MANNER OF DISPOSING OF CONVICTS.
The preceding pages exhibit a faithful account of the progress towards
reformation made by the convicts under the system observed in their
management during removal to New South Wales. The moment they were
disembarked, my public functions regarding them terminated of course;
yet the interest excited in my mind by the dawning of renovated moral
feeling, which appeared general, made me still anxious to cultivate and
keep alive amongst them, as much as possible, the influence of those
salutary impressions which they appeared to have received during the
voyage; and for this purpose I visited them frequently during their stay
in the prison at Sydney.
According to the regulation at that place, convicts, on being
disembarked, are placed immediately under the superintendence of a
person appointed to keep them in charge until such time as they can be
placed in situations. This person is always present at the mustering of
the prisoners after their arrival; and keeps a book, in which are
entered the name and age, and also the character, of the convicts, such
as they may have merited while under the management of the Surgeon
Superintendent, and also a description of the employment for which each
prisoner is qualified.
The Superintendent of convicts is thus perfectly apprized of every thing
requisite for directing a just and satisfactory assignment of the
prisoners; and as, when once they are placed in his hands, no other
authority interposes, much good or evil is to be expected from his
management. Mr. Hutchinson, the person now exercising that office at
Sydney, was himself formerly a convict; and from his various means of
obtaining intelligence, well may he be supposed,—so far as the ample
jurisdiction he exercises can extend,—to possess information universally
correct regarding the circumstances of every family: he is therefore
fully competent to determine what description of convict is best suited
for any particular service: too often, however, does caprice, if not
motives more unworthy, appear to influence him in the performance of
this important duty.
It might be expected that the passions of prisoners, whether male or
female, sentenced to transportation, having been long kept under by
discipline, a sense of guilt, and repentant reflection during the
voyage, would not easily be roused again into mischievous action; but a
momentary consideration even of what is human nature, and how prone it
is to evil, as also the former state of these persons, will forbid a too
confident expectation that the mind long accustomed to habitudes of
vice, and subdued only by a powerful sense of shame, or religious
feeling, can be at once thoroughly reformed, and secure from relapse. It
was doubtless with a view to prevent any thing of that unhappy tendency,
that the local Government instituted the confinement of the prisoners,
as already mentioned. The following circumstance will show how careful
the Superintendent is to maintain this humane intention.
There were two of the females under my care, whose behaviour during the
voyage was so profligate, that, besides the character with which they
were handed over at the muster, I was induced to point them out to the
notice of the Governor, with a request that they might be separated from
the others: to this His Excellency paid immediate attention, and gave
orders to that effect. I mentioned the same matter, moreover, to the
Superintendent of convicts, who made a note of it in his book, in my
presence; yet on that very same evening these wretched creatures were
permitted to go at large in the streets of Sydney, where necessity, or
their own abandoned propensities, must have driven them to infamous
practices.
About one-half of the female prisoners were disposed of in Sydney and
its neighbourhood, and the remainder were kept in a separate place in
the gaol, until an opportunity should offer for removing them to
Parramatta, whither the Governor had directed they should be sent by
water, to prevent improper conversation with straggling prisoners of the
other sex, who are continually infesting the roads. It is to be
remarked, however, that those whose behaviour or disposition had most
frequently incurred censure on the voyage, and consequently least
merited favourable report, were singled out as the fittest objects for
assignment, while many of those whose conduct had been uniformly
deserving of approbation, whose names also were conspicuous for
excellent character, were left to be transmitted to the Factory!
Another circumstance, though of itself unimportant, may be deemed worthy
of notice, as throwing some further light on those proceedings. A
settler, named _Cooper_, made application to have an elderly woman,
whose relatives he knew formerly in England, assigned him as a servant,
but was refused. He repeated the request, and was again refused on the
plea that her character was very infamous. Mr. Cooper not believing this
dogmatical assertion, and being unable to investigate the
Superintendent’s real grounds for objection, applied to me for an
account of the woman’s conduct, which during the voyage had indeed been
exemplary. The poor woman herself appealed to me, and begged that I
would do her justice. I assured her that her character should be fully
vindicated before the Governor; but the Superintendent, not wishing the
matter to be investigated, or his motives explained, before that
tribunal, assigned the woman without further delay as desired.
