Many persons believe that they discover evidence which I consider, is the principle on which punishment against the moral government of the world, in the suc- for infringement of them, is inflicted in this world. cess of individuals not greatly gifted with moral and Every law prescribed to intelligent beings presupintellectual qualities, in attaining to great wealth, poses a superior, who establishes it, and subjects who rank, and social consideration, while men of far supe- are called on to obey. The superior may be supposed rior merit remain in obscurity and poverty. But the to act under the dictates of the animal faculties, or unsolution of this difficulty is to be found in the consider- der those of the moral sentiments. The former being ation, that success in society depends on the possession, selfish, whatever they desire is for selfish gratification. in an ample degree, of the qualities which society needs Hence laws instituted by a superior inspired by the and appreciates, and that these bear reference to the animal powers, would have for their leading object the state in which society finds itself at the time when the individual advantage of the law-giver, with no systeobservation is made. In the savage and barbarous con- matic regard to the enjoyment or welfare of his subditions, bodily strength, courage, fortitude, and skill injects. The moral sentiments, on the other hand, are war, lead a man to the highest honours; in a society altogether generous, disinterested, and just; they delike that of modern England, commercial or manufac-light in the happiness of others, and do not seek indituring industry may crown an individual with riches, vidual advantage as their supreme end. Laws instiand great talents of debate may carry him to the sum-tuted by a law-giver inspired by them, would have for mit of political ambition. In proportion as society advances in moral and intellectual acquirements, it will make larger demands for high qualities in its favourites. The reality of the moral government of the world is discernible in the different degrees of happiness which individuals and society enjoy in these different states. If unprincipled commercial and political adventurers were happy in proportion to their apparent success; or if nations were as prosperous under the dominion of reckless warriors as under that of benevolent and enlightened rulers; or if the individuals who compose a nation enjoyed as much serenity and joy of mind when they advanced bold, selfish, and unprincipled men to places of trust and power, as when they chose the upright, benevolent, and pious,-the dominion of a just Creator might well be doubted. But the facts are the reverse of these. CHAPTER VI. ON PUNISHMENT. their grand object the advantage and enjoyment of those who were required to yield obedience. The story of William Tell will illustrate my meaning. Gessler, an Austrian governor of the canton of Uri, placed his hat upon a pole, and required the Swiss peasants to pay the same honours to it that were due to himself. The object of this requisition was obviously the gratification of the Austrian's Self-Esteem, in witnessing the humiliation of the Swiss. It was framed without the least regard to their happiness; because such abject slavery could gratify no faculty in their minds, and ameliorate no principle of their nature, but, on the contrary, was calculated to cause the greatest pain to their feelings. Before punishment for breaking a law can be justly inflicted, it seems reasonable that the people called on to obey it should not only possess the power of doing so, but likewise be benefited by their obedience. If it was certain, that, by the very constitution of their minds, it was impossible for the Swiss to reverence the hat of the tyrant, and that, if they had pretended to do so, they would have manifested only baseness and hypocrisy, then the law was unjust, and all punishment for disobedience was pure tyranny and oppression on the part of the governor. structiveness as a means of procuring gratification to In punishing, he employed Dehis Self-Esteem. 1. On punishment as inflicted under the natural laws-Laws may be instituted either for the selfish gratification of the legislator, or for the benefit of the governed-Gessler's order to the Swiss, an instance of the former; the natural laws of God, of the latter-The object of punishment for disobedience to the divine laws is to arrest the offender, and save him from greater miseries-Beneficial effects of Let us imagine, on the other hand, a law promulthis arrangement-Laws of combustion; advantages at-gated by a sovereign whose sole motive was the happitending them, and mode in which man is enabled to enjoy ness of his subjects, and that the edict was, Thou shalt these and escape from the danger to which he is subjected not steal. If the law-giver were placed far above the by fire-Utility of pain-God's punishments in this world reach of theft by his subjects, and if respect to each have for their object to bring the sufferers back to obedi- other's rights were indispensable to the welfare of his ence for their own welfare, and to terminate their misery people themselves, then it is obvious, that, so far as he by death when the error is irreparable-Punishments mutually inflicted by the lower animals-Punishments mutuwas personally concerned, their stealing or not stealing ally inflicted by men-Criminal laws hitherto framed on would be of no importance whatever, while it would be the principle of animal resentment-Inefficacy