THE Judges, the Police, and the Executive Officers of our

Prison system as it is, have expressed from time to time a general opin- ion that the criminal classes are more awed by the punishment of transportation than of imprisonment. Mr. Justice Erle thinks that it is more impressive in the delivery of the sentence. Police- Sergeant Loome has heard convicts speak with greater apprehen- sion of being transported than of being imprisoned. On the other hand, Mr. Henry Mayhew, who has conversed with thieves, gives the exactly opposite opinion. There is other evidence showing that the subject is at least in doubt; and if we refer the question to the arbitrament of statistics, we are still left in as much doubt as ever. The total numbers sentenced to transportation and penal servitude in the years 1853, '4, and '5 were respectively 2368, 2418, and 2373 ; although the change of law in 1853 ought to have occasioned a considerable increase in the two latter years. Such is the case notwithstanding the numbers sentenced to transporta- tion during the Winter Assizes in certain of the counties, -which would of itself have tended to swell the numbers for 1855. This would show a decrease under the new law : it is enough if it show that there is not an increase. Colonel Jebb, -Chairman of the Ili- rectors of Convict Prisons, who still seems partly inclined to trans-

portation, states a very remarkable fact to show the feelings of the convicts themselves upon the subject: the incident is related.

by M. Berenger, President a In Cour de Cessation in Paris, as

having occurred when the abolition of the Bagnes was resolved upon by the French Government in 1852.

" Instead of following out the view of the old Chamber of Peers, which was that the existing places of confinement should be suppressed, and that pri- sons on shore should be substituted for them, it was resolved by the Govern- ment that Cayenne should be taken as a place of transportation for a certain category of offenders. But the men who were then at Brest, Toulon, and B.oehefort, were not under sentence of transportation stall ; they were under sentence of imprisonment (travaux forces). As the decree was not to have a retrospective effect, they were to have the choice of whether they would con- tinue under their sentences or be sent to Cayenne. The terms of their transportation to that place were explained to the men ; and in the first few hours after the registers were opened for their accepting this offer, or reject- ing it, 3000 men.came forward to give in their adhesion, and to express their wish to go to Cayenne."

With all the dislike -which the French have of emigration, the well-known mortality of the climate of Cayenne, and the con- stantly-asserted terrors of the " unknown " in transportation, yet here, when the choice is given to a large number of prisoners, they distinctly prefer colonial emigration. We have already mentioned that the period of transportation is unequal compared with the period of imprisonment,—for ex- ample, 7 against 4 ; and Mr. Waddington, the Under-Secretary

of State for the Home Department, remarks that the impatience of confinement on the part of the prisoner increases enormously

as the imprisonment goes on. Still, he, like most of the Ex eon- tive Officers of our prison system, desires to see transportation renewed. He would. be " very sorry that all the evils which are reported to have taken place in Norfolk Island should be repeated anywhere" ; he is " strongly opposed to forming such an institu- tion as that." He " does not think that any established colony

now would be disposed to take our convicts—that is out of the question " ' • but his F' notion of a penal colony " is, that " it must be one which is created in the same manner as the Australian co- lonies were created."

The man who has the most positive ideas in favour of renewed transportation is Sir Archibald Alison ; who appeared before the Committee, net as the historian of Europe, but as Sheriff of Lanarkshire for twenty-one years. He also is for creating a new penal settlement. He admits that the risk of incurring evils similar to those which were incurred in _Norfolk Island is an evil

incident to all such cases—a danger which should be carefully guarded against. But he has no doubt as to the practicability of ding a site. There is Western Australia. " I think that New Zealand would be happy to take convicts "—upon the plan which he proposes. He " knows one New Zealand proprietor " who has

said that " it would be the greatest advantage." If there have been prejudices against receiving transported convicts, it is owing to the causes which he has mentioned, principally "to the right sys- tem not having been adopted." Then there is the Island of Islay, and some region in North America : but "it all depends upon the plan," and that is the striking part of Sir .ArchibalcPs evi-

dence. "In cresting a new pena r settlement, there should al.- ways be a certain proportion kept between the criminal population

and the good population." In New South Wales the assignment

system became unpopular, 'because there are too many convicts in proportion to the free population. It was " the excessive trans- portation " to Van Diemen's Land -which became so unpopular.

The expense, 251. a head, prevented free settlers from going, while they could go to America for 51. • and the convict popu-

lation were nearly as three to two. In seeking a remedy, Sir Archibald gives us the "key to the whole thing." "I should say that there should be four or five immaculate settlers to one criminal."

