WHAT'S TO BE DONE WITH THE CONVICTS? [From the Times,, March 7.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 826, 2 July 1853, Page 4

WHAT'S TO BE DONE WITH THE CONVICTS? [From the Times,, March 7.]

In the House of Lords, the other night, a conversation occurred which, though not assuming the shape of logical discussion, or the dimensions of a set debate, was addressed, nevertheless, to one of the most difficult and momentous problems of the present generation. The Bishop of Manchester had taken occasion to to make some enquiry respecting the gradual assimilation of certain convict establishments abroad

to our improved penitentiaries at home. His i question received a satisfactory reply (torn *he Duke of Newcastle, snd the subject might perhaps have dropped, when Lord Campbell seized the opportunity of interrogating the Colonial Secretary on a point of far vrider operation. His Lordship observed that in a few days he should be proceeding on bis circuit to administer justice to her Majesty's subjects, and he wished to know whether tbe punishment of transportation was to be considered as existing or extinct ; whether banishment beyond the seas was or was not to constitute one of the penalties of the law ; and whether, in case of his pronouncing a sentence to. this effect, it would be a reality, as heretofore, or a mockery and delusion. The Dolce of Newcastle, though not professing to describe "any resolution on the part of the Ministry, expressed himself as anticipating tbe discontinuance, at no distant date, of this species of punishment. The view thus taken of the case was by no means acceptable to the most experienced menabeia of their lordships' House, but after a few earnest remarks the matter was dropped, with a general acknowledgment that the difficulties of the problem, as now presenting themselves, appeared almost insurmountable. Without pretending to dogmatise on a subject to perplexing, we can at least invite public reflection by placing the question in a light generally intelligible. Tbe disposal of criminals has always proved a fertile source of legislative embarrassment. There are to be considered at one and tbe same time the points — first, of punishment ; 2ndly, of reformation ; sod 3rdly, of the general welfare of the community concerned. Now, the penalty of transportation as anciently imposed, did satisfy the various conditions thus suggested, to an extent, too, probably unattainable in any other manner. Banishment beyond seas, especially to the most distant regions of the known world, involving a gloomy and perilous sea voyage, and comprising an infinite multiplicity of privations and sufferings, furnished at one period a prospect unquestionably formidable to evil doors, while at the same time it provided with singular success for their ultimate reformation, and in case of such reformation for their establishment in life. The most incorrigible characters soon met that fate at Sydney or in Norfolk Island, which they bal barely escaped at home, but the more reclaimable were gradually released from durance ; and as the country was almost unpeopled, labour sGarce, society rude, and living cheap, they found little difficulty in gaining a decent sustenance and position. Ihe advantages of this system to the home community were equally rtfmatkable. We got rid of our most dangerous characters, with no cruelty to them and infinite security to ourselves. The population of the island was purged, as it were, o! its destructive elements, for almost every sentence of transportation thus became equivocal to perpetual banishment, with "the free consent and benefit of the convict himself. . Unfortunately thess desirable conditions have now been seriously changed. In tbe first place, Australia, always and naturally the chief convict receptacle, instead of being a land of terrors has gradually become one of the most attractive regions upon earth. As voluntary emigration to these parts increased, and Englishmen were familiarised with the delightful climate, productive soil, ami endlesa advantages of tbe southern world, our antipodes assumed a wholly new character, until at length the gold discoveries completed the metamorphosis end rendered Botany Bay the very port which every working man desired to reach. At the same time that transportation, or, in other words, banishment to Au»tralta was thus transmuted from a penalty into a boon, the terrors lost by the convicts were imbibed by the colonial population. As the land grew better peopled, the voluntary settlers more numerous, and the infected element, by incessant importation of criminals, larger and larger, objections were conceived, entertained, and exposed to the recepsion of this moral refuse ; and in thus consigning our convicts to distant countries, it sooo became necessary to consider whether these countiies would admit them. The Cape colony, at the hazard of its allegiance, and, indeed, to some extent of its duties, actually refused ; and tie Australian colonies have been approximating so manifestly to tbe same resolution, "that we have determined o» anticipating their decision by foregoing the practice of transportation of our own accorJ. But what, then, is to ie done with our criminals ? How is England to be protected in those immunities which she has hitherto enjoyed, and which have been regarded by foreign writers as our social advantage ? How are our convicts to be at once punished and reformed ? How, after repentance, are they to obtain that chance of Tighting themselves with the world, which has hitherto been scarcely within the x each of even those of unblemished . characters ? How, in short, are all parties to be compensated for the 'opportunities thus lost? At first sight it may seem easy to solve the question bj substituting a willing for'an unwilling colony as the place of transportation, and by carrying our convicts to some country where they will be as little unwelcome as they were in Australia some thirty years ago. But to this it is replied that no such country can be found. We certainly possess in our colonial empire such an extent and variety of territories as never before .pertained to any Sovereign people, but we have no possession fulfilling the conditions proposed. Either it will be inhabited or uninhabited. If inhabited, the settlers reject our convicts ; if uninhabited, the prospect and opportunity of reformation no longer exist. It is true that wt can maintain exclusively penal settlements such as that at Norfolk Island, or convict establishments like those at Gibraltar and Bermuda ; but this is simply instituting penitentiaries abroad instead of at home. The essence of " transportation" is utterly lost. In the majority of cases the term of baoishm' nt is limited to seven, tefy or fourteen years, as tbe case may be. Under the old system the convict at or before the expiration of his period of punishment obtained the means of a respectable settlement in a new nnd-easier world, but if his place of residence is, a. mere penal settlement what is be to do upon his liberation 1 He must return to this country ; and in this case we shall have gained nothing but the charge of transportation by sending him to a penitentiary abroad instead of keeping him in one, at borne. .' Th,e dilemma, in short, is this — that it is.indispensable to the beneficial theory of transportation that there should be in tbe country of our selection the elements of a non- convict society, whereas wherever these elements exist,, there, is an insuperable repugnance to transportation.

We confess to an entire agreement with those experienced lawyers who "conceived that no satisfactory substitute for transportation as aTsVcondary punishment could ever be found in penitentiaries or prisons: at home.- Nothing v' can -ever compensate the community at large for the loss of those advantages accruing to it from the permanent removal of its criminal population. On this point we entertain no doubt whatever. If a colony, or a portion of a colony, can be 'discovered which will, receive our convicts, the system of transportation must excel all others. We are not without hopes that in our boundless expanse of territory tome such spot nay be dound, ancf that considerate and conciliating* overtures on the part of Ooverment may be met with corresponding sentiments on the part of the settler. We thinf, as we observed at the time, that the resistance of the Cape colonists was notquite justifiable. Our possessions .in Southern Africa are so immense, and the population so thin/ that if proper quarters had been selected, and proper moderation observed, a certain number of convicts might have been .yearly received, not only only without detriment, but with actual benefit to the colony. In the meantime, however, we most [do our. best with Western Australia, which still remains open to us. We must so conduct our penitentiaries at home that convicts returned upon society may be less noxious, if possible, than heretofore ; and above all — and this is our truest resource — we must endeavour' to lessen their numbers altogether. 'Perhaps the loss of remedial means may be tven a gain to us, if it makes us more anxious for prevention. ' Ragged schoolsand universal teaching— -cheap bread and readier sustenance — free emigration and higher wages — must all come to our aid, and in the end we may possibly find that the great question of secondary punishments is best solved by the diminution of secondary crime.