of these, of the highest moment to themselves. Let us suppose, from overlooking the causes of crime, and leaving them to then, that, in order to prevent the evils which the suboperate with unabated energy after the infliction-Moral jects would bring upon themselves by stealing, he were in preference to animal retribution, suggested as a mode to add as a penalty, that every man who stole should be of treatment-Every crime proceeds from an abuse of some locked up, and instructed in his duty until he became faculty or other-The question, Whence originates the tendency to abuse? answered by the aid of Phrenology capable of abstaining from theft,-the justice and beneCrime extinguishable only by removing its causes-The volence of this sentence would be unquestionable, beeffects of animal and moral punishment compared-Re- cause it would prove advantageous both to society and marks on the natural distinction between right and wrong to the offender. Suppose that the latter was born with -The objections considered, That, according to the pro-large organs of Acquisitiveness and Secretiveness, and posed moral system of treating offenders, punishment deficient Conscientiousness, and that when he commitwould be abrogated and crime encouraged; and That the author's views on this subject are Utopian, and, in the pre- there would be no cruelty and no injustice in locking ted the offence he really could not help stealing,-still sent state of society, impracticable.-II. Moral advantages of punishment-The mental improvement of man not him up, and instructing him in moral duty until he the primary object for which suffering is sent-Errors of learned to abstain from theft; because, if this were not some religious sects adverted to-Bishop Butler teaches, done, and if all men were to follow his example and more rationally, that a large proportion of our sufferings only steal, the human race, and he, as a member of it, is the result of our own misconduct―The objection, that would necessarily starve and become extinct. punishments are often disproportionately severe, considered -Recapitulation of the advantages flowing from obedience, and misfortunes from disobedienee, to the moral laws. SECT. I.-ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. The Creator's natural laws, so far as I have been able to perceive them, are instituted solely on the latter principle; that is to say, there is not the slightest indication of the object of any of the arrangements of creation being to gratify an inferior feeling in the Creator THE last point connected with the Natural Laws, himself. No well-constituted mind, indeed, could con ceive him commanding beings whom He called into existence, and whom He could annihilate in a moment, to do any act of homage which had reference merely to the acknowledgment of His authority, solely for His personal gratification, and without regard to their own welfare and enjoyment. We cannot, without absolute outrage to the moral sentiments and intellect, imagine Him doing any thing analogous to the act of the Swiss governor-placing an emblem of His authority on high, and requiring His creatures to obey it, merely to gratify Himself by their homage, to their own disparagement and distress. Accordingly, every natural law, so far as I can discover, appears clearly instituted for the purpose of adding to the enjoyment of the creatures who are called on to obey it. The object of the punishment inflicted for disobedience is to arrest the offender in his departure from the laws; which departure, if permitted to proceed to its natural termination, would involve him in tenfold greater miseries. This arrangement greatly promotes the activity of the faculties; and active faculties being fountains of pleasure, the penalties themselves become benevolent and just. For example, Under one of the physical laws, all organic bodies are liable to combustion. Timber, coal, oils, and animal substances, when heated to a certain extent, catch fire and burn: And the question occurs, Was this quality bestowed on them for a benevolent purpose or not? Let us look to the advantages attending it. By means of fire we obtain warmth in cold latitudes, and light after the sun has set it enables us to cook, thereby render-there as contentedly as on a bed of down; and the fond ing our food more wholesome and savoury; and by its aid we soften and fuse the metals. I need go no farther; every one will acknowledge, that, by the lawther, although she had been only in an adjoining apartunder which organic bodies are liable to combustion, countless benefits are conferred on the human race. strength to keep out of it, it cannot be just and benevolent to visit him with the tortures that follow from burning. This, however, is a short-sighted objection. If, to remedy the evil supposed, the law of combustion were altogether suspended as to children and old men, so that, as far as they were concerned, fire did not exist, then they would be deprived of the light, warmth, and other benefits which it affords. This would be a fearful deprivation; for warmth is grateful and necessary to them, in consequence of the very feebleness of their frames. Or we may suppose that their nerves were constituted to feel no pain from burning-an arrangement which would effectually guarantee them against the tortures of falling in the fire: But, in the first place, nerves feel pain under the same law that enables them to feel pleasure-the agony of burning arises altogether from an excessive degree of the