" I think the way to manage it is this. You should establish a regula- tion, that if any colony will take the convicts of Great Britain, the Go-

vernment will, at the public expense, if enough do not go of their own.

accord, send out four immaculate settlers, including an adequate proportion of young women, for every one penal convict ; and you should also esta-

blish a regulation, that the penal convicts are to be employed in public

works, depenses foncieres, as the French call them, which are essential to the progress of the colony, bridges, roads, harbours, and the like, so that the free settlers would have the benefit of their labour. I am quite SUM that that would be such a great advantage to the colony that had it, that if it was perfectly established, the convicts would be kept in a small minority,

and would be employed in public works essential to the good of the colony, and that the free labourers that went out would find good roads made to their doors by the convicts. The colony that enjoyed these advantages

would very soon distance all its competitors, and you would soon have all the colonies of Great Britain petitioning for the establishment of such a system."

Although he is so confident that it would be " popular to the last degree," Sir Archibald does admit the possibility of failuro for his plan. But still he is at no loss. "If that fail, then I would establish a new penal colony in some newly-settled coun- try, just similar to New South Wales. There is room enough in the Colonies of Great Britain for fifty penal colonies to go through fifty centuries." Sir Archibald admits that the process would be expensive, for every convict sent out would cost the country a hundred pounds ; but it would convert paupers into emigrants consuming our manufactures to the extent of seven or eight pounds a head. He thinks that the convicts, after working on the public works, might be assigned to private service, or might be suffered to go into service as freemen ; but he says, " I never went into the details as to that." Now, Sir Archibald is

the most positive and definite witness in advocating a renewal of transportation. Thus, the Executive Officers of the law give us on this subject of transportation general ideas, vague "notions," aspirations, and projects not yet defined for creating some new penal settlement. A variety of places for such settlements are mentioned; but they are disposed of by one of the most experienced witnesses before

the Committee, who certainly entered upon his duties in a spirit

that must be above suspicion of partiality. The several places mentioned are—Ascension Island, which would hold about as many as Pentonville Prison ; the Gulf of Carpentaria and North Australia, once contemplated as sites by Mr. Gladstone, but open to all the objections which have caused the ceasing of transporta- tion in Australia, in addition to the attractions of the gold-fields for wholesale desertion ; Moreton Bay, contiguous to North South Wales, whose political passions would be justly aroused by the neighbourhood of such lodgers ; Vancouver's Island, lying all the way round America, with great political objections to a penal set- tlement near the United States ; Hudson's Bay, which would be " an English Siberia," too cold for the constitution of our people ; Labrador, in the same predicament ; and the Falkland Islands, which would be nothing more than a convict station, like the Government works at Gibraltar or Bermuda.

Who is the witness that thus disposes of the sites suggested for new penal colonies ? It is Mr. Frederick Elliot, of the Colonial Office. When Sir William Molesworth and his immediate friends were advocating those colonial reforms which ended in the establishment of more than one important free colony, and compelled the Government to give u transportation, they were powerfully opposed by the Colonial 1 ce Among the con- sistent servants of that office, there was none more faith- ful or more able than Mr. Frederick Elliot, who has long been in the department. His name became almost identified with the administration of " Mr. Mothercountry " in the bureau at the bottom of Downing Street. He is not a witness who may be considered partial in favour of Sir William Molesworth or of the Committee of 1838. We turn, then, to his information with some interest on ac- count of his long experience ; and of his evidence we now proceed to give some account. It is indeed calculated to create at once surprise and satisfaction in those who worked with Sir William Molesworth and his friends in 1831-'8. " The best starting-point

for any one who wishes to study the history of transportation," Bays Mr. Elliot, " is the report of that Committee" : " it is a

monument of industry and systematic inquiry." " At the time, it was supposed that the Chairman and the more influential mem- bers had a strong preconceived opinion against transportation :

and it appears singular enough now, when we hear all the Colonies complaining of receiving convicts, that the first effect in Australia was great annoyance at seeing the terms in which transportation was described in that report."

