The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-09 00:00:00

PETITIONS.

The Earl of KINNOUL presented a petition from
Perth against Papal aggresion.
The Earl of LANESBOROUGH presented petitions
to a similar purport.
The Earl of HARROWBY presented a petition from
the merchants of Liverpool praying for the introduction
of Some measure to facilitate the arrest of absconding
insolvent debtors.
Earl TALBOT presented petitions against Papal
aggression.
TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN'S
LAND.

Lard LYTTELTON presented two petitions from the
inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, cr, as they styled
themselves, the inhabitants of Tasmania, against the
tranaportatioa of criminals to the Australian colonies;
and he had a memorial to present to her Majesty, signed
by many thousands of the female inhabitants of the
colony, against transportation. In the Australian Colo-
nies.there existed a league against the transportation of
criminals.—(Hear.) This was among the first fruits
of the successful resistance to the plan of t_risons-
portation by the colonists at the Cape of Good u r:
This was a most grave consideration, • this resiAte
ance of the Australian celonhats to tratraporthaettot
found no fault with the Government; burtin nhou ht
which thought
the evidence they bad, as to the
"rave considera-
experiment had worked, was worthy of
tiora How had the experiment of transportation an-
is ..ac) part of the punish-
swered? At present, all the
and then they were
meat was inflicted at hone,
removed to Van Diemen's Land with tickets of
leave. Now that system had cot, and could not have
any beneficial effect upon crins. tnals at hotne. The Go-
vernor of the colony,
who bad expressed the greatest dc-
sire that the experin,,,nt, should succeed, had urged that
all the convicts should pass a period of compulsory labsur
in the colony, icsteati of being s'nt out with tickets cf
leave. In answer to this statement, the Noble Earl the
Colonial Secretary hsd said that with regard to Irish
that no net ans existed cf
convicts, seeing inflicting refor-
matory punishment on such criminals in Ireland, it might
Pe -
ra,"3 ht. advisaAe that they should suffer the second
•
of their pueishment in the colony.
portion The Evi-
dence as to the condition of female convicts in that colony
reported it to be most deplorable; he doubted whether
they had not sufficient evidence before them as to the
failure of the experiment, and their could not be a
doubt but -that the great majority of the inhabitants
of , the colony were against; transportation. There
were certain portions of the inhabitants who might be
called the /convict interest, :and who 'were opposed to
the free inhabitants of the colony, and the fact of the
existence of this convict interest, was, as he thought,
most dangers us. The Assembly of New South Wales
had decided, without a division, against a renewal of
transportation, and a petition egeinet transportation had
been presented to the Legisla:ive Council, signed by
36 000 persf ns' against ap: tition in its favour signed by
only 525. Tile Governer of Van Diensen's Land had said
that those convicts who had come from Pa': khurzt Prison
with the best characters had turned out the worst of the
transports. Was it possible to totem a good and virtu-
ous community out of such elements? In a moral re-
spect the presence of these convicts must kai to the
moral and spiritual pollution o the colonies,
however it right forward their material inte-
rests; thus, v e took advantage cf the material
pressure upon the material interests of the colonies, to
destroy their moral and spiritual interests. He pressed
the subject upon the consideration of the Government,
and hoped that a better system would be adopted.
Every memorial from Van Diemen's Laud had upbraided
the G.veriment with a promise made in 1847, that
transportation to that colony should cease; and the
Noble Earl had said, that although some such ex-
pression might have found its way into a dispatch,
yet that no such promise could have been given. But
he remembered that in 1846 the Noble Earl had sent out a
dispatch to Sir W. Denison, in which he expressed a
hope that he should be enabled to do away with trans-
portation to the colony; and shortly afterwards Sir G.
Grey had intimated an opinion that the transportation of
male convicts to that colony should cease, and
proposing that persona sentenced to transportation
should, after undergoing a term of impri-
scinment, be permitted to deport themselves,
thus substituting exile for transportation, and
the Secretary for the Colonies, in a dispatch
to Sir W. Denison, which was communicated by the
Governor to the Legislature, so that after the expiration
of two years transportation would not be renewed. Ho
could not see why the Government should not revert--
to the original plan of inflicting all the punishment 41a
this country, and of the permitting the convict to depart
himself with the money he had earned to any part of the
world he liked.

The Archbishop of DUBLIN bore testimony to the
great benefit which the convicts confined in a reniten-
tiary in his diocese, and who had been subjected to the
separate cell system, had derived from the discipline of
that prison, which enforced silence and quiet with
labour and instruction. 113 believed the punishment was
severe and intimilatory as well as reformatory, and the
clergy thought that the majority of them were really
reformed characters; and he thought that the punish-
Inent inflicted on them v..aa as severe as need be inflicted.