The Express.
London, England, 1847-06-05 00:00:00

1613, ke remold alllua if it fulled, was te be attri-
buted more to hie le himeidf, although =desk
he was to be Ow their use. !et he
woldd West, time be ghee& best Altai -flirr their
duties, and their perhentasee a them; sae hired
this, is anteltdeeimesthe view of the matter, hie regeod-
bility mein net SS, =Cow as content es red
ame
this dof Igo. th NMI es the voluminous de-
spatches whit* were bran
its , and which would
enable these tujudge whether he had faithfully performed
his duty or not. It was Aft te his noble hinted to way
that, let the faults of the orb= be what they might,
yet, during the gereestelleit of Sir Hadley Wilted,
tin reports were always istoombk. (The hon. gentlemen
thin reed a mired from a diugsedt of Sir E. Wilmot, is
1848, expresdve ethis belief Me probation system wee
the bed whisk wield be edged). Wes it fair to his
noble friend with indifferent* er Ineetestion whin sulk a
aeries of despatehes were nested Yeti He would she
refer to the superintendent OHMS & bleed, in order to say
that the sew guise of ?weft sum meshed from him, of
the fallachmsess of Width lbws maid be se doubt what-
ever. 'Them met thereire a ureat difficulty in meting on in-
formadms emelt tieseckylfiea. With regard to the appointment
of Meier Childs; he Gould 'stymy be was a captain of marines
who had been etimidered to have distinguished himself in
the melte, and we a disciplinarian, and after considerable
difikelty in finding any one to accept the appointment, it
was given to him en what was thought, good groom-
Otellaidon. With respect to the Alen itself, it was pro-
posed now instead of sending convicts out with con.
dinette! pardons, to give them tickets of leave.
At present the power which existed of revoking tickets of
have, ensued the future good conduct of the convicts who
Medved them, while the coneession to them of conditional
guides would surrender the power of coercing them, in the
1011011 i their again falling into insubordinauon, vice, and
hlemerelity. This part of the proposal was made upon the
swift of the Council of New South Wales • body which
liner agreed to the views taken of the subject by the Trans-
Cl=Committee. On the contrary, they had ever been
of the assignment system; and it was obvious that
they would be ready to receive ticket-of-leave convicts, be-
rmes that class would still be subject to discipline and coer-
cible. It was said that conditionally pardonedl convicts went
there now • but it should be remembered that these were
selected fierisoners, who had undergone probation at the
Pentonvi prison. In the plan proposed by the govern-
ment, there wee one strong point in its favour that
was, the increased efficiency and cue, the supe-
riority of the control and impactionwhich it ems in-
tended should be kept over omelets in this ameatzy ;
het he believed by. a mere liberal expenditure's ids serpos4
the difficulties 'ruing front the want of easiest gegeffine
femdence abroad would, in a great measure, be emeleme.
This superintendence ought to be confided, not te ale.
rata hands, but to a higher class of public alma, who
would only undertake each • duty on receiving adequate
remuneration. If this was done on the other side of the
world, as in the Isle of Wight and Portland, the evils
which had been complained of as having occurred abroad,
would never have taken place. It was admitted that separa-
tion and seclusion was part of the system to be carried out.
la this country this system could only be effected by the
ortilledal means to be created by the erection of gaols. Now
abroad, in Van Diemen's Land for instance, where tale
den was provided by nature, and whence there would
be no chance of escape, these objects would be compatible ;
but, in fact, if earned out here, would convert this
Bantry Ma a penal colony. The only instance where this
suss praecied was in Fronts ; but what was the result?
Os the inhumation of an eye-witness he could state, that,
in order Si meintain subordinative among the convicts, they
were lasted in sleeping apartments in a row, with a 121 b.
manes tided, and *sentry standing through the night with
• lighted match. This would not be borne in this country.
He contended that the evils inflicted upon the colonies by
the trampertation to them of our convict population, were
by se same such as they were described, and he referred,
la swam of his view, to the unexampled progress which
bed him made by New South Wales. He quoted Mr.
listkees account of Sydney, to prove the @opener tone of
morality, civilisation, and good order in that town, and •
similar testimony in favour of Van Diemen's Land, given
by Mr. Fry, and, maintained that these colonies had owed
their vasrprogresi to their establishment u penal settlements.
Mr. B. DENISON had been tong of opinion that they
could not go on in their existing condition, and he boiled
with much satisfaction the system now developed by the go-
vernment. He reprobated the administration of Captain
Maconochie, in Norfolk Island, as productive of the very
worst consequences. In reference to the transportation
committee of 1837-8, on whose unanimity the hon. baronet,
the member for Southwark, so relied, the fact was, as to
their unanimity, that although the committee numbered'
fifteen members, there were
present at their meetings. Lord John Russell, use of=
attending two sittings only out of fourteen, and Sir
Peel, another member, only two; a cire:unsteirm which,
without any disrespect to those gentlemen, be *RIM e►
serve, materially lessened the weight of their ems@ le the
recommendations of the committee. He druid the Ike
poets the government plan relating to tickets of knee
might he modified with much advantage to the schema, ma
malaise whirl related to conditional pardons. He thee&
that t u held spat convicts should not be too proma
to him that the system applied to
from padbemt Wed In extended to elder
Oa Or wise* be Wooed that a partial restored= et its
aedgemoas system, or at ',sot, the establishinast of some
ILlSZwersmenst Wrest sesomms.sliisvenbel6'.7pset..":=itt °O;
view, it would be dosed of grist adventure. lateour we
so mores in Australia, that a resestino.n,..of labours's,
to the numberof 270, wee sabseeled • ly, the men '
at MN denied with high were and rations.
