THE unusual prevalence of crime in the country at this time is a subject of much comment. It is also remarked that the crimes perpetrated are of an atrocious character, rape leading the list, and murder following close on. There must be a sudden check to this condition of affairs; and the causes which have led to it demand examination. The violent scenes and lawless accompaniments of war have, it is probable, blunted the sensibilities of base men, who more readily lend themselves to high crimes. Many of these crimes are committed by a certain class of returned soldiers, who were villains before they entered the army, and who, under cover of war, committed many atrocities. The causes of crime at its various phases appear in the public record of events, stand in about this relation, viz: drunkenness, lust, avarice, the two former sustaining close relations to nine-tenths of the crime that has been committed recently. Now what are the remedies that present themselves for consideration? First, the criminal must be made to feel that detection and punishment are certain. From some cause, principally a lack of public sense of the necessity of arrest, and a consequent failure to organize for that purpose, or to offer rewards suitably large, many of the great criminals of the day escape. The natural tendency of this remissness is to encourage other bad men to commit desperate crimes. In large cities, the venal character of officers of the law, elected through party machinery, in utter disregard of public order and safety, will account for many escapes of culprits. But even after arrest, punishment is by no means certain. The stupidity and corruption of juries, adroit counsel, the obstructions of technicalities, and the presence of a wrong public sentiment, all contribute to set bad men loose; or these failing, the application for executive clemency too often succeeds. It is not strange that public sentiment upon the subject is debauched, when a large number of influential men argue that armed treason against the Government should be met with full pardon, and when so many people look complacently upon the proceedings and verdict in the case of Miss Harris. What the public eminently needs now, for its own safety, is a number of wholesome examples of prompt arrest, trial, conviction, and speedy and relentless punishment of criminals. If the people do not see that the laws we have are enforced, there will ensue an era of Vigilance Committees and violent defense by individuals against crime. There is indeed, now, a class of crime prevalent at the East, where gangs of ruffians so large as to overawe an ordinary police force, commit all manner of wanton depredations, generally ending in serious crime, that we do not see can otherwise be reached than by promptly taking the lives of the ruffians, by that process most speedy and convenient. They are entitled to no more consideration than wild beasts. But individuals have a duty to perform in this matter. There should be among all good men a general discouragement of drinking habits—the fruitful source of so much crime. There are many men whose example is far-reaching, who by simply abstaining upon principle from tippling, would have a most salutary influence. It is in vain to censure rowdies for intoxication, when men who ought to set an example for society, are habitual drinkers in public resorts. There never was so favorable a time as this, for effective temperance movements, based upon appeals to the moral sentiments and good citizenship of men. There is also, even among well-meaning men, who are themselves virtuous, a reckless habit of speaking, as though female virtue was accounted a slight thing, and of characterizing the various impurities of a depraved social state by terms that almost seem to excuse them. This very tone of conversation, falling upon the ear of a man of bad impulses, almost seems to justify him, or at most, give him a false idea of the opinion society will entertain of his crime, when it is committed. It is within the power of many individuals, who may never have given the subject thought, to contribute to public virtue by rectifying in themselves, and frowning upon in others, the habit of expression we allude to. There is also a responsibility resting upon men of wealth, that they do not set a standard of display and expenditure that seems to establish a criterion of respectability, and thus present serious temptations to those who naturally desire to maintain a defined position in society, but have not the legitimate income to enable them to conform to a false standard. These suggestions may seem of small moment, but the philosopher will always discern in the acts or tendencies of individuals, the destructive features which may characterize a city, a state, or a nation.—Detroit Trib.