moral influences which may be felt in a Christian community; to the kind persuasions of those who have no other authority than a benevolent interest in their fellow-men can give them. This is one of the forms of charity which cannot be exercised by masses of men; and we are not desirous of seeing every thing done by municipal regulations. Individual efforts are the best. They bind man to man in a way that no wholesale charity can ever effect; and while we rejoice to see every thing performed by the community which it can best do, we shall also be gratified to find that it does not undertake that which can be best accomplished by private efforts.

But after all the labors both of private and public munificence, education will not be universal; and if it could be made so, it would not prove a sufficient preventive of crime. Fraud in its thousand forms would still be committed, as it has been, by the skilful and well instructed; and crime of every degree would be perpetrated, as it has been, by those who could not plead ignorance in excuse. Against such, as well as against the more ignorant, the fear of punishment must be directed in such manner and degree as society has the right to inflict it. The extent of this right is a subject of profound investigation, which we do not propose to examine; but we may be allowed to state an axiom, which, if it be trite, has consequences that have been little regarded. As the prevention of crime, not merely by the dread of suffering, but by the reformation of the criminal, is the object of all punishment, it is the duty of society to take care that its modes of punishment be of such a character as will tend to the diminution of crime. Have the species of punishment heretofore in general use been of that character? The necessary answer to this question is, that they have, for the most part, been the very reverse. The prisons, penitentiaries, houses of correction, &c., which have abounded among us, as well as in other civilized countries, so far from having any tendency to prevent crime, have been, and, with some exceptions, are still, the schools, the nurseries, the hot-beds of iniquity. No language is strong enough properly to express the true character of these diabolical seminaries of vice. In them the weak have been perverted, the depraved hardened, and offenders of every degree of guilt reduced to one dreadful level of corruption. Is it by such a system of punishment as this that crime is to be diminished? Is this the true plan of correctional police ?

A heavy responsibility rests upon those who have the power to remedy these evils; and in this country it is in the mass of the population, in the tone of public opinion, that this power resides. Every step ought to be taken to arouse the public sentiment upon this point; and we are grateful to Dr. Tuckerman for his labors on the subject. No pains can be superfluous, and none will be lost, which have for their object to enlighten and awaken the public feeling in relation to prisons, their construction, and discipline. Much has been done, but much more remains to be accomplished; and we would leave nothing unattempted to excite in others the same strength of feeling with which we are penetrated on this subject. If we wish for personal security, if we wish for the diminution of crime, if we wish to save ourselves from the guilt of aiding in the corruption of those who are exposed to peculiar temptation under our own laws and institutions, our prisons must be altogether reformed. They must be all improved upon the same plan which has been so successfully introduced into some of our state penitentiaries. A partial change will not be effectual. It must be thorough and entire. Our county gaols, at least in large towns, require similar reformation; and we must not suffer ourselves to rest satisfied with our exertions, till the crying sins, the enormous evils of these establishments are, to the extent of our ability, eradicated. Here is an ample field for the zeal of the patriot, the wisdom of the legislator, the skill of the politician, and the ardor of the philanthropist. The efforts of all are required, and can hardly fail to be requited.

Our penal codes, too, require examination and amendment. There has recently been a general excitement on the subject of imprisonment for debt,--an excitement fully justified by the subject. There should be a similar one on imprisonment for crime. It should be seen whether there is a just proportion between the character of a crime and its punishment; and there should be introduced a uniformity which does not now exist in the codes of the different states of this Union. means of accomplishing this purpose, to a very desirable extent, are not difficult, though it would scarcely be proper for us to suggest them here. It would be highly becoming in our legislature to give to this subject (one of the most important to which their attention can be directed) that

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consideration which would show their just sense of its consequence.