" The Committee condemned the practice as very unequal, and open to a great abuse." When the report was first issued, all the principal authorities in the Australian Colonies, not merely Executive but Legislative, complained that the account given was overcharged and partial. The Government at home, however, were to a great extent influenced by the report : they took mea- sures to increase the Penitentiaries ; Pentonville was built in con- sequence ; the number of people sent to Bermuda was increased ; they began sending convicts to Gibraltar ; in 1840, they discon- tinued transportation to New South Wales altogether, though still continuing a qualified transportation, for a short time, of " exiles "—persons who were not sent out as convicts, but as par- doned men. In 1842, anticipating an increase in the numbers to Van Diemen's Land, Lord Derby endeavoured to establish greatly- improved regulations. The number of convicts was so large that employment could not be found for them ; it was a misfortune for a man to be released. The most horrible prevalence of unnatural crimes was disclosed ; and a laudable horror in the minds of the colonists ultimately compelled the abandonment of the system. In 1846, Lord Derby threw out the idea of forming a penal settle- ment in North Australia ; Mr. Gladstone, who succeeded, elaborated the details of the plan ; but in 1847, when Lord Grey

replaced him as Colonial Mimster, he found that there were in- superable objections, and he reverted to an improved plan of send-

ing out a smaller number of persons to Van Diemen's Land. The plan consisted in compelling the prisoner to undergo from one year to a year and a half of confinement in England, then from a year to a year and a half on public works in England, Bermuda, or Gibraltar, and after that to Van Diemen's Land and other colonies. For, to relieve the individual colony, Lord Grey also proposed that convicts should be sent to the Cape of Good Hope, New Zealand, and other settlements. The irrepressible re- sistance in Van Diemen's Land compelled the total abandonment

of trrtescrortation in that colony ; the Governor of New Zealand

repo that the presence of warlike aborigines rendered it unfit to receive English criminals ; a Tropical climate excluded Mauri- tius and Ceylon ; and the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope offered a violent resistance. In short, as Mr. Elliot says, the pro- posal to send convicts to any free colony immediately provokes rebellion. If it were attempted to create a New South Wales in the Gulf of Carpentaria, you would in a short time have not only the frightful evils of New South Wales and Norfolk Island, but you would create a nest of pirates within sight of the immensely valuable trade which passes through Torres Straits. One most remarkable exception, at present, to the apparent im- possibility of continuing transportation, is Western Australia.

We have there a free settlement of twenty years' existence, with colonists demanding more convicts than we can send them con- sistently with safe regulation. That experiment has, says Mr. Elliot, i been " anything but successful." There has been a diffi- culty n sending free labourers to compensate the introduction of convicts. The whole number of convicts sent out since the first has been 3911; the number of free people has been—men, women, and children, 2310 ; pensioners and their families, 1476 ' • in all, 3786. There was a difficulty in finding employment for all these persons ; but notwithstanding the very limited number of free emigrants and convicts sent out, the cost of the establishment has been very great. In the five years ending 1855, it was 322,525/. ; this is irrespective of the charge for transportation, which cer- tainly cannot fall short of 80,000/. ; in all, the charge has been about 400,000/., or 1001. per convict.

Thus far the Colonial Office witness Mr. Elliot. He has proved a most successful student of colonial reform, and in this matter he gives us the true conclusion to be drawn from the facts-

" We are the only civilized people in the world who have had the good fortune to have transportation at all. I think that, while you had suitable colonies, it was the best secondary punishment possible to be conceived, and I rejoice that we enjoyed its benefits so long; but if it is no longer possible to find English colonies abroad who will receive our criminals for us, I trust that as every other civilized country has had to do without transportation, England, in its wisdom, will in time find means of grappling with the diffi- culty. One thing is certain, we see already, that two or three years ago a Secretary of State baying written a despatch, and said that transportation must cease, the whole mind of England is awakened to this question of se- condary punishment in a manner that did not in the least exist before. We have all the intelligence of the country brought to bear upon it, and one may hope that the quantity of crime will be diminished, and its treatment improved. I do not suppose that there is one panacea; there must be all sorts of en- deavours. They tell us that the use of pain is, that we may not allow any- thing to go on which would be injurious to our health or dangerous to our lives ; and perhaps this great difficulty of not being able to send our crimi- nals away will awaken us both to duties and to resources at home which we overlooked before."

Lord Grey, who is to a great extent followed by Mr. M. D. Hill, is in favour of renewing transportation, but with great alterations and restrictions. He would first subject the prisoner to an extended sentence of penal servitude, granting " licenee " to go to a colony under proper regulations, if he should earn that licence by his good conduct. The renewed transportation which Lord Grey and Mr. Hill advocate, therefore, is a tranportation of reformed convicts. But before we proceed to consider that part of the subject, we must see what prospect there is of providing a penal system which shall be truly reformatory.