It is this “blind or unscrupulous” confounding of solitude and its effects, with separation and its fruits, that constitutes one of the crying sins against humanity, for which we think the anti-separatists will be called to account. “We are sorry that we cannot follow Mr. Field through his description of the system of instruction, and its effects on the prisoners in general. His work abounds in examples of the ignorant instructed, the profligate reclaimed, the hardened convict subdued, the weak-minded set firm in good principles; and almost all thankful for the discipline they have undergone, and setting out afresh in this world of trials, with, at all events, new strength and better principles. Mrs. Fry, indeed, regarding man as adapted for a state of trial, argued against the system[7] as one that takes the convict away from trial altogether; but surely, there are stages and states in the moral life, when the discipline of solitude and reflexion is absolutely required; just as the body, though its intended sphere of action may be the air and the light, may absolutely require total seclusion from both, must be placed in bed, and take sharp medicines, instead of taking exercise and facing the weather. To say nothing of the fact, that a crowded prison-yard can scarcely be regarded as a _fair_ field of probation for any man. “Altogether, we regard the present state of things with respect to this whole subject as affording a ground of great encouragement and thankfulness to God; and as opening prospects of large social improvement both at home and in the Colonies; for the wretched system of transportation, the plan of peopling new lands with the outcasts of the old, seems to have received its deathblow from the introduction of wholesome discipline at home. There are a few minor differences to be adjusted regarding the treatment of convicts, the length of their separate confinement, and the mode of disposing of them for the rest of their sentence; but the principle is now fairly admitted, that the prison is to be a place of severe moral and religious discipline. The office of a gaol chaplain, instead of being the most loathsome and repulsive that a clergyman could hold, is now a work full of interest and promise and hope, bringing often a speedy return for labor. Sarah Martin, the pious needlewoman of Yarmouth, who passed her life among the wretched inhabitants of the gaol, would indeed have rejoiced, if she could have accompanied as we have done, the zealous Chaplain of one of these new gaols along the clean, light, well-aired corridor, and entered with him into one cell after another, where the prisoner welcomed him cheerfully and respectfully, repeating his few verses of psalm or hymn--a voluntary task--and listened thankfully for the kind admonition