stimulus of heat, which, when moderate, is genial and pleasant; and, secondly, if no pain were felt when in the fire, the child and old man would have no urgent motive to keep out of it. Under the present system, the pain would excite an intense desire to escape; it would increase their muscular energy, or make them cry aloud for assistance; in short, it would compel them to get out of the fire, by some means or other, and thus if possible escape from death. As they fell into the fire in consequence of a deficiency of mental or bodily power to keep out of it, the conclusion is obvious, that if no pain attended their contact with the flames, they might repose The human body itself, however, is organized, and in consequence is subject to this law; so that, if placed in a great fire, it is utterly dissipated in a few minutes. Some years ago, a woman, in a fit of insanity, threw herself into an iron smelting-furnace, in full blaze: she was observed by a man working on the spot, who instantly put off the steam-engine that was blowing the bellows, and came to take her out; but he then saw only a small black speck on the surface of the fire, and in a few minutes more even it had disappeared. The effect of a less degree of heat is to disorganize the texture of the body. What mode, then, has the Creator followed to preserve men from the danger to which they are subjected by fire? He has caused their nerves to communicate sensations from heat, agreeable while the temperature is such as to benefit the body; slightly uneasy when it becomes so high as to be in some measure hurtful; positively painful when the heat approaches that degree at which it would seriously injure the organized system; and horribly agonizing whenever it becomes so elevated as to destroy the organs. The principle of all this is very obviously benevolent. Combustion brings us innumerable advanages; and when we place ourselves in accordance with the law intended to regulate our relation to it, we reap unmingled benefits and pleasure. But we are in danger from its excessive action; and so kind is the Creator, that he does not trust to the guardianship of our own Cautiousness and intellect alone to protect us from infringement, but has established a monitor in every sentient nerve, whose admonitions increase in intensity through imperceptible gradations, exquisitely adjusted to the degrees of danger, till at last, in pressing circumstances, they urge in a voice so clamant as to excite the whole physical and mental energy of the offender to withdraw him from the impending destruction. Many persons imagine that this mode of admonition would be altogether unexceptionable if the offender always possessed the power to avoid incurring it, but that, on the other hand, when a child, or an aged person, stumbles into the fire, through mere lack of bodily mother might find a black cinder for her child, or a pious daughter a half-charred mass of bones for her fa ment, from which the slightest cry or groan would have brought her to arrest the calamity. In this instance, then, the law of combustion under which punishment is inflicted, is benevolent, even when pain visits persons who were incapable of avoiding the offence; because the object of the law is the welfare of these very unconscious offenders themselves, so that if it were subverted, they would be greatly injured, and would loudly petition for its re-establishment. Let us take another example. Opium, by its inherent qualities, and the relationship established by the Creator between it and the nervous system of man, operates, if taken in one proportion, as a stimulant; if the propor tion be increased, it becomes a sedative; and if still increased, it paralyzes the nervous system altogether, and death ensues. Now, it is generally admitted, that there is no want of benevolence and justice, when a full-grown and intelligent man loses his life, if he deliberately swallow an overdose of opium, knowing its qualities and their effects; because, it is said, he exposed himself to these effects voluntarily: When, however, an ignorant child, groping about for something to eat and drink, in order to satisfy the craving of its natural curiosity and appetite, stumbles on a phial of laudanum, intended for the use of some sick relative, pulls the cork, drinks, and dies, many persons imagine that it is very difficult to discover justice and benevolence in this severe, and, as they say, unmerited catastrophe. But the real view of the law under which both events happen, appears to me to be this. The inherent qualities of opium, and its relationship to the nervous system, are obviously benevolent, and are the sources of manifest advantages to man. If, in order to avoid every chance of accidents, opium, in so far as children are concerned, were deprived of its qualities, so that their nervous systems received no greater impression from it than from tepid water, it is clear that they would be sufferers. The greatest advantages of the drug are derived from its scale of efficiency, by which it can be made to produce, first a stimulating effect, then a gently sedative, and afterwards a higher and a higher degree of sedative influence, until, by insensible degrees, absolute paralysis ensues. A dose which kills in erred too widely to return. Let us now inquire whether the same principle prevails in regard to the infringement of the Moral and Intellectual Laws. This investigation is attended with tending, in the first place, to the liability to punishment for their actions, under