But Sir W. Molesworth had roused opposition to the prevailing system.
The Commons' committee examined twenty-three gentlemen, whose testimony
would be without novelty to the reader of these volumes. The greater
part concurred in the inexpediency of assignment, and in the usefulness
and importance of transportation. These witnesses were charged by
Maconochie with a general indifference to the moral welfare and personal
improvement of the prisoners. A colonist would, however, easily
distinguish substantial benevolence from sentimental opinions; and they
knew, by the trials of experience, how toilsome are the most generous
efforts to correct habits not to be softened by the tears of compassion,
and which do not yield to the wand of the magician.
The committee recommended that transportation to New South Wales, and
the settled districts of Van Diemen's Land, should be discontinued: that
establishments abroad should be limited to places where no free settlers
were allowed to enter; that the abridgment of a sentence should be
determined by fixed rules; that at its close, encouragement should be
offered, to such as might merit the favor, to go to some country where
support could be more easily obtained, and character recovered; and,
finally, that no convict should be permitted to remain at the place of
his punishment after its termination.
Such were the recommendations of this famous committee, which were
carried into effect only so far as suited the convenience of the
ministers; who, however, stopped transportation to New South Wales, and
revoked the order in council by which that country was constituted a
penal settlement. "On the 1st of August, 1840," said Lord John Russell,
"transportation to New South Wales will cease for ever."
In van Diemen's Land, assignment was abolished: first in domestic
service, then in the towns; and the opinion was intimated by Lord John
Russell, that he inclined to the views of Archbishop Whately, with
limitations and exceptions.[227]
Among writers upon the subject, who most strenuously maintained the
policy of transportation, may be enumerated Bishop Broughton, Dr. Lang,
Dr. Ross, of Hobart Town, Sir George Arthur, Sir John Franklin, Messrs.
Macarthur, David Burns, and Captain Wood. They united in vindicating the
colonists from the imputation of profligacy and cruelty. Governor Bourke
was alone, among influential persons, a secret advocate of total
abolition. In writing to the secretary of state, he intimated his
conviction that, however strong the prejudice of the colonists in favor
of penal labor, they were losers by the bargain; and that the social
mischief gathering around them would soon demand a total cessation.[228]
In the voluminous productions, which for more than twenty years teemed
from the colonial press, the idea of total abolition was scarcely
suggested; except, indeed, in the year 1826, a colonist, under a
fictitious signature, hinted in modest language that free labor might
prove the cheapest in the end. The notion was tolerated, while the
country was ravaged by bushrangers, but it was only treated as a
curiosity and a dream.[229]
Towards the close of 1839, a meeting was held in the Mansion-house at
Dublin, to promote emigration to New Zealand. A resolution was passed,
on the motion of Dr. Dickenson, the chaplain of the Archbishop of
Dublin, which exhibited a frightful portraiture of the Australian
colonies.[230] Dr. Dickenson dwelt upon the social corruption, and
declared that it was in vain to imagine a colony, so composed, could
ever become respectable. The natural conclusion from the proportions of
the census, the amount of crime, and the character of the expirees, was
unfavorable to the colonies; but the imputation of general vice and
juvenile depravity, were made most frequently by projectors of rival
settlements, and were tinged with selfishness. The object of the
arch-bishop and his chaplain warped their judgment, and their lofty tone
induced the public to believe that they were right; yet when they
described the colonies as vast brothels--as the dwelling of banditti,
rank with the crimes and ripening to the ruin of Gomorrah--they were
guilty of injustice. Many, who labored to civilise the brutish, and to
reform the vicious, read with just indignation the statements of
persons, whose station gave weight to their accusations, when they told
the world that the children of the settlers surpassed, by the precosity
of their depravation, the dreams of misanthropy. Against these sweeping
opinions, Major Macarthur, then on the spot, earnestly protested. Dr.
Broughton, on this side the globe, made an energetic remonstrance, and
asserted that the report of the transportation committee could be taken
only as the collection of facts, which were spread over a long period of
time, and were descriptive only of a base and dishonored fraction. He
asserted that a series of the _Times_ newspaper contained a succession
of atrocities which, if combined, would exhibit Great Britain as the
most worthless of nations.
