If we divide the period of forty years, from 1800 to 1839, into eight successive periods of five years each, we shall have for the

1st. (1800 to 1804) 353 condemnations; annual average 70.6

2nd. (1805 to 1809) 152
3rd. (1810 to 1814) 113

30.4

4th. (1815 to 1819)

71

د,

دو

22.6

14.2

12.2

14.8

12.8

80

In seven provinces only, those of Antwerp, Brabant, the two Flanders, Hainault, Liege, and Namur, during the period of nineteen years, from 1796 to 1814, there were 531 executions. This was also the period that furnished the greatest number of great crimes.

During the subsequent period, from 1815 to 1829 (fifteen years), the number of executions was reduced to 71. The number of great crimes underwent a corresponding diminution.

During the period from 1830 to 1834, the capital punishment was suspended, and the number of great crimes, far from increasing, underwent on the contrary a certain reduction, in comparison with the number within the five years preceding.

Finally, during the last period, it was deemed proper again to resort to executions, and the number of capital offences resumed its progressive increase.

In the preceding comparison, we have united all the capital condemnations; but if we confine this comparison to the highest crimes-murder, parricide, poisoning, the only ones for which the maintenance of the death penalty is still invoked, the inference to be drawn from the abolition of the infliction of capital punishment in Belgium will be still more remarkable: in proportion with the diminished frequency of executions, murders, poisonings, parricides, diminished in frequency; and they diminished in a ratio of fifty per cent. under the system of the punishment of death. This decisive fact is evident, from the following table, in which we have classed in successive periods of five years the executions which took place, and the condemnations for the higher offences, which were pronounced in Belgium from 1800 to 1839 inclusively.

If, instead of the condemnations, we consult the number of accusations, we find a still more conclusive result. During the period of four years, from 1826

VOL. IV.NO XXX.

N

to 1829, there were 32 accusations of assassination, poisoning, and parricide; during the period of five years, from 1830 to 1834, the number of these accusations falls to 24, to rise again to 44 in the succeeding period of five

years.

Certainly we do not mean to attribute this remarkable result to the suspension of the punishment of death, during the period from 1830 to 1834. The diminution of capital crimes, and particularly of premeditated attacks upon life, which is observable from the commencement of the century, is to be, above all, ascribed to the more regular action of the laws, to the annually increasing difficulty of escaping the pursuit of justice, and to the progress of civilization. The rareness of executions, their temporary suspension, could only exert an indirect influence in this respect, in teaching the people respect for human life, and in removing from them those bloody spectacles, far more suitable to inspire ideas than to soften the public character and teach forgiveness of injuries.

At any rate, the experiment made during the first years of the Revolution, in spite of the disorder and effervescence inseparable from all political convulsions, seems to us to prove conclusively that the time has arrived to mitigate the excessive rigour of our penal laws, and to substitute for punishments bequeathed to us from ancient times, penalties better adapted to our character and our civilization. At the present day, the omnipotence of the jury, the moderation of the judges, the exercise of the royal prerogative, come to the support of the principle of justice and humanity; why not infuse that principle into the criminal code. More than one evil attends the perpetuation of this conflict between the law and the public conscience; the action of justice is enervated, arbitrary discretion takes the place of rule, equality disappears from the application of punishments, judicial trials become a sort of lottery, in which the criminal seizes advantage of all the chances afforded him by the want of harmony existing between the law and those whose duty it is to apply it.

POETRY.

THE SLEEPER OF THE MINE.

THEY dug him forth from his grave of years,
In beauty there he lay,

With features calm as smiles and tears
Had stirred them yesterday.

A miner's garb he wore:

Yet none of the train who stood around
And gazed on the lost and strangely found
Had seen that face before.

A woman drew the circle nigh,
Half mad and bent by time;
She propped her steps an oakstaff by,
Meet guest for some spirit-chine.

She stood on death's dark brink:
One single step-and the dark abyss
Shall hurry her hence to grief or bliss:
To-morrow may she sink.

"Let me pass! let me pass!" she cried:
The crowd moved half in fear.

And she stept to that youthful corse's side
And shrieked, "I have found him here!
I mourned his loss how long!-

Full fifty springs away have flown,

Since the day when the morrow should make me his own, And sung be our bridal song.

"He was buried within the mountain shaft,
The dark cliffs barred his way;

The mountain sprites o'er their victim laughed—
And I was left to pray.-

To pray we might meet again!

And I knew e'en then that my prayer was heard;
For hope the depths of my being stirred,
And how should such hope be vain?

"They called me mad. Am I mad then now
When I kiss his forehead pale?

No! hell may the reed in the tempest bow,
But heav'n shall hush the gale.

He is mine-is mine at last!

I have mourned for thee with smiles and tears
For days-for months! -Said I not-for years?-
We part not till time has past."

She said, and sank o'er his youthful frame;
Her soul hath past away.

Such joy like night's blast to her spirit came
And quenched its dying ray.

But oh! her prayer was heard:

In the blissful clime where no age is known

She shall stand with that youth near the glorious throne Of the Father and the Word.

180

CORRESPONDENCE.

MARRIAGE.