Elementary education, however, and judicious punishment are not all that can be done, and therefore not all that ought to be done, for the prevention of crime. Religious instruction can be made to exert at least as powerful and beneficial an influence as either of them; and it would, therefore, be a matter of expediency, if it were not a part of duty, to provide it for those who cannot procure it for themselves. The mode of performing this duty is a subject of great delicacy. No rough or violent methods can be of any avail. People cannot be compelled to be religious by law; nor to avail themselves of the means of becoming so. Nothing but the gentlest and most judicious moral influence will produce the desired effect. Men must be drawn to think seriously and feel deeply, upon their religious relations, by the cords of humanity, kindness, wisdom. In this country, resort to these gentler methods is especially necessary; and we have abundant proof both of their efficacy, and of the inherent strength of the religious principle in human nature, in the number and variety of the associations for religious purposes among us, the general attachment to the institutions and offices of religion, and the liberality which is exercised towards its ministers. We would speak thankfully, rather than boastfully, of the religious privileges we enjoy, and we would do what in us lies to increase and extend them. There are, doubtless, many in this city who cannot, and many more who do not, derive the benefit which might be derived from its religious advantages; and if there be any who are not suitably provided for in the numerous churches of the city, or who are unknown to any one of the parochial clergy, we hope they will be sought out, and put in the way of religious instruction and edification. From those whose characters render them indisposed to receive such benevolent efforts in the spirit of kindness and improvement, little can be expected; but there are, doubtless, many poor who would gladly have the Gospel preached to them, and who would show the effect of it in their lives. With such the right course has been begun, in the establishment of what is called a ministry at large,' by which is meant the service of a clergyman who is not attached to a particular parish, but takes under his charge those who

are left to wander in the dangerous paths of the world as sheep without a shepherd. Dr. Tuckerman has the distinguished merit of having originated, with us, this important ministry. Its beneficial effect was not merely anticipated, but was almost immediately perceived; and there can now be no doubt that it is one of the most important and useful services to which the zealous Christian minister can devote himself. The noble example of Dr. Tuckerman, and the obvious good effects which ensued from his labors, have stimulated others to enter upon the same course of honorable toil; and we learn incidentally from the last Report to the American Unitarian Association, that there are now four other persons constantly employed in the same work of truly Christian charity. It is about five years since Dr. Tuckerman began, and the combined effect of precept and example has seldom been more decided or more rapid. It is but a little longer time since the first church for the use of seamen was instituted, and there are now two in different parts of the city. Is it possible to contemplate these things, and not rejoice at the spirit of wise benevolence, of enlarged and discriminating charity, which must pervade the community, as well as animate the immediate laborers in this harvest of blessings? We confess a feeling of exultation,- we hope a justifiable and humble one, when we see the alacrity with which any judicious measure for the improvement of our fellow-beings is adopted, and the steadiness with which it is. pursued in this city of the Pilgrims. We feel such confidence in the disposition of the public to do all that can be done wisely, that we are always inclined to believe there must be some strong reason against any proposition that is not speedily acted upon. Indeed, discretion is more wanted to guide the exercise of benevolence, than kind feeling to stimulate the community to the practice of it; and we should regret to see the strength of the one increased at the expense of the other quality.

We look upon the ministry at large' as one of the best steps ever taken towards guiding aright the benevolent impulses which are so abundant, and which so obviously require the direction of those who combine wisdom of character with high Christian attainments. But it must be in the hands of those who are thus distinguished, or it will fail to produce its proper effects. The experience of years must

have given some acquaintance with the bad habits which need correction, and the cunning which will be employed to conceal them, or deception and intrigue will convert even this remedy into an encouragement of the very criminality it is intended to prevent. In no service is a greater portion of that rare quality, practical wisdom, required than in this; and in none can it produce more beneficial effects. There is no form of the Christian ministry which it is more clearly the duty of the community to support; we do not mean by public appropriations, but in the way in which we understand it to be now maintained, of private contribution. No man will be the poorer for aiding this charity.

We regard elementary education, judicious punishment, and religious instruction, as the principal remedies upon which we can rely for the diminution and prevention of crime. But it is obvious that they will not be sufficient to prevent the other evil which is so commonly associated with it, pauperism. Poverty is not a proper subject of punishment; and although knowledge and good principles are very important aids both in acquiring and preserving the real antidote to it, yet we every day see that they are not always sufficient. Something else is necessary to the alleviation of suffering from poverty. We say alleviation, for that is all which should be either attempted or thought of. The prevention of poverty is impossible; and in this it is widely distinguished from crime. Poverty is the appointment, the beneficent appointment of God; crime is the exclusive work of man. We cannot cure poverty, therefore, and it will be well for all classes when the idea of doing this is given up. If all were made rich to-day, some would be poor to-morrow; and nothing but a perpetual miracle, or rather an entire change of the constitution of nature, could prevent the recurrence of the present system.

We call poverty an evil; but, religiously speaking, why should we call that condition evil, which perhaps is best adapted to fit us for the future state, the principal object of our present life; and which sometimes calls forth the exercise of the most delightful feelings, and the most exalted virtues, that ever are or can be displayed by finite beings? Poverty may be not merely the cause of virtue in those who suffer it, but the source of it in others. It may be made to bless him that gives and him that takes.' It may