ing, hours of labor, recreation, &c., and we doubt not that these and other modes of treatment, would be found quite sufficient to break down the most stubborn dispositions, without having recourse to flagellation, or other personally degrading modes of punishment. The middling and lower classes, should in no wise differ in appearance from a decent and well ordered school and manufactory. But we should rely above all in the reformation of our subjects, upon a careful, unabated, and judicious course of moral and religious instruction. The Bible should become familiar,-the admirable events which it records, and the Divine precepts which it contains, should be the subject not merely of weekly but of daily enforcement; and, in order to render the moral and also the economical government of the institution more efficient, your committee would strongly recommend that a suitable number of ladies should be appointed to take a share in its administration. Of the special and very important advantages of associating the skill, the discretion, the tenderness, and fidelity of females, in concerns of this nature, we have not the least doubt. In those countries of Europe, in which penitentiary institutions, and establishments for the support of the poor, are under the best management, women are associated in the direction. In Holland, there is not, perhaps, an alms-house, or a house of correction, in which the females do not take an active share; and in no part of the world, it is believed, are the concerns of charity, and economical government more wisely managed. In England, Scotland, and Ireland also, since the illustrious example of Mrs. Fry and her associates in Newgate, the humane design of ladies' associations has been greatly encouraged, and accordingly we are informed by the late reports, that female visiting committees have been formed in the prisons at Bedford, Bristol, Carlisle, Chester, Colchester, Derby, Durham, Dumfries, Exeter, Glasgow, Lancaster, Liverpool, Nottingham, Plymouth, York, and Dub

lin.

The Committee would therefore deem themselves very deficient, did they not hold up, in a prominent point of view, the benefits to be derived from an enlistment of the services of judicious females in this moral warfare against the vices of society; and they would beg leave further to express the opinion, that if an association of ladies were once formed for this purpose, essential benefits might result from inviting them to appoint a committee for the regular visitation and inspection of our City Penitentiary and AlmsHouse. Their influence and assistance would, we presume, prove acceptable and grateful to the superintendents of those depart

ments.

The introduction of labor would constitute an important feature in the concern, not only as a means of diminishing its expense and promoting its moral influence, but in order to supply its subjects with that instruction and with those habits which would enable them, on leaving the house, to procure a decent and honest livelihood. Various kinds of manufactories and trades might, doubtless, be introduced with advantage, and experience would soon enable the managers to decide upon the most profitable and eligible.

Although we are not apprised of there being any where in the United States, a House of Refuge established and conducted upon

the principles now proposed; yet it is known to your Committee that philanthropic individuals, in various places, have deemed such an establishment a desideratum in each of our large cities. In Boston there is an institution approximating in its object, to that under consideration. It consists of a house, to which are sent those children, whose parents, through culpable and vicious neglect, leave them to roam through the streets untaught and unprotected. By the laws of Massachusetts, children thus neglected, may be taken from their parents, at the discretion of persons duly authorised, and placed at school, or at trades with suitable masters. In this asylum, their time is divided between the exercises of a school and manufactory, and when they have attained to a sufficient degree of skill and learning, places are obtained for them as apprentices at some useful art or trade.

But London and Dublin afford examples, quite in unison with that which your Committee is anxious to see erected in this city. In London there are several establishments of this nature, but the one instituted in the borough, appears to come nearest in its general system to that which we would recommend. It "originated from the extent of Juvenile Depredations in the metropolis, and from a desire to ascertain the causes and arrest the progress of this great and growing evil. A large committee is appointed who meet every fortnight; and sub-committees, with confidential agents, are employed to investigate the cases of individuals, and to register the particulars. The building consists, first of a range of workshops of one floor, upwards of 500 feet in length, under which is a ropewalk, where every kind of lines, twines, and cord are manufactured; secondly, of a separate enclosure, used as a house of probation. or reform, for the criminal classes of boys; thirdly, of a similar receptacle for the same description of girls; fourthly, of a chapel for religious worship; fifthly, of an eating-room, and also for an evening school-room; sixthly, of a warehouse, for the reception, delivery, and sale of the manufactured articles; seventhly, of the general kitchen, bakehouse, and dormitories; and, lastly, of the requisite accommodations for the superintendents. The quality of the food is proportioned to the gains of the youth, or the hardness of their labour. The boys are bound apprentices for a certain number of years to the master workmen employed within the institution. They have a particular dress, and a badge, which is left off after a certain period. The hours of work are from six in the morning till six in the evening in summer, and from day light till half past seven in winter. The school is open four evenings in the week for reading, writing, and arithmetic. The elder boys are allowed to go out one day in the month, and the younger, one day in three months, to return before dark. If any one escapes and is retaken, he is treated as a refractory apprentice. The task assigned, is such as can easily be performed; and of the extra labor, onehalf is allowed as a reward, a small part being given in money, and the rest placed to his credit, to be paid at the end of his apprenticeship. Work of almost every trade is done by the boys. The girls are employed in making, mending, and washing the boys' clothes, and in different kinds of needle-work; and at the age of about 16, they are placed out as house servants, receiving a quarterly gratuity afterwards for good behavior during a certain period.