Inspirited by Captain Wood, of Snake Banks, the settlers of Tasmania had
endeavoured to check the calumnies which assailed them. A public
meeting, held when the report of the committee arrived, requested the
Governor to do them justice. Sir John Franklin warmly denied the
corruption imputed to the settlers, and the chief facts alleged against
transportation; and the clergy united in general commendations of the
liberality, decorum, and religious habits they had witnessed. This
appeal was not received with much favor in England, and the London
_Times_ pertinaciously maintained that they were mere assertions of
individuals--who represented that Van Diemen's Land, far from being a
den of vice, was the place to look for virtue.[231]
The Archbishop of Dublin presented a petition from certain citizens of
London, praying for the total abolition of transportation. He declared
that no opposition, derision, or contempt, should daunt him. He advised
the establishment of insular penitentiaries in the neighbourhood of
Great Britain, and he moved that the punishment of transportation
should be abolished immediately, completely, and finally.[232] The
Bishop of Exeter, always in antagonism to Dr. Whately, asserted that his
representations were exaggerated, and that crime amongst the native born
population was one half less than in England. The whig Bishop of Norwich
sustained the views of Dr. Whately. In reply, the minister stated that
they had stripped transportation of its allurement. Some punishment for
life was essential; Englishmen would not endure the perpetual
imprisonment of human beings, or the sight of felons in their streets
working in chains. It was resolved, however, to reduce the proportion
transported, and to promote emigration. Lord Normanby observed, that
although the most reverend prelate had made the question the subject of
eight years meditation, he had not yet discovered a substitute which
could justify abolition.
The ministers of the crown resolved to diminish transportation, but
nothing was prepared for a change so great as was implied by total
abolition: they, therefore, adopted a middle course, and Lord Normanby,
in a despatch to Sir George Gipps, developed the policy then in the
ascendant.[233] The principal scene of the future experiment, chosen by
her Majesty's government, was Norfolk Island, commended by its healthy
climate, its fertile soil, and its seclusion.
When the former settlers relinquished this insular paradise, it was long
abandoned to desolation. The timber of the buildings was consumed by
fire, lest the place should allure and accommodate pirates or enemies.
In 1825, when it was re-visited, the few swine left there had
multiplied; the domestic cats had become wild, and the trees were
thronged with pigeons and doves. The ruined walls and blackened chimneys
spread over with the unpruned vine, the coffee plant, the orange tree:
the road overgrown, the stone enclosure beset with rank vegetation,
amidst which many a garden flower grew wild, presented a scene, perhaps,
unprecedented, except by oriental desolations.[234]
It was proposed to erect a prison on the island, in which a large body
might be lodged; for which plans were forwarded, and the expenses
required authorised by the crown. It was intended to remove the convicts
already there; thus to preserve the prisoners transported from the
united kingdom from the contaminating example of their predecessors. A
commandant was to be appointed, at a salary of L800 per annum, who was
expected to avoid the extremes of laxity and severity; qualified by a
deep interest in the moral welfare of the prisoners. To this office
Captain Maconochie was appointed by Sir George Gipps, and was permitted
to test the ideas he had propounded, and to seek the success he had
foretold. It was expected by the government, that the labour of the
prisoners would soon almost cover the cost of their support.
