deal in old metals, old ships stores, and apparel and
furniture bought at second hand. The first, namely,
dram shops, corrupt the morals; while the second, by
holding out facilities to thieves, by purchasing what-
ever may be offered for sale, without asking questions,
and that too at an under price, become the fosterers of
crimes.

In the tract on constables, you will see, under
various heads, what provisions our laws have made
for the prevention of the corruption of morals, and
the commission of crimes. By the adoption of the
farther regulations recommended in my treatise on
the police of the metropolis, and also by the select
committee of the House of Commons, much might be
done in this country to diminish the number of
offenders of all descriptions. Not being able to pro-
cure a copy of this very interesting report in a separate
volume, an opportunity is afforded me of requesting
your acceptance of the whole of the interesting reports
of the select committee on finance, from which the
statesman, the politician, the financier, and the poli-
tical economist, will be able to acquire much useful
information, highly beneficial to America. The
twenty-eighth report in the second volume, treats on
the general police, where, on this subject, you will find
details highly interesting, as they relate to the mea-
sures proposed for the prevention of crimes, and the
punishment of offenders.

On the subject of penitentiary punishment, I send
you Mr. Bentham

's two volumes, explaining the con-
struction and general currency of his Ponoplicon; also,
a parcel containing the annual reports of the peni-
tentiary house in Dorsetshire, with other papers
delivered to me by that distinguished senator, William
Morton Pitt, Esq., member of Parliament for the county
of Dorset, to whose indefatigable attention this estab-
lishment owes its superiority over every similar
institution m this country. Mr. Morton Pitt has been
much fascinated by your work, and as I have already