2. It may be said that the carrying out of such a suggestion would be
remorselessly, it must be recognised that he has become lunatic, morally demented, incapable of self-government, and that upon him, therefore, must be passed the sentence of permanent seclusion from a world in which he is not fit to be at large. The ultimate destiny of these poor wretches should be a penal settlement where they could be confined during Her Majesty's pleasure as are the criminal lunatics at Broadmoor. It is a crime against the race to allow those who are so inveterately depraved the freedom to wander abroad, infect their fellows, prey upon Society, and to multiply their kind. Whatever else Society may do, and suffer to be done, this thing it ought not to allow, any more than it should allow the free perambulation of a mad dog. But before we come to this I would have every possible means tried to effect their reclamation. Let Justice punish them, and Mercy put her arms around them; let them be appealed to by penalty and by reason, and by every influence, human and Divine, that can possibly be brought to bear upon them. Then, if all alike failed, their ability to further curse their fellows and themselves should be stayed. They will still remain objects worthy of infinite compassion. They should lead as human a life as is possible to those who have fallen under so terrible a judgment. They should have their own little cottages in their own little gardens, under the blue sky, and, if possible, amid the green fields. I would deny them none of the advantages, moral, mental, and religious which might minister to their diseased minds, and tend to restore them to a better state. Not until the breath leaves their bodies should we cease to labour and wrestle for their salvation. But when they have reached a certain point access to their fellow men should be forbidden. Between them and the wide world there should be reared an impassable barrier, which once passed should be recrossed no more for ever. Such a course must be wiser than allowing them to go in and out among their fellows, carrying with them the contagion of moral leprosy, and multiplying a progeny doomed before its birth to inherit the vices and diseased cravings of their unhappy parents. To these proposals three leading objections will probably be raised 1. It may be said that to shut out men and women from that liberty which is their universal birthright would be cruel. To this it might be sufficient to reply that this is already done; twenty years' immurement is a very common sentence passed upon wrong-doers, and in some cases the law goes as far as to inflict penal servitude for life. But we say further that it would be far more merciful treatment than that which is dealt out to them at present, and it would be far more likely to secure a pleasant existence. Knowing their fate they would soon become resigned to it. Habits of industry, sobriety, and kindness with them would create a restfulness of spirit which goes far on in the direction of happiness, and if religion were added it would make that happiness complete. There might be set continually before them a large measure of freedom and more frequent intercourse with the world in the shape of correspondence, newspapers, and even occasional interviews with relatives, as rewards for well-doing. And in sickness and old age their latter days might be closed in comfort. In fact, so far as this class of people were concerned, we can see that they would be far better circumstanced for happiness in this life and in the life to come than in their present liberty--if a life spent alternatively in drunkenness, debauchery, and crime, on the one hand, or the prison on the other, can be called liberty. 2. It may be said that the carrying out of such a suggestion would be