which the lower animals are placed. health will cure in disease; and, if its range were li- benevolent and just. The infliction is approved of by mited to effects beneficial in health, its advantages in the moral sentiments and intellect, because the law, in disease, arising from higher action, would necessarily its legitimate operation, is calculated altogether for the be lost-so that children, by the supposed arrangement, advantage of the subject; and because the punishment would be cut off from its beneficial administration. The has no object but to bring him back to obedience for his parallel between it and the law of combustion is dis-own welfare, or to terminate his sufferings when he has cernible. If we could never have commanded a degree of heat higher than that which gently warms the human body, we must have wanted all the advantages now derivable from the intense heats used in cooking, baking, and manufacturing; if we could never have command-great difficulty; and it may be best elucidated by ated more than the gently stimulant and sedative effects of opium on the body in a state of health, we should necessarily have been deprived of its powerful remedial action in cases of disease. The proper question then is, Whether is it more benevolent and just that children, after they have been exposed, from whatever cause, to that high degree of its influence, which, although beneficial in disease, is adverse to the healthy action of the nervous system, should be preserved alive in this miserable condition, or that life should at once be terminated? It appears advantageous to the of fender himself, that death should relieve him from the unhappy condition into which his organized frame has been brought by the abuse of this substance, calculated, when discreetly used, to confer on him no mean advantages. The physical and organic laws affect the inferior creatures in the same manner as they regulate man, so that nothing need be said on these points. The animals are endowed with propensities impelling them to act, and a certain degree of intellect enabling them to perceive the consequences of their actions. These faculties prompt them to inflict punishment on each other for infringement of their rights, although they possess no sentiments pointing out the moral guilt of such conduct. For example, dogs possess Acquisitiveness, which gives them the sense of property: when one is in possession of a bone, and another attempts to steal it, this act instantly excites the Combativeness and Destructiveness The principle that Divine punishments are founded of the proprietor of the bone, and he proceeds to worry in benevolence, even to the sufferer, is strongly eluci- the assailant. Or a cock, on a dunghill, finds a rival dated in the case of the organic laws. When inflamma-intruding on his domain, and under the instinctive intion, for example, has seized any vital organ, if there spiration of Combativeness and offended Self-Esteem, were no pain, there could be no intimation that an or- he attacks him and drives him off. I call this inflicting ganic law had been infringed; the disease would proceed animal punishment. In these cases it is not supposed that quietly in its invasions; and death would ensue with the aggressors possess moral faculties, intimating that out the least previous warning. The pain attending their trespass is wrong, or free will by which they could an acute disease, therefore, appears to be instituted to avoid it. I view them as inspired by their propensiwarn the sufferer, by the most forcible of all admoni- ties, and rushing blindly to gratification. Nevertheless, tions, to return to obedience to the law which he has in the effect which the aggression produces on the proinfringed. In the case of a broken limb, or a deep cut, pensities of the animal assailed, we perceive an arrangethe principle becomes exceedingly obvious. The bonement instituted by the Creator for checking outrage, and of a leg will reunite, if the broken edges be preserved arresting its progress. in close contact; and the subsequent serviceable condition of the limb will depend upon the degree of exactness with which they have been made to re-approach and been preserved in their natural position. Now, in the first place, the pain attending a broken limb gives a most peremptory intimation that an injury has been sustained; secondly, it excites the individual most forcibly to the reparation of it; and, thirdly, after the healing process has commenced, it recurs with a degree of violence proportioned to the disturbance of the parts, and thus acts like a sentinel with a drawn sword, compelling the patient to avoid everything that may impede his recovery. The same observations apply to a flesh-wound. The pain serves to intimate the injury, and to excite the patient to have it removed. The dissevered edges of the skin, nerves, and muscles, when skilfully made to re-approach, will, by the organic law, reunite if left in repose. As an accession of pain follows every disturbance of their condition, when in the process of healing, it serves as an effectual and benevolent guardian of the welfare of the individual. If these views be correct, what person would dispense with the pain which attends the infringement of the organic laws, although such a boon were offered for his acceptance? It is obvious, that, if he possessed the least glimmering of understanding, he would thank the Creator for the institution, and beg in mercy to be allowed the benefits attending it; especially if