The advent of Maconochie created vast excitement among the unfortunate
beings. The active efforts of this officer altered the tone of the
settlement, and inspired the desponding with hope: they changed the
aspect of that abode of misery--where suffering, insurgency, and
carnage, had furnished a dark page in penal history. True to his creed,
he removed the permanent gallows, which met the eyes of the prisoners as
they left their barracks for their morning toil, and abolished the
doubly-loaded cats, which had been heretofore the instruments of
punishment. The impulse was powerful: a new tone of command, humane even
to tenderness; the promise of speedy deliverance, wrought on the minds
of the prisoners with the force of novelty and surprise. The gaol doors
were thrown open: the gaoler loitered before the deserted prison, and
the prisoners yielded to the spell of a transient enchantment. On his
arrival, Maconochie issued an "exposition" of his plan: he told the
prisoners that punishment would be inflicted, to inspire the thoughtless
with reflection and the guilty with repentance. Such would be its
object, and such its limits. He exhorted them to a manly endurance and a
diligent preparation to acquire the comforts of _honest_ bread. He
assured them, that while the escape of the incorrigible would be barred
for ever, he would delight to hasten the freedom of the worthy. Thus
those that earned 6,000 marks would discharge a seven years' sentence,
or 7,000 would be required for ten years' servitude; and 8,000 was the
composition proposed for a sentence for life. They were, however, to
enjoy a portion of their earnings, which they paid in exchange for
luxuries, or to reserve the whole to hasten their discharge. Thus it was
possible to obtain a ticket-of-leave in one, two, or two and a-half
years, from a sentence of seven, ten years, or life. He deprecated those
lengthened punishments, which deprive men of the years of youth, and
strengthen and ripen every evil propensity into fatal maturity.
While the government of Norfolk Island developed the novel system,
accounts were conveyed to the colonies only at intervals: some in the
spirit of hostility, and others because they were idle, delighted to
depict the enthusiastic Maconochie as the subject of delusion, and the
butt of ridicule among those he reformed; but the climax at last came.
Never was Norfolk Island so gay, or its inhabitants so joyful, as on the
25th May, 1840. A proclamation had been issued by Maconochie, describing
the pleasures and festivities he contemplated. On this occasion he
resolved to forget the distinction between good and bad, and to make no
exception from the general indulgence; but he entreated the men to
remember that on the success of this experiment his confidence would
greatly depend: he warned them to suppress the first tokens of disorder,
and by retiring to their quarters at the sound of the bugle, prove that
they might be trusted with safety. On the morning of the day, the signal
colours floated from the staff, crowned with the union jack: twenty-one
guns, collected from the vessels and from the government-house, were
mounted on the top of a hill, and fired a royal salute. The gates were
thrown open, and eighteen hundred prisoners were set free, and joined in
various amusements, of which Captain Maconochie was a frequent
spectator. Eighteen hundred prisoners sat down to dinner, and at its
close, having received each a small quantity of spirits with water, they
drank health to the Queen and Maconochie--three times three for Victoria
and the captain rent the air. They then renewed their sports, or
attended a theatrical performance. New scenery, dresses, music, and
songs, contributed to the hilarity of the party. The performances were,
the _Castle of Andalusia_, in which the comic powers of the prisoners
were exhibited to their companions, a variety of glees and songs, the
tent scene of _Richard III._, the _Purse, or the Benevolent Tar_, and
finally the national anthem.[235] At the termination, no accident had
occurred; the gaol was entirely unoccupied; no theft or disorder had
disgraced the day; and thus the notion of Maconochie seemed to be
illustrated by the experiment. The contrast with the past system created
the greatest amazement, and the description of this extraordinary scene
excited universal laughter.
The long habit of connecting the notions of crime and punishment, of
guilt and misery, was thus violently shocked. Its novelty gave to the
policy of Norfolk Island the air of delirium: the disciplinarians of the
ancient regime raised their hands with astonishment. The place, once of
all most hateful, painted by fancy became an elysium: employment
enlivened by plays, rum, and tobacco, was described as a cheering
vicissitude in a life of crime. It was not difficult to see, that a
reaction would follow, and that any untoward accident would produce a
recoil.
It is said, that the prisoners at Norfolk Island deeply sympathised with
their chief: that they combined in a society for mutual reformation, and
that the paper which contained the outlines of the plan was headed by
the well-known motto of the Irish liberator--
"Hereditary bondsmen! know ye not, who would be free,
Themselves must strike the blow."
These promising appearances were soon followed by a catastrophe,
attended with sad sacrifice of life.
