CONVICT POPULATION.
Whatever may be the natural charms or advantages of any region, these
are nothing without inhabitants; and however abundantly the means of
riches, the comforts, luxuries, or necessaries of life may be scattered
around, these are comparatively lost without man to enjoy and to use
them. The garden of Eden itself was not perfected until beings were
placed in it capable of admiring its beauties and rejoicing in its
blessings. And in every country, especially in a civilised country, when
we have gone through the length and breadth of the land, examining its
natural features and speculating upon its capabilities and future
destiny, there is still left a most interesting and important subject of
consideration, nor can our knowledge of any region be reckoned complete,
until we are acquainted with the present condition of its inhabitants.
In the preceding pages it has been found impossible, indeed, to avoid
frequently touching upon a topic, which is so closely interwoven with
the whole subject; but there still remains abundance of miscellaneous
information concerning the present state of the inhabitants of the
Australian colonies to be detailed, without which, indeed, the task we
have undertaken would be left altogether incomplete.
Though intellectual man is the principal object in God's creation upon
earth, yet it is not the mere "march of intellect," but it is the
advancement of truth and righteousness,--the gradual outpouring of that
knowledge of God which shall cover the earth as the waters cover the
seas,--that can cause "the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose."
The recollection, therefore, of the sort of men with whom Great Britain
has partly peopled the lonely shores of Australia,--the remembrance that
these men, too morally diseased to be allowed to remain among ourselves,
have been cast forth to die, with little or no thought about bringing
them to the Great Physician of souls to be made whole,--these
reflections have before been offered, and must here be repeated again.
We read with pleasure and interest of benevolent travellers, anxious to
benefit the countries which they are exploring, scattering around them
in favourable spots the seeds of useful plants and noble trees, in the
hope that these may hereafter prove beneficial to generations yet
unborn. And in like manner may the mother country be said to scatter
abroad in her colonies the seeds not only of good, but of evil also.
Many admirable institutions, not a few excellent individuals and
christian families, have been planted in Australian lands; a branch of
Christ's Church has been placed there, and has taken firm hold of the
soil, and numberless other promises of future excellence may be traced
by the thankful and inquiring mind. But then, on the contrary, we must
not lose sight of the tares that are so abundantly springing up together
with the wheat; it is impossible to deny that rank and poisonous weeds
have there been scattered along with the good seed, nay, instead of it.
What might have been the present state of Australia, if all, or almost
all, its free inhabitants had been faithful Christians, steadfast "in
the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in
prayers?" How great an effect might the "salt," thus placed in those
remote parts of the earth, have had in rescuing from corruption that
mass of uncleanness, which has been removed thither from our own shores!
Now, alas! nowhere more than in some of the Australian settlements "are
the works of the flesh manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like."[189]
[189] Gal. v. 19-21.
One cause, unquestionably, of the peculiar prevalence of many of these
evil works is the strange elements of which society in Australia is
composed. In its lowest rank is found the unhappy criminal, whose
liberty has been forfeited, and who is, for a time at least, reduced
to a state of servitude in punishment of his offences. Next to this
last-named class come the _emancipists_, as they are called, who have
once been in bondage, but by working out their time, or by good conduct,
have become free; these and their descendants constitute a distinct and
very wealthy class in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. The third
and highest class is formed of men who have settled as free persons in
the colonies, and of their descendants; and between this last class and
the two first a considerable distinction is kept up, from which, (it
has already been noticed,) miserable dissensions, jealousies, and
heartburnings, have frequently arisen. To an impartial person, beholding
these petty discords from the contrary side of the globe, it is pretty
plain that both classes are in fault.
