RESULTS OF THE PRANSPORTATI O ARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY ON TN.

THE last two sessions of Parliament, so unsatisfactory in most respects, produced a valuable inquiry into the subject of Criminal WILLIAM Transportation. To Sir vv testaat MOLESWORTH the country is indebted for originating and managing this great work ; which, to their credit be it also spoken, Lord JOHN RUSSELL sanctioned, and Lord Howtex and Sir ROBERT PEEL assisted in. The ardent Member for Leeds was not content with performing the ordinary duties of a chairman, in examining witnesses from a brief, and putting together a few dogmatical sentences to serve for a meagre report: he laid before the Committee an elaborate and perspicu- ous analysis of an immense mass of evidence, which no member of the Committee would have mastered in all its variety and extent without this assistance. The result is, a well-considered and emphatic condemnation of the present system of t.ansporting con- victs to penal colonies. The Committee recommend- " 1. That transportation to New South Wales, and to the settled districts of Van Diemen's Land, should be discontinued as soon as practicable.

"2. That crimes now punishable by transportation should in future be Punished by confinement with hard labour, at home or abroad, for periods vary. mg from two to fifteen years.

" 3. That for the purpose of effectually maintaining discipline and subordi- nation among the convicts sentenced to confinement abroad, of promoting the legitimate ends for which punishment is inflicted, and also of preventing a re- currence of those social evils which have been found by experience to result from transportation as hitherto conducted, the penitentiaries or houses of con- finement that may be established abroad, shall (so far as possible) be strictly limited to those places wherein there are at present no free settlers, and wherein effectual security can be taken against the future resort of such settlers.

"4. That rules should be established by which the existing practice of abridging the periods of punishment of convicts in consequence of their good conduct, may be brought under stricter regulation, and rendered has vague and arbitrary.

"5. That on account of the difficulty which a convict finds in this country in procuring the means of honest livelihood after the expiration of his sentence,

and on account of the temptations to which he is thereby exposed, it would lie

advantageous to establish a plan by which a convict might receive encourage. meat to leave the country with the prospect of supporting himself by regular

industry, and ultimately regaining the place in society which he had forFeited by crime. That if such encouragement were limited to convicts who should have conducted themselves uniformly well during their confinement, it might

at the same time operate as an encouragement to good behaviour during con- finement, and might considerably diminish the prejudice which must to a terrain degree attach to auy person known to have been convicted of a serious offence.

6. That the convicts who have been punished abroad should be compelled to leave the settlement in which they have been punished within a limited pe- riod after the expiration of their sentences, and that tneans should be afforded them by the Government for this purpose."

From that part of the plan which recommends the punishment of prisoners abroad—a partial continuance of the existing tt airs- portation system—we entirely dissent; and can refer to the evi- dence, on which the recommendation might be presumed to rest, for proof of its impolicy. Leaving this point, however, for the present without further remark, we proceed to put the reader in possession of some of the more striking facts on which the Com- mittee's resolutions are based.

Many people appear to think transportation to Botany Bay in- separable from the existence of this country as a great millet-I. They regard it as part and parcel of the Glorious Constitution— Church and State—King, Lords, and Commons. At what time the practice commenced,—or what its effects arc upon the con- victs themselves, the inhabitants of the colony whither they are conveyed, the increase or ditninutien of crime in the neither country,—these are matters on which good people, who take all for granted, seldom trouble themselves to think. Many will be horrified at the idea of retaining within the four seas the wretches Whom Judges are in the habit of sentencing with so much nonchalance, by the dozen or score, to transportation for seven, or fourteen years, or for life. The Provincial Assizes arc just over,

and the Central Criminal Court of the Metropolis is new sitting. Hundreds have been and will be ordered for transportation : but it is not in reference to their criminality that their punishments will actually be fixed : it is a mere lottery whether they will be placed in situations of comfort and prosperity, with the chance

of making fortunes, or whether they shall be condemned to it state of suffering from which humanity shrinks. On these nei t tcrs, interesting and important informati in will be found in the Re- port and Evidence. Under an Act of Charles the Second, convicts were first sent to the North American planters ; to whom they became bonds- men, or slaves. Many colonies were unwilling receive t eI/•

bat in others, the advantage of combined labour in cultivating tie

soil, doubtless reconciled the landowners to the character of :the population thus forced upon them. When the American war of Independence broke out, an attempt was made to establish the Penitentiary system in England ; but, unhappily, it was finally resolved to continue transportation ; and in 17s7, the first cargo of criminals was despatched to found the convict colony of New South Wales. BACON speaks f the " heroic work " of founding a colony ; but he had in his eye tie enterprise and success of the ancient Greek and Roman colonists, and, more recently, the gallant adventurers who in the reigns of ELIZABETH and JAMES planted themselves on the American shores. Had he lived a few years longer, he must have contemplated with admiration the efforts of that daring, virtuous, and religious baud, who on the rock of Plymouth gained, what was denied them at home,

" Freedom to worship God."

