ociation of nations. We cannot avoid perceiving from them what
barbarism is held to be justice in some ages and countries; and how that
which would then and there be condemned as culpable leniency, comes
elsewhere to be considered less than justice. The treatment of the
guilty is one of the strongest evidences as to the general moral notions
of society, when it is evidence at all; that is, when the guilty are in
the hands of society.

* * * * *

There is another species of evidence of which travellers are not in the
habit of making use, but which is well worth their attention,--the
Conversation of convicted Criminals. There are not many places in the
world where it is possible to obtain this, without a greater sacrifice
of comfort than the ordinary tourist is disposed to make. There is
little temptation to enter prisons where squalid wretches are crowded
together in dirt, noise, and utter profligacy; where no one of them
could speak seriously for fear of the ridicule of his comrades; where
the father sees his young son corrupted before his eyes, and the mother
utters cruel jests upon the frightened child that hides its face in her
apron. In scenes like these, there is nothing for the stranger to do and
to learn. The whole is one great falsehood, where the people are acting
falsely under false circumstances. It affords an enterprise for the
philanthropist, but no real knowledge for the observer. He may pass by
such places, knowing that they are pretty much alike in all countries
where they exist. Criminals herded together in virtue of their
criminality, and outraged into a diabolical hardihood, must present one
uniform aspect of disgust. What variety should there be in them? About
as much as in the leper settlements in the wildernesses of the world two
thousand years ago.

The traveller will not be permitted to see the state prisoners of any
despotic government; but wherever the subject of prison reform has been
entertained, (and Howard's spirit is at work in many countries of the
world,) there will probably be opportunity to converse with offenders in
a better way than by singling them out from the crowd, in a spirit of
condescension, and asking them a few questions, in the answers to which
you can place no confidence. If you can converse face to face with a
convict, as man with man, you can hardly fail to be instructed. If he
has been long deprived of equal conversation, his heart will