On 21st June, 1842, the _Governor Phillip_ stood in the Bay. A prisoner,
seated upon a rock, awaited the return of his companions from the
vessel, twelve in number: they had been sent to assist in unloading the
stores, and had remained all night. He heard firing on board, and ran to
give notice to the nearest officer: the vessel had been taken. There
were twelve soldiers, beside eighteen seamen. Two sentries were placed
over the hatchway, but the prisoners were allowed to pass to the deck,
where they noticed the negligence of the guard, which they rapidly
communicated to their comrades below. In a few minutes they were all on
deck: they rushed one sentry, and attempted to seize his pistols; then
threw him overboard: the other resigned his gun. Two unarmed soldiers,
who were accidentally on deck, struggled against them; they were
unsuccessful: one took refuge in the main chains, and slipped down into
the launch; the second attempted to swim ashore, but when within a few
yards from the rock, he uttered a cry, raised his hand, and disappeared.
The sergeant having gained the deck, shot the nearest of the mutineers;
but he received a blow which rendered him insensible. The sailors ran to
the forecastle, and the hatches were fastened down; but the prisoners,
unable to work the vessel, summoned two sailors from below to assist
them. The soldiers, having broken through to the captain's cabin, fired
through the gratings: several mutineers were wounded. The convicts then
proposed to send the sailors on shore, and demanded the surrender of the
captain, who answered with a shot, which struck the leader in the mouth,
and passed through his brain: the remainder instantly ran below, and the
vessel was retaken. One soldier, who had attempted to reach the shore,
had been compelled to swim back, and had been saved by a mutineer; but
in ascending the side of the vessel was shot by the sergeant in mistake.
The prisoners now asked quarter, which was granted; but one, on reaching
the deck, received a shot in the thigh: another raised his arms, and
cried "spare me!" Either by mistake, or in revenge, his head was blown
off by the fire of the soldiers. Thus the deck was covered with the
dying and the dead. The wounded were landed, and the bodies of those
slain were buried by moonlight.
The prisoners were confined together in a large room of the gaol, where
they were visited by the chaplain and commandant, who both labored to
awaken them to a sense of their guilt. Several were remarkable for their
misfortunes and their crimes. They were conveyed to Sydney in the vessel
they attempted to capture. On their arrival, crowds met them, anxious to
catch a glimpse of the men who had dared, unarmed, so bold an
enterprise. They met their fate with fortitude, and their last words
were in grateful remembrance of Maconochie. The chaplain who attended
them, has described[236] the gratifying change of which he was the
witness; and mentions with natural indignation the negligence which
suggested the attempt, the cowardice with which it was resisted, and the
cruelty displayed in its suppression.
Before deciding the merits of Maconochie's system by the result at
Norfolk Island, it is proper to estimate the disadvantages under which
it was tried. The island was not cleared of its former occupants, and
thus its corrupting traditions were perpetuated. The officers employed
had been formed under another system: several regarded the process with
contempt, and were involved in quarrels with its projector. They
resented the diminution of personal consequence, by an attempt to give
prisoners the air of free men.[237]
The application of marks in redemption from a time sentence, was
forbidden in cases of second conviction: thus, while some were spurred
on to labor by the prospect of earlier liberty, the older and worst
offenders were rewarded in having at their own disposal the time they
saved by extra exertion; too often injuriously passed.
The small extent of the island, and the absence of a free employing
population prevented an uniform practical liberation of the prisoners:
vessels were not always at hand, and thus tickets-of-leave were granted
to prisoners, who were employed on small farms allotted for their use.
The obstruction to rapid dispersion prevented the hope of liberty from
acting on the imagination with proper efficacy. The experimental nature
of the plan was injurious to its fame. It required constant adjustment:
irregularities and excesses suggested new details, and gave to the
movements of the commandant the aspect of vacillation.