Connexions too spring up unexpectedly between the female convicts and
pretended relatives by whom they are recognised, as it were, on their
landing. This practice had grown to such mischievous extent in former
years, that it was found necessary to order that no person from the
shore should be allowed to visit the ship, or hold communication with
the prisoners, without permission signified in writing: and now a guard
boat is commonly stationed in the Cove, to prevent any unauthorized
persons from approaching a convict ship after her arrival, until the
prisoners are disembarked. Previously to this order, it was usual for
persons from the shore to go alongside those ships, and even on board,
and choose from among the female prisoners, wives, sisters, or other
relatives, as circumstances would suit, for themselves and others; and
these claims they used afterwards to substantiate _on oath_; on which
the prisoners were accordingly assigned them.
In most of these cases, it is well known, no relationship whatever
exists, the parties having never before, perhaps, known or heard of each
other. It must of necessity follow, that connexions thus formed cannot
be in unison with truth or justice, and that the obligations of marriage
can hardly escape violation. In fact, the language which female convicts
on landing in the colony are accustomed to hear from every tongue, must
have a predisposing effect upon minds ordinarily weak as theirs must be,
anxious for protection in a strange country. It is usual to tell them,
that they must now consider themselves in a new world,—that whatever may
have been their offences, their former conduct would not now be
considered for a moment;—that they should look upon every thing past as
quite forgotten;—that they should begin life anew;—that if they behaved
themselves prudently _they should soon get husbands_, and no doubt do
well.
From representations such as these, it is not surprising that they
should feel themselves encouraged to indulge in notions of fresh
happiness: new hopes are kindled, and associations easily entered into
without much regard to the propriety of the action. The Superintendent
of convicts, and the fellows to whom he confides the secondary concerns
of his office, are never at a loss to cultivate the opportunities to
which such lessons tend; and as they all are or have been convicts, they
dexterously keep up an intercourse ramifying through all that vast
fraternity; and a _marriage_ is contracted without difficulty or delay,
doubtlessly very much to the happiness of the female, as well as the
edification of the community!
One of the greatest evils, in my opinion, attending imprisonment, is
when the character of the turnkeys and the other persons in authority
about a gaol is corrupt or villainous. In the best constituted prisons
in England, this is a subject of painful note, which even the utmost
vigilance of the most upright and excellent Governor cannot always
rectify. Persons formerly of infamous character are often selected for
that situation, from a mistaken notion of prudential policy,—“Set a
thief to watch a thief;” for, while their official care is directed to
secure the person of the prisoner, his mind too often is sunk more
deeply, and confirmed in depravity by their wicked agency or connivance.
This is best illustrated by fact.
On visiting the gaol in Sydney, the morning after the prisoners had been
landed, I found that many of them spent the night in noise and indecent
revelry, occasioned by beer and spirits which had been introduced, and
that could not have been done without the knowledge of the keepers. Here
then is a lamentable source of mischief to the convict on the very
threshold of her exile. In the population of such a town as Sydney, the
mass of which is formed of persons transported for their crimes, much
moral turpitude may be supposed to prevail, which not all the existing
regulations, however excellent they be, even were they maintained with
exactness, are sufficient to repress. The number of houses licensed for
the sale of beer and spirits, besides those where the like are vended
clandestinely, by feeding the bad passions with dangerous incentive
retard the growth of moral reserve, and that rectitude of principle
necessary to the existence of a well-ordered community.
Hence, therefore, derives a constant flow of licentiousness; and the
consequences will, it is feared, long continue to characterize the
infant colony. Females banished to a place of this description must be
formed of materials exceedingly pure, to withstand temptations such as
are every moment spread before them. Can it be reasonably hoped, that
one the whole tenour of whose life has been corrupt, debased, and almost
remorseless, will be influenced by the salutary care of transient
benevolence, and the precepts of religious instruction recently imbibed,
to shut her eyes and ears against what is still grateful to slumbering
passion, and as yet pleasurably tingles on every sense? How odious,
then, and afflictive must be corrupt example and temptation at such a
time, which in the absence of discipline proceed a step further than
inclination, warping the firmest purpose, and fomenting every bad
propensity! Wretched indeed, and greatly to be pitied, is the female in
such a situation, whose heart still cherishes a spark of virtue which
reflection and pious resolution were again fanning into life, but
through a direful necessity, from which there is no escaping, is dragged
down again into the turpid mire, and smoulders in pollution!
