The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-07-13 00:00:00

CAYENNE: A PENAL. COLONY..

(From Bentley's Miscellany) •
With such unfavourable climatic conditions the colony
can never hope to become flourishing, even if the admi-
nistration were conducted with greater care, Hence we
cannot feel surprised that the condition of the colony
has not improved during late years, in which the

French Government had recourse to new measures.

These consist, as all our readers well know, in the
deportation of ordinary criminals, and especially of
persons politically compromised, to Guyana. The
decrees of December 8, 1851, and March 5, 1852, which
condemned all members of secret societies, and these
engaged in the December 6neutes, to transportation to
Algeria or Guyana, was followed on March 27, 1852, by

another decree, by which Cayenne was indicated as the
sojourn of convicts and galley-slaves, and the details of the

arrangement of the penal colony were settled. Among

other things, we read in it that the convicts should

be employed in azrieultural works, wood felling,

and other useful occupation ; that, after the expir;

iou of two years, they should be permitted to work

for the free colonists, and even be permitted to
to obtain concessions of land on their own acconnt,

which would become definitive at the end of ten years'

occupaancy. So soon as a convict secured a concession,
his family would be permitted to follow him to the
_ _

colony. If he were only compelled to eight years' penal
servitude, he would be obliged to remain there other

eight years after his time was up ; but if his punish-
ment exceeded eight years he must never quit the colony
•

again. As early as May 31, the first vessel left Brest
with 298 common criminals and three political convicts,

and was followed in the same year by five other vessels.

By the beginning of 1857, at leist 7,000 convicts had
been landed at Cayenne. We have no official reports of
the number sent out in the following years, but we know
that, owing to the precautionary measures taken in 1858,
and especially during the ministry of General l'Espi-
nasse, it increased so greatly that we may fairly estimate
the number of men transported to Cayenne at 10,000.
At the outset all these wretched beings were landed
on the Ile Royale, the largest of the Iles du Saint, in
order to be eventually removed to the establishments on
the other islands and the mainland. This island is
about a thousand metres in length, and consists of two
small hillocks, connected by a narrow isthmus. On one
of these is a fortified barrack for 140 soldiers ; en the
other are the buildings intended for the convicts,—
wooden huts, each containing 40 prison cells, magazines,
hospitals, workshops, chapels, &c., calculated for about
1,500 prisoners. These buildings are principally the
work of the convicts themselves, and they were also
employed in cutting down the forests on the island,
making roads and wells, planting gardens, &c.
The adjoining St. Joseph Island was at first set apart
for political prisoners, but in January, 1865, owing to
some disturbances, they were transferred to the Ile du
Diable. Since then St. Joseph has been inhabited by
some five hundred men condemned to hard labour, who
are principally employed in digging out a large stratum
of shell, which is converted into lime.
The political prisoners, or real "de'portis" on the Ile
du Diable, at first enjoyed greater liberty than the
ordinary criminals. Thely were divided by companies
of eight, in small huts, which they were permitted to
fit up according to their own taste, cultivated the ground,
and reared poultry and goats. But it was soon thought
advisable to give them severer labour, and they have
since been employed in erecting housei on the islands.
That they are at times treated precisely like galley-
slaves, forced to hard labour, flogged, tortured,
and starved, is sufficiently known by the letters of
some of theni, who, in spite of all vigilance, escape
from the Ile du Diable ; principally, however, from the
reports of the thirty-eight men who escaped a few years
back on a raft to Dutch Guyana, and thence. to the
United States. The French Government at that period
had no further justification to offer than that severer
measures had been rendered absolutely necessary by the
exalted and peculiar character of the so-called politicalsA
who had only given the colony evidence of their sloth 1
and uselessness. In 1857 we find that 214 free person*
and 1,176 deported, were living together on these Iles
du Salut.

. 4
Of the group of Hots de Remire, only La Mere and
Le Pere are inhabited. The former was -the residence
of the volunteers, that is, of those deportis who had
already served their time in France, and, seduced
by promises, consented to emigrate to Cayenne, 12
order to colonise the country. From 1862 to /855
they waited here in vain for the promised allotment;
of land, and from the testimony of Pere Ringot we
find that the greater portion had been rubbed o'f't ,
by despondency, despair, and disease. After, by their
help, a row of buildings had been erected, Ind sot 51
plantations of coffee shrubs and cocoa trees laid, out;
the remainder were removed in 1855, to the new estabes
lishments on the river La Comte, near Cayenne, and
their place on the island was taken by six hundred
galley slaves. The island was also n 5,44 as asan.atariuna,
as it is considered the healthiest spot in Cayenne, alo.. t
has for this purpose an hospital containing six hundred
patients. Le Pere Wai also inhabited for a time by a
number of volunte‘Ail, 144 now there LI only a 04
station upon
The elclest penal colony on the continent isMontsgue
d'Argent, a 'very irregularly formed peninsula at the
mouth of the Oyapulex and only, connected with the
mainland by an extensive morass. The buildings and
plantations whch formerly existed here were found to
be almost deserted in, 1852, when the establishment wet if
again commenced : where fine crops of cotton, uructl,
and, coffee were once obtained, lianas and weeds .
of every description, covered the ground.' Ne4l
groes, soldiers, and white labourers were set at once, ta
make the necessary arrangements, and up to 1855, fair' 1.
hundred and ninety-six convicts had been brought wide
shelter in a palisaded space at the highest pointiof the
peninsula, while on the slopes, a regular village vie%
built. The administration also succeeded in, forming
new plantations of coffee, rice, bananas, manioc mac*
and guava; but the situation proved so unhealthy, their
in spite of fresh cargoes of convicts sent out in 1857!
only one hundred and forty-five prisoners were 'led
alive. Since that period no more deportes have belt
sent there.

