There have recently been writers of considerable eminence in Great Britain opposed to the continuance of the transportation system, as a species of punishment, altogether; holding that it must necessarily fail of accomplishing either of the two grand objects of punishment,—the prevention of crime and the reformation of criminals. Among writers of this class, Archbishop Whately has taken the lead; advancing a series of arguments, of an a priori aspect, against the whole system of transportation, which however are all evidently founded on admitted facts and statements of an a posteriori character, illustrative merely of the manner in which that system has hitherto been administered, or, to speak the plain