SW_WH1793_Page_052

which, in fact, is the great improvement of the age. Such was Mr. Eddy's anxiety to have the penitenti-ary succeed, that he not only consented to serve as a director, but as an agent. He undertook the latter office, as his reputation was involved in the success of the plan, and probably from an honest conviction that he had made himself better acquainted with the whole subject than any other person in the State. In these two offices, as inspector and agent, he acted for more than four years. He was so assiduous and calculating in his duties, that every anticipation of his friends and of himself was more than realized. The expenses of the establishment had been less than were expected, the health of the prisoners bet-ter than that of the free and honest citizens in the ordinary walks of life. Such cleanliness, order, and moral discipline, marked the penitentiary system under the administration of this untired philanthro-pist, that those formerly dissipated and sickly were made sober and healthy. He watched the results of his plans, and held to a theory no longer than he found it good in practice. His, was truly the induc-tive system of philanthropy. In 1801, Mr. Eddy pub-lished an account of the State Prison of New York. His mottos were taken from Beccaria and Montes-quieu; in fact, his whole theory of crimes and pun-ishments is drawn from those great friends of liberty, Beccaria, Montesquieu, Howard, Penn, and other celebrated reformers of this and a former age. He pointed out the state of the penal code in New York before 1796, and showed, that after it was altered, diminishing the number of capital punishments, and substituting imprisonment, the humane change was made without increasing crime. In this work, Mr. Eddy recounted the history of the establish-ment, described the edifice with its workshops, cells, &;c.; and no one can deny but that the plan was admirable, according to the state of information on these subjects at that time. The government of the