Four days elapsed before the wind became favourable for conveying the
remaining women to Parramatta, a water passage of about twenty miles,
where I took occasion to visit them at the Factory on the morning after
their arrival. It would indeed be a difficult task to give an adequate
notion of the miserable state in which I found them. They all collected
around me, and for several minutes not one of them could utter a word;
but their streaming eyes and deep sobs sufficiently expressed the state
of their feelings. Some of them gave a shocking account of the manner in
which the last night had been spent. On their arrival the preceding
evening, they had not got within the Factory before they were surrounded
by hordes of idle fellows, convicts, who came provided with bottles of
spirits some, and others with provisions, for the purpose of forming a
banquet according to custom, which they assured themselves of enjoying
without interruption, as a prelude to excesses which decency forbids to
mention. They calculated, it seems, on this security, in consequence of
a guilty understanding between themselves and the constables, whom they
found little difficulty of reconciling to remissness on such an
occasion.
Those guardians of public morals are selected from the convict ranks,
and, as in this instance, rarely possess qualities superior to those
over whom they are placed in authority. The best institutions must fail
in their design when supported by materials of this description; and
although it is probable that a better system could not be devised than
that adopted by the present Governor, yet, for want of men of probity
and firmness to carry his views into effect, the worst abuses, it is
apprehended, must ensue. This is indeed so manifest, that the Sydney
Gazette frequently announces the dismissal of those officers for
misconduct.
At first I was unwilling to credit the account which these women gave of
this strange and disorderly visit of the convicts; but they soon
convinced me by pointing out several of these half-naked, half-starved,
miserable-looking wretches, who were still lurking around this
receptible of misery,—the well-known theatre of infamous excesses.
Several of the women, whose dispositions had been particularly improved
on the voyage, and who still retained a strong sense of propriety,
exclaimed with tears of anguish, “O God! Sir, we are all sent here to be
destroyed.” They declared it to be quite impossible to remain virtuous
amidst the concentrated immorality, and the various forms in which
temptation was presented to them. I endeavoured to support their
resolution with every argument against despair, which was evidently
seizing on their minds, and tried to recall to their recollection the
lessons they had heard so often during the voyage; but they again burst
into tears, and with one voice declared, “Were angels from heaven placed
here as we are, they would in three nights be corrupted.”
The _Factory_ is a square stone building of inconsiderable dimension,
having an upper story: here are crowded all the workshops for converting
the wool of the colony into cloth; one side being appropriated to
picking, carding, and spinning; the other to weaving;—the males employed
in this service mixing, in the hours of work, indiscriminately with the
females. It is locked at night, and the key intrusted to a porter, who
has a lodging-place at the entrance. In this building the female
convicts, whose behaviour after coming into the colony may have brought
them under the notice of the police, and is deemed deserving of
particular punishment, are _ordered_ to be confined and kept to hard
labour: they are to sleep within it at night, and are _supposed_ to have
no communication with any one outside the walls. How well these orders
and expectations are fulfilled, may be seen hereafter.
Detached from the Factory is a wooden building, in a state of decay,
open almost at every point; “all the elements of nature may enter in:”
unfortunately, too, it is permeable to the unhallowed step of drunken
licentiousness in its vilest garb. In this crazy mansion the women from
the Morley were placed on their arrival; and during the day-time were
not allowed to stray far from it, at least not before they had done a
certain quantity of work; but this being performed, they were at liberty
to go whither they pleased, do what they pleased, and entertain whom
they pleased. This information does not rest on hearsay, or on authority
which could excite my distrust: I visited the place at all hours, to
ascertain the fact, and have the evidence of my own senses in proof of
the assertion, that the women had free egress and ingress at all times.
