be. The effects of such a legal enactment would be, that parents and parochial authorities would exert themselves to control, educate, and obtain employment for those for whom they are bound by law to provide; and if they failed to do this, parishes and parents would have no right to complain, that, having neglected to perform their duty, the State should interpose and do their duty for them. Parishes and parents will have no right to complain if the State places itself in loco parentis for the purpose of making those happy aud useful who would otherwise be wretched and useless members of Society, charging the parent or the parish with the expense of their support; an expense which has hitherto been thrown most unjustly upon the county rates, or has been defrayed out of the fund raised from the taxation of the nation at large." It was probably in consequence of these views, which had been presented to the City Solicitor of London, to a popular meeting, held in October, 1841, as a "plan for checking the growth of juvenile crime and providing for the mental, moral, religious and industrial training of destitute youth in the metropolis, and other large cities and towns," that one of the Parliamentary committee suggested the following resolutions : "1. That the witnesses examined by this committee as to the effects of the present systems of prison discipline on the class commonly designated as juvenile offenders, unanimously confirm the opinion which might be formed from their increasing numbers and frequent recommittals-that imprisonment as now practiced, has little salu tary operation on their characters and actions. "2. That the corrective treatment of children and very young persons should naturally and justly be different from that inflicted on adult and fully responsible criminals, and that the places of confinement and restraint to which such young offenders are transferred should be rather of the nature of penal and industrial schools than of ordinary prisons. "3. This committee, therefore, recommends that district schools of this character should be established with as little delay as possible, and that, the discipline of such schools being distinctly reformatory, the locality should if possible be separate from that of the prison, and that the superintending officers be specially appointed for the service of such school. "4 That it is the opinion of this committee, that no child under nine years of age should be regarded as accountable for any act of felony or misdemeanor. "5. That in cases where there is reason to believe, that a child on being dismissed from such a penal school would be in great danger of falling back into habits of crime, this committee would recommend that legal powers of detention for a given period beyond that to which the child is sentenced, should be given to the visiting magistrates, with the consent of the Secretary of State. "6. That the parents or parent of any child sent to one of these penal schools should be, as far as possible compelled to contribute to the support and education of the said child, and that the fines now leviable on juvenile criminals by summary jurisdiction, should be recoverable from their parents or parent." It appears the committee were not prepared to take such a definite position as these resolutions contemplate, and only agreed to the non-commital minute which we have quoted above. We are satisfied that a much more comprehensive view needs to be taken of the subject of juvenile training as a preventive, than has hitherto met our eye. We may perhaps, venture at some future time to present it. "The experiment has never been tried," says an intelligent British magistrate, "of a State provision, for innocent but destitute and unprotected children, nor of any compulsory payment from the parent for the proper maintenance and education of his child. We must not be told therefore of Refuges and Magdalens, and Schools of Iudustry, and Philanthropic Societies, and provisions for poor criminals on their release from prison, or of any results which have followed on their adoption, as reasons why a new plan for rescuing the young, not from criminal causes or associations, but from the idleness and neglect which will lead to them, should not be tried.They are no examples for this purpose. We are satisfied from a long experience in such matters, that no difficulty would be found in placing out boys well taught, well brought up, under rules of strict discipline, and who have not yet become criminals. The expense of maintaining them as innocent children will be far less than that of maintaining them as felons, while we shall be destroying the root of this Upas tree, which stands in the midst of every densely populated neighborhood, spreading its branches so far in every direction, that the good and virtuous even can at length reach them, and think they are destroying the tree by endeavoring to keep its unwieldy limbs within bounds by the pruning-knife. A most fatal error !" The same magistrate regards the great causes of juvenile depravity and crime in the metroplitan districts, to be "the absence of proper parental or friendly care, and the absence of a comfortable home, and," he avers, "that all children above the age of seven, and under the age of fifteen years, suffering from either of these causes, require protection to prevent their getting into bad company, learning idle and dissolute habits, growing up in ignorance, and becoming an expense and bur den on the country as criminals, and that such protection should be afforded by the State." He then proposes 1. That an asylum for unprotected and destitute children shall be founded by the government, to be called the Child's Home. 2. That provision be made in such asylum for instructing children in all useful arts, trades, and occupations suitable to the working classes. 3. That unprotected and destitute children shall be deemed to include all children above seven and under fifteen years of age under the following circumstances :-Children driven from their homes by the bad conduct of parents--Children neglected by their parentsChildren who are orphans, and neglected by their friends-Children who have no one to protect them or provide for them, or for whom no one does provide-Children who, from their own misconduct, have no protection or provision found them-Children who are idle or dissolute, and whose parents or friends cannot control their bad conduct-Children who are destitute of proper food, clothing, or education, owing to the poverty of their parents or friends, but whose parents or friends do not apply for or receive parish relief-Children who are destitute for want of employment, and children of the class which become juvenile offenders generally. 