Sir J. Franklin, October 6, 1838.
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passed a series of resolutions vindicating the moral and religious character of the inhabitants of the colony generally, and concluding in the following
terms:-
"11. Resolved-That in the opinion of this Council, the sudden dis- "continuance of transportation and assignment, by depriving the colonists "of convict labour, must necessarily curtail their means of purchasing "crown lands, and consequently the supply of funds for the purposes of "immigration.
"12. Resolved-That, in the opinion of this Council, the produce of "the labour of convicts in assignment is thus one of the principal, though "indirect, means of bringing into the colony free persons; it is obvious, therefore, that the continuance of immigration in any extended form "must necessarily depend upon the continuance of the assignment of "convicts."
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ཝཱ་
In Van Diemen's Land, the proceedings were no less energetic. In 1838, as soon as the evidence before the first Committee became known, a public meeting was convened, to call on the Lieutenant-Governor to vindi- cate the character of the colony from the false aspersions said to have been cast upon it; and in 1839, when the probability of the abolition of assignment became evident, the inhabitants addressed a memorial to the Crown, stating, That your Majesty's Petitioners believe that they are "benefited by the existing system. They do not desire to conceal this "belief. They emigrated under the existing system; have embarked large capitals; and, by the aid of them and their industry, have acquired "extensive property under it; it may be truly said under the faith of its "continuance; they have laboured industriously, and endured in past times "much hardship, and risked much danger under it; but the result is one which, if they wished, they could not conceal-unprecedented prosperity, "as manifested in a large import and export trade, in the advantages resulting from which the mother-country is a joint participator; in a highly improved territory, and large and flourishing towns and villages. "They naturally do not desire to see their property shaken to its very foundation, by a change in the system of secondary punishment; opera- ting powerfully, as that change would, on the supply of labour in the "colony; more particularly as, from the limited extent of crown lands "available for sule, this colony, unlike the neighbouring provinces, has "not the means of carrying on an extensive immigration of labourers. But Petitioners rest their prayer, not only on the injury to them and "their families, which any great and sudden change would entail, but on "the danger which they think they can see resulting therefrom to impor- "tant national interests.
66
+
"Under all these circumstances, it is the humble prayer of Petitioners, "that your Majesty will not sanction the adoption of any measure having for its object to abolish the system of transportation, coupled with assign- "ment, as the national system of secondary punishment; or that, before "introducing such measure, a commission of inquiry be first sent out to “Van Diemen's Land, to ascertain, upon undoubted evidence on the spot. "the exact moral and social condition of all classes in the colony."
The remonstrance from New South Wales arrived in England in the close of 1838, but it produced no effect on the decisions to which Her In November 1838, Lord Grey Majesty's Government had already come. had transmitted to this office a memorandum of his views on the subject, resulting in the following propositions :
1st. A vote to be taken in the ensuing session for the construction
"of Penitentiaries at home, say,-
"One in England for 1000 prisoners.
"One in Ireland for 600 prisoners.
"One in Scotland for 400 prisoners.
"2nd. Immediate orders to be sent to Norfolk Island, to prepare for "the reception of an increased number of convicts, and a company of "Sappers and Miners, to be as soon as possible dispatched there.
3rd. The number of convicts sent to the hulks at home and at "Bermuda to be increased, and the improved system of discipline to be "introduced.
ff
65
"4th. At the expiration of three months from the time of sending the 'proposed orders to Norfolk Island, all convicts transported as a mitiga- tion of a capital sentence, to be sent there; after six months all convicts "sentenced to transportation for life, and after twelve months those sen- "tenced for fourteen years to be likewise sent there.
"5th. At the end of a year, no convict sentenced to fourteen years' "transportation would thus be sent to New South Wales or Van Diemen's "Land. Of those for shorter periods, those only to be sent whom it should "be found impossible to dispose of at home or at Bermuda.
"6th. The intention of making this change to be forthwith communi- "cated to the Governors of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and "instructions to be at the same time sent to them to discontinue the prac- "tice of assigning convicts, as far as might be possible, without increasing "the establishments, and to introduce the system of discipline above "referred to, in the management of the road and chain gangs.'
In January 1839, Lord John Russell also communicated to Lord Glenelg an elaborate statement of his opinions, embracing an examination of the remonstrance from New South Wales, and of the theory recently put forward by Captain Maconochic, and concluding in the following results, viz. :—
"
"1. Convicts sentenced to seven years' transportation to be, as far as practicable, employed in the hulks and dock-yards at home and at "Bermuda.
"2. Each seven years' transport to undergo two years' confinement "certain; to work during this time at the most irksome description of "labour. His conduct to be ascertained and recorded daily, by marks ; but no benefit to be derived by the prisoner for good conduct during the « two years.
**
3. After two years, to enter on a period to be called a period of probation. To enter upon that period with a character composed of three recorded facts:-1st, his crime; 2nd, his character previous to his con- "viction; 3rd, his conduct during his period of prisonment.
E
4. The period of probation may be alleviated by the mitigation of "coercive infliction, or a lighter species of labour; by placing men to work together, and making them responsible for each other's conduct; by allowing, in some cases, a part of a convict's earnings to be saved and placed to his account; and lastly, the length of probation to be deter- imined on the report of a superintendent, in all particulars which may "justify an extension of mercy to his case. Thus, some may remain little "more than two years, and some four, or even five, under restraint.
+
5. The same principle to be adopted in the cases of convicts for "more than seven years; but their punishment to be undergone in Norfolk Island or Tasman's Peninsula, or in a new colony in Australia, and their periods of probation to be passed either at those stations, or in public "works in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.
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"6. A penitentiary to be built on the system of Separate Confinement, "for 1000, or at least 500 prisoners, in some part of the United Kingdom." Acting upon these views, Lord J. Russell immediately afterwards proposed the following arrangements in regard to the Convict Service for 1839, viz.—
That the convicts in the hulks should be increased to 3,500
ditto
ditto
Bermuda, to Penitentiary, to
ditto
to be transported
D
1,000
800 2,000
-7,300
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PEPEC.O.885
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO