The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-11 00:00:00

restricted territories to which he had alluded. 'Western
Australia was a colony to which they might continue to
be sent ; but he quite agreed with the noble earl that
the foundation •f other penal settlements would not
answer the purpose for which transportation was now
intended and ought to be supported. A noble and
learned lord said the other night they might be sent to
Falkland and Greenland. He did not know what sort
of discipline they could be subject to there. That
showed how little people really felt what was the inten-
tion of transportation, because it was not such a system
as could be found in the Falkland Islands that they
wanted to establish. That might be a very good prison,
but what was required was the absorption of the con-
vict into the population of the country to which he was
sent. However, he was not one of those who thought
it impossible that some use might be made of Falkland
Island for this purpose. At all events, it was a subject
that deserved inquiry. It was their opinion that tran-
sportation, so far as it could possibly be exercised, was
a most valuable means of secondary punishment, but
whether it were valuable or not, and however anxious
they might be to exercise it, and to carry it into effect,
as extensively as the means they possessed would allow,
still he did think the time had come when it would be
absolutely necessary to make large provision in this
country for the treatment of our criminals, whether
sentenced to transportation or not. For it was certain
that however much they might wish to employ transpor-
tation, the exercise of it must necessarily diminish ; and
therefore they must endeavour to find some other mode
of treating a vast proportion of those persons who were
sentenced to be thus punished. He thought they had
'had great success in this attempt ; that the institutions
that had been established, the reformatory systems that
had been introduced, joined with the labour on public
works, had been attended with the very best effects, and
were said to have been greatly successful. He believed
it was probable that some change would have to be made
in the very indiscriminate mode of sentencing to transpor-
tation which had taken place for many years. Many
hundreds had been sentenced to transportation for seven
years, and what did that mean ? It meant two or three
years in the hulks, and then, having undergone no
discipline but the whip, to be turned out on the country.
That had gone on year after year without the great
alarm which some noble lords professed now at the pos-
sibility of some criminals being discharged into the coun-
try after a system of discipline from which there was
every reason to hope a moral reformation had taken
place. But the great majority of those who were sen-
tenced to seven years' transportion were not persons who
were guilty of any great amount of moral turpitude.
No doubt there were varieties, and no doubt that was
one of the causes of the inequalities of transportation.
Upon the sensitive temperament of many persons, it
was worse than death • to the careless and reckless it
was no punishment at all. (Hear.) Many of their lord-
ships would recollect the case of a member of the family
of a noble lord, a member of that house, who was so
determined to go to Botany that he declared if his family
did not send him there he would take good care he was
sent there. There was no doubt that transportation
fell most unequally on the persons who were sentenced
to it. The noble earl, though he spoke of the necessity
of continuing transportation to Van Diemen's Land,
had very much confined his observations to the treat-
ment at home, and he had described, and justly, the
effect produced by the discipline in those establishments
to which he had referred. Nothing could be more true
and just, and the necessity of extending that system
became more apparent every day. And without giving
up transportation ? Quite the reverse ; retaining it espe-
cially for those cases which were of a serious descrip-
tion. He thought that for minor offences the system of
reformatory imprisonment and labour qn public works
might be established for a great portion of those persons
who were now sentenced to transportation. The noble
earl had talked to alarm them by referring to the ex-
ample of France ; he said, indeed, that the persons dis-
charged there were the terror of the country. No doubt
they were, but why ? Because they had not undergone
that discipline and reformation which they were endeav-
ouring to give to criminals in this country. It was too
soon yet to speak with certainty on the subject, but he
thought that the experience of the few years which had
passed since the institution of the establishments at
Portland and Dartmoor augured favourably for their
success. The noble lord had made light of the
notion that transportation was no longer the same
terror that it was formerly, and he said it was
desirable that this feeling should operate in the
Iminds of persons so sentenced. He (Lord Aberdeen)
thought that these reckless minds were not incapable
of being moved by vague notions of this descrip-
tion ; but whether that was so or not, one thing
was certain, that in consequence of the extension of vo-
luntary emigration, the prospect of crossing the sea had
no longer any terror in it. He thought it would be a
great misfortune if criminals convicted of the most seri-
ous offences where not sent out of the country. Where
the sentence was for a longer period, say 15 or 20 years,
then, of course, it would be desirable to carry the sen-
tences into effect. The noble earl bad said they would
turn out from these establishments the worst persons in
the country. Why, they should not only turn out the
worst, but they should turn out the best, and if this
system were good for anything, it was precisely that
discrimination might be exercised, and that they should
let out those persons who had shown, by their conduct,
that they were deserving.
Lord CAMPBELL.—Then you would have perpetual
imprisonment in England ?
The Earl of ABERDEEN said no, in serious cases he
thought transportation ought to be observed, but in tri-
fling cases it was a farce to sentence them to transporta-
tion. A large portion of these persons would be re-
formed • the experience they had had of the establish-
ment, although but short fully justified that expectation.