Nor were they more successful further np thg.f)ya.p4i
on whose left bank the penal colony of St p,cggefi
established in 1853. Surrounded, ipy swarurfi
alluvial soil, and exposed, to, the o'Ker#cw of the rivet;
it is, in the ttctest %me, o .th,e tem, the Noiiite
man's grate.. n“ixidn died witbil a feat
montihk, and, after several fruitless
attempts, the
government ictund themselves ^.-ompelled to transfer
the - surviving Ettrop
e°..s to La Coint, leaving
'only a number of neva. oowiricis Ben!
at St. Georges
I.IP the Antilles. They were principally employed
in felling the mahogany trees, for which purpose a steaol
saw-mill was tmAt v+ll.. Their number at the begininnial
of 1857 only amounted to la. That. the Government
ceuld select such a pestilential spot for a penal colon,'
suppoe4 the clearest proof that they only regarded police
security, but paid not the slightest attention to the lift
and health of the transported prisoners.

RAE cases of suicide have occurred among the mill'
tary at Woolwich during the past week, three of wb,onl
lay side by side in the dead-house, ready for intermeat,
and they were all pronounced men of a disordered intel-
lect, and subject to fits of temporary insanity.
BORNEO PIRATES.—WO (North Brit;44 Daily Nal
understand that Sir 4atoes Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak,
has purchaaed a screw-steamer in Port Glasgow, with
the intention, of ating her with two swift' guns, fore
us
mid aft, besides side guns. She is meant to act against
the piratical pran GA the coast of Borneo.

-KlavAio.N.—A. third candidate for the
cutcragec of the electors of Brighton has just bees
announced in the person of Mr. Moor, who is at present
on his way from Switzerland, at the invitation ot the
Conservative body. Mr. Moor announces himself alt*
Liberal Conservative, and from the divisions ex:isting Gal
the other side the field, little doubt is. tatertuined (if
the two Liberal candidates persist ba maintaining *O.
grotind) that his. friends are strong enough to maize
hira a sure victory. Au far both Mr. Goltlsifid and Mr.
White spear to run upon equal terms. The Liberal
interest is, indeed, fairly divided between them.,
CRUELTY TO A Curtn.—Sohn Southgate ividrevro,
harness maker, Bristol, has been ecanraitted to the ses-
sions for cruelty to his son, a hoy of fourteen, who wee
found in the streets by the pv.Uce in a destitute and filthy
condition, with 4 handcuff rem* one of his legs, which
fitted aR tightly that when it was removed an officer
said lie could bury his Anger in the impression" it left.
, The boy also said his father had tied hira up for a dap
by the thumbs, so that be could only just stand upon
his toes, had struck him upon the head with a hammer,
and had pit 4 strap round .his waist, and Chained him
11 to a staple in the wall.. The excuse was that the lad
was incorrigible ; but the magistrates said that if he
was treated like a dog he would turn out like a dog.
A LADY BURNT TO DEATH.—On Tuesday an inquest
was . held at the Guildhall, Doncaster, to inquire into
the cause of the death of Miss Wyatt, aged 62 years, a
lady of independent means, whose death was caused is
the_ following manner :—She bad been writing a letter
on Sunday night, either to a relative or friend, and for
the purpose of sealing the envelope, the taper was lit
and placed upon the table. Her sister, who was in the
room, accidentally knocked the taper, off the table, and
it fell upon her sister's muslin dress, which, of. course,
speedily ignited. 13,0 th of them lost their presence of
mind, and ran out of the room shouting for help. A
man who was passing at the time and other persons at
once rendered assistance, but the lady received such
injuries that her life was at once despaired of. -She had
on a steel crinoline, which hindered in a great measure
putting out of the flames. All that medical skill could
suggest was done for her, but she died on Tuesday
morning at half-past six o'clock.—A verdict in accord-
ance with the above facts was returned.

Printed and Published by WALTER HENRY PEAT, of NO
8, Wesley-street, in the Parish of Toxteth7park, at 10
Printing Establishments-3, BILUNSWICK•STRENT (corner Of
Castle-street), and 40, LEION.STRIBT, Liverpool.

JULY 13, 1860.