Those who delight to distinguish practical wisdom from theory, will
derive no countenance from the early practice of transportation. To rid
the parent state of an encumbrance, was alone the immediate object of
the government: all beyond was surrendered to fate. The absorbing
agitation of Europe, then filled with wars and revolutions, diverted the
public gaze from a distant experiment, and left to local discretion the
details of its working. The difficulties of this extempore system were
really great: that competition for penal labor, which afterwards made
its distribution a boon, had no existence; the social influence of a
strong body of settlers, habituated to industry, and expecting opulence
as its reward, was an auxiliary unknown. Political economy, as a
practical science, was lightly esteemed: the choice of instruments to
effect a royal purpose, rarely determined by their specific
qualifications. The first rulers of these colonies were, indeed, men of
literary pretensions; several, of extensive nautical experience: trained
on the quarter deck in the discipline of war, when royal ships were
often scenes of great courage, and of equal despotism and
debasement--when seamen were taken from the dock, impressed from the
trader, and even stolen on the streets. Taught to govern a crew, they
were judged by the ministry exactly qualified to coerce and control a
body of prisoners. There were some advantages in this choice: they were
men who knew how to subject the will of masses; their fearless temper
felt no dread of those wild and lawless spirits surrendered to their
power. They could transfer the system of the navy to the shore: they
were not intimidated by hardships, and they were accustomed to
privations: perhaps, no other profession could have furnished
adventurers, on the whole, so well qualified for their task.
But in planting a colony, tillage is the first element of success; of
this, they knew nothing: they could destroy a fort, or erect a tent;
but to subdue the earth to the plough, or to construct a town, required
another education. They gave, and long preserved, to the site of the
city, the name of _camp_: thus the first efforts at cultivation were
unfortunate: they had passed two years in New Holland, scratching up the
earth with hoes, and ought to have gathered a harvest, when they were on
the verge of starvation.[80]
Among the thousand persons landed, not one could be found possessing a
knowledge of agriculture.[81] What they did not know, they could not
teach. The misapplication of labor was prodigious: they acquired the art
of cultivation by the slow process of experiment; and thus they came to
a conclusion, only lately obsolete--that an Australasian husbandman is
spoiled by the agricultural knowledge of Europe.
The immediate direction of labor, from the beginning, was committed to
convicts. To stand over the prisoners, was not an agreeable occupation
for gentlemen: thus the actual working of transportation, as a penal
system, was entrusted to men, often clever and corrupt, whose brutal
habits and savage demeanour excited disgust and fear. This error
perpetuated itself: persons of character rejected a position, so often
occupied by the worthless: even the distribution of labor was entrusted
to such hands, or subject to their influence. To the prisoners, in
reality, they sold indulgences of the crown, or exacted a revenue from
their vices. The chief superintendent of convicts at Sydney, and who
long determined what men should be dispatched to this country, was
himself doubly convicted.[82] This was far from destroying eligibility:
it became at last an official proverb, that bad men, from the very vices
of their character, were the fittest for a direct supervision; and,
finally, that the world is divided between the rogue and the fool. The
use of power, when entrusted to such hands, is no problem; nor is it
possible to imagine greater degradation, or punishment more capricious,
than of the unfortunate person subject to such taskmasters; in whose
hands, according to the custom of early times, the rod of authority was
not a metaphor.[83]
That form of service, known as assignment, was established by Governor
King in 1804. The master was bound by indenture to retain his servant
for one year, and for every day deficient, a penalty of one shilling was
imposed: the quantity of the work to be done was prescribed; contingent,
however, on the nature of the soil, the state of the weather, and the
strength of the workman: the surplus of his time might be occupied by
the master, but his earnings were his own. Wages were L10 per annum, and
for a female L7; but the deficiency of money, induced the employers to
allot a proportion of time as a compensation, or to supply goods, on
which an advance was claimed, often extremely oppressive; and when the
season rendered servants less useful, the masters were tempted to obtain
relief by false accusations, or to allow their men to quit the
premises--who sought, by labor or theft, the means of subsistence.