he considered the fact, that, after the possibility of recovery ceases, death steps in to terminate the suffering. The point to which I request the reader's special attention is, that the power of the individual to avoid or not to avoid the infringement of the law in the particular instance which brings the punishment, is not an indispensable circumstance in rendering the infliction Before the penalty inflicted could be viewed by man as just in such cases, it would be necessary to perceive that it was instituted for the benefit of the aggressors themselves; and, in truth, this is observed to be the case. If all dogs neglected to seek bones, and dedicated themselves solely to stealing; and if cocks, in general, deserted their own domains, and gave themselves up only to felonious inroads on each other's territories, it is evident that the races of these animals would soon become extinct. It follows, also, that any individual among them who should habitually abandon himself to such transgressions, would speedily lose his life by violence or starvation. If, then, it is beneficial for the race, and also for the individual offender himself, in these instances, to be arrested in his progress, his chastisement is decidedly benevolent and just. It is interesting to observe, that various provisions are made, under the animal law, for bringing about substantial justice, even in creatures destitute of the sentiment of Conscientiousness. The lower animals make perfectly sure of punishing only the real offender; for he must be caught in the act, otherwise he is not visited by their resentment. In the next place, it appears to be the general law of animal nature, that, unless the offender has carried his inroad to an extreme extent, the punishment is relaxed the moment he desists; that is to say, the master of the bone or dunghill is generally satisfied with simple defence, and rarely abandons his treasure to pursue the offender for the sake of mere revenge. Farther, the animals, in inflicting punishment, make no inquiry into the cause of the offence. With them it affords no alleviation that the aggressor is himself in a state of the greatest destitution, or that his appetite is irresistible; neither do they concern themselves about his fate after they have made him undergo the penalty. He may die of the wounds they have inflicted upon him, or of absolute starvation, before their eyes, without their enjoyment being in the least disturbed. This arises from their faculties consisting entirely of those powers which regard only self. They are deficient in the faculties which inquire into causes and trace consequences; and in the moral sentiments, which desire, with a disinterested affection, the welfare of other beings. Nevertheless, the punishment which they inflict is in itself just, and serves, as we have seen, a decidedly beneficial end. Let us now direct our attention to man. fective in their case. In consequence of their not pos sessing reflecting faculties, they are incapable of forming deep or extensive schemes for mutual aggression, and are not led to speculate on the chances of escaping detection in their misdeeds. Their offences are limited to casual overflowings of their propensities when excited by momentary temptation; which are checked by counter overflowings of other propensities, momentarily excited in the animals aggrieved. In regard to man, however, the world has been arranged on the principle of supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect; and, in consequence, animal retribution is not equally effectual in his case. For example, a human offender employs his intellect in devising means to enable him to escape detection, or to defend himself against punishment; and hence, although he sees punishment staring him in the face, his hope deludes him into the belief that he may escape it. Farther, if the real cause of human offences be excessive size and activity of the organs of the animal propensities, it follows that mere punishment cannot put a stop to crime; because it overlooks the cause, and leaves it to operate with unabated energy after the infliction has been endured. The history of the world, accordingly, presents us with a regular succession of crimes and punishments, and at present the series appears to be as far removed from a termination as at any previous period of the annals of the race. If the world, in regard to man, has been arranged on the principle of supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, we might expect better success were moral retribution, of which I now proceed to treat, resorted to. Man possesses the same animal propensities as those of the lower creatures, and, under their instigation, he inflicts punishment on principles precisely analogous to those under which they chastise. Indeed, it is curious to remark, that hitherto the criminal laws, even of civilized nations, have been framed on the principles of animal punishment exclusively. A thief, for example, breaks into a dwelling-house and steals. The reflecting faculties are employed to discover the offender, and find evidence of the offence. Judges and juries assemble to determine whether the evidence is sufficient; and if they find it to be so, the offender is ordered to be banished, imprisoned, or hanged. We are apt to imagine that there is something moral in the trial. But the sole object of it is to ascertain that a crime has been committed, and that the accused is the offender. The dog and cock make equally certain of both points; because