But of far different materials the first party who colonized New South 'Wales was composed. They were taken, says the Report, "from the very dregs of society "—

" Men proved by experience to be unfit to be at large in any society, and who were sent from the British gaols, and turned loose to mix with one another in the desert, tog,ether with a few taskmasters who were to set them to work in the open wilderness, and the military who avers to keep them from revolt. The consequences of this strange assemblage were, vice, immorality, frightful disease, lounger, and dieadful mortality among the settlers; the convicts were decimated by pestilence one the voyage, and again decimated by famine on their arrival ; and the most hideous cruelty was practised towards the unfortunate natives. Such is the early history of New South Wales."

And as it was in the beginning, so it is now, with little varia- tion. New South Wales may rank among the fairest portions of the earth ; but, as has been said of Naples, with far less truth as regards its inhabitants, " it is a paradise inhabited by devils.'

The convicts, under the Transportation Act of ath George IV. c. 84, are made over to the Governor of the colony as his property ; and he may transfer them to any individual for any time he chooses to fix, within the limit of the sentence. They are trans- ferred for the most part to settlers in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, as domestic servants, mechanics, or field la- bourers. Some arc employed by the Government on the roads and in public works. The convicts assigned to individuals be- come the slaves of their toasters; who upon the slightest offence, real or fancied, may order them to be cruelly flogged, or to be put to labour in chains on the roads. Hence it frequently happens that the cendition of the convict is that of perfect misery. His lot depends on the temper of his master, not on the enormity of his offence. A sentence of transportation for seven years may be made infinitely, more dreadful than banishment for life. " It frequently happens," said the late Chief Justice of Australia, " that lesser offenders come to be punished with disproportionate severity, while greater criminals escape with comparative impu- nity." And the reason is plain : it may happen that the lesser criminal is a stupid, bad workman, while the greater is a clever and accomplished mechanic.

" Convicts, who are mechanics, are as well if not better treated than those who are domestic servants; for as every kind of skilled labour is very scarce in New Soil la Wales, a convict who has been a blacksmith, carpenter, mason,

cooper, wheelwright, or gardener, io a most valuable servant, worth three or four ordinary convicts; he is eagerly sought after, and great interest is made

to obtain him. As a mechanic can scarcely lie compelled by puuishmeut to exert his skill, it is for the interest of the master to conciliate his convict me- chanic in order to induce him to work well. lu too many cases this is effected by granting to the skilled convict various indulgencis,—by paving him wages; by allotting to him task-work, and by permitting him, after the performance of the task, to work on his own account; and, lastly, by conniving at or over. looking disorderly conduet ; for the most skilful mechanics are generally the worst behaved and most drunken."

The criminals who have been domestic servants in England, ge- nerally have the same occupation in the colony ; and it frequently happens that they receive let. to 15/. a year in wages, and are allowed illegal indulgences by their employers. The condition of the shepherds or goatherds, of whom there were 8,000 in New South Wales in 1837, is inferior to that of domestic servants and mechanics. Neither are those employed by Government on the roads so well off as the classes first mentioned. Thus, the better- informed felons, the more accomplished rogues, men and women, whose temptation from need to break the law is less than that of the others, receive in fact minor punishment, and often, with good wages, are under only trivial restraint. That punishments are frequent and severe, however, appears from the fact, that in one month in the year I S35, 217 convicts were flogged in New South Wales, and 9,784 !ashes inflicted; which is at the rate of 2,964 floggings and 108,000 lashes per annum. These were chiefly for in-eletiee, insubordination, and neglcct of work. In Van Diemen's Land the punishments were more frequent and severe. The tes- timony of Captain MAcoxocitly, Secretary to Sir Joint Fitmsx- Gevernor of Van Diemen's Land, as to the effect of this "coercive system," is, that it "defeats its own most important ob- jects; instead of ref.orming, degrades humanity; vitiates all under ice influence;" and finally, is "the direct occa,,ion of vise and crime."

Good conduct entitles the well-behaved convicts to tickets of leave, or licences, to work for themselves before the expiration of their sentence. They are frequently employed at good wags in places of trust; and the systien has generally answererl well. Some of these ticket-men have hec.ane clerks to b unkerg, and tutors in private families ; and the reol editor of a "heading ,jour- nal " in New South Wales was one of this class.

