Gov. Seymour's Address To The Convicts Of Auburn's (n. Y.) State Prison

I hav declined all invitations tbis i'ear to make public addresses ; but when fonr Warden asked nie to speak to you ;o-day, I made up iny miud to do so, ilthough at tbo hazard oí' my bealth. - 31 y interest in tbe inmates ot' this and other priaons grows out of official duties, as I bave had to act on many oases of applications for pardons. 1 have learned 'rom a long experience with uien in all couditions of lile tbat none are without virtues. I have studied characters with care. 1 have had to deal with presidents and with prisoners. I have assoeiated with those held in bigh honor by tbe American people. On the other baud ;he laws of our state bave placed the ives of criuiinal men in niy hands, and ït has been niy duty to decide if they should live or die. The period in which [ took the roost active part in public affairs was one of great excitement, when jassions and prejudicio were arousod ; and in common with all others engaged in the controversies of the day I have "elt the bitterness of partisun strife; nevertheless experience has taught me ;o thiuk kindly of my fellow men. The onger I live the better I think of their aearts and the less of their heads. Every where from the President's mansión to the prisoner'a cell, I have learned the wisdom of that prayer which begs that we inay be delivered from temptation. Another great truth is taught by experience - hope is tho great reform. We must instill this in meii's minds if we wish to cultívate their virtues, or enable them to overeóme their vices. It bas been said that despair is the uupardon.bic oin, i'ur ltparalyzes every sentiment that leads to virtue or happiness. For this reason, when Qovernor of this state I did all I couïd to gain the passage of laws which enahle each one of you by 2;ood conduct to aborten tbe term of your imprisonment, and if I had my way' you wonld have a share in the profits of your labor. But I stand beFore you to-day to speak of anotber round of hope, of a higher and more lasting character than mere money, gain or shortened terms of punishment, and what I have to say does not point to you alone, but to men of all conditions. I do not mean to take the place of those who teach you your religious dutiea. - They are far more able than I am to make these clear to your minds; yet it is sometimes thfi case that we eee tbings in lighta in which they are not usually placed before us, and some thoughts which have occurred to me in a review cf lifemay be of interest and valuetoyou. When we grow old we are struck with the öeetness of time; our lives Beem to be oompassed into one brief period, and we suddenly find that pursuits we have folio wed are closed and we areconfionted with the question, not what we have gained, nor what positions we have h ld, but what we ars in ourselvee. We know it is our duty to do what is right and to avoid doing wrong, and when we look back, if we add up all of ourgood deeds on the one hand, and our bad acts on the other, we find a startling balance against us. When men reach my time of life their uiiuds turn townrds the past, and they travel backward the path they have followed. They see things from the opposite side on which they were viewed from youth onward, and are stuck by truths which never break upon their minds until they look back upon them. Sitting before my fire on a winter evening and musing as old men are apt to do about their acts, their errors, their successes or failures, it occurred to me what I would do if I had the power and was compelled to wipe out twenty acts of my lite. At first it seemed as if this was an easy thing to do I had done more than twenty wrong things, was about to seize my imaginary sponge and rub them out at once, but I thouuht it best to move with care, to do as I had done to others, lay my character out upon the dissecting table and trace all intluences which had madoor marred it. I found to my surprise if there were any golden threads running through it, they were wrought out by the regrets feit at the wrong; that these regrets had run through the courne of my life, guiding my footsteps through all its intricacies and probleuis, and if I should oblitérate all of these acts to which these golden threads were attached - whose lengthening lines were woven into my very nature - if I should oblitérate all of these, I should destroy what little tbere was of virtue in my moral make up. Tbus 1 learned that the wrong act followed by the just regret and by thoughtful caution to avoid like eirors, made me a hetter man than I ahould have boen if I had never fallen. In this I found hope for myself and hope for others, and I teil you who sit before me, as I say to all in every condition, that if you will you can make yourselves better men than if you had never fallen into errers or crime9. A mini's destiny does not turn upon the fact of his doing or not doing wrong - for all men will do it - but of how he bears himself, what he does and what hethinks after the wrong act. It was well said by Confucius, the Chinese sage, that a man's charaoter is decided, not by the number of times Iik fülls, but by the number of times he lifts himself up. I do not know wby ovil is permitted in this world, but I do know that each one of us bas the magic.al power to transmute it into good. Everyoue before me can, if he will, make bis past errors sources of moral elevations. Is this not a grand thought, which should not only pive ushope, but should inspire us with firm purposea toexeroise this power which makes us akin to the Alrnighty? Por He bas given it to us and has pointed out in His words how we shall use it. The problem meets us at every step. There is nothing we do which will uot make us better or worse. I do not speak merely of great events, but of the thoughts upon our beds - the toil in the workshop, and the little duties which attend every hour. God in his goodness does not judge us 80 much by what we do, but when we have done things right or wrong, our destiny mainly