It was the policy of the local government to relieve the crown from that
class of prisoners who were incapable of useful labor on the public
works. The settlers from Norfolk Island, who had acquired their liberty,
or fulfilled their military service, became the employers of prisoners:
many of the masters, in their principles and habits, did not differ from
their men--frequently, their accomplices and sharers of their spoil.
Those engaged in the interior, in tending the flocks and herds, were
often paid in proportion to the increase, and beside the property of
their masters, they had charge of their own. This system, fraught with
mischief, continued for many years, in spite of the interdicts of the
government, and the fatal results exhibited in the courts of justice.
Cattle and sheep stealing were carried to an astonishing extent: the
owners, ignorant sometimes of the amount of their wealth, confided its
safety to men incapable of resisting ordinary temptation. The more
opulent estimated their annual loss at one-fifth of the increase; and in
unfavorable situations, where many cotters were established, they found
the preservation of their stock impossible, and relinquished the attempt
in despair.[92] The brand was obliterated, often with great ingenuity:
the I became H, C was turned into G, and P into B; the more daring,
blotted out all brands, by a heated shovel. Stock yards were enclosed
and hidden by the bush, where cattle were slaughtered, and sheep by
scores were salted down. Ewes were driven into the interior until their
lambs were weaned, when they were returned to their owners. In supplying
the commissariat, it was not unusual to drive a flock of sheep for
inspection, which were again returned to the fold, and others from a
stolen stock passed under the certificate thus obtained; and the plunder
of the royal herds, were slaughtered and sold to the crown.
Such depredations were enormous: large gangs were in combination, and
the first session held in Van Diemen's Land, brought to light extensive
robberies, comprehending twelve hundred sheep.[93] These evils were
encouraged by difficulties in the administration of justice. For five
years, fifteen charges only were tried by the court of criminal
jurisdiction in New South Wales: the prosecutor, the witnesses, and the
prisoners were forwarded together. On one occasion, six were sent up for
trial: the skins of the stolen beasts were deposited in a cask, and the
proof was deemed complete; but of the same cooperage, another was
prepared, an admirable imitation. This last was opened in court, but it
was found filled with the skins of seals; and, by the ingenious
transformation, the prosecution was satisfied.
It is just to observe, that the absence of legal redress not only
prompted, but extenuated these violations of law: crime retaliated
crime: the lower settlers carried on a system of plunder; but the
uncertain tenure of property weakened that moral principle which is its
surest defence. The cattle stealer was himself a loser by the man he
robbed: a stray beast was branded without question; the owner, when he
discovered that his property was beyond his reach, except by the
prosecution of the robber, adopted a shorter course. Reprisals thus lost
half their guilt: nor is it wonderful that such feelings, as borderers
were said once to cherish, prevailed among men who found excuses in
their position, and indemnified their past or possible losses by the
first spoil which came in their way.
But these combinations led to other crimes. The robbers had their
accomplices and abettors: the theft complete, they grew suspicious of
each other, and some who disappeared, were sacrificed by the jealousy of
their companions. When engaged in these depredations, they usually set a
watch: a cautious traveller avoided inquiry, and well authenticated
instances proved how perilous, in those days of violence, was an
expression of curiosity or suspicion.
To stop these plundering habits, the King's Commissioner Bigge advised a
periodical sitting of the court in Van Diemen's Land. In 1821, Judge
Wylde visited this country, and for various crimes, twenty-five persons
were condemned to death, of whom ten were executed. One hundred and
sixteen persons were incarcerated prior to his arrival--a large
proportion, compared with the census (7,372); but two years after, the
number charged with similar offences proved that crime was not abated.
Among those who suffered death was George Richardson: his case
illustrated the process by which such felonies were perpetuated.
Formerly the confidential servant of Colonel Davey, he was employed by
Dr. Scott, and had charge of his flock--himself being an owner of stock.
Having received an order to supply Doctor Spence a quantity of sheep, he
deliberately separated them from a neighbour's flock, and drove them to
their destination, with the coolness proper to an ordinary transaction.
The proof of guilt was too clear to be affected by artifice, though
calculated to elude suspicion by its very deliberation. Nor is it
difficult, when examining the criminal records of those times, to
suppose, that the trepidation natural when violating the law, was
overcome by the indifference of habit.
Few of the higher classes, it may be presumed, connived at these
nefarious transactions: one memorable instance, proved that no class is
absolutely safe in an atmosphere of guilt. A settler, connected with a
Scottish family of great respectability, thus forfeited his life. It
was stated that his robberies were incessant, and that he leagued with
bushrangers; to whom, perhaps constrained by fear, he gave notice of
danger by signals. A secluded sheep-yard was discovered, and a large
sheep brand, of a remarkable shape: at a distance, four hundred sheep
were found, bearing the mark newly made, which was contrived to
obliterate the brand of Mr. Jones, the owner. The culprit had prepared
this flock, to transfer to another person, to whom a number were due. It
was in vain that witnesses testified to his character and to the
respectability of his house: the jury pronounced him guilty, and he was
executed. A friend, who accompanied him to the scaffold, heard him say,
that that moment was the most happy of his life! It doubtless brought
deliverance. He left behind an infant family, the last of whom was born
while the father was in prison, and an aged parent in Scotland; who,
long after he was dead, indulged her maternal tenderness, by preparing
clothing for his use, and hoping for tidings of his prosperity. His name
is suppressed, lest even now the record of his fate might meet the eye
of a mourner.