Those who have been pardoned, or whose term of sentence has expired, are called Etnancipists or Expirees. Some of them have made immense fortunes—one even as much as 40,000/. a year. This man was transported for stealing geese off a common in Yorkshire. He first saved money by selling his rations of rum : afterwards he married a female Emancipist with a little property : he set up a shop near Windsor, in a district where other Emancipists had obtained grants of land : these came to his shop, continued drinking for days and weeks, and to pay their score gave mortgages on their property : the interest was allowed to accumulate till they could not pay it, and then Overreach took possession of their land and houses. The greater part of the Emancipists are labourers and shopkeepers, and in character most profligate. The conduct of the female convicts is described as being " as bad as any thing could well be"-

" At times they are excessively ferocious, and the tendency of assignment is to render them still more profligate ; they are all of them, with scarcely an exception, drunken and abandoned prostitutes; and even were any of them in- clined to be well.conducted, the disproportion of sexes in the penal colonies is so great, that they are exposed to irresistible temptations. For instance, in a pri- yate family in the interior of either colony, a convict woman, frequently the Only one in the service, perhaps in the neighbourhood, is surrounded by a num- ber of depraved characters, to whom she becomes an object of constant pursuit and solicitation ; she is generally obliged to select one man as a paramour to defend her from the importunities of the rest : she seldom remains long in the same place ; she either commits some offence fur whirls she is returned to the Government, ur she becomes pregnant, in which case she is sent to the factory, to be there confined at the expense of the Government : at the expiration of the period of confinement or punishment, she is reassigned, and again goes through the same course. Such is too generally the career of convict women, even in respectable families."

So great is the danger and dread of contamination to the chil- dren from these wretched creatures, that it is a common practice to employ men in domestic duties which in this country women always perform, and to dispense with servants altogether as much as is practicable. Among the gross abuses of the system of assignment, is mentioned a practice of transferring convicts to their own wives, or relatives, who have followed them to the colony, and with the proceeds of the very crimes for which the offenders were transported, have set up a profitable business and realized large fortunes. Transported clerks have been employed in Government

offices ; and, as clerks to attornies, have been allowed free access to prisoners in gaols. Even the Attorney-General's clerk was a convict, and managed all his master's business. All these abuses the Committee declare to be inherent in the system of assignment. The convicts in Van Diemen's Land are generally those who have been returned by settlers to Government as unfit for service; and they are mostly employed in road-making. Some are selected for policemen, messengers, and constables. Many of the last are represented as perfect scoundrels • willing to take bribes for con- nivance at offences, flogging barrios gently as they please, falsely accusing the innocent, and committing outrages en female pri- soners. Sir GEORGE ARTHUR told the Committee, that he had employed Chelsea pensioners and free emigrants as constables, but they were worse than the convicts. And this is credible : the contamination of such society must speedily confound the compa- ratively virtuous with the confirmed villains. The sjetern of dis- cipline in Van Diemen's Land is much more severe than in New South Wales. Sir GEORGE ARTHUR had long and assiduously endeavoured to make "transportation a painful punishment;' and be had succeeded ; but the incentive to escape beineb thereby aug- mented, the police regulations were made so strict, that the same class of free settlers who inhabit New South Wales would not en- dure them. Whatever, therefore, may be the social evils in the latter colony, it may be assumed that in Van Diemen's Land the state of things is worse. The punishments of convicts for crimes committed in the penal colonies are horrible. In 1834, 1000 persons were employed in the chain-gangs of New South Wales; and in 1837, 700 in those of Van Diemen's Land. Governor ARTHUR said that this punish- ment was " as severe a one as could be inflicted on man ;" and it is well known that Sir GEORGE is apt to believe that " man " can endure a good deal. " Theyare locked up from sunset to sunrise in the caravans or boxes used for this description of persons, which hold from twenty to twenty-eight men, but in which the whole number can neither stand upright not sit down at the same time (except with their legs ut right angles to their bodies), and which, in some instances, do not allow more than eighteen inches in width fur each indi- vidual to lie down upon un the bare boards. 'f hey are kept to work under a strict military guard during the day, and liable to suffer flagellation for trifiirg offences, such as an exhibition of obstinacy, insolenee, and the like. Being in chains, discipline is more easily preserved amongst them, and escape more easi'y prevented than among the road •parties out of chains."

The soldiers employed to guard these chain-gangs frequently find their own friends and relations among them, and themselves become drunken and vicious in the extreme.

