The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-15 00:00:00

TRANSPORTATION TO AUSTRALIA.

The Australian colonists now resident in England
are all in a ferment as to the consequences of the
publication of the report of the Royal Commission,
recommending the transportation of all male convicts
to Western Australia. The following petition has
been prepared for presentation to her Majesty by a
committee recently appointed, and is receiving the
signatures of all the leading people connected with
Australia and New Zealand :
"Most Gracious Sovereign,—We, your Majesty's most
loyal and faithful subjects, Australian colonists at present
resident in England, and others interested in the Australa •
sian dependencies, desire humbly to approach your Majesty
with the expressism of that elevated loyalty to your M&josty's
person and to the throne of these realms which S 3 especially
characterises the communities in question.

" We humbly submit to your Majesty that, in consequence
of the apparer t failure of the laws respecting secondary
punishment, and the frightful outbreak of crimes of violence
during the last winter, your Majesty was graciously pleased
to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into and report
upon the whole subject of secmdary punishments.
"That the report of the Commissioners has recently been
laid before Parliament, with a very elaborate series of re-
commendations as to the treatment of a subject confusedly
surrounded with the greatest difficulties.

" That with the main body of the report your petitioners
have no wish to inteifere, but that a principal feature of
the scheme suggested consists of a proposal, in the exact
words of the Commissioners, that, with the exception of
those who are physically or otherwise unfit for it, all male
convicts sentenced to penal servitude for any term of years
should be ultimately sent to Western Australia,' and your
petitioners perceive in that suggestion, if adopted, all the
elements of most serious evil, both.to the colonies and to the
mother country.

" That the proposition to pour out upon any separate
community the vast volume of crime of a large empire is in
itself one of a very astounding character, and can only be
listened to upon the plainest evidence of its absolute neces-
sity, and of the course it recommends being rendered a
benefit, and not a curse, to those exposed to the inevitable
evils of such reception.
" That the history of the Australian colonies shops that
the introduction of felons confers no such benefit, in any
degree commensurate with the innumerable and deadly in-
juries inflicted thereby upon the character and moral well-
being of a community; and that it is the almost unanimous
opinion of all colonists, except these pecuniarily interested
in the large imperial expenditure thence arising, that no
more fatal evil could befal the country subjected to such
influences, and that it is almost impossible to imagine a more
grievous or intolerable wrong-

" That, embittered by recollections of the past, the pro-
posal to introduce these criminals will undoubtedly be met
by the most resolute opposition by every one of the larger
and more important colonies ; and that the consequent con-
dice between the imperial and colonial authorities will pro-
voka an amount of ill-feeling which even the abrogation of
the proposed scheme will not allay.
" That your Majesty having been graciously pleased to
grant to all the colonies of the Australian group, excepting
Western Australia, local government and representative in-
stitutions, no other ground of disagreement but this suggests
itself as likely to disturb the friendly relations between the
colonies and the mother country, or to endanger that affec-
tionate connexion which it is the dearest wish of almost
every colonist to pres3rve, and render still more close and
cordial.

" That these representative institutions, embracing re-
sponsible Ministries, based upon a very extended franchise,
have assisted in the formation of an independent and self-
reliant spirit among the colonists themselves ; and we feel
assured that no Colonial Ministry can retain office that does
not adopt a very resolute, or perhaps defiant, tone upon a
subject on which all men in the colonies think and feel so
strongly.
" That in former years, and when the colonies were much
less populous than at present, laws were passed to prevent
the introduction of such men, and assented to by Colonial
Governors, although such legislation was known to be in
derogation of your Majesty's prerogative, thereby leading
to collision between the Imperial and Colonial authorities
in a manner greatly to be regretted.
" That the argument that the more distant colonies are
not interested in a scheme limiting transportation to West-
ern Australia is entirely fallacious, in. view of the distinct
knowledge we possess that runaways, conditional pardon
men, and expirees do constantly resort to the adjacent colo-
nies, and shock and harass theta with the most atrocious
crimes. That the number of these convicts who have served
their sentences, and annually become free, will be nearly
equal to those arriving in Western Australia, while the
comparative paucity of natural resources that characterises
that settlement on the one hand, and the attraction of the
goldfields and high price of labour in the adjacent colonies
on the other, will cause a tide of emigration of expiree con-
victs to the free settlements directly in proportion to the
number of prisoners transported. That it has been publicly
acknowledged in Parliament, by the Under 'Secretary for
the Colonies, that expirees are free to go where they please.
That the colonists, impressed by past experience, never will
believe that there is any other intention than that of allow-
ing convicts to overrun the other colonies, and treating
Western Australia as a mere depot.
" That it is an obvious misuse of some of the finest coun-
tries in the world, possessing the most salubrious and agree-
able climates, to which hundreds of thousands of your Ma-
jesty's most deserving subjects would joyfully resort if they
had the means, to dedicate them to the reception of the
greatest criminals. That such misuse tends to deter the
immigration of the virtuous, and thereby closes the door to
a very laudable and honourable career; and, practically, so
gives the advantage to the felon as compared with the man
unstained by crime, as to suggest the very dangerous idea
that the labourer improves his condition. by betaking him-
self to criminal courses.
" That the almost entirely unanimous feeling of the colo-
nists on this subject is exhibited authoritatively in a petition
recently addressed to your Majesty from a conference ap-
pointed by the Governments of the several colonies of New
South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, the
strong tone adopted in which will, we believe, but feebly
represent the feelings which will be inevitably provoked by
the reception of the report itself.
" That the deluging a limited population with the felons
of a large State, the exposing unoffending colonists to out-
rages found intolerable in England, the burdening colonial
establishments with great additional cost in gaols, courts of
law, and police, the deterioration of national character con-
sequent upon such an importation, the implied assumption
of inferiority in being constituted a receptacle for crime, and
the discouragement of virtuous immigration calculated to
be so advantageous to all concerned, would constitute, on
the whole, so gross a wrong
and inflict so deep a wound
upon the legitimate self-love of a rising people, and would
form so marked a contrast with the benignant and equal rule
for which your Majesty
is justly famed, that we can scarcely
believe that this dangerous proposition will be adopted.
" That your petitioners therefore humbly pray that your
Majesty will be graciously pleased to withhold your sanc-
tion from a policy calculated be yond all expression to injure
it to disturb
an important and rapidly growing
the present happy homes of more than a million of your
Majesty's attached subjects; to lead to the adoption of a
common ;
hostile tone where hitherto the most loyal spirit has pre-
vailed; and to embitter all relations with your Majesty's
Australian subjects in the future.
" And your petitionep as in duty bound will ever pray."