THE PENITENTIARY SYSTEM. '

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reform them, they were subjected to complete isolation. Butthis absolute solitude, if there is nothing to alleviate it, is beyondthe strength of man ; it destroys the criminal without intermis-sion and without pity ; it does not reform him, it kills him. Thedeepest depression and melancholy, insanity, despair, and death,were the lot of the unfortunate men on whom this experiment wasmade.

Up to this time, the system of penitentiary discipline wasnowhere crowned with the anticipated success. Especially thislast experiment, which had been tried at so much expense, wasof a nature to put the entire penitentiary system in peril. Afterthe melancholy effects of isolation, it would have been a naturalreaction, to reject the entire penitentiary principle. With aperseverance, however, above all commendation, instead of ac-cusing the system itself, the blame was laid on its defective exe-cution. The idea was not given up, that the solitude, whichcauses the criminal to reflect, exercises a beneficial influence ;and the problem now was, to find the means, by which the evileffect of total solitude could be avoided without giving up its ad-vantages. It occurred, that this end could be attained, by leav-ing the convicts in their cells during the night, and by requiringthem to work during the day in common workshops, obligingthem at the same time to observe absolute silence. This changewas introduced in 1823.*

The establishment at Auburn soon excited public attention,in a very high degree. It has met with extraordinary success,and has placed the penitentiary system beyond the risk of failure.The chaplain (the Rev. B. C. Smith) has described the system,as it is seen at Auburn, with equal clearness, beauty, and, I pre-sume, truth.

“ It presents itself to us,” says he, “ with all the advantagesof an extreme simplicity. It is thought, that two depraved beingsunited, will mutually corrupt each other ; they are, therefore,separated. The voice of their passions, or the tumult of theworld, has bewildered and led them astray ; they are isolated,and thus led to reflection. Intercourse with the world had per-

* Penitentiary System of the United States, &c., pp. 3-6.

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