There are about 200 boys and girls in the place, and the result, as to conduct is extremely gratifying."

Some modifications of this plan would be requisite to adapt it to the local circumstances of this city; but in its general character it exhibits a cheering evidence of the blessings which flow from welldirected efforts to inure young people to habits of industry, regularity, sobriety, and morality. One of your Committee who went through the various wards of this institution, confirms the account which has been here given. The cheerful animation of the youthful laborers, and the neatness of their manufactured articles, were, in the highest degree, encouraging. Who can duly appreciate the importance of taking from the streets, boys who are under no parental or guardian control, who are "exposed to every temptation, "addicted to every vice, ignorant of all that is good, and trained by "their associates to the perpetration of every crime;" and training them during several years in such an institution, and then providing them with situations, in which their corrected habits will, in all probability, render them examples worthy of the imitation of others?

The annual reports of the committee detail at length, numerous striking cases of the efficacy of this Refuge, in producing an entire change in the character of individual boys and girls, and their obtaining situations of comfort and respectability.*

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"They are," they observe, "more happy to allude to the success of this establishment in reclaiming the youthful character, as "much difficulty is stated to be felt in managing juvenile offenders "in ordinary prisons. But boys in fact require a species of discipline distinct from that of men; and as the gaols of the metropo"lis, from their crowded state and imperfect construction, do not "admit, without considerable alterations, of such arrangements as are necessary to reclaim these delinquents, it becomes of great "importance, that, at a period when crime is making such rapid "progress among the rising generation, a prison should be built "solely for the confinement of such offenders. It is not the wish "of the Committee that one of these boys should escape correction; on the contrary, they would inflict a punishment that would be severely felt as such, but of an opposite character and tendency "from that now experienced; imprisonment in the gaols of the "metropolis, being at present regarded by youthful criminals, with "comparative indifference."

It will doubtless be acknowledged by the society, that these important truths apply, with almost equal pertinency, to the state of the prisons and of juvenile criminality in the city of New-York; and our authorities and our citizens at large, may echo the sentiment contained in another part of the same report, that, "it is the "ordination of Divine Wisdom that man cannot suffer from the neg"lect of man, without mutual injury; and, by a species of moral "retribution, society is punished by the omission of its duties to the "ignorant and the guilty. The renewed depredations of the offen"der when discharged from confinement, the crimes which he pro"pagates by his seduction and influence, spread pollution among "all with whom he associates, and the number of offenders thus "become indefinitely multiplied."

See Appendix B.

From the views which they have thus laid before the society, your Committee cannot but cherish the lively expectation, that when the public mind comes to be impressed with the nature and importance of these various considerations, there will be but one opinion of the necessity and expediency of providing a place in this city, which shall serve as a real penitentiary to the younger class of offenders; as a refuge for the forlorn and destitute, who are on the confines of gross criminality; and as a temporary retreat for the discharged criminal, where he may find shelter, labor, and religious instruction, until some way can be pointed out to him of obtaining subsistence, without a recurrence to dishonesty and crime. If the actual situation of these several classes of criminal and destitute beings in this city, does not open a door for christian benevolence, as inviting in its promises of good, as any of the various kinds of charity, either at home or abroad which claim the attention of our citizens, your Committee think they might in vain seek to explore the miseries of their fellow-creatures, with the hope of exciting the feelings of commiseration, and the energies of active and unwearied humanity. Can it be right that we should extend our views to the wants of those that are thousands of miles from us, and close our eyes upon the condition of the worse than heathen, that wander in our streets?- Shall our hands be opened, with distinguished liberality, to the means of civilizing and reforming whole nations in the remotest quarters of the globe, and closed to the obvious necessities of the outcasts of our own society? Your Committee mean no reflection whatever on the schemes so actively prosecuted of doing good in distant parts of the earth;-but surely, if this we ought to do, the other we ought not to leave undone.

