“With this you will, I hope, receive two copies of my promised treatise on Penal Jurisprudence, and the Reformation of Offenders, which I submit, with great diffidence, to your judgment and experience; and should feel still more, if I had not in almost every respect conformed to your views, and availed myself of your excellent writings on the subject, which do the greatest credit both to yourself and your country; on which account you will find I have not only occasionally quoted you, but have given the report of the state prison of New York for 1815 (which contains so many of your excellent remarks) entire.
“From the portion of my tract which relates to this country you will perceive, that we are not insensible to the great importance of the penitentiary system, and that some idea of such a plan has been entertained even from a remote period; but that which has always been wanting has been, to place it on proper ground, and to substitute a system of benevolence and reformation for one of revenge and punishment.
“If this can be fully effected, every thing else will
naturally flow from it, as from a parent
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 205 |
“The publications you were so good as to send me were of the highest value, as they show by a series of experiments, not only what ought to be done in establishing a penitentiary system, but what ought to be avoided. On this head, you will see that I have expressed myself with great freedom, and will, perhaps, think I have been more ready to blame than to commend. If, however, I have written without reserve, I have always endeavoured to give reasons for my opinions, and it would give me the greatest pleasure, if any suggestions of mine should be thought worthy the attention of those in your country, who interest themselves in the promotion of these most important and benevolent plans.”