To restrict the habit of change, Macquarie established the rule that no
convict should be returnable, except for infirmity, sickness, or crime;
but when the supply exceeded the demand, this condition was evaded, and
the result--an accumulation in the hands of the government. A large
proportion were from the manufacturing districts of Great Britain: they
were utterly ignorant of farming, and when the plough superceded the
hoe, they required a tedious training before they repaid the expense of
their support.
The agriculture of this colony was long trifling: the convicts were
chiefly employed as stockmen and shepherds: from the banks of the
Derwent to the district of Launceston, the land in general was a
wilderness, unfenced and untenanted: the men, stationed forty and fifty
miles from their masters' dwellings, were rarely visited, and were under
no immediate control. They were armed, to defend themselves from the
natives, and clad in skins: they lived in turf huts, thatched with long
grass, and revived the example of savage life.[84]
It was the custom to allot to the superior officers, magistrates, and
constables, in proportion to their rank, a certain number of men, who
were subsisted from the king's stores. A skilful mechanic, or pedlar,
was a valuable acquisition: he hired his own time, and paid from 5s. to
L1, according to its estimated weekly value, while the master drew, for
his own use, the rations of the servant. Others rented farms, and paid
their masters in produce; and when "government men," as assigned
servants were called, were unable to obtain payment, and thus failed to
make good an engagement with the master, they were liable to be thrown
back into their former position.
Tickets-of-leave were freely given to those incapable of much service to
the government, or its officers: such as were useful, whatever might be
their conduct, were long detained, and for a period often indefinite.
Females, who arrived with property, were discharged to enjoy it. If
followed by the husband, the wife was instantly assigned to his care. To
enable a prisoner to support his wife when she joined him, or when a
convict married a convict, if of no special value he was released to
labor for himself.
No accurate account was preserved of these distributions, and a notice
appeared during the government of Sorell, which required all women
living at large to give an account of the grounds on which they
pretended to freedom, or otherwise to obtain a regular ticket-of-leave.
Under a system so irregular, great practical injustice was occasionally
inflicted: while advantages were enjoyed by artisans, who could hire
their time; who obtained large profits from their trade, and indulged in
every form of vice and licentiousness.[85]
An action in 1821 (Loane _v._ Beamont), for the recovery of a debt
incurred by a prisoner of the crown assigned to the defendant,
illustrated the system which then prevailed. The man in question arrived
in 1813, and in 1816 he was Beamont's government man, who then by verbal
agreement, and afterwards in writing, engaged to sell him a farm, near
Herdsman's Cove, for L1,400, including the stock and implements of
husbandry. He possessed, besides a sum of money, a considerable flock of
sheep. There was nothing disguised in this transaction: the annual
rental was intended to cover the purchase. The judge remarked, that the
memorandum "was as good a sale upon honor as ever he saw." The suit was
an instance of the strange perversion of prison discipline, which
however excited no remark, and therefore could not be uncommon.
At the close of Governor Davey's administration in 1817, the population
of Van Diemen's Land was 3,114, and of these 566 resided in the county
of Cornwall. The convicts were slowly augmented by deportations from
Sydney, and they were subject to the absolute will of the officers. It
is in vain to look for systems in a community so small, and separated by
so great a distance from public opinion. Management was lax or rigid,
according to the temper of the moment; and no object was contemplated by
those who had power, except to render its exercise subservient to their
private views. Previous character had no marked influence in determining
the lot: a life of crime was no barrier to indulgence, when its price
could be paid: the early career of the prisoners was generally unknown.
The discipline was, indeed, often severe: lashes were administered by
hundreds, and crimes or offences, were resented or forgiven, not
according to rule, but circumstances. There were, however, gradations of
penal banishment: as at Sydney, those separated to special punishment,
were sent to Hobart Town; such as were still further implicated were
forwarded to Launceston; but the dregs of all settled at George Town.
