The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-16 00:00:00

TION BILL.

Lord BROUGHAM moved the second reading of
these Bills. The Bills proposed to alter to a certain ex-
tent the law of arrest, and in order to effect that object
it would be necessary to repeal six sections of the Act.
He desired that the refusal to pay the amount of a
bond in judgment should constitute an act of bank-
ruptcy. if there was any compulsion in the
matter, it was already an act of bankruptcy.
but if there was no compulsion, the refusal was no act of
bankruptcy, and this aaomaly he proposed to do away
with. In the next place, the power of assignees was
extended under the new Act. Ile further proposed that
power should be given to executors or other persons—
say creditors—to administer the estates of deceased par-
ties insider the bankrupt-law. He felt the greater
confidence in making this alteration, inasmuch
as during the years in which the law
bad been administered by the present Commissioners—
at least between the years 1842 and 1848, while there had
been as many as 1,800 decisions, there bad not been
more than five appeals that had been sustained.

These Bills were then read a second time and ordered
to be committed.
LARCENY ACTS AMENDMENT BILL.

Lord CAMPBELL moved the second readin of this
Bill.

After a few words from the Marquis of SALIM:MY
and the Duke of RICHMOND,

Lord BROUGHAM agreed with the principle of the
Bill, which he considered was a most important one.
Lord STANLEY thought that a measure like the
present ought to have had more attention given to it
then appeared to have been awarded to it by the
Noble and Learned Lord who had introduced it.
He thought the Government ought, before the intro-
duction of this Bill, to have enunciated the principles
on which they intended to act with respect to transpor-
tation generally. He did not forget the argument
which was used a few years ago by the Noble Earl,
that they were about to try a new series of
punishments. He did not forget either that that was
an experiment, and ought not to be judged of until
it had been fairly tried ; but after eighteen
months' experience he did think that some statement
should be made as to its success. He therefore asked
the Noble Earl whether he intended to lay upon the
table of the House any measure for the settlement of the
matter. He thought Parliament ought also to be in-
formed of the course of proceeding intended to be pur-
sued with regard to female convicts. The accumulation
of male convicts in the penal colonies had led to the se-
rious evil of a disproportion between the two sexes, and
consequently the influx of female convicts into those co-
lonies, so tar from being considered an inconvenience,
would tend to remedy that evil. He wished, therefore,
to know how the Government intended to act on this
point. Did they mean to submit female convicts to any
probationary discipline in this country previous to trans-
portation, and to carry out to a greater extent, with re-
spect to them than with respect to the male convicts,
the sentence of transportation? When he had held the
' situation of Colonial Secretary the position of female
convicts, both here and in Van Diemen's Land pressed
very closely up-in his attention, and it was attempted to
carry out a reformatory system by the establishment of a
penitentiary in Van Diemen's Land, in which every fe-
male convict in the first instance should be placed. An
old 74 gun ship, the Anson, was sent out and fitted up
as a floating penitentiary, but the period of reformation
was of necessity too short, as the accommodation af-
forded was only sufficient for half the number of femode
convicts sent out in the course of the year. Conse-
quently, the period of probation was necessarily limited
to six months, but, tried so imperfectly as the system
was, there were found, if he were not misinformed,
striking advantages from the establishment of that pe-
nitentiary, and a great portion of the convicts were
turned out on society greatly improved. He was now
informed, though not by dir et or official authority,
that it was the intention of the Government
to abandon that system altogether and to send
out female convicts, it they were sent out at all, subject
to no reformatory discipline. He hoped he was misin-
formed, for the matter deserved the serious considera-
tion of the Government. He spoke from the informa-
tion of ono of the most valuable persons in her line—the
superintendent of this female penitentiary, for several
years one of the principal matrons of the Hanwell Lu-
natic Asylum—Mrs. Chisholm, who was distinguished
fur the solicitude and skill with which she managed those
placed under her superintendence. He was told that
person was at the present moment under the apprehen-
sion that her services would no longer be required; and,