[The following very valuable letter has been published in an exceedingly good North American paper, called the New York Protestant Churchman; but we have deemed it worthy of being extensively read in this country; and its value will not be diminished in the eyes of our readers, when we say that it is from the pen of the excellent Bishop of Vermont.-ED. B. C.]

"IN our last essay, the choice of a profession was considered on such principles as to lead the Christian heart to prefer the office of the ministry or the instruction of youth; carefully abstaining, however, from making any choice prematurely, and keeping the ultimate decision open to every suggestion of prudent observation, and to every leading of Divine Providence, in answer to constant prayer for guidance and direction. It only remains for us to notice one topic more, and we shall then close a very imperfect view of a subject which no Christian parent or teacher can contemplate with more devout attention than it deserves.

"This concluding topic, like the last, does not enter into the common definition of education. But the same reasons which induced us to recommend the frequent discussion of the principles that ought to dictate the choice of a profession, demonstrate, as we believe, the propriety of impressing upon the minds of our children the principles which should actuate them in selecting their companion for life. By leaving these subjects untouched, we deliver our youthful charge to the most uncertain and perilous influences. And although it is very true that they may err, in despite of our best instructions, yet we should, in such cases, have at least the consolation of reflecting that we had not occasioned their error by neglecting our own duty.

"The comprehensive definition, however, which we attach to Christian Education-viz., that it is the formation of character for life-naturally embraces the topic before us. It is an unquestionable fact that thoughts of matrimony occupy, at intervals, the minds of most young persons, for years before the period of serious attachment. Parents may choose to close their eyes to this truth, and compel their child to place that confidence in strangers which he is not encouraged to repose in his nearest and safest friends. But they cannot change the current of nature; nor can they hope to regulate its course, unless they will take an affectionate and religious interest in their children's feelings, and teach them, on this subject as on every other, to understand and apply the maxims of the word of God.

"That mistakes are continually committed in this matter, no Christian observer will deny. All acknowledge that the matrimonial connection is the most important which belongs to our present state of being. All confess that a wellselected companion is the greatest earthly blessing-that an ill-selected one is the greatest earthly curse. All admit that it is practicable to use discretion,

wisdom, and piety in the formation of the judgment on which a choice depends; and no Christian disciple can question that the Bible furnishes a sufficient guide for a prudent decision. The apostolic precept: 'Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers,' shows that the first requisite for conjugal union is religious faith; the assurance that a good wife' (and of course a good husband), 'is from the Lord,' points to the necessity of prayer for divine direction. Add to these the personal qualities and minute descriptions set forth in the inspired volume, as tests to distinguish both male and female character, and surely there is no want of plain instruction, no deficiency of the most ample protection against error. Yet, even among Christians, the whole question, with all its solemn and fearful accountability, is left to be decided, not by the counsels of God, but by mere human fancy. Judgment is discarded in order to indulge taste and inclination. Reason submits to be hoodwinked by passion, and the whole life becomes, in many instances, an unavailing penance for the headlong inadvertence of an evil hour. Nay, even the very ministers of Christ, notwithstanding the awful weight of their vows in ordination, often make shipwreck of their peace and usefulness on the same rock of delusion. Instead of choosing help-mates, they tie themselves to a clog-a hindrance; yea, sometimes to an adversary, who not only poisons the fountain of domestic bliss, but displays, in the eyes of a scoffing world, a deportment in open war with the spirit of the gospel.

"To guard against an evil so common and so fatal, there is no mode for the Christian parent but timely instruction and prayer. On the score of instruction, the Christian rather should see to it that his example teaches what religious wedlock ought to be; and the Christian mother is equally bound to afford her share of the same practical lesson. To do this effectually, neither party should be unwilling to express on all proper occasions the Scriptural law of marriage; viz., that it is the duty of the husband to govern, and that of the wife to obey; but that the government of the one must not be arbitrary or capricious, nor the obedience of the other servile or fearful, since both depend on the will of God, and must be influenced by the spirit of religious affection. This fundamental rule of the marriage covenant should never be thrust into the shade by false delicacy on the one side, or false pride on the other; for how shall the children learn the importance or the meaning of this solemn contract, when the parents studiously keep it out of sight? Along with this, however, there must be a careful inculcation of the inexpressible comfort of the marriage state, when it is sustained on Christian principle, contrasted with its melancholy aspect when religion is wanting; and a consistent display of that unity of purpose and affection of manner, without which no rules can ever exhibit wedlock in a happy point of view. And if there be, in addition to all this, a frequent expression of solicitude in conversation with our children, that they may be guided by the precepts of the Bible, when the time arrives for them to settle in domestic life, together with that kind and engaging confidence in intercourse, which can alone secure the communication of all their wishes to their parents as their truest friends, we should apprehend but little danger of their falling into the common error, so far as instruction is concerned.

"But no instruction, in this or any other point of moral conduct, can be relied on without prayer. For years before the ordinary period of attachment, Christian parents should make it the daily subject of their private supplications that the Lord would regulate this matter in his infinite wisdom: that he would provide suitable companions, if it were his will that their children should marry; and, if otherwise, that he would mercifully guard heir a fections from delusion and mistake. And, as the customary time drew nign, our youthful charge should be advised to cast this, as well as every other care, on that gracious and condescending Redeemer, who careth for them, diligently watching