humanity we owe the origination of that philanthropic system which now aims to deal with criminals, even as God deals with us; to extend mercy, and love, and hope, ungrudgingly to the vilest of the vile, and thus to bring back the erring prodigal even when furthest astray from the right way. The apostle holds out the promise of a noble reward to incite us onward in the pursuit of such an aim; the highest, indeed, of all rewards that man can aspire to in dealing with his fellow-men," He that converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins."

In times past, criminals have been visited with constant severity, and in multitudes of instances with cruelty which had no object in view but to gratify the worst passions of unprincipled jailers. Nor is this system even now entirely at an end at the present day; it is not only the fact that in many prisons prisoners are subjected to vindictive and frequent corporeal punishments, but multitudes still cherish the erroneous notion, that prisoners cannot be controlled in any other manner than by unrelenting severity. This is a great and, indeed, a fatal mistake. In every instance where kindness has been properly exhibited in governing criminals, it has succeeded in its object, not only proving the easiest and most effectual means of controlling them, but, in not a few cases, going much further, and leading to their effectual reformation. Men

are slow to learn "the power of mighty love," but they are attaining to some better appreciation of its power; and not only is the Divine view that the law of overcoming evil with good is the noblest power which can be exerted in subduing criminals, but a large portion of the civilized world begins even to own the authority of the precept that we should "love the enemies" of the State as well as of individuals. That in this allpowerful principle we find the genial dew to fertilize the barren heart, the key to unlock the hidden feeling, the magnet to attract the love of the hardened soul, many touching incidents suffice to prove.

During the Irish rebellion in 1798, Joseph Holt, one of the rebel generals, was captured by the ruling authority. In consequence of his goodness of character, which excited even the respect of those against whom he had rebelled, he was saved from capital punishment, and banished to New South Wales. The commutation of his sentence from death to transportation was brought about by the kindness which he had extended to a captive officer, who was about to be slain by the rebels: Holt interfered, and saved his life. The influence which the officer possessed enabled him to repay this debt of obligation, and to deliver Holt from a disgraceful execution. After his arrival, he was employed as an overseer on the estate of a Mr. Cox, and had forty-five convicts and twenty-five freemen under his guidance.

These convicts met at his hands nothing but kindness and confidence; and the result is given in his memoirs, published in the year 1838.

"As to the convicts, there was a certain quantity of work which, by the government regulations, they must do in a given time, and this may be given them by the day, week, or month, as you pleased, and they must be paid a certain price for all the work they did beyond a certain quantity. If they were idle, and did not do the regulated quantity of work, it was only necessary to take them before a magistrate, and he would order them twenty-five lashes of the cat on their backs for the first offence, fifty for the second, and so on; and if that would not do, they were at last put into a railgang, and made to work in irons from morning till night.

"In order to keep them honest, I paid them fully and fairly for everything they did beyond their stipulated task, at the same time I paid the freemen; and if I thought the rations not sufficient for their comfortable support, I issued to each man six pounds of wheat, fourteen of potatoes, and one of pork, in addition. By this means the men were well fed, for the old saying is true, 'Hunger will break through stone walls,' and it is all nonsense to make laws for starving men. When any article was stolen from me, I instantly paraded all hands, and told them that if it was not restored in a given time, I would stop all extra allowances and in

dulgences.

The thief,' said I, 'is a disgrace to the

establishment and all employed in it. Let the honest men find him out, and punish him among yourselves. Do not let it be said that the flogger ever polluted this place by his presence. You all know the advantages you enjoy above gangs on any other estate in the colony; do not, then, throw them away. Do not let me know who the thief is, but punish him by your own verdict.' I then dismissed them.

"The transports would say among themselves, that what I had told them was all right. 'We won't,' they would reason, 'be punished because there happens to be an ungrateful thief among us.' They then called a jury, and entered into an investigation, and on all occasions succeeded in detecting and punishing the offender. I was by this line of conduct secure from plunder, and the disgusting operation of flaying a man alive with a cat-o'-nine-tails did not disgrace the farms during my superintendence. Mr. Cox said one day to me, 'Pray, Joseph, how is it that you never have to bring your men to punishment? You have more under you, I believe, than any man in the colony, and, to the surprise of all, you have never had one flogged, or indeed have made a complaint against one of them. They look well, and appear contented, and even happy.' 'Sir,' said I, 'I have studied human nature more than books. I had the management of many more men in my own country, and I was always rigidly just to them. I

never oppressed them, or suffered them to cheat their employers or each other. They knew, if they did their duty, they would be well treated, and if not, sent to the right about. I follow the same course with the men here. . . . . I should think myself very ill qualified to act as your overseer, were I to have a man or two flogged every week. Besides the horrible inhumanity of the practice, the loss of a man's week or fortnight's work will not be a trifle in a year, at twelve shillings and sixpence per week, for a man who gets the cat is incapable of work till his back is well; so, in prudence, as well as in Christian charity, it is best to treat our fellow-creatures like men, although they may be degraded to the state of convict slaves.''

Mr. Holt also gives an account of Colonel Collins, who was governor of the settlement at the Derwent River, in Van Dieman's Land, from 1804 till his death in 1810, whose conduct furnishes a most admirable illustration of the influence of kindness. "This gentleman had the good will, the good wishes, and the good word of every one in the settlement. His conduct was exemplary, and his disposition most humane. His treatment of the runaway convicts was conciliatory, and even kind. He would go into the forests among the natives to allow these poor creatures, the runaways, an opportunity of returning to their former condition; and, half dead with cold and hunger, they would come and drop on their knees before him, imploring pardon