The chaplain of the Prison at Sing Sing says, in his last report, dated December 10, 1845,

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"We commence our chapel services on each Sabbath at about half past 8 o'clock, A. M., in the male Prison, and at half past 9 in the female. Immediately after these services are closed, the convicts are locked up. The officers retire, and I go generally in the male hospital, but sometimes in both, and attend service with the sick. Thence I go to the hall, (i. e., the corridors or galleries in front of the cells,) and spend the remaining part of the Sabbath in responding to the calls for personal conversation; and though I generally remain till it is too dark to write a name intelligibly, I am scarcely ever able to meet all their calls. The convict's name, the number of his cell, and that portion of his conversation which would tend to develop his real character, I have always recorded at the time of each visit to him.

"In the book used for this purpose I have also carefully recorded what the sheriff who brought him, his keeper, and his relatives, when they visited him, or I visited them, said about him; nor is this record altogether silent respecting him after his discharge. I have already filled up 13 or 14 blank books with these records; and, being each furnished with an index, they are rendered available, at a moment's warning, in correctly estimating the character of each subject of these records.

"My labors during the week are perhaps not less constant than those of the Sabbath. I superintend and adjust the delivery of the library books; write duplicate letters for those convicts whose good conduct, in the judgment of the principal keeper, justifies it; visit the hospitals; superintend, to some extent, the interviews between convicts and their relatives, (none but relatives are permitted this privilege,) and, when circumstances allow of it, visit the families of convicts while in Prison, as also after their discharge. As intimated above, I have retained and filed a copy of each letter I have written. I have also on file each answer; and by comparing one with the other, additional aid in ascertaining real character, and consequently in dissipating those false pretensions to which convicts are so universally addicted, is afforded me.

"The chief reason why I have, from the commencement of my chaplaincy, taken so much pains to ascertain the true character of convicts, was the conviction, that just in proportion to the chaplain's knowledge of the personal character of those under his charge, so would the success of his labors be; and I have long since been convinced, that the same doctrine is more or less applicable to disciplinarians. As the letters written for convicts are exclusively of a domestic character, and as the convict is alone with me while writing for him, a peculiarly favorable opportunity is afforded and improved for reviving in his heart the recollections of 'sweet home,' and the moral obligations connected with that home. The same opportunity is afforded when they return to the office to listen to the responses of their friends. On each of these occasions, they, like the offending Peter, frequently go out and weep bitterly;' and not a few, now out and doing well, date their resolutions of reform from such occasions.

"We have been visited with severe sickness, and an unusual number of deaths has occurred during the year; but, amidst it all, I am happy to say, that not a few of their number met their visitation with resignation, and died as the righteous man dieth.

"Their wants and necessities were carefully attended to by the proper officers while living, and their funeral services attended in the chapel at their death.

"Many of them requested me, during their sickness, to compile a narrative of their unfortunate career, and read it, at their funeral, to their companions in bonds, as a warning from the bed of death. This I was enabled to do mostly from the records I have named with so much accuracy, that no error has as yet been detected in any one of them. The effect, consequently, upon those who had known the deceased, was exceedingly salutary.

"In summing up the whole, permit me to say, that all my time and energies are pleasingly and increasingly devoted to the moral and religious interests of the prisoners.

(Signed,)

"JOHN LUCKEY."

The keeper of the New Jersey Prison says, —

"During the past year, the moral and religious instruction of the prisoners has been the subject of more than usual solicitude, and has enlisted the efforts of the pious and benevolent in a manner that will, I trust, result in their moral amelioration. Religious exercises have, with tolerable regularity, been kept up weekly by the clergy of Trenton and others; and I take this opportunity to tender for myself, as well as the prisoners, my sincere thanks for their gratuitous labors, so kindly continued in the prisoner's behalf. In addition to the usual Sabbath exercises, occasional meetings have been held by the society of Friends. Several from that society have visited among te prisoners in their cells. One lady, in particular, spent upwards of a week going through the entire Prison, from cell to cell, imparting wholesome advice and instruction, I trust with salutary effect."

The moral instructor of the New Penitentiary in Philadelphia says,

"The additional facilities for instruction, both moral and religious, supplied during the past year, are of great value.

"The Prison Discipline Society has increased its library by the addition of valuable English books, and by a very important addition of 300 volumes of German and French books for the use of foreign convicts.

"The library established by John Bacon, Esq., has also been increased, and there are at this time about 1500 volumes in circulation, whose influence must impart intellectual and moral instruction to some extent.

"The Philadelphia Bible Society has continued to furnish Bibles for the use of the prisoners. Prayer Books have been given by the Female Protestant Episcopal Society. The usual supply of tracts has been received from the Philadelphia Tract Society, and upwards of 16,000 pages of tracts from the Female Episcopal Tract Society. These various benevolent institutions are entitled to my grateful acknowledgments for the valuable aids so generously imparted. It is an encouraging indication of the usefulness of tract distribution, that they are almost universally received with pleasure, and that many prisoners from the interior of the state are careful to keep them in good order, and desire at their discharge to take them to their homes for the benefit of their families.

