Such are the contents of the historical part of this volume; to which a diplomatic appendix of thirty-three several documents, various elegant engravings, and a copious index, are attached. This book is written with formal but not with lucid order. The subdivision of the chapters into sections has not precluded all confusion of topic; and the events follow, but do not grow out of one another. The marvellous micrology of detail seldom amounts to completeness of information. We see the petty touches of the Dutch painter, enough to indicate years of industry, and yet some vacant spaces yawn before the eye. The style also wants perspicuity; not merely because it is full of those old words which are the appropriate garb of old things, but because disconnected ideas are frequently connected by the grammatical construction; -it betrays a real deficiency of distinctness in the thought. The whole manifests, however, the patient virtues of the antiquary; the emmet crawling over the grave-stone, and loitering on the lichen as patiently as on the legend. ART. X. Mr. Bentham's Theory of Punishments and Rewards, edited in French by M. Dumont. IN [Article continued from the Rev. for Dec. p. 36.] N the former part of this article, we requested our readers not to regard the volume offered to their attention as light reading, and corroborated our notice by a passage from the editor's preface; without sufficiently adverting, perhaps, to the different situation of an editor fatigued by his labours, and that of a reader who is perusing a complete performance. It was not in our contemplation, however, to represent the work before us as uninviting or abstruse, since nothing would have been more opposite to the fact and to our own feelings; for a didactic essay with more of interest, which is read with more facility, and is comprehended with so little of effort, has rarely fallen into our hands. To be understood, it requires only ordinary abilities and ordinary attention, It supposes the reader to be an entire stranger to the subject, and takes nothing on trust; every step is made good, and no conclusion is laid down till all the grounds of it are rendered clear. It displays, indeed, great ingenuity: but all the devices which that ingenuity suggested are imparted to the reader, and by the help of them a very scientific treatise is perused with almost as much ease as a romanse or a book of travels. By communicating these devices, the author has perhaps made a sacrifice of vulgar fame F4 tq to the interests of the reader, and the approbation of good judges; a consideration which, in the course of the work, is properly noticed by the editor. When the circumstances attending this publication are considered, it may naturally be supposed that, however excellent may be the matter, it must be deficient in manner: but every page of the work shews this apprehension to be groundless. Yet we see nothing that painfully indicates joint labour; so fully is the editor possessed of the thoughts and spirit of the author, that all persons would conclude they were his own; and so happy and appropriate are the expressions, that we should suppose them to have sprung up together with the ideas. Indeed, so well in the present instance has this novel division of labour succeeded, that we should not regret to see a similar phænomenon again occur; for it is new, we apprehend, in the literary world, for a consummate performance to be produced in the manner in which this has been accomplished, where one person has furnished the matter and another the living form. As a specimen of masterly reasoning, and superior moral analysis, without reference to the subject of which it treats, it claims the careful perusal of the general scholar; while it presents higher claims to the attention of those who cultivate active benevolence, and who are ambitious of conferring benefits on society. We cannot testify in too warm terms our gratitude to the editor, for the unspeakable pains which he appears to have taken to render the execution of this treatise as admirable as the matter, and in which we consider him as having completely succeeded. It were indeed strange if that work were uninviting, in which the subject is of the highest moment; in which the benevolent feelings are strongly impressed; in which the manner of treating it is as original as it is able; in which the method is natural, the style is appropriate, and the arrangement is luminous; in which interesting scenes of real life are introduced, and painted in the liveliest manner; and in which the discussion is elucidated by abundance of rare and curious facts. The work falls as much as any that is published within the course of general reading, and claims the attentive perusal of every well-meaning and enlightened individual; combining for such persons, in a high degree, entertainment with instruction. In entering on the consideration of the various kinds. of punishments which have prevailed in different ages, and among different nations, the author again enumerates the several tests by which he purposes that they should be tried. These tests are to be reckoned among the devices to which we have just alluded, and which as much promote the instruc tion of the reader as they display the ingenuity of their author. Their extreme simplicity will not prejudice them in the judg-' ment of any intelligent man: but, before he can judge of their value, use must be made of them; and his mind must be well possessed of them before he can perceive on what high ground they at once place him with regard to the present subject. The tests which Mr. B. lays down are, Certainty and Equality, Divisibility, or being susceptible of more or less; Commensurability with other Punishments, Analogy to the Offence, Exemplariness, Remissibility, or a capacity to receive reparation, Tendency to reform, Profit to the injured Party, Simplicity of Denomination, and Popularity. These criteria, it is admitted, are not all equally important, and no punishment can unite all the requisites which they point out. In regard to great offences, it is stated that we should principally look to example and analogy; that, in the minor offences, economy and the tendency to reform should be consulted; while in those which affect property, we should not lose sight of compensation. Mr. Bentham considers corporeal punishments under the three heads of Simple Afflictive, Complex Afflictive, and Restric tive. Of the first, he observes that they are certain and divisible, but are unequal; that; on account of the ignominy which is inseparable from them, they are incapable of general application, the ignominy in no degree