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virtuous and industrious poor. And that this has been the case in some of the States, we have abundant evidence from the highest authority. What salutary effect could be expected from such punishment, either in producing a reformation of character or deterring from the commission of crime. Sanguinary laws and punishment are altogether inconsistent with our principles of government, and expressly prohibited in our declaration of rights. Indeed, there is little reason for believing that severe laws would have any tendency to diminish crime. In the country whose criminal code numbers upwards of two hundred capital offences, violations and convictions are no less numerous, in proportion to population, than in others where capital punishment it rarely inflicted. The revival of corporal punishment for offences not capital, will not probably be again generally resolved to in this country. Rather should we hope that the necessity for capital punishment may be diminished if not wholly obviated by some other equally promotive of the public safety.