We venture upon those remarks, under the strongest impression of the importance of the subject upon which we have undertaken to dilate. Much more might be said in the way of elucidation and argument, but this is deemed unnecessary: and we cannot terminate our report more to the satisfaction of our own minds, than by quoting the conclusion of the last year's report of the London Committee for the improvement of Prison Discipline and the reformation of Juvenile Offenders. "We live in times in which extraor"dinary efforts are in action for the moral welfare of mankind; "when the state of Europe opens channels of extensive usefulness, "and presents occasions for immediate exertion, which could "scarcely have been anticipated, and which it would be criminal "to neglect. There seems, too, at the present time, to prevail "among the benevolent of different nations, a unity of thought and design, which cannot fail to strike a considerate beholder: and "he must be dead to sensibility, who can contemplate, without "emotion, the intercourse which now subsists between men of va"rious countries who are laboring for the public good, and whom "national differences have too long kept asunder. Enlightened "principles and practical benevolence are taking deep root. As"sociations, originating in public feeling and sanctioned by public "authority, are forming in countries, where co-operation in deeds "of mercy, has hitherto been but little known. The moral effects "of these institutions will be vast, and indeed incalculable not only "by the accomplishment of that which it is their professed object "to promote; but such associations call into action the latent seeds

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Thomas P. aged 15, has just come out of Bridewell, has been in the Penitentiary, has no particular place to live at; 6 months Penitentiary.

Charles M., John B. and Jacob B., ages 14, were found sleeping at night in a boat, no homes, no parents; 6 months Penitentiary. William S. aged 11, his father turned him out of the house, was found sleeping in a boat at night; 6 months Penitentiary.

Sophia H. aged 14 years, was charged with stealing, goes about begging, has been in Bridewell 6 times, no means; 6 months Penitentiary.

Alexander C. has no money, no business, just come out of prison, no particular place to sleep at; 6 months Penitentiary.

Etienne S. aged 21, came from Canada five months ago, first offence, has no place to live at; 60 days City Prison.

Rachel S. aged 18, has no particular place to live at, is poor and ragged, was found in the street, said she was sick; 3 months Penitentiary.

Susan J. aged 18, has no home or means of taking care of herself, very filthy, and nearly naked; 3 months Penitentiary.

Mary B. aged 16, has been a vagrant about two years; 30 days City Prison.

Harriet B. aged 18, has no clothes, most of those on her back are borrowed; 60 days City Prison.

1

Edward Van C. aged 13, was found at night sleeping on the sidewalk, has been once in Bridewell, no parents; 6 months Penitentiary.

John H. aged 13, was found at night sleeping on the side-walk, no parents; 6 months Penitentiary.

Lucinda D. aged 16, came out of Bridewell about two months ago, is a prostitute, no home; 6 months Penitentiary.

Robert T. a boy, brought up charged with stealing, has been in Bridewell and Penitentiary, no home; 6 months Penitentiary.

John C. aged 14, has no parents, was found sleeping in a yard on some shavings; 6 months Penitentiary.

Maria W. aged 18, lives with her parents at the Hook, has been a prostitute for six months; 4 months Penitentiary, &c. &c. &c.

B.

EXTRACTED FROM THE LONDON REPORTS.

TEMPORARY REFUGE:

The following Cases are given, as an outline of the description of characters which have been relieved by the Committee:

1.-A. B. aged fourteen, was discharged from the New Prison, Clerkenwell. When received under the care of the Society, he had been in the commission of crime for eight months. During this period, he had plundered to a considerable amount, and had been engaged in purchasing and passing forged notes, picking pockets, and shop-lifting. He was in the Temporary Refuge for four