The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-31 00:00:00

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

THE question of transportation is gradually
reducing itself to a very narrow issue. At first
it was argued that imprisonment at home pos-
sessed greater terrors for the criminal than
expatriation. Then it was said that it was
no use to argue the point, for that we could
never find a place to send him to. Now it is
urged simply that his employment at home
would be more profitable than his employ-
ment in a colony ; and that, therefore, we
need not look abroad till the waste lands of
this country have been exhausted.

The difficulty of finding a suitable locality
for fresh penal settlements was long main-
tained to be insuperable. THE PRESS has
never taken that view of the case from the
beginning ; and, as we observed last week,
we are glad to notice that persons whose
opinions are entitled to the highest respect
are coining forward to take part in the dis-
cussion, and that the preponderance of argu-
ment is so greatly in favour of our own view
Letter after letter has appeared in the lead-
ing journal in corroboration of Mr. EDDY'S
original state-nent. That gentleman has him-
self replied to Governor RENNIE in a forcible
and conclusive style ; and, unless some unex-
pected disclosures are in reserve for us, we
may assume that the difficulty of finding a
country for the reception of convicts has been
practically solved.

JANUARY 31, 1857.

The qualities which render the Falkland
Islands so eligible for this purpose may be
classed, perhaps, under three heads,—their
complete isolation ; their situation in the
centre of a great maritime thoroughfare; awl
their natural resources, which might be deve-
loped into the materilds of an extensive and
profitable trade. The first would prevent the
danger of contamination to any neighbouring
people ; the second and third would both afford
that supply of labour which is indispensable
in a convict settlement ; and the third would
gradually superinduce that growth of a free
population which, within certan limits, is
another most desirable element That it would
in time exceed those limits, is, in our opinion,
nothing to the purpose. The islands would
remain a penal colony for many generations ;
and beyond a certain number of years we are
not called upon to look. Legislation which is
effective for a century is very good legislation ;
independent of which consideration it should
be remembered that we shall be no worse oft'
at the end of that time than we are now, while
we shall have enjoyed the advantage of a cen-
tury's additional experience in dealing with
the subject, and of a century's freedom from
the pollution engendered by the concentration
of crime amongst ourselves. To those with
whom the authority of Governor RENNIE may
still weigh, in spite of the formidable array of
arguments which have been brought against
him, we offer the following extract from that
gentleman's own report to Sir Joan PAKINGTON
in the year 1353. We alluded to it in our
article of last week ; we now give his exact
words. After speaking of the increase in
shipping, and the stimulus thereby given to
trade, he continues :

In the year 1819 f put up for sale twelve allotments, of
one acre each, of suburban land near the town, suitable
for the working?classes to build on or to cultivate as
gardens. and the amount realised averaged 61. an acre,
being three times the usual Government price. A few
weeks since, having been given to understand that other
parties wished to have an opportunity of purchasing
similar allotments, I selected eleven of the same extent,
but not quite equal to the former iu situation. The prices
on this occasion averagel 111. an acre, or sis times the
usual tined sum, and twice that of 1819 ... . . .

Small, comparatively, as the instances are which I have
the honour to communicate, I trust thy may lead to a
more just appreciation of the capabilities and utility of
this colony, and the favourable prospects which it alLrds
to steady ate industrious emigrants.

We may observe, before quitting this part of
our subject, that the arguments in favour of
Western Australia as the site of a penal settle-
ment have b" en not yet overthrown ; and if, as
seems very probable, that region should also
prove available for the purpose, we may fairly
suppose that the lips of those who object to
transportation on the score of its imprac-
ticability would be finally closed.
The question of labour admits of being stated
in very simple terms. Which is on the whole
best for sticiety, to save so many pounds by
the employment, of convicts at home, or so
much pollution by paying their passage to
the Antipodes? On the danger and the extent
of that pollution we have already expressed
ourselves strongly. But it is impossible to
state it. in more terse and forcible language than
that employed by Mr. EDDY in his second
letter :

The same miasma which, when concentrited, as it now
is in England, is in the highest degree pestilential and
reproductive, dispersed and ventilated becomes innozious.
This is exactly the point we have ag►tin and
again urged ; and as yet we have certainly
seen no arguments adduced by the holders of
opposite opinions which have shaken our belief
in its importance.
On the supposition that criminals mly be
divided into corrigibles and incorrigibles—an
idea which deserves attention—it is quite pos
aible that localities like Dartmoor, or even the
Hebrides, might be turned to good account.
It is, perhaps, possible that a small class of
the very worst criminals might be detained at
home in perpetual imprisonment and seclu-
sion ; and in that case there would be no
objection to making use of their labour. If
the large body of less depraved criminals, of
which these characters are the mature speci-
mens, were constantly thinned by trans-
portation, the number of felons at home might
be kept down to a very low average, while the
class sent abroad would experience fewer
difficulties in the path of reformation. Whether