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of those remarks to discourage and condemn. With this view he has introduced the respectable opinion of Mr. David Barclay; with this view he asks "What has the Institution. "to do with the prosperity of commerce in the ports of Lon"don, Liverpool and Bristol?"-with this view he adverts to the "sad detail of commercial history;"-forgetting, for a moment, that the Creator of the universe has established the intercourse of nations on the solid basis of their mutual necessities, and has rendered it subservient to the diffusion of light and knowledge to the utmost bounds of the earth. Impressed with this sentiment, Mr. Harrison might have perceived, that the execrable traffic carried on for human beings to the coast of Africa, and the fair and legitimate commerce with the natives, are as opposite to each other as light and darkness-that the tendency of the one is to corrupt, degrade, and destroy; that of the other to elevate, repair, and improve.* By what means, may we ask, are the nations of Africa to be supplied even with the materials and implements of improvement in agriculture and in arts? or how is it possible to excite amongst them that spirit of industry, so essential to their improvement, but by means of a liberal and extended commerce, which whilst it supplies them with the means of cultivation or of manufacture, furnishes them with an opportunity of converting that industry to their own advantage? Can any one conceive that the funds of the African Institution, which Mr. Harrison supposes may spare for this purpose about e. 1000, or .1500 per annum (a sum scarcely sufficient to stock a moderate farm in this country) can have any direct and beneficial effect on the immense continent and population of

* "Heaven speed the canvas gallantly unfurl'd
To furnish and accommodate a world,
To give the poles the produce of the sun,
And knit the unsocial climates into one.
Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave
Impel the fleet whose errand is to save,
To succour wasted regions, and replace
The smile of opulence in sorrow's face.~
Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen
Impede the bark, that ploughs the deep serene,
Charg'd with a freight transcending in its worth
The gems of India, nature's rarest birth,
That flies like Gabriel on his Lord's commands,
An herald of God's love to pagan lands,
But ah! what wish can prosper, or what prayer,
For merchants rich in cargoes of despair,
Who drive a loathsome traffic, gage, and span,
And buy the muscles and the bones of man?"

COWPER.

Africa? or is it possible to suppose that the Institution can in any way so effectually promote their own views as by encou raging and protecting an extensive national connection between Africa and these kingdoms, which may compensate by a second intercourse for the injuries done by the first? If the Institution be prevented by the very nature of its association, no less than by the inadequacy of its resources, from engaging in commercial operations, are there no methods by which it can foster and encourage an honourable and beneficial traffic to the shores of Africa?-And do not the records of the Institution evince, that they have been aware of the great importance of these and similar measures, and have hitherto conducted themselves upon these sound and rational principles. Why these plain and practicable efforts are now proposed to be relinquished, in order to make way for the exclusive adop tion of measures which Mr. Harrison himself seems to apprehend may be deemed "Utopian," and admits to be " unprecedented in the history of nations," it is not very easy to conceive. I doubt not, however, that the African Institution will continue to exercise the same enlightened judgment which it has hitherto displayed; and that whilst, on the one hand, it encourages every effort for effecting a real and substantial Abolition of the Slave Trade (which, notwithstanding the meritorious labours of those who have devoted themselves, in this and other countries, to this sacred cause, is yet carried on to an alarming extent) it will, on the other hand, watch with peculiar solicitude over the rising intercourse with Africa, which may in the course of providence be one day productive of unspeakable benefits to a great portion of the human race, and without which, every other effort for the civilization of those extensive regions must evidently fail of success.

Allerton, 7th March, 1811.

W. R.

On Houses of Safe-custody and Industry, for convicted Criminals.

THE subject of penitentiary houses was incidentally introduced in our last Number by the interesting communication of a friend, who had seen a partial and imperfect application

of the principle of entire inspection, in the Bridewell of Edinburgh. The subject which has already occupied a considerable portion of our pages, we mean the evils resulting from the use and abuse of the punishment of death, is, it is sufficiently manifest, intimately connected with the inquiry, what is to be done with the criminals whom it is our wish to save from execution. This is a question on which, like so many other questions in legislation, the labours of Mr. Bentham have thrown the most valuable light. He has invented a mode of securing and employing the most desperate criminals, in a way which not only affords to society a security against their future enormities, as good, to all practical purposes, as their death itself; but renders their lives useful to their country; and affords a prospect of reclaiming them-a certainty of reclaiming a great number of them to virtue and happiness.

Whoever lends an intelligent mind to the subject, will see, that the objects to be accomplished in the management of criminals are two: First, to render them totally unable to do mischief Secondly, to give them motives to do good.