if the establishment at Van Diemen's Land should be
broken up, ho thought, in justice, some provision should
be made for her. It was matter of importance, however,
that the system itself should not be abandoned; for, as
the female convicts were naturally more susceptible than
the male, a great work of humanity might be combined
with a great political advantage.—(Hear, hear.)
Earl GREY said, that it was his intention to lay some
papers with respect to transportation on the table of the
House to-morrow, but, as he had not those papers now by
him to refer to,and as he could speak merely from memory
on the subject, he might possibly fall into some mistakes
in addressing their Lordships on the present occasion. With
respect to the main principles of the policy which the Go-
vernment had announced their intention to adopt in respect
to transportation his opinion had not altered, but as to a
very important part of it, he admitted that the result of
the inquiry which took place two years ago had been
very considerably to modify his opinion. So far as re.
garded what he might term the strictly penal part of the
sentence of transportation, he believed that that could
be carried out more advantageously in this country than
in the colonies, but that the subsequent part of the
punishment, after the execution of the more severe por-
tion, could be more advantageouly put into effect in the
colonies.—(Hear, hear.) His original idea had been,
that the removal of convicts to the colonies should take
place after their punishment had been completed, and
that they should go under no restraint but as exiles.
The important inquiry conducted by their Lordships
and information since received from the colonies had,
however, led him to conclude that the convicts should
not be sent into the colonies in a state of entire
freedom, but as convicts enjoying what was techni-
cally termed tickets of leave.—(Hear, hear.) Under
such a system there would exist a power to
remove the transported convicts from towns, where they
might be exposed to the temptation of bad company or of
easy access to public-houses, and to compel them to reside
in remote districts, where the population was scattered,
where they would not be exposed to the contamination
of bad company, and where their labour would be most
useful. There would also exist the power of mustering
them on occasions when necessary. In the very great
majority of cases he believed that if the convicts were
subject in this country to a reformatory system of dis-
cipline, they would, on their arrival in the colonies, be-
come useful members of society. With these views the
plan under which the Government was prepared to
carry into effect the sentence of transportation was, that
every convict (he was now speaking of male convicts)
sentenced to transportation, whether for seven years or
for a longer period, whose health fitted him to be sent to
the colonies, should ultimately complete his punishment
by going out. In the first instance he would bo sent to
such places of reformatory discipline as that at Wake-
field, or at Pentonvillo, where he would pass a longer or
shorter period of separate confinement. It had been
found, in reference to the establishments at Gibraltar
and Bermuda, that those convicts who had been subject
to preliminary discipline when they were afterwards
placed in different circumstances had not forgotten the
salutary impression it had made on them. It was pro-
posed that the convicts, after having gone through a pe-
riod of separate imprisonment, in no case exceeding
eighteen months, and very rarely exceeding twelve
mouths.—(Bear, hear)—for all evidence showed that
this was a punishment which, if prolonged beyond a cer-
tain time, was injurious—should be sent to some esta-
blishment where they could labour in association—fur
instance, at Bermuda or Gibraltar, where the labour of
convicts was valuable. He spoke from memory, bat he
believed that the value of the labour performed by a con-
vict on the fortifications there was on the average 38/.
a-year, and that the expense of his maintenance and
clothing, not including lodging or superintendence,
ndsome
amounted only to half the value of his labour.
establishments of this kind it was intended thatthecon
con-
victs should go after the period of their separate
impri-
sonment; that a record of their conduct should be kept;
and that the term for which they
would be compelled
to labour at this establishment would very much depend
upon their conduct. At the conclusion of their term
Ithey would have the advantage of being sent out with
tickets of leave to the colonies, where they might dis-
perse, the object being to scatter them as widely as
possible, so that a convict thus sent out might very
rarely happen to see any one who might have known
him when engaged formerly Gla a CUM of ctinat. WWI,