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Untitled Article
I had an opportunity to" assist in alleviating this misery , I began to be reconciled to the fear that a century might pass away before it would be diminished . In this sUte of ixiindj , I happened to call at the house of a friend who is a member of that benevolent and orderly class of society called
Quakers ; we were conversing upon sanguinary punishments : he had just received a box from Philadelphia : upon opening it there happened to be , amongst ihe different articles , a tract on
the punishment of death and prison discipline : the title page announced , " Bead at the Phila - klphia Society for alleviating tte Miseries of Public Prisons *"
{{ And is it not possible / ' I said , ^ that we could form a society of this nature z "—These evils exist only because they are not known . It cannot be expected that the generality of mankind should enter into these sorrows ; and , so great are the miseries , so lamentable
are the depravities of prisons , that few , even of the benevolent have charity or humanity enough to visit them , or , visiting them , do more than pass on with a kind and transient pity * . —The difficulty and expense of collecting facts are too great for an individual
w encounter . They will not be felt by a society . We may sup . ptyour own frailties by a conjunction of labours : —we may prevent error b y soundness of direction : — Jn retirement we may assist the
See Howard on prisons , 3 6 , If half the misery which , is felt by s oitie , were seen by others , it would hock them with horror .
I tic prosperous turn away their eyes i ? jj ? ^ miserable , not through insenwbi itty , but because the sight is an inter-^ Ption of their gaiety .
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benevolent labours of virtuou s and able men engaged in active life , and we may excite inquiry upon this subject , so deeply interesting to every man who desires not the death of a sinner , but rather that he should turn from
his wickedness and live . —Remember what by perseverance has been done on the Slave Trade . Many days had not elapsed
before my friend , accompanied by a few of his society , called to deliberate upon the expediency of forming in England an institution similar to that which was estab
lished in America , for alleviating the miseries of prisoner ^ . In the formation of a society of this fiature there appear to be three subjects deserving of consideration : —1 st , Whether it is desirable * that such a society
should be formed from the prospect of its being lively to produce any remote or immediate practical good effects . —2 dly , Whether it is attainable . —3 dly , Supposing it to be desirable and attainable , with what evils it is unavoidably au tended .
I he question with respect to the prospect of practical goad 3 seemed to be already decided by the success which blessed the exertions of the American society , and by the anxiety felt by the
benevolent Howard , that a similar society should be formed in his own country . In his work on Lazarettos , he says , Should the plan take place during rny life , of establishing a permanent charity under some such title as that of
Philadelphia , viz , A Society for alleviating the Miseries of Public PrisunSy&nii annuities be engrafted thereupon for the above mentioned purpose , I would most readily
Untitled Article
On the Punishment of Death * 3 S 7
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1811, page 387, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2418/page/3/
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