each per week. This produce of 

 milk and gain of weight will represent the protein c 

 pounds of 3J lbs. to 5 lbs. of Beans, oilcake, or other 

 materials equally rich in protein. The exj>erience of 

 feeding or fattening shows that a gain of 14 lbs. per 

 week, cr 2 lbs. per day, to be as much as can be relied 

 on as an average for a length of time. If we consider 

 4 lb. per day as fat, which is probably not more than the 

 actual proportion, there will be 1£ lb. for flesh, of which 

 the fibrine, reckoned as dry material, will be less than 

 £ lb., and will represent the protein of 1£ lb. to 2 lbs. of 

 Beans, oilcake, or other materials equally rich in pro- 

 tein. It will be observed that I have treated only ot 

 the quantities of protein compounds carried off in milk, 

 or assimilated in increase of beef, and that each class ot 

 animals will require beyond this what is adequate to 

 maintain their condition. Experience affords » tolerably 

 safe guide to estimate the quantity required for tins 

 purpose. In the Turnip districts it is found that with 

 120 lbs. of Swedish Turnips per day a fair-^zed beast 

 will maintain its condition for a length of time. In the 

 district of Craven, in Yorkshire, where hay is the 

 staple food, li stones of meadow hay are found to 

 maintain the condition of a like-sized animal. These 

 quantities, Nvhich supply bulk with elements of respira- 

 tion correspond in their contents of protein compounds, 

 and'represent those in 6 lbs. to 8 lbs. of Beans, oilcake, 

 and other substances containing 25 to 33 per cent, of 

 protein. As a feeder supplies for purposes of bulk and 

 respiration substances richer or poorer in protein, he 

 will have to lessen or increase his quantity of these 

 auxiliaries. It is of the utmost importance in the 

 treatment of cattle, as also of plants, to afford an ample 

 though (on consideration of cost, if not of effect also) 

 not excessive supply of the elements of food, whether 

 mineral or organic, suited to their requirements, and 

 constitution, and purposes ; on our ability to effect tins 



eiftftndfl. in a creat decree, our measure of succees. 



crime : the same is true of all. The milch 



said 



ccapa 



