Report Of The International Penitentiary Congress Of London Held July 3 13 1872 PDF Download

Excerpt from Report on the International Penitentiary Congress of London, Held July 3-13, 1872 The Congress of London has passed into history. It is a fixed fact, irrevocable and unchangeable. It only remains to tell its story and gather its fruits. The first is simple, and may be quickly done; the last will be manifold, and the harvest, it may be hoped, will be gathering for years, if not for generations, to come. In a paper read by M. Charles Lucas before the French Academy prior to the meeting of the congress, it was well remarked by that eminent and venerable man: International congresses have been too often repeated in our day to be looked upon as tacts purely accidental. There is a reason for their existence. They are the necessary consequence of the two laws of the sociability and perfectibility of man, which, at the present advanced stage of our civilization, demand the international exc. of ideas to promote the moral progress of humanity, as they do that of material products to advance the public wealth. Such congresses serve to show the condition of different nations as regards their intellectual development, in the same manner as industrial exhibitions show the comparative results of their economic development. Hitherto there have been convened congresses of governments and congresses of citizens. The first have already done good service, and it is desirable to increase their importance and their frequency in international and diplomatic relations. The second play the part of generous satellites of civilization, which, that they may give light and direction to its progress, rush to the front, sometimes rather precipitately and not in the most perfect order, but always affording a useful stimulus to human development. What stamps upon the Congress of London a character of complete originality is that it is entitled, and, in effect, is to be, a semi-official conference, combining the initiative of governments and of individuals. The circumstance most remarkable about it is that this semi-official character has been given to the congress by a government heretofore least disposed to interfere, in the slightest degree, with the free initiative of individuals and associations, and by a people least inclined to tolerate such interference. This analysis of the elements composing the Congress of London is perfectly just. The congress was opened on the evening of the 3d of July, in the great hall of the Middle Temple, with an address by the right honorable the Earl of Carnarvon, a nobleman profoundly versed in penitentiary science and thoroughly active in the work of penitentiary reform. The address was able, terse, and practical - one of those model productions which give, with a Doric simplicity, "the essences of things." Every sentence went straight to the mark; every paragraph was marked by good sense; and the whole discourse, drawn from "the well of English undefiled," held the vast assemblage spell-bound to the end. At the conclusion of the address Lord Harrowby offered a resolution of welcome to the foreign delegates, which was seconded by Sir Charles Adderly; and both gentlemen gave expression, in well-conceived thoughts and happy phrase, to the sentiment of hospitality with which England received the members of the congress coming from other countries. Baron Yon Holtzendorff, on behalf of the continental delegates, and the Hon. Joseph E. Chandler, on behalf of the delegates from America, replied to the welcome in terms no less graceful and eloquent than those in which it had been conveyed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com