4. That any such child as aforesaid may be brought before any two justices of the peace, by any constable or other peace officer, or by any overseer of the poor or other parish officer, and evidence on oath being given to the satisfaction of such justices, that the child is one of either of the classes enumerated in the foregoing clause, such justice may sign an order for the admission of the child into the asylum. 5. That when in the asylum, if not claimed or redeemed as hereinafter provided, the children shall be subject to be dealt with as the state thinks proper. 6. That on a child being admitted into the asylum, inquiry shall be made by the commissioners as to the circumstances of the parents or other persons now by law bound to support the said child, and if found able to support, or contribute to the support of the said child, the justices sending the said child to the asylum may make orders from time to time for any amount of contribution to be paid for or towards the support of the said child in the said asylum. 7. That such sums be collected for the use of the asylum by the overseer or rate-collectors of the parish where the persons on whom the order is made reside, and that power be given to attach the property of such persons, or wages in the hands of masters, or duc from masters of such persons, in cases of working people or servants, to satisfy the amount named in such order. 8. That all children sent to the said asylum be taught several useful trades, arts, or occupations, besides the usual education of reading, writing, and arithmetic. We very reluctantly, and only for want of room, postpone to a future number, what remains of this article, in which a bird's eye view is taken of the present condition of the institutions in our own county for juvenile offenders, and in which are suggested some considerations for their improvement. From the same. UNDETECTED CRIME. Most persons would be surprised, we presume, if they should be credibly informed how many crimes are committed, the perpetrators of which are never detected. If we take up a volume of a daily newspaper, published in any of our largest cities, we shall find scarcely a number, that does not record some new case of high-handed crime. Murders, piracies, and brutal assults, usually excite public feeling, and produce a momentary sensation of personal danger. If the pursuit of the offender is successful, the interest is kept alive by a notice of his arrest, and the preliminary proceedings of a legal investigation. It is renewed when the trial occurs, but is lost as soon as the party is discharged or convicted. It is very rare that any effort is made to trace the violent deed to any other individual, if the first scent proves false. The claim of the public for some redress of its injury, seems to be virtually barred, by a sort of conventional statue of limitations and the offender is, perhaps, living securely at his ease, in Canada, Texas or Mexico. If no clue to the author of the crime is obtained within a short time after its perpetration, it is rare that the case is kept in view. Every day brings its due quota of cases to the police dockets, and it is only where some unexpected disclosure reveals a new vein of circumstances, which some astute constable under the stimulus of a tempting reward, has a passion to explore, that an old case is brought to public view. It is easy to illustrate what we mean. Most of our readers will remember the case of a very respectable farmer, a member of the Society of Friends, and so far as is known, without an enemy in the world,-who was passing along the public highway in Camden, and his life most barbarously taken, a year or two ago. The deed filled the vicinity with horror,-search was made, and rewards offered, but the perpetrator of the bloody deed has not to this day been discovered, and who would think of pursuing the inquiry now? The victim has long been in his grave, his family and his friends have become reconciled to his fate, and the wound which was inflicted on the sensibilities of the public, is healed over, with scarcely a scar to indicate where it was. The United States mail was robbed some few months since, while the car containing it was passing on the rail-road, within cannon shot of the State House. The bags were taken from the cars, deliberately rifled of their contents. No clue to the robbery has ever yet been obtained. It was the second robbery of the same mail, in nearly the same place. We can call to mind a score of burglaries, murderous assults, incendiarisms and thefts, large and small, not one of which has been traced to the guilty party, nor has even a suspicion been fixed on any individual. The undetected cases of stabbing, riot and murder, attendant on popular tumults, would of themselves make a long list. We have attempted to obtain from the prosecuting officers in three or four of our chief cities, some estimate of the probable number of offences which escape punishment, but have not succeeded, perhaps because the thing is impracticable. If any of our readers have the means of throwing light on the subject, we shall be glad to hear from them. There are various ways for accounting for the failure, in so large a proportion of cases, to bring offenders to punishment. Among them we may mention,(1.) The unwillingness of citizens to be involved in the prosecution of offenders.-There is the attendance on the grand jury as persecutor,-and at court as a witness, when the case is tried,-with the loss of time, interruption of business, and incurring the ill-will of "nobody knows who." (2.) The ease with which a rogue dodges between our independent sovereignties and escapes beyond the jurisdiction of the officers of justice, and the boundless range which our country affords for his wanderings. (3.) The easy virtue of too many who are entrusted with the early custody of prisoners, or their neglect or indolence, or a want of promptness or tact, in the pursuit of suspected parties. (4.) Connivances, defects, oversight or weaknesses in the administrators of the law. The necessity will be laid upon us at some not very distant day, of giving to our criminal processes, a little more stringency, and of holding executive officers to a much stricter responsibility. The prodigious influx of adroit rogues from the old world, which will not be essentially checked by any legislation, general or local, will give a new boldness and address, to our criminal population, and will call for corresponding en |