other qualities will be produced." And finally he charges the formation of bad characters to society, "whose institutions are the work of our hands.”

That there is great truth in these views of Robert Owen no one will deny; but it is not the whole truth. Robert Owen himself admits that disposition, temperament, physical organization, and the influence of the passions may form another factor in the influences which create man's ideas and prompt his actions; but he took little or no account of the mind's inherent power of reasoning, which we know produces so-called strong and weak minds and intellects, ranging in innumerable gradations between the genius and the idiot. He was forced to admit that a man's reasoning faculties and power of will are the results of the action of the brains; and the brains being part of man's organization, that this organization plays an important part in the formation of character. Having admitted the existence of this second factor in the formation of character, he was asked which of the two was the stronger. This question remaining unanswered, deprives Robert Owen's assertion "that circumstances alone form the character of man," of half of its important truth. And as it will probably for ever remain unanswerable, we can only take for granted that man's ideas, actions, and character are influenced (1) by the education he receives when a child; (2) by the surrounding circumstances in after-life; (3) by his organization, including disposition, temperament, power of the mind, and promptings of the passions.

From this we draw the practical conclusion that, though man's character is greatly influenced by extraneous circumstances not forming part of his organization, it is also more or less determined by the will of each person, and by the inherent power of reasoning.

But having pointed out the great importance of the influence of circumstances on the formation of character, Robert Owen has, through his discovery, become one of the greatest benefactors of mankind, and more so as he has shown, by practical experiments, that the character of both children and adults can be favourably directed to morality and abstention from crime, when acted upon by morally good influences. Of the benefits already derived from Owen's tenet, that "man is

the creature of circumstances," Mr. Sargant enumerates:-T. "The mildness of our recent criminal laws; 2. The institution of reformatories; 3. The anxiety of our day to promote education; 4. The fitting out of training ships for bad boys; 5. A general desire to prevent crime rather than to punish it. These are the fruits of the doctrines so early and so laboriously advocated by R. Owen." That the work of reforming the character of adults must always offer great difficulties, was already perceived by Plato, who says:-" When they (the guardians) have got for their ground work the state and manners of mankind, they would first make them pure, which is not altogether an easy matter; for you know that in this they differ from others,-in being unwilling to meddle either with a private man or state, or to prescribe laws, till they have either received them as pure, or themselves have made them. So. As they proceed in the work of drawing a sketch of their form of Government, they will frequently look in two directions, not only to what is naturally just and beautiful and temperate and the like, but also, again, to that which they can establish among mankind, blending and compounding their human form out of different human characters and pursuits, drawing from what Homer calls the divine likeness and the divine resemblance subsisting among men."

CHAPTER XXXII.-PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES.

"Force, refused admission into the dominion of Labour, passes into the camp of Crime; . . . while we hesitate to organize an association of labourers, we behold an organized association of assassins."-LOUIS BLANC.

THIS

HIS motto of the celebrated French socialist introduces at once the prospect that the future communistic state of society, founded on the organization of labour, will be an effective barrier against crime. The same opinion was held by Sir Thomas More, who, witnessing the dreadful punishments which at his own time were inflicted on thieves, said that "it would be much better to make such good provisions by which

every man might be put in a method how to live, and so be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing."

Robert Owen advises society to study and to apply the means of prevention rather than retribution, saying:-" Hitherto the efforts of society have been solely devoted to the repression of crime by punishment; henceforth they will be directed to its prevention."

In this opinion he is also borne out by his biographer, Mr. Sargant, who maintains that "it is better to prevent crime than to punish it; and that, as far as possible, neither child nor man ought to be exposed to temptations stronger than he can resist."

The experiments made at New Lanark by Robert Owen, and at Mettray by Monsieur de Metz, have satisfactorily proved the truth that by reformatory training and preventive regulations the character of both juveniles and adults may be restored.

Trustworthy eye-witnesses of the working of R. Owen's community establishment at New Lanark report that "they never saw a happier congregation of people; the manners and morals of the inhabitants of the place had greatly improved; and that with the infliction of scarcely one legal punishment, the worst habits had disappeared, with a fair prospect that the minor ones would also be rooted out. The community of more than 2,000 persons exhibited an appearance of industry, temperance, comfort, health, and happiness not to be met with elsewhere."

