The notices of the treatment of female prisoners in this work have been
few. Until recently, the attention of the English government has been
almost entirely confined to the management of male convicts; and the
impression has been always too general, that the unhappy women are
beyond recovery. In the local discussion of the convict question the
deliberate opinion of Captain Forster has been usually adopted, by all
who have seen the conduct of the women. "I have not," said that
distinguished officer, "entered upon the topic of discipline for female
convicts, not considering them available subjects for prison
discipline." (1837) Colonial experience, before and since, would hardly
authorise any other conclusion.
The first female transports were left to the casualties of a convict
colony. Some, who were adopted by the officers, became the mothers of
respectable families: some wholly emerged from their degradation, and
became respectable wives; but, for the most part, they merely exhibited
the depth to which vice can depress. Nearly 20,000 have been
transported; of these, a considerable proportion have fallen victims to
intemperance, and sunk into a premature grave.
The description of the conduct of female prisoners is so uniform, that
any date and any account might be joined at random. Those who read the
works of Collins, of Read, of Henderson, and of Lang, and compare them
with each other, and with works of the present time, will find little
variety of incident. They represent woman deprived of the graces of her
own sex, and more than invested with the vices of man.
The transportation of women has been a great social evil to the
colonies. At first it seemed unavoidable: it was afterwards deemed
highly expedient, for reasons it is not necessary to describe. Yet it is
not too much to attribute the chief vexations of domestic life to their
character and conduct. It would have been better for the nation, for the
male convicts, and for the women themselves, had they been detained at
home, or banished to countries where they would have avoided the double
degradation of moral and social infamy.[274] Such were the views of many
most enlightened men. The extreme difficulty of finding them employment
as servants, and their perpetual relapses, have induced the government
usually to encourage, at first concubinage, and, in more scrupulous
times--marriage: in some instances with great success. It is the last
expedient in the administration of penal laws; when it fails, the case
is considered hopeless.
The number of females transported, until within twelve years, were about
1 to 10 men; since then, they have been about 1 to 7. The penalty has
been inflicted for the lighter crimes; and in many instances the Irish
courts must have been influenced rather by a vague notion of humanity
than of punishing offenders. Such are often young creatures: not a few
could be scarcely considered depraved.
The accumulation on the hands of the government has been usually very
great, and curious expedients have been devised to dispose of the
burden. The factory at Parramatta, in former times, was a mart of women.
Thither the laboring man went in search of a wife, and often, after a
general survey, selected one on the spot. These marriages were not
always a failure, but far the greater number ended in intemperance and
prostitution.
To overcome the reluctance of the settlers to employ them, Sir George
Murray, when secretary for the colonies, directed the governor to compel
the settlers to receive one woman with three or four men (1829). The
effect of this stipulation was probably never considered. The condition
of the better disposed has been one of great hazard and temptation. The
last state of female degradation was often their inevitable lot. They
were surrendered to solicitations and even violence: a convict constable
conducted them to the houses of their master; they lodged on the road,
wherever they could obtain shelter; convict servants were usually their
companions,--or when their manners were superior to their class,
corrupters of a higher rank were always at hand to betray or destroy
them. Reformation has been commonly deemed unattainable, and precautions
useless.
The influence of such persons on the tone of society, the temper of
masters, the morals of children, and even the conduct of the convict
men, has proved everywhere disastrous, unless checked by incessant
vigilance. Smoking, drinking, swearing, and prostitution, have very
commonly formed the character ever present to the tender mind. The
stranger entered perhaps a splendid dwelling, and found all the
advantages of opulence, except what money could not procure--a comely
and honest-hearted woman servant. The eye at length became more familiar
with lineaments bloated or rigid with passion and debauch, and the ear
accustomed to the endless vicissitudes of the servants' hall, which
discharged and received an endless succession of the same debased,
despised, and unhappily despicable beings. The writer has not forgotten,
for a moment, that under the protection of a virtuous mistress, some
unfortunate but not depraved females have escaped the terrible ordeal,
and have found in the land of their exile the comforts of a home.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 274: Letter from Chief Justice Forbes, 1836.]