It is well known that the system of assigning convicts to various
masters has been practised ever since the colony at Port Jackson was
first established, and thus the expense of maintaining so many thousands
of people has been thrown upon the settlers, who were amply repaid by
the value of their labour; by means of which, likewise, the land was
brought into cultivation, and the produce of the soil increased. One
great argument against the system of transportation, as a punishment,
is drawn from this practice of assignment, which, it is asserted, makes
the penalty "as uncertain as the diversity of temper, character, and
occupation amongst human beings can render it." Certain rules and
conditions were laid down for the treatment of convict servants, and if
these behave themselves well, they are allowed "a ticket of leave,"
extending over a certain district, within which the holder of the ticket
becomes, in fact, a free person; subject, however, to the loss of this
privilege in case of his committing any offence. After a certain number
of years, the holder of the ticket of leave is allowed to receive a
"conditional pardon," which extends only to the limits of the colony,
but is no longer liable to be withdrawn at the will of government. The
"absolute pardon," of course, extends everywhere, and restores the party
receiving it to all the rights and privileges of a British subject.[190]
The custom of assigning male convicts has, however, been discontinued
lately in the elder colony, although women are still assigned to the
settlers by government, or at least were so until very recently. But
besides the employment of the convicts by private persons, a vast number
of these are constantly engaged in public works, and to the facility of
obtaining labour thus afforded does New South Wales owe some of its
greatest improvements, especially in roads, bridges, public buildings,
and the like undertakings. It is scarcely to be supposed that employment
of this kind, when the men must necessarily work in gangs, is so
favourable for their moral improvement and reformation as residence in a
private family and occupation in rural pursuits is generally likely to
prove; though the contrary notion is supported in the recent Report of
the Transportation Committee, since, in the former case, they are under
stricter discipline. However, it has always been customary to make the
public works a sort of punishment, and private service a reward for
convicts; and those that have been returned from the latter with
complaints, are usually put upon the roads for at least six months;
so that, if this system really stands in the way of the improvement
of offenders, it keeps those that conduct themselves well from the
beginning quite clear of the bad example of less hopeful characters. It
is a sad truth, however, in Australia, as it often is found to be in
England, that "the most skilful mechanics are generally the worst
behaved and most drunken," and, consequently, most liable to punishment
in the public gangs.
[190] See Mr. Montgomery Martin's New South Wales for further
particulars on this subject, pp. 168-177.
By way of introducing the reader to the kind of life led by those
unhappy beings who labour in Australia at the public roads, and to give
him also some idea of the spiritual work which the ministers of Christ's
Church in a penal colony may be called upon to perform, the following
sketch from a private letter will be not unacceptable:--"In a few
minutes I am at the stockade where more than 60 men are immediately
mustered; the [Roman] 'Catholics'[191] are sent back to their boxes, the
'Protestants' assemble under a shed, open on two sides, and filled with
a few coarse boards for tables and forms, where the men get their meals.
Their boxes are wooden buildings of uniform structure, in which the
prisoners are locked up from _sundown_ to sunrise. The roof is shingled,
the sides are weather-board, the door in the middle is secured by a
padlock, and above the door is a grating to admit the light and air,
a similar grating being placed exactly opposite to it. The internal
arrangements are simple in the extreme, where you see a gangway in the
middle, and two tiers of hard planks or dressers for the men to lie
upon; their bedding being, I believe, only a blanket. As there is no
division to form separate bed-places, the four-and-twenty or thirty men
who share these boxes lie like the pigs, and make the best of it they
can. When a prisoner has served his time in irons, he is removed to a
probationary gang; that which I am describing is an ironed gang. These
men are dressed in a motley suit of grey and yellow alternately, each
seam being of a different colour; and the irons being secured to each
ancle, and, for the relief of the wearer, made fast from the legs to the
waist. The whole stockade is sometimes enclosed with high palings, and
sometimes open. The service of the Church is performed under the shed
where the men assemble for meals. The men behave well or ill as the
sergeant in charge takes an interest in it or not. Here the sergeant
and a dozen young soldiers are constant at prayers. The responses are
given by all that can read, our blessed societies having furnished
Bibles and Prayer-books for all. Every change of position is attended
with the clank of chains, which at first harrows your soul: but time
does wonders, you know; you forget the irons after a while. A full
service and a sermon. You hear an application or two from prisoners
about their worldly matters,--chiefly from the craftiest, oldest hands;
wish them good morning, and away.
[191] "Catholic," a most honoured term in ancient times, has in
modern days been very unfortunate. Even now the Romanists misuse it
for "Papistical," the Dissenters occasionally use it to signify
"Latitudinarian," and the members of the Church of England are either
afraid to use it at all, or else are perpetually harping upon it, as
though it were a mere party-word.