What was the character of the inhabitants of that place, may be inferred
from the Commissioner's Reports. Prisoners, male and female, living in
skillings, the commandant disobeying the orders of his chief, inferior
officers exhibiting flagrant immorality; labor compensated by the
government in a currency of rum; sold by abandoned women--who were often
the depositories of stolen goods passed from Hobart Town and Launceston.
Such was George Town at, and for some time after, this era.
The charges against the prisoners, were such as result from slavery and
debasement. All crimes, of less magnitude than murder, or burglary under
aggravated circumstances, were punished in a summary manner. To
prosecute, was to encounter ruin: the person despoiled, while pursuing
the robber, lost the remnant of his property; and, returning to his
dwelling, found it wrecked and pillaged. Mechanics, and others entitled
to money, were paid in rum, and its prompt consumption was the only
means to secure its enjoyment. Those who earned considerable sums, were
rarely richer than their neighbours.
While Governor Collins lived, some order was maintained: it was during
the rule of his successor that the British standard covered a state of
society, such as never before possessed the official sanction. Once or
twice a month, this Governor enjoyed a carouse, to which a sea-port, in
times of war, might furnish an example. Having selected a station, not
far from the town, he provided for the feast: the more talented of the
convicts surrounded the tent, and enlivened the entertainment with
songs. Rum, in large quantities, loaded the board: first the chiefs, and
then their retainers, revelled in its overflowing abundance. The gaol
gang, warned by his Honor's steward of the direction the guests had
taken, sometimes followed after the jovial ruler; and when the moon
arose, the Governor and his attendants, of various grades, might be seen
winding home together. A number of settlers, whom he had offended,
refused an invitation: when time had obliterated their resentment, he
invited them again: the table was covered, and the guests were seated;
but at that moment, the gaol gang, facetiously called the Governor's
band, and who were posted near the spot for the purpose, burst into the
chamber, and swept away all the provisions. The Governor pretended to
regret this termination; but consoled himself by saying, he could "get a
dinner at _Stocker's_." Such was this trustee of national justice!
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 80: At the period above mentioned, the colony was in imminent
danger of perishing from famine, in consequence of the non-arrival of
store ships from England. Captain Tench, in his interesting work on New
South Wales, thus describes the situation and feelings of himself and
his fellow settlers:--"We had now (that is, in the beginning of 1790)
been two years in the country, and thirty-two months from England, in
which long period no supplies, except what had been procured from the
Cape of Good Hope, had reached us. Famine was approaching with gigantic
strides, and gloom and dejection overspread every countenance. Still, we
were on the tiptoe of expectation. If thunder broke at a distance, or a
fowling piece of louder than ordinary report resounded in the woods, '_A
gun from a ship!_' was echoed on every side, and nothing but hurry and
agitation prevailed. As we had removed from Botany Bay to Port Jackson,
it was judged necessary to fix a party of seamen on a high cliff called
South Head, at the entrance of the harbour, on which a flag was ordered
to be hoisted whenever a ship might appear, which should serve as a
direction to her and as a signal of approach to us. Here, on the summit
of a hill, did we sweep the horizon every morning from day-light until
the sun sunk, in the hope of seeing a sail. At every fleeting speck
which arose from the bosom of the ocean, the heart bounded, and the
telescope was lifted to the eye. If a ship appeared here, we knew that
she must be bound to us; for on the shore of this vast ocean, the
largest in the world, we were the only community which possessed the art
of navigation, and languished for intercourse with civilised society. In
March, vigorous measures were become necessary. The _Sirius_ was ordered
to prepare for a voyage to China, but she was shortly after wrecked. On
the 27th of this month, the following order was issued:--'Parole--Honor;
countersign--Example. The expected supply of provisions not having yet
arrived, makes it necessary to reduce the present ration, to render the
mentioned allowance to every person in the settlement without
distinction. Four pounds of flour, two pounds and a half of pork, and
one pound and a half of rice per week.' The flour was afterwards reduced
nearly one half, and the other articles in a less proportion. The pork
had been salted between three and four years, and every grain of rice
was a moving body. We soon left off boiling the pork, as it had become
so old and dry, that it shrunk one half. We toasted it before the fire,
catching the drops which fell on a slice of bread, or in a saucer of
rice. The distress of the lower classes for clothes was almost equal to
their other wants. Nothing more ludicrous can be conceived than the
expedients of substituting, shifting, and patching, which ingenuity
devised, to eke out wretchedness, and preserve the remains of decency.
