PAYING CULPRITS THROUGH THE NOSE.
WE see that old Kentucky is going ahead in the practice of humanity towards an unfortunate and degraded class of beings. Witness the New York Journal of Commerce, which contains the subjoined paragraph:—
"Marking Convicts.—A resolution has been introduced into the Kentucky Legislature, which provides 'that the keeper of the Penitentiary shall procure a suitable chymical dye, such as shall stain the cuticle or outer surface of the skin perfectly black, so that it cannot be washed off, or in any way removed until time shall wear it away, and Nature furnish a new cuticle or surface; and that with this dye he shall have the nose of each male convict painted thoroughly black, and renew the application as often as it may be necessary to keep it so until within one month of the expiration of his sentence, when it shall be discontinued for the purpose of permitting Nature to restore the feature to its original hue preparatory to the second advent of its owner into the world.'"
It has long been the reproach of America that she has one law for the blacks, and another for the whites. This is in one sense the case in Kentucky; but there the advantage is on the side of the blacks. It is quite obvious that the project for staining the noses of malefactors black would not be feasible in the case of negroes: at least, in that case, it would be a scheme analogous to that of gilding refined gold, if not of painting the lily. That equal justice might lay hold of the nigger's nose, it would be necessary to resort to a converse expedient, and colour the African proboscis white. But for this purpose nothing could be used but a mere pigment; for Chemistry does not supply any substance which would have the effect of bleaching, even temporarily, the blackamoor's skin. If that science could afford such a cosmetic, it would emancipate several millions of persons in America, who are deprived of their liberty and their rights as men for no other crime than their complexion, but who might obtain their freedom as easily as insolvent debtors if they could only manage to procure some sort of wash by which they might be whitewashed.