turns upon what we think and do after the occurrence. It is then we decide if they shall lift us up to a. higher level or bear us down to a lower grade of moráis. Our acts mainly spring from impulses or accideuts - the sudden temptation, imperfect knowledge or erring judgmont. It is the aftpr-thonght that gives them their hue. The world muy frown upon the deed and upon tho man, who, nevertheless. by his regrets, makes it one 'which shall minister to ptirity and virtue ïu all his atter . You, who eit before me, in some ways have advantages over other men whose minds are agitated by the hopes and fears of active pursuifH, who find no time by thoughts to make them teml to virtue and to happiness. With each of you, in a littltí time, tho great question will bc, not if you are to be set free, no what the world thinks of you, not what you have, but what you are; for death often knocks at the door of your cell-, and some of your number are carried from these narrow walls to the more narrow walls of the gravo. Let it not be thougbt that I provo wrong niay be dono so that good may follow. With Saint Paul I protest against such inference, from the truth that men are saved by repentance of their sins. But let us look further into this subject, for it keenly concerns us. Though we are unable tu reciill the errors of the past, we may so deal with them that they will promote our virtue, our wisdom and bappiness. Upon this point I am not theorizing - Whoever thinks will learn that human experience proves this. Let us take the case ot our errore. Wreshouldfind if we could rub them all out that we shoM troy tli e wisdom theyliaTegiven us, ifve have taken care to make oor errors teach us wisdom. Who could spare their sorrows'r1 How muoh that is kind and sympathetic in our natures, which leads us to minister to tbe griei's of others, and thus to inake our own griufs consolation aud syiupathies, growontof wha'. are feit as keenealamities when thcy befall us'r1 Following out the line of my thoiights when I assumod that I had the power and was compolled to drown in Lethean waters oertain acts, I found I could uot sparo errors which cali forth regrets, mistakes which teach us wisdom, or the 6orrows which Boften chaiacter and inuke us sensible of Mie sympathies which give boauty to the intercoursb of life. As I had to oblitérate twenty events I found I could best spare the successes or tiiuinpha which had only served to iuipart courage in the battie of life, and had but littla influcnce in forming character. It is trne that wherever and whatever we are, we can so deal with tho past that we can make it give up to us virtue and wisdom. We can by our regrets do more than the alchemist aims at when he si'oks to transmute baso metáis into gold, tor we can make wrong the seed of light andrighteousness; we can transmute error into wisdom; we can mako sorrows bloom into a thousand fovm liko fragrant liowers. These great truths should not only give us contentment with our positions, but hope for the future. The great question what we are, pressesitself upon us as we grow old, or Üashes upon us when our lives are cut short by accident or disease. Withiu these walls but few days pass without that question bcinü forced upon tbe minds or some who have reached the end ot life'sjoiirney. Surely it shuuld givo hope and consolatiou to all, to teel that they eau in the solitude of the cell or in the gloom of the prison, by thought, by self-examination, make out of the past with lts crimes, its errors and its sonows, the very uieans by which they can lift themselves into higher and happier conditions. Thia work of trausmuiing evil into good is a duty to be done by all conditions of men, and it can be wrought out as well in the prisoner'sceil as in thehighest aud most honorable pusit on. All human experience aocord8 with the tcKchings ot higher religión that holds out hope to men who teel regret for every evil act. I wish to cali your minds to that auiriziiig truth that there is a Bcing who rules the world with such benevoienee that Ho enables weak and erriug mortal:, if they will, to turn their vry sorroWs aud errors into sources of bappiness. We have many theories in these days in which men try to teil us how the ' world aoting upon oertain fixed laws has evolved itself; that it goes on by a progresa that regards nothing but eertain rules of advancetnent, regardltss of all other consideration savi thci.' own irresistible self-oompelling principies. - But here we have a truth not only given us in Holy Writ, but proved by our experieuce, that mental regret willconvert a material wrong into a blessing, or, if the offender wills, it will make the same a hundred fold more hurtful if he rejoices in liis wrong-doing or hardens his heart against regret. Materialism, Evolution, Pantheisai, or any of the theories which deny the goverurnfmt of nn intelligent God, are conforming to His laws, which deinand repentance, convert evil into gooi, or by violating them make evil ten fold more deadly and destructive. We can by our minds and sentiments cbange the influence of material events and vary the action of laws whioh govern the world. If man with all his wpakness erin do this, it can ouly ba by the aid of a higher power which suapes, directa and regul'now that what I have F.iid is but an imperfect statement of graat tiuth, compared with teaching of the pulpit which you huar each Sunday. Aa my purpose is merely to spealr to you of what I have leafned iu the walks of life, I could give you trom this narrow field but partial views of great truths. They may be of no valué to you, yet I trust you will accept thcit at least as proof of my sympathies with your condition and sorrows, for if any ambition lingers in the bloast of him who speaks to yon no w, it is that ho may be the frieud and adviser of the ening and wrong-doer. He has been taught by 8i!lf-examinationand thestudy of otbers, tbat we all belong to that cluss, anti that we owe to one anothcr any aid we can give to our fellows when thcy fall by the wayside.