Nor was another part of our domestic economy less whimsical. If a lucky
man, who had knocked down a dinner with his gun, or caught a fish by
angling, invited a neighbour to dine with him, the invitation ran,
'bring your own bread.' Even at the Governor's table this custom was
constantly observed. Every man who sat down pulled his bread out of his
pocket. In May, the men became much weakened from want, and they were
ordered to do only as much work as their strength would permit. Rigorous
justice was executed on persons detected in robbing or pilfering. A
convict detected in stealing potatoes was ordered to receive 300 lashes,
to be chained for six months to two other criminals, and to have his
allowance of flour stopped for six months. Further, to contribute to the
detection of villany, a proclamation, offering 60 pounds of flour, more
tempting than the gold of Peru, was promised to any one who should
apprehend a robber of garden ground. At length the bonds of misfortune
began to separate, and on the evening of June 3rd, the joyful cry of
'_the flag's up!_' resounded in every direction. I was sitting in my
hut, musing on our fate, when a confused clamour drew my attention. I
opened my door, and saw women, with children in their arms, running to
and fro, with distracted looks, congratulating each other, and kissing
their infants with the most passionate and extravagant marks of
fondness. I ran to a hill, where, by the assistance of a pocket glass,
my hopes were realised. A brother officer was with me, but we could not
speak; we wrang each other by the hand, with eyes and hearts
overflowing. Finding the Governor intended to go immediately in his boat
down the harbour, I begged to be of his party. As we proceeded, the
object of our hopes soon appeared--a large ship, with English colors
flying, working in between the heads which form the entrance to the
harbour. The tumultuous state of our minds represented her in danger,
and we were in agony. The weather was wet and tempestuous, but the body
is delicate only when the mind is at ease. We pushed through wind and
rain, the anxiety of our sensations every moment redoubling. At last we
read the word _London_ on her stern. 'Pull away, my lads! she is from
old England! A few strokes more, and we shall be aboard--hurrah for a
belly full, and news from our friends!' Such were our exhortations to
the boat's crew. A few minutes completed our wishes, and we found
ourselves on board the _Lady Juliana_ transport, with 235 of our
countrywomen, whom crime or misfortune had condemned to exile. She had
been about eleven months on her voyage."--_Tench's Narrative._]
[Footnote 81: _Dr. Lang's History of New South Wales._]
[Footnote 82: _Bigge's Reports._]
[Footnote 83: The decision of a magistrate was not necessary, to inflict
punishment. The overseer stalked about with a military cane, and was not
sparing of its use. "He would walk out behind the convict-hoers in a
morning gown and morocco slippers, with a _Penang Lawyer_ hugged close
under his right arm, or borne like a royal sceptre before him, plucking
at every tuft as he paced about, and drumming such a tattoo upon the
shoulders of the unlucky wight, whose ground was not completely chopped,
and grass fairly uprooted, as made the whole brush dance with fire-flies
before him!"--_Cunningham._]
[Footnote 84: "The other inhabitants of the island (Britain) still
maintained themselves by pasture: they were clothed with skins of
beasts; they dwelt in huts, which they reared in forests and marshes,
with which the country was covered."--_Hume's History of England_, chap.
i.]
[Footnote 85: "A little wicked tailor arrives, of no use to the
architectural projects of the Governor: he is turned over to a settler,
who leases this sartorial Borgia his liberty for five shillings a week,
and allows him to steal and snip what, when, and where he can. The
nefarious needleman writes home, that he is as comfortable as a finger
in a thimble: that, though a fraction only of humanity, he has several
wives, and is filled every day with rum and kangaroo. This, of course,
is not lost upon a shop-board, and for the saving of fifteen pence a-day
(to government), the foundation of many criminal tailors is
laid."--_Edinburgh Review_, 1823.]