It has just been stated, that females confined in the inclosed Factory,
by way of punishment, are not permitted to pass the gate without the
knowledge of the Superintendent. Whether this permission be easily
obtained, or otherwise, I pretend not to know; but that women so
confined are frequently seen outside the walls,—as it is expressed,
“beating the rounds,”—is undeniably certain. This I have myself had the
mortification to witness in the case of one of the women who had been
under my care, but whose bad conduct subsequently had subjected her to
“confinement in the Factory.”
Undoubtedly, where the disposition of the individual placed under
punishment of that kind is very dissolute, restraint must have a
salutary tendency. It may then be supposed, of course, that some means,
besides that of confinement and the labours of the place, would be
employed to repress their licentiousness, and recall their minds to
serious reflection: moreover, the present Superintendent, Mr. Oakes, did
formerly belong to the Missionary Society, who have pushed their zealous
labours among the unenlightened savages of the southern hemisphere. Upon
most strict inquiry, however, regarding this point, I have not been able
to ascertain that any extraordinary or efficacious means had been used,
or in fact any care whatever taken, to recover these daughters of vice
and error from their depraved condition, and give them back in an
amended state to the situations they had recently forfeited by their
misconduct; or render them profitable examples for the others.
That this observation is lamentably true, may be proved by reference to
a recent instance, wherein two women, both then free, who had become so
infamously wicked, and outrageously reprobate, as to be thought
irreclaimable, and utterly unfit for the colony, or rather subjects too
hard for the superintendency, were actually re-shipped, and sent home to
England for reformation, on board the ship Shipley, in 1818. One of
these incorrigibles is wife to Mr. Hutchinson, the principal
Superintendent of convicts.
A visitor on entering this penitentiary, this prison house, let his
familiarity with gaol scenes be what it may, would be shocked at the
noise, depravity of speech, disgusting freedoms, obsceneness, filthiness
of person, and general degradation of character, which in every
direction strike upon his senses. Indeed, so clamorous and importunate
are they in their rude requests to strangers, for “something to drink,”
that the benevolent few who would give salutary instruction are deterred
from going among them. A friend whom I asked to accompany me to the
place, refused on that very account, stating, that he had visited them
some time before, and could not get away without extreme difficulty,
although he had distributed twenty shillings to rid himself of the
annoyance.
It was to this worse than London Newgate, even in all its former
wickedness, the penitent exiles from the Morley were transmitted! It is
true, the detached building mentioned was assigned them as a
sleeping-place; but here they were surrounded by ruffians more
destructive to females in their circumstances, than a pack of wolves
would have been. Spirits obtained by iniquitous means, brought as an
incentive to the worst purposes, enabled those ragged wretches to drag
down into the same level of licentiousness and vice as themselves, poor,
unprotected, weak, defenceless women, whose minds were just recovering
from the worst effects of sin, and had but just tasted of the sweets of
virtue. Driven again into a state of ungovernable passion, maddened by
intoxication, it is easy to perceive,—although the thought is painful in
extreme,—that a dereliction of duty must have been the certain
consequence, and that even if any had firmness to resist such
temptation, their preservation must be attributed to some cause more
powerful than the protection afforded them in such an asylum.
The sleeping-place assigned in this detached building was not, for very
obvious reasons, much liked, it appears, by many of them; and they
sought to procure lodgings in the neighbouring cottages with such means
as they had still preserved in their misfortunes. Those confined and
humble habitations are generally constructed of wood, not having more
than two rooms, one of which, as on occasions such as the present, is
reserved as a kitchen, and usually contains a bed, the other serves as
bed-chamber and store-room: such is the common abode of the convict
during the time of sojourning in a state of banishment!
Rations, as usual, were delivered to them from the stores; and if they
were destitute of money wherewith to pay for the comfort of lodging,
either this supply of food must be curtailed, or infamous means resorted
to in order to make up the deficiency. In this situation, surrounded by
men of the most profligate and hardened habits, what woman can be
supposed capable of resisting vice, when impelled to that horrible
extremity by a necessity absolute beyond the possibility of controul? Is
it to be expected that minds like theirs, which had in many instances
formerly been accustomed to wickedness, will now be able to guard
against those seductive arts, that first launched them into crime, and
of which, it is feared, some of them still cherish a familiar
remembrance?
