The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-09 00:00:00

off et. the 4 etja et in view, namely, the punishment of
fee-tee-es and she tefi,rmition of crimivals. Ile would
the up test gut stion at the point where ho ;eft off- in
1847. and sate g. le rely the plan at present adopted.
The enein feature of the scheme then proposed, and since
carried out With some modifications was, that the pries-
cipt4l petal portion of the period should be spent, not in
a .hstsnt colony, where hardened criminals were con-
gregated, but iu some of the convict establishments -of
this century, and at Bermuda, or Gibraltar. The sen-
tence of traeeeortatien, he now tspeke of the casts of
ordinary convtcts, was dividrd into three parts. The
Govt remeet had determined that the first portion should
be passed in separate imprisonment, as distinguished
frem the silent system, the maximum period of
imprisoement being 18 months, but averaging generally,
except in extreme cast s, from 6to 12 months. A most
incerteet and erroneous impression had got abroad, that
the Government tied come to the conclusion that the
system of sepsu ate imprisonment failed, and was ex-
ph dad. Nothing could be mere erroneous. Each suc-
ceeding year's experience, and the informatien derived
from gentlemen in the service of the Government, and
(revs neagistt atee, convinced hire that the syse m, sub
ject to cot tein regulations in its administration, was the
most valuable that could be emploe ed for the punish•
merit as well as the ultimate r• formation of the criminal.
In support of this opinion, he referred to several
extracts: from the fifth report of the Pentonville
Counei,sioners, who declared as the result of their
experience, that the separate imprisonment system at
pr, sent in opt ration Has the only ground on a hich
refeernatory dlscipline ceuld to ha .ed with any chance
of suet:: ss, Iu a pamphlet on the subject of trans-
portation, which had been lately placed in his hands,
written by a person practically conversant with the de-
tails of the system, somewhat similar opinions were ex-
press( d. The great value of the system, it was urged,
should depend on the nature of the religious instruction
afforded the convicts, and on the zeal of the officers em-
ployed. In several letters and spy eches published on the
subject of separate imprisonment, the cells were de-
scribed as most attractive, comfortable places, by no
means calculated to inspire the inmate with a horror of-
crime. His own obsei venous, on repeated visits to these
convict cells showed him the utter fallacy of such state-
merits, and he might remark, moreover, that the
frequent applications he had received from per-
sons undergoing the punishment for a remission
of this part of the sentence, showed how severely
it was felt. Atter a careful and valuable examination of
witnese es, the Committee of the House of Lords, in their
report, said that the separate system of punishment
seemed exactly to supply what was required, but that it
should be administered with great care. The results of
the system were exceedingly satisfactory, a decided mo-
ral improvement having in many instances exhibited
itself in the criminals. Independently of eight hundred
separate cells in Milbank, there were now twelve
hundred others, including those of Pentonville and
Wakefield. which the Government had at their dis-
posal tor the purpose of carrying out the system, and
as the period of separate imprisonment would not, ex-
ce pt in very extraordinary cases, exceed twelve months,
he believee the available number would be found suffi-
cient for the purpose. Another description of penal la-
bour was that employed on public x orks. On that subject
he did not understand the Noble Lord as expressing any
decided opinion as to whether this should be carried on
here or in the colonies. He seemed to think there were
advantages on both sides, but on which side the balance
of advantage lay he expressed no decided opinion. For
his own part, he thought it of immense advantage that
this secondary stage of punishment should be passed,
not at such a distance from this country as Van Die-
men's Land or Port Philie, hut at home, or at some
' such place as Gibraltar or Bermuda, which were now
brought within a reasonable distance, where the regu•
lath ins laid down by the Government would be strictly
enforced by men of a stamp and character different from
those in the Australian colonies. The penal labour was
performed at Bermuda and Gibraltar en board hulks,
which he merely wished to speak of as temporarytexpe-
dients that would be rapidly improved by the
erection of other establishments free from the
objection which attached to the former. At Port-
land, too, the arrangements that had been perfected
were free from the great majority of objections
which applied to the hulks. For instance, it was ar-
ranged that each man should have a separate sleeping
apartment. Means were taken to stimulate industry and
good conduct; and he thought, taking everything into
consideration, there were good grounds to hope that the
Portland establishment would be productive of more
benefit than they had reason to expect from similar
estebtishments.—(Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Baronet,
having stated some other features of the Government
scheme, as connected with the second stage of punish-
ment, prom edt d to answer an objection taken by the
Noble Lord (Mahon) to the market selected for the
convicts' labour, and read passages from the dispatch
of the Governor of Bermuda, in which he estimated
the labour of a strong convict at 304 per annum,
while his cost of maintenance did not exceed 201.