For crimes of the greatest magnitude, not punishable by death, convicts are retransported to Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, and Port Arthur. Port Arthur is on a small and barren peninsula, connected with Van Diemen's Land by a narrow strip of land. Norfolk Island is a beautiful volcanic island, about 1000 miles from the Eastern shores of Australia, and except in one place in- accessible to boats. This lovely spot has been converted into a perfect hell. The condition of the convicts is one of unmitigated wretchedness. To escape from it, men have chopped off the heads of their fellow prisoners with hoes, knowing that they should be immediately sent to Sydney to be tried mid hanged I Attempts at mutiny have not been uncommon at Norfolk Island. In 1834, the mutineers took possession of the island, and killed some of the guard; they were subsequently overpowered, and eleven • executed. To Judge BURTON, who tried them, one of the,,, ,12 observed, in a manner which the Judge said " drew tes-4,7,34 his eyes and wrung his heart "- " Let a man be what he will when he comes here, he is soon ris bad, rest : a man's heart is taken from him, and there is given to him fuel a beast." -.meg At Port Arthur, men commit murder, " in order to enjoy the excitement of being sent up to Hobart Town" to be tried ande t. cuted. Macquarrie Harbour (now abandoned) was a penal settle• ment of Van Diemen's Land, of the same description as Norfolk Island and Port Arthur ; and an account is given of the fated the convicts who attempted to escape from it, between the 3d of January 1822 and the 16th of May 1827. Of 116 who absconded, 75 perished in the woods; one was hanged For murdering at'd eating his companion; two were shot ; eight were murdered, red six eaten by their comrades; 24 escaped to the settled ditstroie: 13 were hanged for bush-ranging, and two for murder; rsakin.' altogether 101, out of the 116, who came to an untimely end.

On the whole, the Committee think that transportation, b

so very unequal and uncertain a punishment, is more severe that the accounts sent home by settlers and criminals would leas ill-informed persons to suppose. It is a fact, however, that in this country transportation is not more dreaded than simple exile by% large portion of the classes whose habits and crimes render them most likely to experience its realities. It is more feared in the country than in London, where it inspires little apprehension.

The above sketch, slight and faint compared with what is tote ound in the Report and Evidence, will give some idea of the state of the convict population exclusively. Let us now turn to the cos. dition of society generally in the penal colonies of Australia.

On this head criminal statistics furnish appalling facts. It Van Diemen's Land, in 1837, the convicts were 18,000, and the free population 28,000; and the number of persons brought be. fore the police amounted to 17,000. One-seventh of the fres population were fined for drunkenness. In New South Wales, the number of convictions for highway robbery alone exceeds the total number of convictions for all manner of offences in England, taking the difference of population into account. Rapes, mur- ders, and attempts at murder, are as common in New South Wales, as petty larcenies in England.

" In short, in order to give an idea of the amount of crime in New South Wales, let it be supposed that the 17,000 offenders who last year were tried Lod convicted in this country for various offences, before the several Courts of Arnie and Quarter-sessions, had all of them been condemned for capital crimes; that 7,000 of them hail been executed, and the remainder transported for life; that, in addition, 70,000 other offenders had been convicted of the minor offences of forgery, sheep-stealing, and the like; then, in proportion to their respective po. pulations, the state of crime and punishment in England and her Australia colonies would have been precisely the same."

Burglaries and robberies are committed in Sydney in the middle of the day. The drunkenness, idleness, and carelessness of a large portion of the population, and the want of continuity in the build. ings affording easy access to the backs of shops and houses, and the means of escaping from the police, give great facilities to plunderers. And even when offenders are taken, they ere generally tried by juries composed chiefly of Emancipist shop. keepers. The quantity of spirits annually consumed in New South Wales amounts to four gallons a head. In Sydney, with' free population of 16,000, there were, in 1836, 219 licensed puts lic.houses, and an immense number of unlicensed spirit-shops These tippling-places were kept and frequented by the most abandoned wretches.

The disproportion of the sexes occasions crimes, which, to quote the words of Captain MACONOCHIE, make " the blood curdle. Even the young children of respectable settlers have been made the victims of unmentionable atrocities. It is impossible to eon• vey any idea of the horrors which the witnesses before the Com• mittee shuddered to disclose- " All that defies the worst that pen expresses,"

is let loose in New South Wales.

And this amount of sin and misery is annually increased by the direct operation of the laws of England, framed. forsooth, for the punishment and prevention or crime I The philanthropists who rail at American Slavery should turn their attention to New South Wales. The vice and wretchedness produced by Negro Slavery are absolutely of small account when contrasted with the atrocities of the Transportation system! The materials of the Report have been but partially used.

There remain for future notice the cost of the Transportation atrocity ; its economical effects on the colony ; the probable con• sequences of its discontinuance; and the remedies suggestedbl the Committee.