"It is now half-past ten: there lies the hot and dusty road before you,
without shelter of any kind, and the sun pours down his fiery beams; no
cloud, no intermission. If a breeze blows, it may be hotter than from
the mouth of a furnace. Well, courage; step out, it is five miles to
the other stockade. A flock of sheep,--the dog baying, the driver
blaspheming; a dray or two of hay; a few carts loaded with oranges. Up
the hill, down the hill, and so on, till, a little after twelve, you
arrive at the other stockade. This is a probationary gang, that is to
say, it is composed of those against whom complaints have been made
by their respective masters, and who are not assignable to other
individuals for six months. In this gang are six-and-twenty persons, of
whom two are [Roman] 'Catholics.' No motley dress, but all in dark grey;
no irons. A corporal and one private for a guard, and both of them
exemplary at prayers. Here I have the afternoon service. Generally about
this time the wind is up; and here, in a state of perspiration, the
breeze gives me a thorough chilling under the open shed; and often
clouds of dust come rushing through upon us, as bad as the worst days
in March along one of the great roads in England. But the service is
attended in a gratifying manner, insomuch that it would shame many home
congregations. The corporal here teaches the poor fellows who require it
to _read and write_, so that even here we find instances of christian
charity, without sinister or vain motives, which may well stimulate us
and provoke our exertions."
From this picture of the condition of some of those convicts that are
undergoing punishment, we may turn to the more pleasing view, which a
gentleman of large property in Australia, Mr. Potter Macqueen, has drawn
of the condition of his own assigned servants. Of course, much of the
chance of the servant's improvement must depend, humanly speaking, upon
the sort of master into whose hands he is thrown, and Mr. Macqueen would
appear to have behaved kindly and judiciously to those entrusted to his
care. Occasionally a severe example of punishment was made, and extra
labour or stoppage of indulgences, as milk, tea, sugar, or tobacco, were
found effectual correction for most faults, whilst additional industry
was rewarded by fresh indulgences. Of some deserving men Mr. Macqueen
had even brought over the wives and families at his own expense. And
what, in this world, could be a greater instance of the luxury of doing
good than to behold the family and partner of one who has, though a
convict, conducted himself well, restored once more to their long-lost
parent and husband, and settled in his new country as pledges of his
future continuance in well-doing? Marriage, altogether, was encouraged
on the estate of the gentleman already mentioned, as a means of
recalling the convicts from bad habits, and urging them to industry and
good behaviour; and this wise course has been generally rewarded by
witnessing their happiness, and receiving their gratitude. During
five years of residence in Australia about two hundred convicts and
ticket-of-leave men passed through Mr. Macqueen's establishment, and
the following account is interesting, since it serves to show what _may
be done_, even with a convict population:--
Free, or enjoying their ticket, married and thoroughly
reclaimed 14
Ditto, ditto, single men 49
Free from expiration of sentence, but worthless 7
Returned home to England after becoming free 1
Well-conducted men, as yet under sentence 62
Indifferent, not trustworthy 29
Depraved characters, irreclaimable 7
Sent to iron gangs and penal settlements 11
Escaped 1
Died 3
Given up at request of Government 2
Returned to Government hospital from ill health 4
____
190
____
To encourage reformation, and check that spirit of idleness which is the
mother of mischief, alike in convicts and free people, it is strongly
recommended to allow the well-disposed men to profit by their own
industry. It is forbidden to pay money to prisoners, at least before
they obtain their ticket, but they may be rewarded by tea, sugar,
tobacco, Cape wine, extra clothing, &c. Mr. Macqueen had one Scotchman,
who, under this system, actually sheared 101 sheep in the day, being
allowed at the rate of 2_s._ 6_d._ per score upon all above 25, which is
the quantity fixed by the government rule for a man to do in a single
day. And in the same establishment, acting upon like inducements, might
be seen sawyers and fencers working by moonlight; and others making tin
vessels for utensils, bows for bullocks, &c., in their huts at night.
From this method of management a very great degree of comfort arises, of
which Mr. Macqueen gives the following instance in a convict's feast,
which he once witnessed. At Christmas, 1837, one of his assigned
servants, (who had a narrow escape from capital conviction at home,)
requested leave to draw the amount of some extra labour from the
stores, since he wished to give an entertainment to a few of his
colleagues, all of whom were named and were well conducted men. The
party making this application had been industrious and well-behaved,
being besides very cleanly in his hut, and attentive to his garden and
poultry, so the request was granted, and his master had the curiosity to
observe the style of the festival. The supper consisted of good soup,
a dish of fine mullet out of the adjoining river, two large fowls, a
piece of bacon, roast beef, a couple of wild ducks and a plum-pudding,
accompanied by cauliflower, French beans, and various productions of his
garden, together with the delicious water-melon of the country; they had
a reasonable quantity of Cape wine with their meal, and closed their
evening with punch and smoking.[192]
[192] See a pamphlet entitled "Australia as she is and as she may be,"
by T. Potter Macqueen, Esq., published by Cross, Holborn, pp. 12-14.
