THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Saturday, November 25, 1843. THE PARKHURST PENITENTS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 32, 25 November 1843, Page 2

THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Saturday, November 25, 1843.

THE PARKHURST PENITENTS.

LUCEO NON URO. " If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore."

Transportation under a proper and well regulatod system is calculated to serve two good and useful pnrposes, it may be made to confer a benefit upon the individual himself, as well as upon society, this in truth ought to bo the end and object of every penal statute. But unhappily for mankind, mercy has seldom if ever, had any part in ■the framing of the penal codes of nations. A convict was meroly regarded as a person •who had committed a certain offence against society for which he must give compensation. This compensation was to be paid in so much bodily privation and mental suffering. Society in fact acted towards the individual in the same manner that a private person would seek to gratify his revenge forva wrong sustained at the hands of another. If a blow had been received or a wound inflicted, the natural impulse prompted that another should be returned, — and such was invariably the case, regardless of consequences to the offending party. The cruelty of the penal code of Great Britain has however attracted of late years tho attention of the humane and benevolent at home, and tho principles of a better philosophy are being acted upon. \ Transportation to the Colonies in any shape may bo called the dawning of this better system, in as much as it manifested a regard however trifling to tho improvement of the individual, who after years of penal apprenticeship and penal suffering had some prospect of benefitting both himself and the society against which ho had transgressed. Transportation has however hitherto signally failed in all our colonies, — but this has doubtless arisen from the monstrous and gross imperfection of the system. In many instances it had merely tho effect of holding out premiums for crime. It was a complete lottery in which there were several valuable prizes to be' drawn, but the obtaining of the prize did not in the slightest degree depend upon the merits of the individual — out of twenty convicts fifteen might be wretched and miserable for life, and five might at once start into physical comfort and affluence, but the five fortunate convicts might bo and generally were tho worst behaved and most undeserving of the twenty. It was upon the whole merely a modification of the principle of revenge, giving a chanco of escape to some without the slightest regard to the moral improvement of any. Under proper management however it is possible to convert the convicts, the very dregs of society, into the most useful and the most powerful elemonts of social improvement and social happiness. Instead of attempting at once by a mere change of place to convert the murderer into a lover of his race, or to make the thief the guardian of his neighbours' property, and to form society in a new country, from suchrjincompatible elements as murderers, robbers" thieves, Parkhurst boys, aborigines, and a few respectable immigrants, Government by. keeping beforo them the causes of crimes and the piopcr object of penal laws, would adopt a very different course. In a colony the felon is merely removed to a safer and a more extensive fir il d of operation ; and instead of L^ing morally improved by coming so intimately in contact with tho few respectables persons who find their .way into the colonies, tho effect is generally speaking, the very opposite. The laven-of immorality spreads mu.^h more rapidly in a colony than it does at ■Home, and however convenient it may be for E-jgland to rid herself of all the immoral offsprings -of her own oppression and mis-govemr-iejii, "oj sending them to propagate and perp?tuate their crimes in her colonies ; is it not quite possible that the colonies may reciprocate the kind intention by returning 'iome to her the ripened fruits from the seed which she herself has sown? If England has a right for instance, to transport her felons to New Zealand, or New South Wales, why should not New Zealand and New South

put in the position of receiving every thing that is offensive in the convict system, without any advantage whatever. In N. S.Wales they derive some benefit from being a penal settlement, in New Zealand we have none. The old offenders in that country are made to work, and to make themselves useful to the community. The laws are stringent and adapted to the circumstances of the country. But what benefit do we derive in this Colony from the Parkhurst importation ? Nothing j but an infamous name. These boys are of no use to us, we do not want their labour even if they would employ themselves. But they are under no obligation to work, and they will not do it — though young, they have a full knowledge of their trade, and they will live by it, if not among the Europeans, at all events among the unfortunate natives. We cannot conceive any thing more heartless and cruel than the conduct of Lord Stan- ! ley botli towards the European settlers and j the Aborigines of New Zealand. The former have been induced to emigrate to this Colony under the express pledge and promise of the Homo Government that it should not be made a Penal Colony. The correspondence of the late Governor Hobson and the Marquis [Of Normanby is sufficient evidence of the truth of this, and if one individual has been induced to leave home on the faith of this promise, the Home Government were bound by every principle of good faith and honour to hold their own pledge inviolate. — But what promise have they kept unbroken, and what faith can be placed in that Government, whose public virtue is becoming a bye-word among the nations of the earth? Unjust, cruel, and ojjpressive at home, we cannot expect them to be any thing else than deceitful and tyrannical in the Colonies, where their power is uncontrolled. But although we have much to complain on the part of the European population, we would raise our voice still louder because of the wrong done to the natives — and we would call upon every well-wisher of the Aborigines at Home and abroad to make every effort to stop the moral pestilence which is likely so speedily to destroy this promising but unfortunate people. We would call upon all the Bible and Missionary Societies at hflSßo to look at the probable termination of their labours. Christian people have expended their means in endeavouring to sow the wheat in the fertile fields and rich valh'es of New Zealand, but the seed has scarcely begun to grow up, when the Government or the enemy sowed the tares in the shape otParkhurst Apprentices. — It is ever this in our world, no sooner is a labour of love commenced, than some evil disposed person will make an effort to prevent its succeeding. But who could imagine that the very Government of England itself would so inhumanly come forward to destroy the labour of years? Who that has known of tho thousands of pounds that have been devoted by religious people in England towards the civilization and Christian education of the natives of New Zealand, would for one moment suppose that the very Government of England itself would become the means of neutralizing the good intentions of the humane at home. But such unhappily is the case; and we trust, if ther-e be still any in England who wish well to the natives of this country, that they will raise such a hue and cry against the inhuman policy of Lord Stanley, as shall make the infamy attached to his conduct a sufficient warning to those who follow him in office, not to make a similar attompt.