They had taken this step whieh the noble earl said was
so rash, they had made provision for the number likely
to be sentenced this year, and there would be no chance
of any inconvenience arising from the persons whose
sentences would expire in the•course of the ensuing year.
He hoped that a well devised plan would be completed
in all its details, because the noble earl must not suppose
that this had been decided, that the abolition of transpor-
tation had been decided upon without any due substitu-
tion. Far from it He had already stated what was
the substitute, as to a large portion of these persons,
and accommodation had been provided for any probable
number that might be expected this year ' • but the pre-
cise amount of gradation of punishment, the duration
and the treatment which should be substituted for that
portion of the punishment which consisted of sending
them abroad with tickets of leave—these had not been
determined on ; they were in consideration, but they
were only details, and with the assistance and the experi-
ence of the very able and efficient persons who had the
management of these establishments, he did not think
but that they would have such a system as would prove
satisfactory. He did not think it necessary to say,more,
except to protest against the notion which the noble earl
throughout his speech had endeavoured to convey, that
they had come to a decision to abolish transportation be-
cause they found it impossible to send convicts to Van
Diemen's Land, for that was the whole amount of his
charge.

The Earl of CHICESTER then rose to move the
amendment of which he had given notice, "That whilst
in the opinion of this house it is expedient to retain the
punishment of transportation for some of the graver of-
fences against the law, it has become necessary to re-
strict such transportation to a few only of the colonies,
and to places which, from their liinited extent or popu-
lation, are at present incapable, without prejudice to
their own social condition, of affording employment to
any considerable number of discharged convicts. That
it has therefore become the duty of Parliament to adopt
immediate measures for providing increased means of
secondary punishment in this country. That such se-
condary punishment ought to be, both in kind and dura-
tion, sufficiently penal to exercise as deterring an in-
fluence as the punishment of transportation, and at the
same time of so reformatory a character as to afford a
reasonable hope that the convicts who undergo it will,
on their discharge, become useful members of society,
and qualified to obtain employment either in this country
or in the colonies." He said it was with considerable
pain he was obliged to oppose the noble earl who had
moved the address, as he had always regarded with great
admiration the manner in which the noble earl had dis-
charged the office of chief secretary for the colonies, and
because he must admit that, in conjunction with his
right hon. friend Sir George Grey, more was done during
his administration for the improvement of secondary
punishments in this country than had been done by any
previous administration. He objected to the motion,
because it implied a continuance of transportation to a
greater extent than ho believed 'to be desirable, or, in
the present circumstances of the colony, to be either
politic or just. He concurred in much that was said by
the noble earl, and ho also agreed with the noble earl
who had just sat down, that, for the
thegra vneercoeffsseintyceos,f
itarawnsbpaotrtbaatidonboeeunghetaitdo
wbietbcroengtahmiuedto. He agreed also
the interference of Parliament in this question - he be-
lieved it to be quite necessary that there should 'be some
alteration in 'the law, because transportation could not
be carried out to the extent that the law allowed, and
that was another reason why he could not concur in the
motion of his noble friend. He believed that a variety of
successful experiments proved that they bad discovered
a satisfactory system of secondary punishments equally
applicable to convicts who were to be sent to the colo-
nies,orwho
greatwere
blame to be
attacheddischarged inparthliiasmceonut and
ntrl.
He thought
whot
t
re mbeyl y hisfi t
bloaGi
rtee
no
transportationdv
fieoffirrncemu e
le no. r forlf the
secondary
hnotew nahavingpunishment, ma
s(wdoebreemr e ad
becoming
ny
everybody
m oart eek a pro-
was was so afraid of
etsext
tahr g mmi se cn ht is e vwoeur se
so ef ffeacrt s r
eohf folaer
ml twehaeaerdysl e
as c ot ne v
be
what
bad the theseobl
persons being discharged at home,
to be useful members of society in the coelffoneeiets,efif they
were to be so afraid of the mischievous
h were discharged every day after
from two years' down to three months' imprisonment ?
earl to say to that much larger number of connvictse,
They constituted the great mass of our criminal popu-
lation, and were continually being
thrown on society.
generally
.the grounds on
he had proposed, and
not be unwise for them to
adopt some such resolutions as
wThbeiebnobbeletbeeaurgl
bttheitn
would
ded
noble earl had entered
into a detail of the course
Parliament had pursued for
s
some years with regard
concluded
Tbe
Earl b by
fp movingE RBhyi s
toecondary punishment, and
no one was better qualified to speak on the subject of
said amendment.
, part
He must say, that in the greater the
earl.
h
of his speech e had given the go-by to the question, as
transportation and secondary punishment than the noble
his amendment did to the resolution of the noble earl on
the cross benches.
resolution He did not see why any one sup-
portingution might not also vote for the
amendment ;
but he was anxious to state why he should
support the resolution, without giving any opinion for
the
amendment. The noble earl
at the head of the Government had stated that up to
of transportation had
the present moment this question
or against the merits of the