The excellent reformatory for young criminals established at Mettray by Monsieur de Metz, can show results which render any eulogy on the system pursued there almost superfluous. Such statistics as the following speak for themselves :-3,104 "colonists" left Mettray in December 1872; of these, 1,593 became agriculturists, 707 workmen, 604 soldiers, 110 sailors, 4 belong to the Legion of Honour, 24 have received the military medal, 5 are officers, many are non-commissioned officers, corporals, etc. Before the establishment of this reformatory, young criminals were reconvicted in the proportion of 75 per cent.; only 4 per cent. of the colonists of Mettray were re-convicted in 1872.

The abandonment of the vindictive and retributive character

of punishments, inflicting suffering and pain because crime is a sin and moral delinquency, is sure to introduce a milder * application of all punishments; and that such is even partly the case in the present administration of the criminal law, is evident from the often reiterated assertion that crimes are now chiefly punished for the protection of society and not as retribution to the criminal.

This practical view of the necessity of punishment for the protection of society, irrespective of the criminal's moral guilt (which he may have wiped out by repentance before the punishment is inflicted), removes the great difficulty which arose from R. Owen's philosophy, that man being the creature of circumstances, is not to be held a responsible being, and therefore all punishments inflicted on him for crimes which he could not help committing, are unjust and irrational.

If in an improved state of society there should arise the sad necessity of punishing crimes, it will likewise be done solely for the protection of society, and the law will take no cognizance of a man's responsibility or irresponsibility, except he be of unsound mind; and in the same manner as the maniac is locked up and secured in the asylum in order to protect society from any attack ensuing from his madness, just so will society act against criminal offenders; and the punishment inflicted on them will have but this one aim-to secure society from further attacks; and when this purpose is attained, milder treatment may gradually be introduced.

Cabet describes the kinds of punishment that are in use in Icaria, saying:-"The declaration or public statement of the crime committed, publicity of the judgment in various degrees of extent, loss of certain social, civil, and political rights: these are the punishments inflicted by the tribunals of Icaria."

He further states by whom law is administered there, saying:-"All criminal and civil jurisdiction in Icaria is exercised by the public assemblies of the people, who themselves are the juries and judges."

Sir Thomas More says that in Utopia those that are found

* "Experience shows that relaxation of punishment rather than increase of severity produces a diminution of crime."-MR. HENLY in the House of Commons on the 14th of June, 1875.

guilty of theft are bound to restitution to the owner. Their thieves are condemned to serve in the public works, but are neither imprisoned nor chained. This sort of punishment agrees in character with the prolongation of a man's term of work, which is to extend beyond his fiftieth year in consequence of idleness or for other offences, if the security of society is sufficiently protected by such a punishment.

THE

CHAPTER XXXIII.-EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN.

HE future welfare of mankind will largely depend on the solution of the question, "What position woman will occupy in society?" In assigning the proper place to her in all the various social, civil, political, religious, industrial, and educational functions in the community, the nature of her bodily and mental faculties has to be taken into account, in order to adapt her mission to her capabilities.

That the nature of woman is still a dark mystery to many, and even to women themselves, is evident, or else we would not meet with expressions like the following, uttered by Mrs. William Grey at the Belfast Congress of the British Association (August, 1874):-" What we want to know is, whether the difference between the sexes is one of kind or degree, or only of proportion between their various mental and moral faculties." A satisfactory solution of this difficult problem could scarcely be expected from the professors of physical sciences assembled at Belfast; but a great deal of light may be thrown upon the question by consulting the opinions expressed by the most prominent social innovators. Although each of them approaches the truth from a different direction, yet the aggregate result of their views on the subject of the nature of woman furnishes a most rational and solid basis, on which any efficient reforms for her emancipation must be placed.

Plato says:-" There is no function among the entire members of our state that is peculiar to woman considered as such, nor to man considered as such, but natural talents are indiscriminately diffused through both, and the woman naturally shares in all offices the same as the man, though in all cases