per annum, so that at Bermuda there was a
balance of 10/. on each strong working convict in
favour of the nation, the convicts being there employed
on national works. The third stage of the punishment
consisted in removal to the colonies. The Noble Lord
laid great stress on the importance of the sentence being
carried out by actual removal of the convicts, but the
s‘ stem formerly tdopted, was merely to send theta to
the hulks. What the Government proposed was, that
an actual removal should take place, and that in the
colonies the convicts, after a certain period, should,
according to circumstances and good behaviour, receive
either cenditiorest pardon or tickets of leave. The essen-
tial difference between a ticket of leave and a conditional
pardon was, that the latter made the convicts free, but
prohibited their return to the country from a hich they
were transported. The ticket of leave, on the contrary,
prohibited their leaving the colony—they were
forced to remain within the limits of the dis-
trict, and be prepared to show themselves to the
magistrates at certain intervals.—(Hear.) They should
also pay a sum towards the cost of their maintenance
before they received a conditional pardon. Ihe object
of this branch of the system, though it fell short of the
hopes and intention of the Government, was to discou-
rage large masses of convicts from settling down in one
selected district. Important changes had been effected
at Norfolk Island. The number of convicts there had
teen reduced from 1,200 to 500, and it was retained, by
the consent of Lord Grey, as a place where convicts
might be sent to from Van Oiemen's Land who were al-
ready under sentence of transportation. In regard to
the Irish gaols, he confessed that the case was a very
difficult one, and that the Noble Lord had not over-
stated it.—(Hear, hear.) The crowded state of those
gaols did not, however, arise from any suspension of
transportation, but in consequence of the additional
number of offenders in that country who were sentenced
to be transported.—(Hear, hear.) The attention of
Government had been repeatedly called to the case,
and they were tieing all that could in present circum-
stances be done to relieve the pressure in the gaols in
Ireland. It was not, however, in the power of the Go-
vernment. to relieve that pressure to the extent which
might be desirable, for he found that, while for several
years previous to 1847, the average number sentenced to
transportation in Ireland was not above five or six hun-
dred, for the sears 1847 and 1848 the numbers sentenced
to transportation had exceeded 2,000 in each year. That
great addition coming upon them in the course of two
'ears had been the means of so much crowding the
gaols, and rendering it difficult for Government to find
the means of a remedy. In order to in some degree
relieve the pressure tells created, a considerable num-
ber of those sentenced to transportation had been sent
to Spike Island, where the means of employe
ment and proper confinement had been pro-
veled for them; but, as he said before, when it was
considered that the number of those sentenced to
transportation during each of the, past two years, had
exceeded by some three or four hundred the average
of five or six years previous, it must be evident that
the present pressure arose not from any suspension of
transportation, but from an addition in the numbers
sentenced to be transported. There was also another
cause which might be assigned for this pressure, and it
was that a large number of those now sentenced to
transportation in Ireland being, from their youth, unfit
to be sent out to the colonies, not being able to perform
the work assigned them there, were obliged to be kept
in this country, at least for a time. This was proved by
a dispatch from the Governor of Bermuda, who stated
in regard to a number of convicts sent to that colon)?
from Ireland, that they were of no,use, in consequence of
their youth, and requested that no more of that class
should be sent, as should they be so, they would be ren-
dered still more hardened and contaminated with crime .
from being sent to work and live among those older
and more vicious than themselves. The Hon. Member
for Kerry had said that the gaol of Kerry would not
contain more than 81 prisoners, and he did not dispute
the statement; and there was no doubt that there was a
great deficiency of prison accommodation in Ireland, and
:n order to ascertain what could be done, the Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland had called for a return of the num-
ber of prisons in that country and their means of accom-
modation, with a view of ascertaining what could best be
done to remedy the evil complained of, but from the
number of convicts sent out of the country for the last
two years, he could hold out but small hopes of finding
colonies capable of receiving any great additional number
for some time. In regard to the exceptional cases where
transportation was not carried out, some of those sen-
tenced to be transported were so advanced in life, that
if sent out to the colonies they would only become*
burden on the colonies to which they were sent; and la
some cases the country sending them had been obliged to
pa) for their maintenance. The instructions, therefore,
given to inspecting surgeons were, that they object to re-
ceive on board any of the vessels for conveying cone
viets to their destination, all such as they considered
unsble to bear the fatigues of the voyage to Australia,
or who, when they got there, would not be capable of
engaging in the work assigned them to do. Those ob-
jected to must therefore undergo their term of punish •
m4nt in this country. With regard to Irish convicts, the
misfortune was that they were not physically fit, more
from their youth than from their age, to do the work re-
quired of them in the penal settlements. With regard to
'he recommendations which the Noble Lord had sub-
mitted on this subject, he confessed that he felt much
disappointed, as he should have been most happy to have
taken up any suggestion of a practical and beneficial nae
turn. The Noble Lord's recommendations, he conceived
to be no improvement on the present system. As to giving
the governors of the colonies to which convicts were sent
a discretionary power to carry on a system of consign.-
merit, be considered such a system would be pregnant
with the greatest evil. -It would give rise to suspicion
end ill feeling; and besides, what, at best, was the system
of consignment hut a system of slavery ? The evils it was
uhim et to tendered it nothing else, and he would not,
teertaore, consent to its adopti •considered the
pui le s il/sent of transportation a valuable and important
one; but, in considering any modification of it, they
must have in view the interests of the colonies, as well
as those of this country. And however important it
might be to bring such subjects before the Houser ito