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in which half the men might be engaged in low conversation for rods, without being heard by any man in authority. Upon the work-bench, at the forge, or anvil, and indeed in almost every part of the establishment, except in the immediate presence and inspection of an officer, facilities of communication abound.

"That such is the fact, I have been assured,' says a visitor, by those who have been inmates of the Auburn Penitentiary.' And even in an official report of the commissioners of that Penitentiary, to the legislature of New York, in which they speak of the 'admirable discipline' of the Institution, they say in the same breath-We have seen within a few weeks past, notes written on pieces of leather tending to excite insurrection. So far as they can safely venture, they (the prisoners) will be found talking, laughing, singing, whistling, altercating and quarrelling with each other, and with the officers. They will idle away the time in gazing at spectators, and waste or destroy the stock they work upon.' This, be it remembered, is their own account of affairs. And well is it remarked by the British commissioner already cited, that this 'intercourse, however slight and occasional, materially contributes to destroy that feeling of loneliness which is the greatest of all moral punishments, and which absolute and unremitted seclusion cannot fail to inspire.""

One of the certain consequences of this state of things, is that on being released from their confinement, the prisoners recognize each other when they meet in the world-their sympathies as fellowprisoners are awakened-new plans of more successful crime, as they vainly hope, are projected— and every step only plunges them deeper, till they find their way back again to their previous confine

ment.

On the other hand, the Pennsylvania system of complete seclusion in separate cells avoids all this evil; for though two individuals should have been inmates of neighbouring cells, for ever so long a period, there is no chance of their knowing or recog

nizing each other; and of how great an advantage it must be to a man truly resolved on reformation, and desirous of beginning the world anew, not to be known as a previously-convicted criminal wherever he went, must be obvious to the most unreflecting.In confirmation of this view, I will venture to cite two short passages only, from two equally high authorities; the first from Mr. De Toqueville, the French writer, and the second from Mr. Crawford, the English commissioner; and with these I think the evidence will be complete.

"Let the prisoner," says Monsieur De Toqueville, "see no one but his keeper, or a minister of the gospel; and let him reflect in his cell, upon his past course, and his future prospects; but that his reflections may not be too intense, give him employment; and he will come out not only a better man, but with the advantage of not having been seen, known, and marked as a convict. It is found by experience, that nothing has a stronger tendency to soften the hard, stubborn, vicious character, than absolute seclusion; and that is precisely the point to be obtained with the convict."

"In judging of the comparative merits of the two systems," says Mr. Crawford, "it will be seen that the discipline of Auburn is of a physical, that of Philadelphia of a moral character. The whip inflicts immediate pain, but solitude inspires permanent terror. The former degrades while it humiliates-the latter subdues, but it does not debase. At Auburn the convict is uniformly treated with harshness, at Philadelphia with civility—the one contributes to harden, the other to soften the affections. Auburn stimulates vindictive feeling-Philadelphia induces habitual submission. The Auburn prisoner, when liberated, conscious that he is known to past associates, and that the public eye has gazed upon him, sees an accuser in every man he meets. The Philadelphia convict quits his cell secure from recognition, and exempt from reproach.”

In the careful personal inspection which I was permitted to make of every part of the Penitentiary,

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-in the free and unconstrained intercourse and conversation, which I was allowed to indulge with the prisoners in their separate cells,—and in the long and interesting conversation which I had the privilege to enjoy with the inspectors and warden of the prison, -all the statements I have given in the preceding pages were abundantly confirmed, and all the favourable opinions completely justified. On the whole, therefore, we left the Philadelphia Penitentiary with a conviction that it exhibits one of the most successful experiments that the world has yet seen, for adequately punishing, and at the same time reforming and improving, the criminals committed to its care.

СНАР. Х.

Environs of Philadelphia, and excursions-Wilmington by the river Delaware-History of the state of Delaware-PopulationWhite and coloured races-Agricultural and pastoral wealth— School-fund of the State and schools-Principal towns of the State Great canal from the Delaware to the Chesapeake Cemetery at Laurel Hill near Philadelphia-Inclined plane of the Great Western rail-road-Village of Manayunk on the Schuylkill.

THE environs of Philadelphia afford many agreeable excursions to the traveller, provided the weather admit of his enjoying them. During our stay here we possessed that advantage, though the climate embraced every conceivable variety. In our first passing through Philadelphia on our way from New York to Washington, the ice on the Delaware was sixteen inches thick, and the cold was intense. On our return in April it was still cold. During the greater part of May it rained heavily, but there were intervals of fine weather between. In June, the climate appeared more settled, but the heat was excessive; at least, such was its effect on the feelings, though the thermometer never indicated a greater heat than 90° in the shade. In the sun, however, it was often 110°. The suddenness of the changes from heat to cold, and vice versa, were very trying, and sufficiently accounted to us for the complaints made by strangers as to the

variableness of the climate. Still it was favourable to occasional excursions, and of this I readily availed myself.

The voyage from Philadelphia to Wilmington down the Delaware, by steam vessels, and back from thence by the same route, is extremely agreeable. Everywhere the banks of the river give proof of extreme fertility; and its ample breadth, fringed on either side by numerous little villages, hamlets, and homesteads, is peculiarly pleasing.

Wilmington itself is seated on a smaller stream called the Christiana, which winds down by a serpentine line into the Delaware, but is navigable up to the town, the point of entrance to the smaller stream being indicated by a lighthouse. The town lies on an elevated ridge of land between the streams of the Christiana and the Brandywine, and commands, from its elevated position, a fine view of the surrounding country. It is the capital of the little State of Delaware, the smallest in the Union, excepting only Rhode Island.

The first settlers here were Swedes and Danes, under the auspices of the celebrated Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, about 1627. In 1655, they fell under the authority of the Dutch, and were by them united to their settlement of New Amsterdam, under the title of the New Netherlands. In 1664, the whole was conquered by the British, and granted by Charles the Second to his brother James Duke of York, who in 1682 conveyed the Delaware settlements to William Penn. In 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Philadelphia, a convention of representatives, chosen for the purpose,