Many and praiseworthy were the contrivances by which some of those women
strove to disentangle themselves from this odious spot, replete with
mischief, subversive of those principles of virtue and propriety which
they yet felt an inclination to cultivate. To these, marriage held out
the best and surest hope. Accordingly, several were on the eve of being
married at the time I last visited Parramatta. On the propriety of this
step I was consulted by not less than eleven of those who had been under
my care, who evinced their grateful feeling towards me by soliciting a
continuance of that cautionary counsel, which they had so often heard
during the voyage. The particulars of one of these, having produced at
the time emotions too strong to be easily forgotten, render the case
peculiarly affecting, and are given here simply as they occurred.
A woman about thirty years of age, whose repentant manner and excellent
conduct during the voyage had merited particular notice, and being
accompanied by four young children, excited more than a common degree of
interest: she was married, and left her husband living in England at the
time she was sent away. At the Factory she had not sufficient means of
supporting her children, the ration for them being only one third in
proportion to those of adults. Having disposed of several articles of
wearing apparel to supply their cravings, she formed the desperate
resolution of uniting herself to one of those fellows who had offered to
maintain them on that condition.
This wretched woman described the painful embarrassments in which she
was involved; but the state of her mind, and the genuine features of her
case, will best appear from her own words. “I know,” she said, “that to
embrace the mode of life to which I am now driven, is a great crime in
the eyes of my Maker: but to see my children starving”—at this moment
two of them were crying bitterly for something to eat—“is more than I
can bear. I know that _I_ have done wrong, but they, poor unhappy
things, are innocent.” Here a gush of tears deprived her of utterance:
when she regained composure, she continued: “I have no means of
providing for them, and to keep them alive I must either steal, or do
what my soul abhors.” This heart-rending narrative was again broken by a
flood of tears. I was about to go away; but she implored me for God’s
sake not to depart without giving her some advice, by which she declared
her conduct should be governed, let her fate be what it might.
It can scarcely be imagined that there is a being in human form, how
hardened soever his heart may be, that could contemplate a scene like
this, and be unmoved. It was well observed by an ancient writer, “that a
virtuous man struggling against adversity was an object worthy of the
admiration of the Gods”; what then shall we think of a woman, a frail
woman, driven from the society of every friend, and the endearments of
her native land, in whom the principles of virtue are as it were
resuscitated, making a noble stand against the most powerful inducements
that can influence the mind, but at last forced to yield to a necessity
that would have relaxed the most rigid nerve, that would have subdued
the most vigorous resolution?
Is it fair to thrust weak women into such a state, and afterwards expect
their lives to be pure? Who would rationally look for uncontaminated
minds among females who were driven, in some measure, to an
indiscriminate association with thieves of the worst description, men
whose unlawful gains enable many of them to live in a manner as
dissolute and far more luxurious than they had ever done at home?
It may at first view appear strange, but the fact is indisputable, that
the public-houses in Sydney, although fortunately reduced recently from
sixty-seven to twenty-five, still evidently too numerous in proportion
to the population, are as much frequented as almost any of those in the
British metropolis. A notion of the customary run of those houses may be
formed from the gains of the persons who keep them being sometimes so
enormous as to enable them to accumulate in about three years’ time what
they consider a fortune. How the persons frequenting those houses obtain
money to purchase beer and spirits, both of the worst kind, at a price
vastly beyond the London rates, is matter of astonishment; yet so
constant among the convicts is the habit of drinking, that one can
scarcely pass through the streets of Sydney without meeting some of them
in a state of intoxication. They are, it is true, under the watchfulness
of a police said to be extremely active,—and in many respects this
representation is correct; but the fact is as above stated; I have seen
women in a state of inebriety too shocking to describe, and this
occurring at almost every hour of the day.
This account has reference to the respectable parts of the town of
Sydney; but there are other divisions of that place which would be
difficult of description. In those portions designated the _Rocks_,
scenes of drunkenness, shameless debauchery, and open profligacy are so
frequent and disgusting, that they cannot be seen without abhorrence;
and such is the absolute want of common decency, that even in the day
time a person of respectable appearance is there liable to be abused and
maltreated; but at night it would be extremely imprudent to attempt
passing through even the extreme parts of this fortress of iniquity, as
there is a hazard, or rather a certainty, of being stripped and
plundered. The ruffians treat one another in the same manner; hence
broils and boxing-matches are perpetually occurring in that quarter. The
low public-houses, many of which are permitted in those purlieus,
present a ready way of converting the plunder into means of intemperate
jollity; whilst the occasion is commonly heightened by the presence of
one or more of those degraded females, who minister to the mischief of
the moment, and are thereabouts constantly resident in great numbers.