But the picture of the peculiar class by which a penal colony is
distinguished from all others will not be complete without a darker
shade of colouring than those upon which we have been gazing. It is a
painful feeling to contemplate the past condition of one portion of the
convict population, but it is a wholesome exercise of the mind, and has
already produced an improvement in that wretched state. Besides, it
surely is only fitting that a great, a free, and enlightened nation
should know what is the ultimate fate of a part of its outcast
population; nor need Englishmen shrink from hearing the _history_,
whilst England herself shrinks not from inflicting the _reality_ of
those horrors which have defiled the beautiful shores of Norfolk
Island.[193] In 1834 Judge Burton visited this spot, the penal
settlement of a penal settlement, for the purpose of trying 130
prisoners, who had very nearly succeeded in overpowering and murdering
the military, after which they intended to make their escape. Eight
years before this time, Norfolk Island had been first made a penal
settlement; and never during all that period had its wretched
inhabitants received any such reproof, consolation, or instruction as
the Church gives to its members. The picture presented before the mind
of the judge was an appalling one, and he can speak of Norfolk Island
only in general terms, as being "a cage full of unclean birds, full
of crimes against God and man, murders and blasphemies, and all
uncleanness." We know well what bad men are in England. Take some of the
worst of these, let them be sent to New South Wales, and then let some
of the very worst of these worst men be again removed to another spot,
where they may herd together, and where there are no pains taken about
their moral or religious improvement, where, literally speaking, no man
careth for their souls:--such was Norfolk Island. And what right had
England to cast these souls, as it were, beyond the reach of salvation?
Where was the vaunted christian feeling of our proud nation when she
delivered these poor creatures over to the hands of Satan, in the hope
that her worldly peace, and comfort, and property might be no longer
disturbed by their crimes? Had she ordered her fleet to put these men
ashore on some desolate island to starve and to die, the whole world
would have rung with her cruelty. But now, when it is merely their souls
that are left to starve, when it is only the means of eternal life that
they are defrauded of, how few notice it, nay, how few have ever heard
of the sin in which the whole nation is thus involved!
[193] It is right to state here that the cause of a supply of religious
instruction having been so long delayed in Norfolk Island is said, by
a Roman Catholic writer, to have been the impossibility of finding a
clergyman to undertake the charge. See Ullathorne's Reply to Burton,
pp. 39, 40. Supposing this account to be correct then, undoubtedly, the
English Church must share the blame of neglecting Norfolk Island along
with the government, and it is not the wish of the writer of these pages
to deny the applicability of the prophet's confession to ourselves:
"O God, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes,
and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee." (Dan. ix. 8.)
Still, even according to Dr. Ullathorne, the penal settlement was
established six years before its religious instruction was thought of
by the government.
One of the prisoners tried in 1834 was a man of singular ability and
great presence of mind, and by him Norfolk Island was represented to be
a "hell upon earth;" and so it was as far as the company of evil spirits
glorying in evil deeds could make it. "Let a man's heart," he added, "be
what it will, when he comes here, his man's heart is taken from him, and
there is given to him the heart of a beast." Another said, "It was no
mercy to send us to this place; I do not ask life, I do not want to be
spared, on condition of remaining here; life is not worth having on
such terms." Another unhappy being was sentenced to die, and began
passionately to exclaim and entreat that he might not die without
confession. "Oh, your honour," he said, "as you hope to be saved
yourself, do not let me die without seeing my priest. I have been a very
wicked man indeed, I have committed many other crimes for which I ought
to die, but do not send me out of the world without seeing my priest!"
This poor man was a Roman Catholic; he seems not to have known that he
might go at once to his Heavenly Father with a heartfelt acknowledgment
of his faults, and so he obtained a rude figure of the cross, and
in miserable agony pronounced before that, as he embraced it, his
brief exclamations for mercy. Others mentioned in moving terms the
hopelessness of their lot, and another of them spoke also of what
rendered the state they were in one of utter despair; and the statement
which he made was perfectly true: he said, addressing the judge, "What
is done, your honour, to make us better? once a week we are drawn up in
the square opposite the military barrack, and the military are drawn up
in front of us with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, and a young
officer then comes to the fence, and reads part of the prayers, and that
takes, may be, about a quarter of an hour, and _that is all the religion
that we see_."[194]
[194] Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 260.