"The effort to impart instruction to the ignorant has been successful. Of 139 prisoners discharged, 100 could read and write; 37 could read; and only 2 of the whole number could not read. Of these, No. 1294, a colored prisoner, was incapable of learning, through native dulness; and No. 1827, a white man, was deplorably imbecile in mind at entrance, and was, during nearly half of the period of his confinement, in the infirmary. 6 of the discharged prisoners learned to write, 9 to read and write, and 14 learned to read, while in Prison. "The condition of those committed during the year, in reference to education, is as follows, viz.: Of 143 received into the institution, 92 could read and write, 29 could read only, and 22 could not read. Between those committed and those discharged there is, in favor of the latter, a gratifying comparison.

"The amount of public instruction on the Lord's day has exceeded that of any previous year. The number of sermons and other religious addresses is 218. The prisoners have occupied six corridors; which makes an average of nearly 37 sermons to each in the year. The usual aid has been imparted by ministers of different religious denominations, who sympathize with these sons

of sorrow, and feel deeply interested to impart to them the restoring influences of the gospel and the hope of eternal life.

"As to the result of these various efforts, it is difficult to form a definite and perfect estimate. In some instances, where good impressions were evidently produced, they appear to have been transient, but may hereafter be revived with great force, and become fixed. In an equal or greater number of instances, I have found, from subsequent reliable information, that reforms have occurred where no satisfactory indications were visible during imprisonment. "While there has been no special religious influence pervading the Penitentiary, it gives me pleasure to state that the continued use of the ordinary means has not been unrewarded. There have been repeated instances of favorable impression on the minds of individuals which have the stamp of permanency. Two prisoners have exhibited, in sickness and in death, the efficacious influence of an enlightened hope, which divested death of its sting and the grave of its terrors. In addition to these, I have received information of 21 discharge prisoners, during the past year, who are hopefully reformed. With 17 of them I have had personal intercourse, and from 4 creditable intelligence has been received.

"When it is considered that my whole time is devoted to the institution, and opportunities to obtain information consequently very limited, there is abundant reason to hope that many similar instances occur, of which, from distance and other causes, no account can be had."

The report from which these extracts are taken, is signed "THOMAS LARCOMBE, Moral Instructor."

"January 1, 1846. The directors of the Maryland Penitentiary, in their last report to the governor, dated December 18, 1815, say,

"The religious instruction of the convicts in the Prison is secured by the voluntary services of several ministers of different denominations, and by statedly preaching on Sunday, by preachers of the Methodist society. Every opportunity is allowed to the convicts to receive religious instruction, and they are left entirely at liberty to select for the purpose the minister of any religious denomination whom they may prefer, and who is willing to attend on them. This voluntary system, whilst it commends itself to the regard of the convicts, as being undertaken entirely for their benefit, s cures to the prisoners all the advantages of regular religious worship, and so far answers every thing that is desired in that regard.

"The effect of the discipline on the morals of the prisoners is good; and it is believed that permanent salutary lessons of religion and morality have been awakened or implanted in the hearts of some since their confinement. Under the perfect isolation of mind that is now secured among the prisoners, no contagion of vice is spread, and the novice in evil doing, who comes into the Prison for the first time, is sure to learn no evil habits there; and the adept in crime, who returns to it for a second or third time, sees and hears nothing to encourage him in his course of infamy, or to which he can ascribe his perseverance in wrong doing; but, on the contrary, all the inmates of the Prison, under its present discipline, have only the examples of industry and faithful perseverance in duty before them; are encouraged to activity in the execution of their tasks by proper rewards and words of kindness, and see so constantly the advantages of proper conduct, even to themselves, whilst in Prison, that it can scarcely be that the favorable impulse given to their good dispositions can be so far lost, after they leave its walls, as not to influence, in some good degree, their future lives.

"It is desirable that all the convicts who can read should be furnished with books; and it would be an important aid in the amelioration of their condition, and the reformation of their habits, if a library were connected with the insti

tution. The Maryland Branch of the American Tract Society has, as was announced in the last Annual Report to be their purpose, furnished to the institution a number of the valuable books published by them, which it is hoped will be the beginning of a proper and well-stored library.

"Benevolent persons have also sent books for the use of the prisoners, and they have been allowed to procure for themselves such useful and proper books as the authority of the institution may approve; so that already every convict, who can read and who desires it, can be furnished with a book for personal use during the hours when he is not engaged in his work. The effect of this on the mind and heart cannot but be good. In awakening the desire for knowledge, and in furnishing aids for the improvement of the understanding, a great point has been gained in the reformation of the man, whom evil associations, vicious habits, the want of early instruction, or the vice of ignorance, has led to commit crime.” — Annual Report, pp. 6 and 7.