The condition and conduct of those last-mentioned graceless wretches are
a constant theme of animadversion to those inclined to draw comparisons
unfavourable to female convicts generally, an inclination which
unfortunately prevails very much at Sydney, even among persons who
should at least have learned charity from a sense of misfortune. Is it
then matter of surprise, that the unhappy women transported to the
colony under those disadvantages of comparison, should continue so
depreciated and despised as they are at present? A recollection of
similar circumstances such as must ever have attended the same state of
degradation, though still fresh in the memory even of many of
themselves, produces hardness of heart towards these children of
affliction; and, strange to say, some even of their own sex who have
become wives out of the same situation, and now are further advanced in
life, and live in circumstances of comfort and opulence, are among the
first to vilify and asperse their convict servants for the slightest
deviation from rectitude, exacting from them more than would be expected
from female circumstances in more respectable stations, whose characters
had never been tainted by judicial sentence.
When, therefore, a woman of this miserable class, torn from former
connexions by the severity of her lot, yet cherishing a hope that
amendment of life may obtain for her friends and protectors in her new
country, arrives in the colony, she finds a disheartening reverse:
thrown into a common estimation with such abandoned wretches. The
settlers have to supply themselves with servants from the convict ships
arriving every year; but if circumstances, such as those mentioned,
intervene before they make a choice, it is not very consistent with
probability that they will find their morals improved after arrival.
Whatever religious or honest principles they may have recovered or
imbibed, either under a humane and reforming system in the prisons at
home, or in the course of the voyage outwards, all are likely to be
obliterated, leaving a dismal blank to be filled with repetition of
crime, a certain consequence of the discredit in which they are held,
even before they can have been known, and the vile contamination into
which they are turned as they arrive. No matter how repentant soever
they may have become, nor how sincere soever may be their resolutions of
amendment, they are nevertheless looked on with contempt; and being
received into families with this feeling, the slightest deviation from
the severe rules of rectitude is scrutinized, and seized upon with an
avidity implying studied intention. Rarely is allowance made for the
infirmity of human nature; the good resolves of the convict are shaken
for want of confidence; despair of doing good so as to be approved, and
disregard of well doing from want of due encouragement, fasten too
frequently on the mind, and criminality again brings punishment,
disgrace, and inevitable ruin of character.
It is not too much to say, that the immorality or dishonesty which
appear among convicts, especially females, subsequently to their arrival
in the colony, may often be traced, among the many other causes, to this
harshness and want of confidence in the situations to which they are at
first assigned. There will, however, be a great number of those annually
transported, who will retain traces of their old habits in defiance of
all the influence of moral instruction,—who are, it may be said,
incapable of reformation; but it is impossible that individuals of such
a disposition can pass unnoticed through all the stages of ordeal, from
their first apprehension to trial and final judgement, and be unknown as
to genuine character. They must of course be marked and recorded in
their progress, and, if found incorrigible, can very easily be
distinguished from the penitent and well conducted, and a separation be
effected accordingly. Some badge of distinction should in all fairness
be set upon them; and it would be highly honourable to the wisdom of
that authority whose will is to be their guide, to hold out this
segregation of the penitent from the profligate, were it only as a
reward for good conduct, and an encouragement to the deserving.
The foregoing statements have reference more particularly to the manner
in which female convicts are treated in the colony: the condition of
males is less severe. The mode of disposing of them in the first
instance, does not differ in any considerable degree from that of the
females. Like those, the men are marched into the prison yard for the
Governor’s inspection, when His Excellency inquires minutely how they
have been treated on the voyage, and whether they have any complaints
against the Surgeon Superintendent, or the Captain and his officers, and
had their full rations of provisions. Should any one fancy himself
aggrieved in those points, or in any other respect, he is desired to
come forward, and prefer his charge; to which the Governor gives a
patient hearing, and decides as he thinks proper.