Urged by appeals like these, which no heart could well resist, Judge
Burton reprieved the convicted prisoners, until the whole case should
be laid before the government, and at least religious consolation and
assistance might be obtained for those who were to suffer capital
punishment. Eleven of the prisoners were afterwards executed, but not
without having been visited by ministers of religion, who were sent for
that express purpose from Sydney. The kind and christian judge exerted
himself in behalf of the outcast population of Norfolk Island, "that
modern Gomorrah," as it has been called; and, as usual, improvement in
bodily comforts or morals was much more willingly undertaken by those
in authority than spiritual reformation. His advice respecting the
propriety of diminishing the number of prisoners confined together
was speedily attended to. His efforts to procure religious reproof,
instruction, and consolation were not so soon successful; they were,
however, nobly continued, and at length both Protestant and Roman
Catholic chaplains were appointed to the island. But this great object
was not gained without _giving offence_. Strange that any party could
take offence at efforts of this description, and stranger still that
men professing a general regard for religion, and avowedly possessed
of consciences exquisitely tender, and of charity unbounded, should,
notwithstanding, object to the conscientious and charitable efforts in
the cause of religion of which we have just been speaking! However,
these impotent struggles have signally failed, and now there are clergy
both of the English and Roman Church in Norfolk Island, while the moral
condition of the prisoners there is stated to have improved greatly. In
1837 the Rev. Mr. Sharpe was removed thither, at his own request, from
Pitt Town in New South Wales, and his labours and ministrations are said
to have been useful and effectual. But even here, in this effort to save
some of Christ's lost sheep, the unhappy circumstances of our penal
colonies were manifested. When Mr. Sharpe was removed to Norfolk Island,
a larger and more important sphere of usefulness, his little parish
on the Hawkesbury, was for a time left without a pastor. And this
distressing trial is frequently occurring; when illness, or death, or
removal, deprives a parish of its spiritual shepherd, for a time at
least his place is liable to be left vacant, and his people likely
to become as sheep going astray. It appears likewise, from the Report
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, that an
assistant-chaplain for Norfolk Island was appointed in 1841. There have
been two clergymen of the Church of Rome in the island ever since 1838,
an arrangement which was alleged to be necessary, in order that the
chaplain himself might not be deprived of private confession and
absolution.[195] There was no church in the island a few years ago, but
a room in one settlement and a barn in the other were the places where
divine service was regularly attended. Besides the Morning and Evening
Prayers on Sunday, divine service takes place five times during the
week, twice in the gaol, twice in the hospital, and once a week for
those men who are exempt from work, their sentences having expired.
There may, as has been stated, be much hypocrisy in Norfolk
Island,[196] but surely the spirit which was offended at efforts that
have wrought even these changes in a spot of extreme moral and religious
desolation, may, without breach of charity, be pronounced to have been
an unclean and evil spirit. Can this language be justly deemed too
strong, when the facts already stated are borne in mind; when, (to sum
up the whole case in a single example,) it is remembered that in one
year, 1838, the colonial government of New South Wales paid 57,740_l._
11_s._ 3_d._ for its police establishment and gaols, while the very
utmost that was spent in providing religious instruction for _all the
prisoners_ within the limits of the colony amounted, during the same
period, to less than 1000_l._?[197]
[195] The reason given by the Roman Catholic, Dr. Ullathorne, is that
the two priests divide the salary, and receive together no more than the
one chaplain.--ULLATHORNE'S _Reply to Burton_, p. 76. The reader must
bear in mind the different scale of expenses required by a person who
_must_ be single, and that of a person who may be, and generally is,
a married man.
[196] See Committee on Transportation, 1838, pp. 137, 138.
[197] See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales,
pp. 287-289. The actual sum there stated is either 725_l._ or 855_l._,
according as certain expenses connected with the establishment are
included or not.