Society, as it then existed, nourished every species of crime: tattered
promissory notes, of small amount and doubtful parentage, fluttered
about the colony: dumps, struck out from dollars, were imitated by a
coin prepared without requiring much mechanical ingenuity; and plate,
stolen by bushrangers and burglars, was melted down and disposed of in a
similar form.
Nothing was neglected: they burnt the implements of husbandry for the
iron; they robbed the gibbet of the chains: they even wrenched the plate
from the coffin of an opulent merchant, and stripped him of his
shroud.[94]
In looking at the origin of the population, and the various inducements
continually offered to the perpetration of wickedness, the total
dissolution of manners is no subject of surprise. It was, perhaps, but a
small aggravation, that prostitution and concubinage were held too
venial for remark: many of the officers of government made no secret of
their relation to the women whom they adopted as mistresses, and
sometimes respected as wives. Among the anomalies of the day, was the
release of such females from compulsory attendance on divine worship, on
account of the official preference they enjoyed--a curious immunity from
a penal obligation: to be taken, perhaps, as a sinister acknowledgment,
that the government was not insensible to virtue--as the Russian
courtezan extinguishes the candle of ceremony, and veils her patron
saint.[95]
Sorell, on his accession to the government, attempted to reform the more
flagrant abuses by which he was surrounded: he was aided in his task by
Mr. Humphrey, a man superior, by education and habit, to many charged
with similar duties. He established an exact register of the conviction,
arrival, and distribution of the prisoners, and appointed times for the
muster of such as were assigned. He imposed some restrictions on their
wandering habits, and required that those who employed them should
answer for their residence. It was the custom, however, to allow the
greater part to reside in lodgings provided by themselves; they thus
spent their leisure time where they were exposed to perpetual
temptation, and nightly robberies attested their diligence. The traders
of Hobart Town, for several years, were compelled to sleep on their
counters, and watch their property with the most scrupulous care: an
inquiry who had been pillaged, became the ordinary morning salutation.
The thieves broke through the walls with oriental skill: a stormy night
afforded them a harvest. During a tempest of extraordinary severity,
which deluged the streets and carried away fences, they contrived to
pillage to a great amount; a ladder was discovered at a window,
constructed for the purpose, by which they ascended to the upper
chamber, and thus proved that no elevation was safe. Nor did they
confine their ravages to the towns; they entered the store of a settler,
and stripped his dwelling of L400 worth of goods, which they conveyed by
boat to Hobart Town. Many were living without any lawful means of
subsistence, and as their numbers increased, fraud and robbery were
perpetrated in every house, and at every hour of the day.
Such was the state of the colony at the close of Sorell's
administration, who found that without the means of nightly restraint,
all regulations of police were in vain. On resigning office, he
predicted the difficulties of his successor, and warned him that he must
expect to contend with increasing crime.[96] To estimate the merit of
Arthur's government, it is necessary to remember those evils--with what
difficulty authority, long relaxed, is recovered--even by the most
skilful and vigorous hands. When a few years had elapsed, the security
of the colony was a subject of universal astonishment; and it was
boasted, that men slept with their doors unlocked, and their windows
unfastened, and often with property to a large amount strewed around
their dwellings; notwithstanding, a dangerous temerity. By what means
these results were, even partially attained, the reader will be curious
to know.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 92: Curr's account.]
[Footnote 93:
_Session_ (Judge Wylde), 1821.
+--------+--------------------+----------------------+
| Cases. | Sheep in question.| Owner. |
+--------+--------------------+----------------------+
| 1 | 300 | William Watterson. |
| 2 | 100 | Ditto. |
| 3 | 250 | Daniel Stansfield. |
| 4 | 150 | Robert Gillet. |
| 5 | 200 | Samuel Clements. |
| 6 | 100 | Edward Lord. |
| 7 | 60 | Crown. |
+--------+--------------------+----------------------+
Some of these robbers suffered death: others are still in the land of
the living; and their names are suppressed, on the presumption of their
reform.--_Compiled from Gazettes._]
[Footnote 94: Mr. Birch.]
[Footnote 95: _Bigge's Report._]
[Footnote 96: "I entered upon the government, at a moment which my
predecessor considered a most eventful one. Circumstances, connected
with convict population, which it would not be prudent for me to dwell
upon in this place, co-operated to render it probable, in the opinion of
Colonel Sorell, that crime would rapidly increase."--_George Arthur_,
1825.]