The chaplain of the Louisiana Penitentiary, in his last report to the legislature, dated January 23, 1846, says,

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Every convict ought to be esteemed an object of sympathy. He is too often looked upon merely as an outcast, beyond the reach of all hope of becoming a better man, deeply stained with crime, and recreant to every motive which is virtuous and pure. This is too often a true picture. But with many of those unfortunate men it is otherwise. Their history is a short one-the departure from a home of plenty and affection, unresisted temptation, a brief career of crime, perhaps but a single act, and the Prison. Such need but to be approached with kindness, and they respond to the language of admonition and entreaty.

"Nor is it true that the hearts of those who have been accounted old offenders, and have spent years within the Prison walls, cannot be reached. There is in almost every soul a spirit which, when touched, resolutions arise to better things. They may be but transient, yet they have sometimes led to persevering effort, which has resulted in permanent reformation. Few are hopeless if they can be brought under the influence of proper motives. To effect this has been the object which I have endeavored to attain.

"I have availed myself of every opportunity, in the cells, at the Hospital, and wherever a fitting occasion has been found, to converse individually with the prisoners, to cheer them if desponding, to encourage them in every effort after moral improvement, and to enforce upon them the truth that the ways of Wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths, paths of peace.' "The regular public services have consisted of a discourse on some moral or religious subject, with prayer and singing on each Sabbath morning. The last is conducted entirely by the convicts.

"I have also considered it a duty to visit each prisoner, as soon as practicable after his entering the Prison, to endeavor to win his confidence, and to give him all necessary advice respecting the course of conduct most suitable in the new and trying position in which he is placed.

"By the liberality of the legislature, and a grant from the American Tract Society, a library of more than 300 volumes has been formed. The books, systematically distributed, have been sought and read with eagerness. In the selections, reference was had to the different grades of intellect; so that, while some are simple narratives, others are adapted to those of a higher cast of mind. It is a gratifying fact, that none are sought for with more avidity than those which pertain to an elevated literary and philosophical standard. The effect of reading of a right kind must be beneficial. The mind left to inaction will for a period be sustained. But all experience proves that, if neglected, it will ultimately lose its energy, and speedily decay or else lay hold of exciting and corrupting fancies, which only serve to increase the rapidity with which its moral and intellectual powers degenerate. Every step in knowledge, however humiliating may be the outward circumstances, is a conscious increase

of dignity. Hence I consider the library a valuable acquisition, and greatly promotive of that self-respect, without which no important advancement can be made in moral reformation.

"I am gratified to add, that I regard the uniform kindness studiously shown towards the prisoner, as far as the rules of strict discipline will allow, by all those connected with the Prison, and the absence of every thing which may needlessly degrade them in their own estimation, as highly deserving of notice in the summing up of the causes which are tending to elevate the standard of moral feeling among the convicts.

(Signed,)

"JAHLED WOODBRIDGE, "Chaplain of the Louisiana Penitentiary.”

CAUSES OF CRIME.

The chaplain of the New Hampshire Prison says,—

"It may not be possible to ascertain all the causes which lead to the commission of crime; but some considerations are so prominent in the history of those committed to our Penitentiary that they cannot be mistaken. Some of these causes may be remedied, others can never be.

"Many of these men were almost or entirely destitute of early moral and religious instruction. Some few were the offspring of parents, one or both of which were professedly religious; but in most of these instances, there is evidence of a gross neglect of parental instruction and discipline.

"Where a scrupulous regard of right and wrong is early inculcated, the principle becomes a fixed one, and operates as a powerful protection to the mind in after life. Very few of our convicts were the subjects of such early moral culture. Many are exceedingly deficient in a knowledge of Bible instruction; several, when committed, could not read; a still greater number could not write; and but few are found who possess an enlightened education. Many, also, have been permitted to grow up without restraints, and have thereby contracted habits of idleness and dissipation, the natural result of which has been to lead them to the commission of crime, to satisfy the wants produced by these vices.

"But one of the most fruitful sources from which the Prison receives its constant recruits, is that of intemperance. A large proportion of those sent here were intemperate men. Many were the children of intemperate parents, and have had the very worst example before them from their earliest childhood. Others, by frequenting places of intemperance, have been drawn into the company of the vicious, and gradually prepared for the commission of crimes of which they would once have thought themselves incapable.

"It will readily be admitted, that the propensity in some men to a particular course of crime is much stronger than in others. That there are cases of uncommon natural perverseness and recklessness of mind, cannot be doubted; but, in most cases of this kind, much might have been effected by early culture and proper restraints. Many a young man, who now shares the fate of a felon's cell, had he been trained up under other circumstances, might have occupied a reputable standing in society.

"Some few cases exist where crime seems to be the result of some natural defect of the mind, approximating so far towards idiocy as to render it difficult to determine whether the person is morally accountable for his conduct or not. But, even in these cases, something more might have been done to