If it appear that the Surgeon and the Commander have been careful, and
have humanely discharged their respective duties, His Excellency fails
not to pay a compliment to their assiduity: but should any neglect or
harshness appear justly alleged, they are publicly reprimanded at the
instant; and if further inquiry be deemed necessary, a bench of
magistrates is ordered to investigate the case, and report their
proceedings in writing to His Excellency, who sometimes transmits it to
England for the consideration of the Government, the parties being sent
home under arrest, should he think the affair deserving of such serious
notice, to answer for their conduct.
Having inspected the condition of the prisoners, and redressed their
complaints, if any, His Excellency gives them all a salutary and solemn
admonition. He assures them, that no application in their favour from
home or elsewhere will be attended to, unless their own behaviour in the
colony be correct; that they must now consider themselves in a new
world, where their lives are, as it were, beginning; and that their
future prosperity, or misery, will depend upon themselves.
It occasionally happens that ill-fated individuals arrive in the colony,
as convicts, who have been brought up as gentlemen, and in whose cases
there may appear, perhaps, more of misfortune than moral delinquency:
such persons are generally indulged by His Excellency with tickets of
leave, and opportunities allowed them to do well. The number of persons,
however, to whom tickets of leave are granted on their arrival, is by no
means so great as has been represented.
The convicts are now transferred to the care of the principal
Superintendent, to whom all persons who want servants must apply. Some
demur regarding the assignment of the individual for whom the
application is made, not unfrequently occurs in this quarter. Persons of
the first respectability, well informed regarding matters of this kind,
have assured me, that the settlers have frequently complained of the
difficulty they experienced in obtaining the acquiescence of the
Superintendent of convicts to allow them servants of their own
particular choice, and that there was, under such circumstances, only
one way of procuring what they desired. Having no personal knowledge of
the manner in which this extraordinary agency is effected, I do not
pledge myself for the correctness of the statement; but I am well aware
that the difficulty complained of does exist. Every settler to whom a
convict servant is assigned, is required, by authority of the local
Government, to pay as wages ten pounds sterling per annum to a male, and
seven pounds to a female, besides board and lodging.
The male convicts not disposed of as servants, or by tickets of leave,
are formed into gangs, which are stationed in different parts of the
country in Government employ, such as making and repairing roads, and
various other public works, and are maintained from the stores. Those
employed at Sydney and its vicinity are lodged in a barrack, which has
lately been erected, and is fitted for the accommodation of about eight
hundred persons. There is another building of the same kind, at Emu
Plains, but on a smaller scale, which want of time prevented me from
visiting. The barrack at Sydney is spacious and lofty, erected in a
healthy and appropriate situation; it is thoroughly ventilated, is kept
exceedingly clean, and has many other advantages.
I visited this building several times, and could not avoid remarking the
cleanliness of the different wards, and the respectful attention of the
persons who showed me over them: the great objection I observed in the
management was the entire want of classification, an obvious evil in
every such establishment, and that nothing appeared of the nature of an
organized system of morality. It was truly shocking and disgusting to
hear the oaths, execrations, and language the most indecent, which
issued from every side; nor did any of them appear to be intimidated by
the presence of those in authority over them: indeed quite the contrary
was observable; they seemed to me rather to be encouraged by those
persons in practices so utterly repugnant to order and decency. Mr.
Hutchinson, principal Superintendent of convicts, was with me on one of
those occasions; but so far was he from checking with rebuke what, to
say the least of it, was want of respect to one in his situation, that
his own expressions outstripped and completely eclipsed theirs in
wickedness and revolting filthiness.
Endless would be the task of commenting on the deterioration, if not
total ruin, of moral principle, that must result from this want of
classification and religious care among a community so constituted as
this just noticed. How futile then must be every undertaking to reclaim
men of this description under circumstances so inauspicious! I fear the
hope of their reformation, therefore, is extremely distant, unless some
means of an efficient nature like that alluded to be soon adopted.
