attention. This is, indemnity to the community for
the expense of the conviction and maintenance of
the offender. It is highly probable, that with due
management and economy, the profit of the labour of
the convicts may be rendered equal to their support.
Such a result, however, has not been anticipated by
the zealous friends of reform in penal law in Europe

.
They have regarded it as the indispensable duty of
legislators, to meliorate the laws, and correct the
abuses of prisons, without counting the cost of their
justice or humanity. In Pennsylvania, we are assu-
red, that the experiment has been attended with
success;—and when the improved system of the
penitentiary house of this state has had time to operate
fully, there can be no doubt of a result equally
favourable. It ought to have fair scope, and not to
be thwarted in its infancy, by distrust, or the selfish
views of individuals or particular classes of men. A
wise legislature will extend its concern to the whole
community, and, regardless of private interests, stea-
dily pursue a plan the best calculated to promote the
general good.

In the first establishment of the prison, the inspec
tors have had to encounter all the difficulties of a
new experiment, with the disadvantage of imperfect
knowledge in many branches of manufacture. A
system was to be formed, by which above two hun-
dred convicts, many of them hardened, desperate,
and refractory, and many ignorant, or incapacitated
through infirmity or disease, might be brought into a
regular course of productive labour. To find suitable
employment for so many persons, was a matter of
considerable difficulty. In the choice of occupations,
regard must be had to those which require the least
capital, are most productive of profit, and most con-
sistent with the health of the convicts, and the general
security of the prison. Among the different kinds
of manufactures, that of shoes was first introduced,
and has been fouud the most convenient and profita-