It is stated on good authority,--that of Sir George Arthur, who was
formerly governor of Van Diemen's Land,--that not more than _two_
convicts in every _hundred_ quit the colony and return to England.[198]
The expense and difficulty of procuring a passage home operates as a
sufficient check to prevent this being frequently obtained; nor,
supposing that the English people would act in a kind and christian
spirit towards the most deserving men of this class, would either
they or the nation be losers. If the wives and families of the most
meritorious men could be brought out to them at the public cost, what
reasonable cause of regret would an emancipated convict feel for his
home,--the scene of his crimes and of his disgrace,--in the mother
country? And with respect to the great objection,--the _cost_ of such a
system,--what would that be compared with the advantage which the rapid
increase of an English population in Australia is sure to bring, by
creating fresh demands for our goods and manufactures? If ours were a
wise and understanding nation, if we would spend a portion of our riches
in promoting the morals, the comfort, and the religious instruction of
our outcast population, we might, in numberless instances, turn the very
dregs of our people into means of increasing our prosperity; we might
frequently render those that are now the mere refuse of the earth,
happy, contented, loyal subjects; and the blessings of them that were
ready to perish spiritually would be continually resounding from the far
distant shores of Australia upon that Divine Mercy which would have all
men to be saved, and upon that nation which would thus have offered
itself to be a willing agent and instrument for the furtherance of this
gracious design.
[198] "I think the longer the sentence, the better will be the conduct
of the individual," because his only chance of obtaining any degree of
liberty is from good conduct. See Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq.,
before the Committee on Transportation in 1837. No. 3350-3, p. 218.
Dr. Ullathorne expresses a contrary opinion.
In the present condition of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, with
so large a proportion of their population in bondage, and such slender
means of moral improvement and religious instruction provided for them
by the mother country, it would be unreasonable to hope that the convict
population can be otherwise than very bad. There may be many exceptions;
and at the end of all things here below, it may be found that some of
those poor outcasts, and some of the men who have cast them forth to
perish, and now despise them, may fill, respectively, the places of the
Publican and Pharisee in our Lord's parable; the convict may leave the
throne of judgment justified rather than his master; the poor repentant
criminal may be pardoned, while the proud one,--the self-sufficiency
of the nation, by which he was transported, and left without further
care,--may be condemned. Still, however, the general character of
the convicts is undoubtedly bad; and the various modes of deceit and
dishonesty practised upon their masters, the love of gambling, of strong
liquors, and of every kind of licentiousness prevailing in the penal
colonies, would fill a volume of equal size and interest with that
which is said to be a favourite book in New South Wales,--the Newgate
Calendar. Those that are curious upon these subjects may be referred to
the thick volume in blue cover, which contains an account of the labours
of the Committee upon Transportation, 1837; but when the evidence
therein contained is read, it must be with some grains of allowance;
the avowed object of Sir W. Molesworth's motion for the committee, was
enmity against the whole system of transportation; and a large majority
of those that sat in the committee were, it is believed, of his opinion;
at all events, they belonged to his party in politics. So that, before
justice can be done to the real state of the convicts, we want to have
evidence of an opposite tendency, like that of Mr. Potter Macqueen,
already quoted; and before the question, whether transportation is a
desirable mode of punishing, or a likely means of reforming criminals,
can be fairly decided, inquiry must be made, not respecting what _has
been done_, but respecting what _might have been done_, or _may even yet
be done_, in our penal colonies.
Before the subject of the convict population is dismissed, it may be
well to notice those called _specials_; that is, men of education, and
of a somewhat higher rank in life than the generality of exiles in New
South Wales. These were formerly treated with great consideration; for,
after having passed a short period of probation, they were employed as
clerks to auctioneers or attornies; nay, the instruction of youth was
too often, in default of better teachers, committed into their hands.
Nor was this all. In former times, persons of this description have
been very much connected with the public press; and the enlightened
people of New South Wales have sometimes, it may be feared, been blindly
led by an unprincipled convict, when they imagined that they were wisely
judging for themselves. The reformation of these _specials_ is said to
be more hopeless than that of other prisoners; and very commonly they
are confirmed drunkards. Strange materials these from which to form
instructors for youth, trustworthy agents of private property, or
leaders of public opinion! However, by the progress of emigration, the
influence of these men is now superseded; besides which, they have been
gradually removed from the government offices, and those that now arrive
are employed in hard labour.
[Illustration: CONVEYING CATTLE OVER THE MURRAY, NEAR LAKE ALEXANDRIA.]