The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-05-11
E CALEDONIA.
A SETTLEMENT OF C0NVICTS.
A Graphic History OF the Famous rrench
Penal Colony ut the Ansipohes'

the French Government about the trans
portation OF habitual criminals 10 New
Caledonia, he was actuated by DIS know
ledge OF the alarm with which the condl-
ton OF the French convict settlements was
being viewed in our Australian colonies.
This feeling found expression IN Tue earn
est letter OF "Australasian." which we
published recently, and to show tDat the
anxieties OF our correspondent were mot
exaggerated we NAV call attention 10 an
article which has been contributed 10 The
current No. OF the NouveLe Revue by NJ. IL.
Denis, who was lately assistant director OF
the penal administration OF New Caledo-
MIA. Before quoting some OF NJ. Denis's
remarks on the present shocking state Of
the island, we may in a few words sum-
marize the history OF New Caledonia as a
penal settlement. The colony consists OF a
group of islands I'm the Pacific ocean, the
largest OF which is about go miles in
length and forty miles in breadth. Disco
yered by Cook in IVA, New Caledonia was
explored in 1925 by D'Entre-C asteaux,
andi 1853 the French took formal possess
sion of it, not without a protest on the
part Of the British Government. AT
this time there was an establishment
OF Marist missionaries in the island.
and the success OF these men in
%humanIzing the native kanaks and
I'm retaining some fertile tracts in the
plains for agricultural purposes led the
French Government to describe the whole
island as a fruitful one and filed with a
friendly population. Ii was in conse-
| ouence of the delusIons existing i'm official
minds that in1S62 the Government decided
to COLOMBO the Island with conyicts, and a
first consignment OF prisoners from the
home bagnes and from the penal settle
ment in French Guyana were sent out In
1864. The settlements OF Guyana had
failed disastroGsly through mIsmanage-
ment, but the Imperial Government, not
liking TO acknowledge this, attributed the
appalling death-rate among the cOnvicts mt
| CAYENNE entirely to the climate, and the Sc
lection OF New Caledonia was partly intend
| ed TO silence opponents OF the Government
who alleged that cOnvicts, and especially
political depOrteS, had been sent to Guyana
ON purpose that they might die. One OF
the first political offenders transported TO
| New Caledonia was BerezOwski, who fired
AT the late Car Alexander II. in 1861, and
in that same year the Minister OF Marine,
Admiral Rigault de GenOuilly, pubIishedi in
the Noniteur a "Notice sur Ia Transports
ton" in which he sketched the plan that
was to he followed in future rs to the treat
ment OF ~conyicts. They were to be kept
in seryitude for more or less time accord
ing TO their behavior and the terms OF their
sentences, and while captive they were to
be employed on public works; afterward
they were TO get tickets-oi- leave with grants
of land, and finally they might become free
settlers.
Nothing came OF this scheme during Ma
poleOn Ills reign, for the empire fell be-
fore il could be carried out, and in lS72tho
prospects OF New Caledonia were suddenly
altered by Its being appointed the place OF
transportation for thirteen thousand com
munists. The condition Of the island
while il was the abode OF these desperate
and troublesome reyoiutIonists has been
described in many books, among which
NAV be mentioned "Retour de la NOuvelle
| Caledonia" by NJ. Henri Rocbefort. who
made his escape from the colony in 1874
A large discount must be taken from
NJ. Rochefort's er-pdrte statements, but
the abuses which he %denounces were
sufficiently numerous to demand i'll
vestipation. The Governor OF the
island, Commander dc la Richerie, was re.
called, and after he had been examined
along with a number OF other officials by
a parliamentary commission, a report was
issued to the effect that there was no hope
Of coloniZing New Caledonia so long as the
political deportes were allowed to roam
| about the island in idleness and IN the con
slant expectation OF being amnestied. The
National Assembly, however, declined tC
impose compulsory labor upon the politi
cal conyicts, and as il was well known that
The Republicans would vote. an amnesty
as soon as Marshal MacMahon retired
from the presidency. the colonial Office
took no pains to improve matters. In
fact. the chief pre0ccupation OF the
home government was to avoid a rising
among the Communists, and instruction
were issued 10 the authorities OF New Gale
donna not TO irritate these men. 1t is pos.
sibIe that escapes were cOnniyed ,at. for il
is certain that a great many escapes were
effected which an ordinary amount OF yigi
lance might have frustrated; but The mos
serious feature i'm this lax rule over politica
deSperadoes was that the worst among Inc
Communists demoraliZed those who were
industriously inclined, and also the ticket
| o~i-leaye men from the criminal depOts
They kept UP their revolutionary wran'
glIngs as il they were in Paris; drunkenness
was Ilfe among them; they somehow man
aged TO escape a clandestlne printing-press'
and at one time three or four Journals
preaching sedition were circulated in
the colony. Finally the Communists
by turning the Marist brothers INTO ridl'
cnle, banning their church, boycottlne
their school, and decoying laborers from
their farm, broke the power which those
missionaries had acquired over the kanaks.
The result of this was seen In 1878, when
the Kanaks rose, destroyed a score OF
farms. massacred over one hundred Eu'
ropeans. and had to be repreSsed by I'M
SHARING slaughter. 1t was high time that
the Communists should leave the island,
and most OF them were cleared oil by par
tial amnestIes i'm the course OF the
next three wears. the last batch being
restored to the mother country in 1881.
What has been the condition OF New Gale
donna since then we learn from Nj. III.
Denis, who writes of the colony as II Is
now. under the ~governorship OF Naval
Captain Pallu de la Barrierc, who was
commissioned to his post in November.
1882, succeeding Vice-Admiral Courbet.
NJ. Denis begins by saying that Admiral
CourEet was a man OF firmness, who, with.
out treating the conyicts harshly, looked
upon them as criminals who had an eXpia-
ton to accomplish. He compelled them 70
work, and established factories, where
trades were taught them, and agricultural
settlements, where those best htted iof
outdoor labor had to do task-work under
the orders Of official overseers. His efforts
were counteracted, however, by the sentl'
mental legislation which the French cham
beers enacted as soon rs NJ. Greyy came 10
power. Until 1880 refractory convicts
could be fiogged, but the lash has been
abolished, and practically the death-penally
has likewise fallen into disuse, Tor a con