The settlement continued under the command of Maconochie four years;
during which time another Plan, known as the probation system, was
launched on the sea of penal speculation. The destination of Norfolk
Island was reversed: no more the school of reform, it was to be made the
lowest deep of transportation; and well has its destiny been
fulfilled.[238]
Sir George Gipps, in his address to his council,[239] announced that,
after two years and a-half trial, it was found that the expense had
greatly increased; he had, therefore, resolved to transfer the prisoners
from Norfolk Island to Van Diemen's Land. It had been at first
contemplated to establish in that island not less than from two to four
thousand men; but this accumulation the ministers had found it necessary
to abate: and he expressed his conviction that that settlement would be
only reserved for the restraint of incorrigible offenders, and the
punishment of aggravated crimes.[240]
Sir George Gipps deemed it necessary to visit Norfolk Island (1843). His
stay was too brief for more than a superficial survey. His impressions,
on the whole, were favorable. He found the men orderly, respectful, and
contented. The "old hands," or colonial convicts, formerly subject to a
discipline severe to cruelty, were softened in their demeanour. "Great
and merciful as the amelioration, no evils had resulted equal to those
prevented." The lash was disused: the men were permitted to walk abroad
during their leisure; to fish or bathe; to mix sweet potatoes with their
maize bread--an indulgence greatly prized; to use knives, and other
conveniences before denied them: yet beneath these pleasing appearances
a fearful demoralization was traced. The prisoners from Great Britain
were exposed to examples of appalling sensual degradation: vices
prevailed which have ever stained that island.
The colonial press, uniformly hostile, was crowded with grotesque
delineations--a style of opposition, when not ill-founded, more fatal
than the most bitter criticism. The politeness of Maconochie to his men,
and which formed a part of his system, was the subject of constant
humour: he treated them like gentlemen in distress; they regarded him as
a patron and benefactor.[241] The recall of Maconochie had been
contemplated from the publication of the birthday festivities of 1840:
his administration was, however, prolonged until 1844, from the
difficulty of finding a qualified successor.
The people of New South Wales, who regretted the abolition of assignment
as a calamity, disapproved the scheme of Maconochie. The legislative
council declared against the transportation of convicts to Norfolk
Island, not only as hopeless in reference to the moral recovery of the
prisoners, but tending to perpetuate all the evils of transportation
without its advantages. They requested that prohibitory measures might
be adopted to prevent them from entering the colony at the expiration of
their sentences (1840).
The trial of the "mark system" in Norfolk Island during a period of
four years, according to Captain Forster, totally failed. This was the
most important element of Maconochie's reform discipline. The men,
however, found means to render the accumulation of marks independent of
individual conduct and moral reformation. The amount, which ranged from
eight to thirty marks a-day, afforded ample means for corruption. Clever
mechanics were rewarded for their skill; the strong for their strength.
The convict clerks falsified the accounts; men transferred their marks
to each other as a private traffic. Offences were mostly punished by the
forfeiture of marks: blasphemy at thirty; insolence at fifty; and
greater insubordination, two or three hundred. These are the
representations of an officer hostile to the plan; but they are such as
are probable in themselves, and are inseparable from every system
admitting indefinite good conduct as a positive claim to
liberation.[242]
The officers had been permitted to keep shops and to traffic with the
prisoners; and, it was said, that a vessel was freighted from Sydney to
supply them with goods. It was, however, asserted by Maconochie that the
practice had prevailed before his time; that it was in harmony with the
milder views which led to his appointment, and conduced to the
development of social virtues; that the re-convictions of persons
discharged from the island were one-third less than of prisoners trained
in Van Diemen's Land. Captain Maconochie repudiated "the fearful
conclusion, that to make men examples to others, it is necessary to
destroy them, body and soul."[243]
Nothing could have been more ill-judged than the selection of Norfolk
Island for the experiment. The detention of the doubly-convicted, men
long practised in the vices of the island, was still more unfavorable to
a moral reformation. The preliminary accommodations, directed by Lord