depending on the intensity of the pain but on the condition of the sufferer; and that in the present state of the civilized nations of Europe, there can be no instance of a punishment of this sort which is light, if applied to a person who is not of the lowest order. The barbarism of the antient criminal code of Russia arose out of inattention to this circumstance. In the reigns which preceded that of Catharine II., neither sex nor rank was exempted from the whip and the knout. Peter the First, it is well known, caused ladies of the first rank to be chastised in this manner; and the laws in that country remain to this day the same, though their application has been very much limited.' Were any reformer to propose the revision of these laws, would the chief justice and judges of Russia strenuously oppose the attempt? Similar barbarism (continues the Author) prevailed in Poland down to the time of its subversion. It was by no means uncommon to behold the maids of honor of a princess chastised in this way by the master of the household, in the presence of all the family; while, in the houses of the grandees, poor gentlemen, of whom the attendants were composed, were frequently caned and cudgelled; and a judgment may hence be formed of the treatment which the inferior class. experienced. Nothing Nothing proves so completely the degraded state of the people of China, as the flagellation which their magistrates are for ever practising. Mandarins of the first order, and princes of the blood, are liable equally with the lowest peasant to the bamboo.' It is here justly observed that these punishments have more of a tendency to intimidate than to reform, except when connected with a penitentiary diet; a regulation which is much considered, and on which great stress is laid by the author in another part of the work, in connection with imprisonment. Mr. Bentham relates that the Empress Maria Theresa, having in view the amelioration of the laws of her empire, had a work compiled which contained a description of all the tortures and punishments that were in use in her dominions. It was a folio volume, containing not only descriptions and engravings of all the machines employed, but accounts of all the subordinate operations to which they were applied. The book, however, had been on sale for a few days only, when Prince Kaunitz, then first minister, caused it to be suppressed. He was of opinion that such a book would inspire a horror for the laws; and that this would particularly be the case with the part of it which described the various modes of torture. Not long afterward, however, torture was abolished in all the Hereditary States; and it is probable, says Mr. B., that the publication of this work might in some degree contribute to so desirable an event. : Mr. Bentham gives the designation of complex afflictive corporeal punishments to the more remote and permanent effects of acts of punishment; such as the alteration or destruction of the visible qualities or organs of the body. By the common law of England, many offences were punished by mutilations but, it is truly stated, they have fallen into disuse. Similar punishments were very common in Russia, and were inflicted without distinction of rank or sex, while capital punishments have been always very rare in that empire. If reason does not directly condemn some of the punishments proposed under this head, our feelings almost invariably revolt from them; and we are glad to find the author declare against them, except in the cases of very grave crimes. To mutilations, in all events, we own that we have a great dislike; and even in the case in which the author seems most desirous to have a punishment of this sort introduced, we think that many objections lie against it, and that it would not be difficult to substitute a punishment more eligible. The consideration which seems principally to influence the author is analogy: but we have already observed that, in our judgment, analogy is in this respect a barren source, although so highly commended by by Montesquieu: but this is not the only instance in which that excellent writer hazards a brilliant thought on very slight examination. In taking this view of analogy, we do not conceive that we differ materially from the present author himself. Restrictive punishments are included in the general term local confinement. They impose a restraint on the loco-motive faculty; and are, imprisonment, a prohibition to remain at the person's usual residence, the relegatio of the civil law, confinement to a particular residence, a prohibition of such residence, and banishment. Imprisonment is considered as either simple or penal. The simple imprisonment should not exceed its object, which is that of securing the person. In respect to penal imprisonment, Mr. Bentham is of opinion that the more severe it is, the better it answers its object. If the punishment be prolonged, but made light, it is to be feared that the sufferer may become habituated to it, and little regard it. This abuse, although somewhat corrected in our own laws, still exists in them in a high degree. Mr. Bentham thinks that, if we render the punishment more severe, and shorten it, the sum total of suffering will be less. Instead of weakening painful sensations by dispersing them over a surface of long but mild imprisonment, it will be more adviseable to concentrate them in a narrow space where the imprisonment is rigorous. The same quantity of suffering will be far more effectual; while the inconveniences with respect to the future will be much fewer in the one than in the other case. Under a long course of confinement, the faculties become enervated, industry long suspended is weakened, the trade of the individual suffers, his business passes into other hands, and the opportunities of advancing his fortune are gone. All these contingent evils, which are pure losses, and which have no effect with a view either to reformation or to example, are avoided by the method of short rigorous impri sonment. The succeeding pages demand the reader's particular attention. In these the author sets forth the necessary inconveniences which arise from imprisonment, next states such as are accessary to it, and then enumerates those that result from the abuse of it. In this short compass, he has compressed the substance of a volume; and the reader, who well digests what is here offered to him, will have a complete view of this complex subject. The felicity of this short representation we very much admire. Submitting the punishment of imprisonment to the tests which we have before stated, Mr. B. admits that, as far as it regards |