The conviction forces itself upon my mind, that, if the numerous weighty objections already given be correct--this (the separate) system is not only wrong _per se_, but will soon be deserted by its remaining followers. For if it be true, when alluding to it in the least objectionable manner, that this system is only suited to short sentences, as many of its friends and advocates aver, then, "to all intents and purposes," it must soon be subject to one of two consequences; either the penal code of the laws of the land must be so altered as to suit the demand of the system, or the system must be so altered as to fully come within the demands of the law. As to its facts let the following suffice: Upon the separate and solitary principle, the prisoner--good, bad, or indifferent as he may be, surrounded by his _Bible_, and such other good books as are given him from time to time, remains all alone in his cell, from the first of January to the last of December, until his term of imprisonment expires; and is thus left to his own reflections by day, and by night--unless paid an occasional visit by some kind officer of the prison, or by the chaplain. And hence it is, that in too many instances to justify the means employed, _insanity_ precedes the work of reformation. Were we to cite but a single passage from the report to include the logic, the rhetoric, the philosophy, the facts, and the reliability of the statements in a single view, it would be the following: Upon my arrival in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, so soon as I had visited the State prison at Charlestown, and the Boston new jail, under the guidance of Hon. Louis Dwight, I was convinced in my own mind that said jail, for the purposes for which it was designed, was decidedly the _model prison of the age_. The commissioner was so fortunate as not only to see "the model prison of the age," but to obtain from the same source "a design of a model prison for the State of Missouri;" and so comprehensive and clear were the conceptions of the commissioner upon the view of these model edifices and plans, that he made up his mind when he "first saw the design," (and his views remained unchanged after his return,) "that it has no superior either in the United States or in Europe." Among the inexplicable mis-statements which we find scattered through the report, we may cite the following: As has been proven, beyond all successful contradiction, this system (the congregate) is not only _more humane_, but it is also _far less expensive_ than the separate system.