It will be easily seen, that of these two objects the first is the most difficult; since, if you prevent men from doing mischief, almost any thing will suffice as a motive to induce them to do good. The pain of being idle is a never failing impulse. Restrain it from operating in a wrong direction; the gentlest means will be sufficient to turn it into a direction that is good.

To render a man totally unable to do mischief, you have only to keep him constantly in sight, after depriving him of such offensive instruments as would render him dangerous to you. Place a man, by himself, in an iron cage, for example, and keep him every hour and every minute of his life in sight, and it is evident you can prevent him from doing mischief, whether by making his escape to prey again upon society, or by exerting his powers to any pernicious effect where you have him confined.

To place criminals then under perpetual inspection is the object, the all-powerful object, which it is required to accomplish. If this can be done, without loading society with exorbitant expense, the problem respecting a better disposal of criminals than killing them is already resolved.

We can do nothing, we think, more calculated to convey light on this subject, than to lay before our readers a short account of the ingenious species of building invented by

Mr. Bentham for this purpose; and of the proofs of its eflicaciousness for its intended objects.

Let the reader conceive, in the first place, a circular building, not covering all the space which it surrounds, but leaving a circular area vacant in the middle. Suppose the width of the building thus extending circularly, to be what is sufficient and no more, for a cell, or chamber for the criminals; and suppose those cells, separated from one another by partitions, to be ranged all around it, in stories one above another. If these cells are all open to the inside, having on that side, instead of a wall, an iron grating, it is evident that an eye placed in the centrical area will command every part of the building, and place the prisoners under perpetual inspec

tion.

So much for the part of the building intended to undergo inspection; next comes the part destined to aid in the inspec tion. Conceive another circular building to rise like a tube in the very centre of the enclosed area, leaving a space, all the way round, between itself and the front of the surrounding edifice, which contains the cells. This is the inspector's lodge, which, being furnished with windows every way, affords the means of looking directly, and seeing completely into every cell. Such is the general idea of this important invention. A short outline of the plan was some years ago printed by the author, but not published, which affords us the advantage of presenting a summary view of it, in the words of the author himself.

"The building circular-the cells occupying the circum"ference-the keepers, &c. the center-an intermediate "annular well all the way up, crowned by a sky-light "usually open, answering the purpose of a ditch in fortifica "tion, and of a chimney in ventilation-the cells, laid open "to it by an iron grating.

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"The yards without, laid out upon the same principle as also the communication between the building and the "yards.

"By blinds and other contrivances, the keeper concealed "from the observation of the prisoners, unless where he thinks "fit to shew himself: hence, on their part, the sentiment of an "invisible omnipresence.-The whole circuit reviewable with "little, or, if necessary, without any change of place.

"One station in the inspection-part affording the most per"fect view of two stories of cells, and a considerable view of "another :-the result of a difference of level.

"The same cell serving for all purposes: work, sleep, "meals, punishment, devotion; the unexampled airiness of "construction conciliating this economy with the most scru"pulous regard to health.-The minister, with a numerous, "but mostly concealed, auditory of visitors, in a regular chapel in the center, visible to half the cells, which on this "occasion may double their complement.

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"The sexes, if both are admitted, invisible to each other. "Solitude, or limited seclusion, ad libitum.-But, unless "for punishment, limited seclusion in assorted companies of two, three, and four, is preferred: an arrangement, upon "this plan alone exempt from danger. The degree of seclu"sion fixed upon may be preserved, in all places, and at all "times, inviolate. Hitherto, where solitude has been aimed "at, some of its chief purposes have been frustrated by occa"sional associations.

"Thus simple are the leading principles.-The applica"tion and preservation of them in the detail, required, as may "be supposed, some variety of contrivance.

"The approach, one only-gates opening into a walled avenue cut through the area. Hence, no strangers near "the building without leave, nor without being surveyed from "it as they pass, nor without being known to come on purpose. The gates of open work, to expose hostile mobs: on the other side of the road, a wall with a branch of the "road behind, to shelter peaceable passengers from the fire of "the building. A mode of fortification like this, if practi"cable in a city, would have saved the London prisons, and "prevented the unpopular accidents in St. George's Fields.

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"The surrounding wall, itself surrounded by an open "palisade, which serves as a fence to the grounds on the other "side.-Except on the side of the approach, no public path "by that fence.-A centinel's walk between: on which no "one else can set foot, without forcing the fence, and declar"ing himself a trespasser at least, if not an enemy. To the "four walls, four such walks flanking and crossing each other "at the ends. Thus each centinel has two to check him."

Such are the leading points in the scheme of contrivances for rendering criminals impotent as to the production of evil. The next object which, in the account of the plan, it is necessary to attend to, is, the state in which the prisoners are kept, and the probabilities of rendering them useful. On this head no testimony can equal the undertakings of the author, which, in his arrangements with government, he voluntarily pro

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