He bid theit dip oiseleed a heir ken ea animist colonist,
we leember et that harem, XL Maas, who said, "If
do not semi us at ones a =Spiv of free labour, in
wen's name give us back the di moment system."
With thaw ebiervations, ke wee quite Minhird to leave the
queries la M. beads of the government
Ilk I. PAILINOTON not 011•1111111 unqualified sp.
=aledes poommat plan. At the seem dam, he
ll Si hen been proposed in the beet spirit, and
seder the pmemen d sespmeing difficulty. It appeared Si
bias the* the course the government had taken was • preci-
pitate mien and that tney had failed in bringing the mea-
sles helm the loose in that completeness sad with that can
Shish eme smeary to ensure its complete swenss. (Hear.)
SW wee seedy Si admit that the present dj 'mdful syitem
dew peed Wades could not be malaise& The pasha-
den eyeless might have been justly emiamerekliee eedge.
mud *ism might have partially Med. bid Old WWI II
1111111se wig the_ system of transportation Audi be
(Hear, heir.) The right kirk hessestigt
lisassfary for the Home Department, =seamy Weld& MO
=an experiment, but • question of such Envie&
not be treated experimentally. A plea sheedi be
=Zwith the best care and ability of the irommsnak
en brought forward should he introduced sea m-
oment and well-digested system. (Hear, hear.) One weed
as to the sentence of transportation itself. The right bin,
baronet had on the previous evening dwelt upon the eased
the sentence on the individual criminal, but be had hear
given sufficient weight to its effect on the public. Ina a
long experience as • magistrate, he could say that s
could be mere serious or important then the Influence =
a sentence of transportation exercised on the friends end
connexions of the condemned. He believed that tie
government had not the means of carrying out their own
plan. He should like to have an authentic estimate
of the number of convicts to be acted on. (Hear.) It
was estimated variously at from four to six thesis* and be
was willing to take it at either number. He Aid that in
England there were 133 prisons ; of these rely SI bed the
separate system, and many had es little replies es mile
exist in the prisons of former days. He a=dlh.st the
seurate system was not more e es be
believed that the prison at Pro= bed esemplady
posted it to be the best system et pekoe dbeiplise ever
edepted. (Hear, hear.) But what be we aisle= Si weer-
; lila was how the right hon. beast assent to aseemmodoto
all the convicts under his system. prime ellapbmil
would only accommodate about ewe end Ilselleml
was even worse off in regard to prim: In dui
country there were 702 prisoners more than tiers wee way
accommooatioa for. To the second part of themosetting
plan, that of employing the convicts on the r
and an extension of the hulk system in this country, he had
equally strong objections. He thought that the honest I
labourers of this country should not be superseded by con-
vitt.l ; and therefore he must meet this part of the plan with
his most unqualified disapprobation. He also modsonned
the sending out these convicts, after the ex phaden el the
periods of their punishment here, to our colon lathe posi-
tion of free labourers, and with social advantages bayed
thou which were extended to persons who were guiltless of
crime. He wouldnupport any vote that might be proposed
in opposition to their plan. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME entirely concurred in the principle oldie bill,
which established one general system of superintendence
under one board for the three prisons of Pentaavine, Mill-
bank, and Parkhurst; and, as he hoped, one arum
of prison discipline fur them all. With le treseporte-
tion, his objection was not to that descri et pemadmeed,
but to the mode in which it had been carried elk, *whop le
the carelessness of the government in appelsides pulses to
govern in the colonies to which convicts were seat with-
out fleet ascertaining their fitness, end without ariabillt-
ing laws f e the government of convict, in all the
colonies alike, and requiring constant information that
thou laws were strictly adhered to. (Hear, hear.) Seeing
that the punishment of data was abolished, or nearly so, in
all cases, some species of secondary punishment must be
substituted. Ha did not object toe principle of amnia
confinement, but he doubted its practicability as a general
system for convicts. How was it partible to provide 20,000
or 30,000 separate places of confinement in this country,
which, if all the convicts were to be subjected te that punish-
meet, would be required ? Look at the risk you ran, in
the event of any outbreak in this country, from having so
many priseuersconfined in our prisons. To guard these pri-
son., 10,000 or 15,000 additional soldiers would be necessary.
Then the moment the convicts were removed from prison and
employed in gangs on the public works all the advantages
of the separate system would be lost. He thought the better
course would be to re-establish the system of transportation
under proper and efficient control. It was the operation of
that system to au extent that absorbed the convicts gradually
into the p,tpuletion that had been the chief cause of the pros-
perity of the colony of New South Wales. He saw no
to the assignment system, if carried on within du=
He believed that system was a much better means of so-
forming min:duals than solitary confinement in this country,
while, on the other band, they were made useful to ffie
oountry to which they were sent, and made to condom to its
prosperity. He contended that the system of Mr. Maco-
nochie, which held out the hope of reward to the criminal
in proportion to his good conduct, was the most efft ctual
m...tos of r forming him. Ile thought Mr. Maconochie
had been ill-treated. He thought transportation ought to
be cantiavd under well-considered arranpmente and proper