Normanby, were not provided: even friendly officers were not secured;
and had the scheme been ever so sound in its principles, its failure was
inevitable. In retiring from office, Maconochie was permitted to
recommend for indulgence all whose expectation of release was justified
by his promises, and he left the island regretted by the prisoners. A
total change was contemplated in the discipline of the place: Norfolk
Island returned to its former character as the "lowest deep."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 227: These views are thus stated by the Archbishop:--"Thus,
under a reformed system of secondary punishment, supposing
transportation abolished, it strikes me as desirable, with a view to the
preservation from a return to evil courses of persons released from
penitentiaries, &c., after the expiration of their punishment, that such
as may have evinced a disposition to reform, should be at their own
desire furnished with means of emigrating to various colonies, British
or foreign, in which they may mix, not with such men as their old
associates in crime, but with respectable persons unacquainted with
their past history; and may thus be enabled, as the phrase is, to turn
over a new leaf.' This, of course, implies that they should not emigrate
in a body to any one place, and as a distinct class. For juvenile
offenders the same course would, perhaps, be even still more
suitable."--_Letter addressed to the Rev. H. Bishop, on the evidence
taken before the Transportation Committee; containing his Grace's
opinion on the efficacy of the punishment of transportation._]
[Footnote 228: "I may venture to assure you, the colonists will feel
great satisfaction at the declared intention (1833) to continue
transportation.... The great advantage they derive from the labor
outweighing, in their opinion, the mischief. Regarding, however, the
advancement and prosperity of this colony, as now placed on foundations
which cannot be shaken, I am strongly impressed with the belief, that
the manners and morals of this people would be much improved, and
ultimately their wealth and happiness would be much augmented, by a
gradual relinquishment of the services of convicts. Yet I am aware that
this sentiment is not generally prevalent among the settlers, and I
shall therefore abstain from troubling you with any detailed
explanations, upon which my opinion is founded."--_Despatch of
Major-General Bourke, addressed to Mr. Secretary Stanley_, 1834.]
[Footnote 229: _Hobart Town Gazette._]
[Footnote 230: "Resolved--That in the opinion of this meeting it is
unjustifiable to induce intending emigrants to take up their abode in
the midst of the vice and immorality which notoriously prevail in the
penal colonies; but that such persons should be encouraged to settle in
countries, where they will not only be likely to thrive in fortune, but
to lead good lives, and bring up their children in virtuous habits."]
[Footnote 231: _Times, February 11th, 1840._]
[Footnote 232: House of Lords, 1840.]
[Footnote 233: May 11th, 1839.]
[Footnote 234: For an account of Norfolk Island see vol. i.]
[Footnote 235: The following are the characters and performers in the
_Castle of Andalusia_: _Don Caesar_, John Lawrence; _Scipio_, George
Rolfe; _Fernando_, James Walker; _Alphonso_, Henry Whitton; _Spado_,
James King; _Pedrillo_, James Monns; _Sanguino_, James Cranston;
_Rafrino_, James Porter; _Calvetti_, William Smith; _Vasquez_, R.
Saunderson.]
[Footnote 236: See _Chambers' Miscellany_, vol. i.]
[Footnote 237: The idea of employing the prisoners as jurors, will not
appear more strange than as witnesses, except that it is unusual:--
"These may appear singular proposals, and I readily admit that the
absolute _rights_ of prisoner jurors, and thereby their power of
directly controlling the course of justice, might, without impropriety,
be for a time somewhat restricted, though, if properly trained up to the
privilege, and this latter confined exclusively to men in their last
stage, they would very rarely, I am certain, be found wanting in what
was required of them. But apart from this, the objects of interesting
prisoners, when under a course of moral discipline, in the
administration of justice, and of giving them confidence in its equity,
are very important ones--perhaps not any in all their management are
more so: and both are absolutely wanting now, and may well be so in the
circumstances in which they are placed.
"In 1839, the year before my arrival at Norfolk Island, 811 cases were
tried; of which only four ended in acquittal--such was the certainty at
that time of conviction if accused. In 1840, I acquitted 90 out of 416
tried. (I was then, perhaps, too difficult about evidence, and in my
inexperience carried abstract principle too far.) In 1841, I acquitted
25 out of 297 tried; in 1842, 24 out of 326; and in 1843, 16 out of 429.