Sanguine indeed must be the mind that can expect improvement in a mass
so heterogeneous, composed of delinquents of every age; a commixture of
guiltiness of every shade and degree,—without any controlling influence
over depravity however extravagant,—without any humane friend to warn
against error, or direct to the paths which alone lead to peace and
happiness.
Until the erection of this barrack, the convicts had to provide their
own lodging, for which purpose they were allowed half of each day to
work for themselves, or employ that time otherwise as they thought fit;
but this was attended with manifest inconvenience both to themselves and
their neighbours. The advantages of having them locked up at night,
which is done regularly at eight o’clock, are incalculable, and it is as
highly applauded by the sober part of the community as regretted by
themselves, the public-house keepers, thieves, and receivers of stolen
goods. Their labour must now be much more productive to Government than
formerly, as they are obliged to work from six in the morning till six
in the evening, Saturday excepted, when they are allowed half a day to
receive their weekly rations of provisions.
Regarding the issues from the stores a salutary ordinance exists, making
it criminal to purchase any part of a convict’s rations; which is a
means of preventing many bad consequences: it cannot be denied, however,
that circumstances often occur which render a breach of this order
unavoidable. When fresh meat, for instance, is served out in hot
weather, which embraces two thirds of the year, it will become putrid in
a time inconceivably short: consequently the convict would want or
starve during the greater part of the week, were he not to make some
such arrangement privately, as must by its abuse have occasioned the
present regulation. In general the male prisoners live well, if they
conduct themselves properly, and observe sobriety; the regulations
adopted for the maintenance of good order among them being efficient in
a remarkable degree, when their great numbers, and also their former and
present modes of life, are considered.
The convict Superintendents, and their numerous followers, as well as
most of the constables, and many of the settlers of the inferior class,
have adopted a practice of compounding with convicts assigned them as
servants, by which they derive a certain income from those convicts for
allowing them respectively the free disposal of their own time. This
compromise is usually productive of a revenue amounting weekly to a sum
varying from five to twenty shillings per head, or even more, as the
circumstances may allow; as, for instance, when the convict is a
mechanic, who, by being apparently on his own hands, can easily earn
more than double the sum he pays in consideration to his master, who,
from a necessary connexion with the Superintendent, generally knows the
surest way to have those of any trade he chooses assigned him.
In such cases, it is always understood that the person to whom the
convict is assigned, is responsible for the conduct of his servant; but,
generally speaking, this responsibility is worse than nominal. Hence
great inconvenience to society is the almost certain result; for many of
those so assigned are known to levy contributions on the industrious
inhabitants; and in this respect some of them exercise their wonted arts
with surprising and successful dexterity. There can be little doubt that
many support themselves wholly in this manner, as idle fellows are to be
met with constantly prowling about, under various pretences, but
notoriously intent on plunder, or mischief of some kind, which is still
dear to their hearts. Of this description chiefly were the wretches whom
I noticed skulking around the Factory at Parramatta, corrupting some of
the women there, and persecuting others.
Various means have been adopted to restrain the irregularities of
convicts thus at large, and punishments of a summary kind are frequently
inflicted. Of these, the most severe next to that of death is
_transportation to the Coal River_, which is ordered usually by His
Honour the Judge Advocate, or a Bench of Magistrates, for a term of
years, or for life, as the enormity of the offence may require. Convicts
dread this mode of punishment very much, because they are there
compelled to work in chains from sun-rise till sun-set, and are subject
also to other restrictions of a highly penal description. The rigour of
this sentence is, however, frequently relaxed in degree, as the criminal
shows signs of amendment; and in very few cases is it found necessary to
subject any of the convicts to a repetition of that sentence. Punishment
by _flogging_ is sometimes resorted to, and the infliction, which may be
ordered by any Magistrate on conviction, seldom exceeds twenty-five
lashes.
For females, it is considered sufficiently severe to confine them for a
limited time to constant labour in the _Factory_ at Parramatta; but
enough has been said on that subject to satisfy that they can benefit
but very little from such a discipline. The restraint produced by those
punishments generally has some effect in preventing crime; but that of
sending offenders to the _Coal River_, to which punishment females as
well as males are liable, appears the most dreaded, and crimes are
evidently less frequent than might be expected in a population composed
of such mischievous materials.