Wales transport their felons to England? If it be fair on the one side, it must certainly be equally so on tho other ; v and we would strongly recommend the Sydney people, as Norfolk Island is now more than full, to send in future all the gentlemen destined for that Infernal Paradise to the Mother Country, where they, or the seeds from whom they originated, have primarily come. But while we wish never to see tho face of another Convict, or Parkhurst Boy, arrive in this colony, we are still persuaded that it is quite" practicable to convert these pests of society into benefactors of their race. This is to be accomplished not by lending or hiring them to private individuals as slaves or apprentices, but by Government taking them completely under their own charge, and employing them as the pioneers of civilization, in preparing the way for the extension of our Colonial Empire. Instead of heaping convicts upon the settlers of Vaud Diemen's Land and New South Wales, how much better would it have been to have employed them in the erection of public buildings, in the making of roads and bridges in South Australia, Swan River, or any other new colony. They might even be employed in cultivating farms on Government lands, for the purpose of being sold to future emigrants. They might in this manner be made to undergo a certain amount of reformatory punishment for their crimes, and to confer a great benefit on society ; and by placing moral Teachers over every gang or body of convicts, much might also be done for their own moral improvement, and advancement in social happiness. This is the plan which we should like to see adopted in regard to convicts ; and not the pet system of confining them in an Infernal Paradise to luxuriate in music, sensuality, and crime, tis Captain M'Conochie does. Certain punishmsnt, certain usefulness to society, and certain oppor- j tunity of moral and physical improvement, as far as the individual is concerned, should be tho object of criminal legislation ; any thing else is wrong in principle, and fatal in practice. But whatever be the system, and . however numerous the advantages arising [from it, we must seriously and earnestly urge upon all those who wish well to New j Zealand, to use every effort to prevent its being made one of " England's moral Dunghills." In the ordinary course of emigration, we receive quite enough of the elements of crime and immorality without having recourse to the double distilled essence preserved at .Parkhurst. We have no ill-feelings towards these unfortunate boys, and we should rejoice to think that the moral and physical condition of those of them who have arrived in this place might undergo a change for the better. But we have no hope whatever even on this score. The chances are ton to one against them in such a country as this, where temptation and opportunity are so frequent, and so inviting. In such a colony as New Zealand they cannot by possibility be kept under restraint. In another country necessity might compel them to work ; and hard labour ( might teach them to reflect, and reflection ' upon past misconduct, might beget a determination to better behaviour for the future. But in the present case no such desirable result can be hoped for. The moment the penitents are landed here, they are comparatively speaking, free, — free to do as they like ; and being from early youth trained to vice, they naturally betake themselves to it with an appetite sharpened by_ the temporary restraint, their first efforts will be directed against the European population, and when they arc detected in their bad practices among tho Europeans, they will immediately find their way into the native settlements, where they will be cheerfully received and highly prized, for the natives will feel astonished at the sagacity and intellect which these European children (as they call them) manifest. It is upon this score chiefly that we protest against the inhuman attempt to convert our adopted country into a pestilential convict colony. i Lord Stanley little knows, and little cares about the reasons which have induced many who are called runaways from N. S. Wales to come to this Colony. We are indeed runaways many of us from N. S. Wales, but we ran away to save ourselves from the effects of the moral plague. We ran away because with the preservation of our feelings and moral principles, we could not live with persons whose intellects were naturally as good as our own, and who had no moral check whatever upon their conduct. We left N. S. Wales because we must either be ruined or act upon the received maxims of society in that country, of bending every energy of intellect to make money in any way. We came to this Colony because we preferred a life of honesty and comparative poverty to the accumulation of wealth in the other way. — But we are now it seems in a far worse position than if we had remained where we were, in that case .we should have the advantage as well as the name of living in a penal settlement. We are now being