I was much in the habit of employing the officers about the court as a
sort of jury, referring to them, though not formally, in cases of
difficulty, and inviting them to ask questions. And I very early
appointed an intelligent prisoner, in whom I otherwise had confidence,
to speak for men accused of local offences, and make the most of their
several statements, on condition, however, that he never said for them
what he knew to be directly false. He thus served me very much, for what
he did not say I sifted with the more care; and the plan altogether, and
it is nearly that in the text, answered extremely well. It greatly
improved the pleader himself: under the new impulses given to both his
head and heart, he became almost a new man: while stupid prisoners, who
could not speak for themselves, had as good a chance given them as the
cleverest, and the latter, another very important point, had no
better."--_Maconochie on the Management of Prisoners in the Australian
Colonies._]
[Footnote 238: The following extract from Maconochie's pamphlet, may be
taken as his plan, matured by experience:--
"The management of penal settlements should be as follows:--1. A
fictitious debt of 6,000, 8,000, or 10,000 marks should be created
against every man, according to his offence, which he should redeem by
labour and other good conduct, having a proportion placed to his credit
daily as wages, according to his behaviour, and suffering a loss by fine
if he offends. 2. No ration should be allowed him of right, except bread
and water: for every thing else, following up the analogy thus created
between marks and money, he should be charged in them. 3. He should be
allowed, however, thus to expend his marks for present indulgencies to
what extent he pleases, but never to obtain his discharge, till from his
labour and economy combined (both voluntary) he shall fully redeem his
debt. 4. On first arriving at a penal settlement, for a period not under
three months, but beyond that depending entirely on his own regularity
and proficiency, and the acquisition of marks exhibiting them, his
treatment should consist of moral, religious, and other intellectual
instruction in a penitentiary. 5. After this, he should for a time not
under eighteen months, but the period also depending on the acquisition
of marks, serve in a mutually responsible party, labouring for
government, and disqualified for any situation of trust, authority or
indulgence under it, or for any private service. 6. After this, he
should hold for not less than fifteen months (making three years in
all), and beyond this till he has fully redeemed his marks and earned
his entire discharge, a ticket-of-leave in the settlement. 7. In this
last stage every reasonable facility should be afforded him to
accumulate a little money against his return to society. For this
purpose small farms or gardens should be let to men holding this
indulgence, at moderate rents in kind:--any stock or edible produce they
may raise on these, beyond their rents, should be purchased from them at
fair prices into the public stores:--and a fixed proportion of them (3,
4, or 5 per cent, of the entire number of prisoners on the settlement)
should further be eligible, as selected by their superintendent, to fill
subordinate stations of trust in the general management, and receive
(say) 6_d._ per day as money salary, besides the marks attached to their
situations. (In my proposed regulations I suggest also another mode of
giving the men a little money to take with them on their return to
society--which is, perhaps, a little extravagant, and it would thus
admit, at least, of modification; but the point is very important.) 8.
On discharge the utmost possible facilities should be afforded the men
to disperse;--and their final liberation, as well as every intermediate
step towards it, should in every case depend solely on having served the
_minimum_ time, and accumulated the corresponding number of marks. No
discretion on either head should be vested in any local authority. The
whole arrangement should be, as it were, a matter of contract; and the
local authorities should have no other control over it, than to see its
conditions on both sides punctually fulfilled."--_Maconochie's
Management, &c._]
[Footnote 239: 1843.]
[Footnote 240: Address to the Legislative Council of New South Wales,
August, 1842.]
[Footnote 241: "The whole island, we understand, is in a disorganised
state, and thefts of every day occurrence. A few weeks since a boat (the
second) was ran away with by nine convicts: one named Barratt, who a few
days before he left the island had been charged with making a picklock,
for the purpose of robbing the store, of which he was acquitted; and
Captain Maconochie actually begged his pardon for allowing him to be
locked up."--_Sydney Herald, July 26 1841._]
[Footnote 242: _Comptroller-general Forster's Report,_ 1845.]
[Footnote 243: _Observations on the State of Norfolk Island: Par. Pap._
1847.]