they never punish except when the individual is caught in the offence. Guilt being ascertained, and the offender identified, the dog shakes and worries him, and then lets him go; while man scourges his back, or makes him mount the steps of a tread-mill, and then turns him The motive which prompts the dog to worry, and the adrift. If the offender has been very presumptuous cock to peck and spur his assailant, is, as we have seen, and pertinacious in his aggression, the dog sometimes, mere animal resentment. His propensities are disalthough rarely, throttles him outright; and man, in agreeably affected, and Combativeness and Destructivesimilar circumstances, very generally strangles him withness instinctively start into activity to repel the aga rope, or cuts off his head. The dog, in his proceed-gression. The animal resentment of man is precisely ing, makes no inquiry into the causes which led to the analogous. A thief is odious to Acquisitiveness, because crime or into the consequences upon the offender, of he robs it of its treasures; a murderer is offensive to the punishment which he inflicts. In this also he is our feelings, because he extinguishes life. And, these imitated by the human race. Man inflicts his vengeance faculties being offended, Combativeness and Destrucwith as little inquiry into the causes which led to the tiveness rush to their aid in man while under the anioffence, and, except when he puts him to death, he mal dominion, as instinctively as in the dog,-and turns the culprit adrift upon the world after he has un-punish the offender on principles, and in a way, exactly dergone his punishment, with as little concern about what shall next befall him as is shewn by his canine prototype. The dog acts in this manner, because he is inspired by animal propensities, and higher faculties have been denied him. Man imitates him, because he too has received animal faculties, and because, although he possesses, in addition to them, moral sentiments and reflecting intellect, he has not yet discovered the practical application of these to the subject of criminal legislation. The animal punishment is not without advantage even in the case of man, although it is far short, in this respect, of what he might obtain by following the guidance of his moral sentiments and enlightened intellect. Man as a mere animal could not exist in society, unless some check were instituted against abuses of the propensities; and hence it is quite obvious, that animal vengeance, rude as it is, carries with it results beneficial even to the offender, except where it puts him to death a degree of punishment which, as we have seen, the lower animals rarely inflict on each other of the same species. Unless the outrages of Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, Self-Esteem, and the other animal faculties, were checked, human society would be dissolved, and by that result the offenders themselves would suffer more grievous calamities than under any moderate form of animal castigation. The world is arranged, in so far as regards the lower creatures, with a wise relation to the faculties bestowed on them. Accordingly, animal resentment is really ef similar. Ve The case is different with the proper human faculties. Benevolence, contemplating outrage and murder, disapproves of them because they are hostile to its inherent constitution, and because they occasion calamities to those who are its objects, and misery to the perpetrators themselves. Conscientiousness is pained by the perception of theft, because its very nature revolts at every infringement of right, and because justice is essential to the welfare of all intelligent beings. neration is offended at reckless insult and indignity, because its desire is to respect the intelligent creatures of the God whom it adores, believing that they are all the objects of his love. Hence, when crime is presented to the moral sentiments, they all ardently and instinctively desire that it should be stopped, and its recurrence prevented, because it is in direct opposition to their very nature; and this impression, on their part, is not dependent on the power of the criminal to offend or to forbear. Benevolence grieves at death inflicted by a madman, and calls aloud that it should be averted; Conscientiousness disavows theft, although committed by an idiot, and requires that he should be restrained; while Veneration recoils at the irreverences even of the phrensied. The circumstance of the offenders being involuntary agents, incapable of restraining their propensities, does not alter the aversion of the moral faculties to their actions; and the reasons of this are obvious: first, these faculties hate evil because it is contrary to their nature, from whatever source it springs; ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. and, secondly, the circumstance of the aggressor being a We perceive, therefore, as the first feature of the moral and intellectual law, that the higher sentiments, absolutely and in all circumstances, declare against offences, and demand imperatively that they shall be brought to an end. There is a great difference, however, between the means which they suggest for accomplishing this object, and those prompted by the propensities. The latter, as I have said, blindly inflict animal resentment without the slightest regard to the causes which led to the crime, or the consequences of the punishment. They seize the aggressor, and worry, bite, or strangle him; and there their operations begin and terminate. 77 siderable number of criminals, and inquired into the The moral and intellectual faculties, on the other hand, embrace even the criminal himself within the range of their sympathies. Benevolence desires to render him virtuous, and thereafter happy, as well as to Veneration desires that he should rescue his victim. be treated as a man; and Conscientiousness declares that it cannot with satisfaction acquiesce in any administration towards him that does not tend to remove the motives of his misconduct, and to prevent their recurrence. The first step, then, which the moral and intellectual faculties combine in demanding, is a full exposition of the causes of the offence, and the conse-marily removed. quences of the mode of treatment proposed. Let us, then, pursue this investigation; and here it may be observed, that we are now in condition to do so with something like a chance of success; for, by the aid of Phrenology, we have obtained a tolerably clear view of the elementary faculties of the mind, and the effects of organization on their activity and vigour. The leading fact, then, which arrests our attention in this inquiry, is, that every crime proceeds from an abuse of some faculty or other; and the question immediately arises, Whence originates the tendency to abuse? Phrenology enables us to answer, From three sources: first, from particular organs being too large and spontaneously too active; secondly, from great excitement produced by external causes; or, thirdly, from ignorance of what are uses and what are abuses of the faculties. The moral and intellectual powers next demand, What is the cause of particular organs being too large and too active in individuals? Phrenology, for answer, points to the law of hereditary descent, by which the organs most energetic in the parents determine those Intellect, then, which shall predominate in the child. infers that, according to this view, certain individuals are unfortunate at birth, in having received organs from their parents so ill proportioned, that abuse of some of them is almost an inevitable consequence, if they are left to the sole guidance of their own suggestions. Phrenology replies, that the fact appears to be In the Museum of the Phrenological Soexactly so. ciety is exhibited a large assemblage of skulls and casts of the heads of criminals, collected from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; and an undeniable feature in them all, is a great preponderance of the organs of the animal faculties over those of the moral sentiments and intellect. In the next place, great excitement may arise from the individual being pressed by animal want, stimulated by intoxicating liquors, seduced by evil example, and from a variety of similar influences. And, thirdly, abuses may arise from sheer want of information concerning the constitution of the mind, and its relations to external objects. Persecution for opinion, for example, is a crime obviously referrible to this source. The first cause the great preponderance of the aniIntellect, therefore, points out anmal organs-cannot, by any means yet known, be sum other alternative-that of supplying, by moral and physical restraint, the control which, in a brain better constituted, is afforded by large moral and intellectual organs; in short, of placing the offender under such a degree of effective control as absolutely to prevent the proceeding to be kind, Veneration to be respectful, and abuses of his faculties. Benevolence acknowledges this Conscientiousness to be just, at once to the offender himself and to society; and Intellect perceives that, whenever it is adopted, it will form an important step towards preventing a repetition of crimes. The second cause, viz. great excitement from without, The very restraint and conmay be removed by withdrawing the individual from the influence of the unfavourable external circumstances trol which serve to effect the first object, will directly to which he is exposed. The third cause- -namely, ignorance-may be removed tend to accomplish this second one at the same time. If these principles be sound, the measures now reby conveying instruction to the intellectual powers. commended, when viewed in all their consequences, should be not only the most just and benevolent, but at the same time the most advantageous that could be adopted. Let us contrast their results with those of the animal method. Under the animal system, as we have already seen, Under the moral no measures except the excitement of terror, are taken to prevent the commission of crime. plan, as soon as a tendency to abuse the faculties should Under the animal sysappear in any individual, means of prevention would be resorted to, because the sentiments could not be satisfied unless this were done. tem, no inquiry is made into the future proceedings of the unabated influence of all the causes which led to his the offender, and he is turned loose upon society under infringement of the law; and, as effects never cease while their causes continue to operate, he repeats his tion. Under the moral system, the causes would be reoffence, and becomes the object of a new animal inflicUnder the animal system, the propensities of the of moved, and the evil effects would cease. fender and society are maintained in habitual excitefaculties, and is likewise addressed to them. Flogging, ment; for the punishment proceeds from the animal I have examined the cerebral development of a con- for instance, proceeds from Destructiveness, and is ad |