and when the liberty and personal independence of individuals were in
no way considered or regarded; days when the severity of our criminal
laws drew down from a French philosopher the sneer, that a history of
England was a history of the executioner; when the doomed were sent
out of the world in bands of twenty, and even thirty, at a time, at
Tyburn or at "Execution dock;" and when, in the then unhealthy tone of
public morals, criminals famous for their deeds of violence and
rapine, were regarded rather as the heroes of romance, than as the
pests and scourges of society. Let him enquire, and he will find that
all these things have now long since passed away; that the rigours of
the criminal law have been entirely mitigated, and that the great
charters of our liberties, the fruits of accumulated wisdom and
experience, have now been long confirmed. These facts, if universally
known and duly pondered over, would go far to banish discontent and
disaffection, and would tend to produce a well-founded confidence in
the inherent power of adaptation to the necessities of the people,
possessed by the constitution of our country. Thus, the social wants
of the outer man having been in a great measure supplied, the
philanthropy of modern times has been chiefly employed on the mental
and moral improvement of the species; the wants of the inner man are
now the objects of universal attention, and education has become the
great necessity of the age. Hitherto, the municipal laws and
institutions of this country have been defective; inasmuch as they
have made little or no provision for the adequate instruction of the
people. Much, no doubt, has been already done, and education, even
now, diffuses her benignant light over a large portion of the
population; among whom, the children of the ignorant are able to
instruct their parents, and impart, to those who gave them being, a
share in the new-found blessing of modern times. Much, however,
remains still to be done, and the splendid examples of princely