to the close of the year 1835. A writer in the "Foreign Quarterly
Review" furnishes an additional list of 241 persons, committed to
prison in 1836, for being concerned in the murder and robbery of 474
individuals. Of these criminals, 91 were sentenced to death, and 22 to
imprisonment for life, leaving 306, who were sentenced to transportation
for life, or shorter periods of imprisonment, or who turned approvers,
or died in gaol. Not one of the whole number was acquitted.
Great as is this amount of criminals who have been brought to justice,
it is to be feared that many years must elapse before an evil so deeply
rooted can be eradicated. The difficulty is increased by the utter
hopelessness of reformation as regards the survivors. Their numbers
are still calculated to amount to ten thousand persons, who, taking the
average of three murders annually for each, as calculated by Captain
Sleeman and other writers, murder every year thirty thousand of their
fellow creatures. This average is said to be under the mark; but even if
we were to take it at only a third of this calculation, what a frightful
list it would be! When religion teaches men to go astray, they go far
astray indeed!
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.