The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-26 00:00:00

" GENERAL ORDER.

"The Governor having expressed his opinion that
a greatnumber of the prisoners were not willingly
concerned in the recent disgraceful proceedings, and
a special inquiry into the cases of certain of the men
having confirmed that opinion, the Secretary of
State has been pleased to direct that an endeavour
should be made to classify the prisoners, in order
to separate the less criminal from others who bad
committed overt acts of insubordination.

" The task of carrying these instructions into
effect has been one of much labour and difficulty ;
but by the exertions of the Governor, and the eager-
ness of the officers to do justice to and speak favour-
ably of their own men, it has been shown that more
than one-half of the convicts may fairly be con-
sidered deserving of a restoration of their privileges,
and that the remainder might be classified, so as to
admit of different degrees of leniency being ex-
tended to them.

" The following are the classes into which the
whole number may be divided :
" 1. Those who were known to have taken no part
in the riot.

" 2. Those prisoners who were not known to have
taken any part in the riot, and whose good character,
and other circumstances combined enabled the

officers to state their belief that they did not take
any part in it.

;.‘ Those who, though not proved to have taken
any part, may from their general prison character,
antecedents, and recorded offences, be assumed to
have done so.

a 4. Those who are considered to have been ring-
leaders, divided according to the degree of their
criminality into three classes.

" As each case has been carefully inquired into,
and the prisoner has received the full benefit of any
doubt that may have arisen, the lists, when com-
pleted and approved, will be made known, and no
further changes will be made.
The different classes are to be dealt with as
follows

" The first and second classes, in which there are
about 700 men, will be restored to their privileges
without forfeiture. •

" The third class will forfeit one-eighth of any
gratuity due on the Ist of February, together with
one month's remission, and a susnension of their
privileges till the 18th of March.
" The fourth class, considered to be least culpable
among the ringleaders, will forfeit one-fourth of
their gratuity, together with two months' remission
of sentence, and their privileges will be suspended
for three months from the 11th of February.
." The fifth class, considered to be less deserving
of clemency than the fourth, will forfeit one-half of
their gratuity, four months' remission, and their
privileges will be suspended for four /months.
"The sixth class will forfeit all gratuity, together
with all remission of sentence and other privileges,
and will have the letter (R) recorded against them.
"In regard, however, to the forfeiture of re-
mission of sentence, the Secretary of State is
pleased to direct that a portion may be regained
by good conduct and willing industry ; except-
ing in the case of the sixth class, where any
restoration of this indulgence will depend not only
upon their own good conduct, but upon the beha-
viour of other prisoners who may have been misled
by their evil example.
" These inevitable consequences of the outrage
above referred to should impress several wholesome
lessons on the minds of the convicts generally, and
lead them to a much more correct view of their real
position than they appear hitherto to have had.
" Ist. They will see the hopelessness as well as
the folly of a resistance to legal authority.
" 2d. It will be apparent that each man has an
interest in the good conduct of others.
" 3d. The value- of maintaining a good character,
and by such means securing the good opinion of
their officers, will be obvious.
" 4th, It should occur to them that when so much
has been done to ameliorate the condition of the
convict and promote his best interests, the Govern-
ment have a right to expect a feeling of gratitude,
evinced by a willing and cheerful, instead of a
dogged submission to that strict discipline which
they have not only the power but the determination
to enforce. " JOSHUA JEBB, Major-• General.
" Chairman of Directors."