The Present Picture of New South Wales Part 6

The affixing a greater degree of respectability to the office of chief constable at Sydney, and the attachment of a salary to the situation from the crown, would be a desirable measure, since on this officer depends, in a great measure, the peace, the internal security, and good order of the colony; and it is therefore worthy of consideration whether the trust, inferior in importance to scarcely any in the settlement, ought not to be reposed in a person of some respectability, and who, by the receipt of an adequate remuneration, might be enabled to devote his time and attention to the duties of his office. To this situation so much responsibility is attached, and from it so much good is expected, that the person who fills it ought to be enabled to preserve a respectable appearance, and to embrace the comforts of life, without being permitted to have recourse to traffic or other pursuits which might contaminate his principles, or render him less zealous in his exertions for the good order of the colony. The benefit which must arise from the conscientious discharge of the duties of this office is much more than can be imagined at first sight; and the evils, on the other hand, which flow from its mal-execution, are in an opposite extremely baleful, and calculated more to promote excesses and tumults than to repress them.

That prisoners who are transported for life are in general indifferent to their future fate, and careless of their conduct, is a fact well known to all persons who have resided in the settlement; and it therefore becomes a naturally interesting question, by what means these convicts may be brought to discharge their duties with more readiness, and to follow a course of life more fraught with happiness to themselves, and more satisfactory to those who are placed near them. The best method which suggests itself to me, is that of employing prisoners for life on government labour for a limited time only, at the expiration of which period they should be made free of the country, and, in case their conduct had been such as to merit approbation, should be allowed to become settlers, with the usual indulgences, and thus have the means once again placed before them of raising themselves to a respectable rank in society, in that country to which they had been banished. Those, on the other hand, who are found to be dissolute and abandoned characters when their term of labour had expired, might be made free also; but, instead of being allowed to become settlers and to receive indulgences, they might be taken off the stores, and be compelled to labour for their daily bread. Such an amelioration of the punishment of those unhappy delinquents who have incurred this heavy vengeance of the laws of their country, would induce numbers to look forward into futurity with a satisfaction which they had not possessed previously, arising out of the distant hope of becoming opulent and respectable, and of making the renewal, in the decline of their existence, of those prospects which, in their earlier years, had been eluded and destroyed by their vices; and this idea would not fail to stimulate them to a conduct more laudable, and calculated to accelerate the accomplishment of their wishes. It may be brought against this measure, as an argument, that it would reduce the extent of the power of government to grant pardons to deserving convicts, and that government would thus lose the advantage which was derived from the labour of those prisoners; but to the former objection it may be replied, that the certainty of an alleviation, and of the advantages which would attend a meritorious conduct during the specified period of punishment, would prove a powerful incentive to the convicts, and would tend to produce more good members of society and useful settlers than could be expected, unless some reward was to be the certain result of meritorious conduct; without this stimulus, there might be, as there has been, some good characters to reward, but their numbers would be comparatively insignificant: To the latter objection it will only be necessary to say, that if government loses the labour of these convicts, it also disburdens itself of the weight of supporting them and of providing them clothing, etc.

Against the perpetual imprisonment of convicts the following reasons may be brought forward:--The restlessness and indifference which generally pervade the conduct of delinquents of this description, who, seeing no termination to their captivity, lose the inclination to labour, if they ever possessed it, and become indolent and careless as to the colour of their future fate; the impossibility of any governor, however diligent and compa.s.sionate, being enabled to discover all the meritorious convicts of this description who might be ent.i.tled to their liberation in pursuance of the present system, since he could not possibly, at any time, keep an eye upon the whole, scattered as they are through the settlements, and in the employ of various persons; many deserving prisoners, having never been in the service of an officer, have none to recommend them, and remain, consequently, unnoticed, although they may be more meritorious than even some who are emanc.i.p.ated; and the numerous desertions which take place amongst those convicts who have no prospect of amelioration in view, and who are, therefore, indifferent what becomes of them, placing upon a level the dangers of destruction and the prospect of toiling away existence, without the hope of freedom or of happiness, to the close of their days. Such a conduct as this is truly not to be wondered at, when the behaviour of some criminals at the bar of their country is recalled to mind, where they have declined that mercy which has been extended to them, and preferred death to a perpetual banishment from that society which they had injured. If any of the liberated convicts should afterwards attempt to make their escape from the colony, they might be returned to the public labour, or be sentenced to such other punishment as may be thought adequate to the importance of their offence. What the consequence of the amelioration of the rigour of punishment would be may easily be imagined; instead of continually murmuring at the gloomy prospect before them--of displaying indifference to the future--of beholding before them no limitation of their slavery, nothing but misery, toil, and death; instead of these cheerless contemplations, they would begin to display a degree of contentedness with the situation to which their delinquency had reduced them, and their progress would be marked by utility to the government and to the community, instead of being chequered by continual efforts to elude the vigilance of their overseers, and to escape from a scene of uniform hardships, unillumined by a single ray of hope.

The best interests of the colony would be greatly forwarded, if government were to select some clergymen, of unequivocal piety and zeal, to inculcate religious and moral principles. For this purpose, they should be chosen of unblemished character, whose respectability and exemplary conduct would a.s.sist to give weight to the doctrines which flow from their lips. Much good cannot be derived from the efforts of men, who are chiefly engaged in farming and traffic, and who will sell a bottle of spirits, or _oblige_ some of those very persons with it, to whom they have just before been preaching the duty of temperance, and whose learning and appearance are better adapted to less important avocations, than fulfilling the sacred functions it is intended they should perform.--The future prosperity of the settlement also greatly depends upon the manner in which the rising generation are instructed. The education of youth is, at present, much neglected, through the want of four or five schoolmasters of sufficient capacity. There cannot be a doubt that persons qualified for this profession would meet with very liberal encouragement, as the children are numerous, and there are but few parents who cannot afford to educate their offspring respectably.

The want of some able superintendants in different branches of business is at present much felt, since such individuals might be usefully employed in training up youth to the pursuits of industry; by which means the commission of crimes would be rendered less frequent, and the dispositions of children would receive a proper bias. An arrangement of this nature would also remove the severe inconvenience occasioned by the extreme scarcity of able mechanics throughout the colony.

It will be immediately admitted by every unprejudiced mind, that the salaries of the deputy-commissaries should be increased, when the circ.u.mstances under which they are placed are duly considered. They have now only five shillings a day; a sum so totally inadequate to the services they perform, as to excite surprize in all who witness the extent of the trust reposed in them. This daily pay is barely sufficient to purchase a dinner in the colony, as they are obliged to appear in every respect as gentlemen; and the necessary consequence is, they are compelled to enter into other occupations, unless they have a better source of income than their salaries, in order to meet their own unavoidable expenditure, and to maintain (as is generally the case there) a wife and large family. The impolicy of giving small salaries must be obvious, when it is considered that individuals who are thus sparingly rewarded for their labour, abstract from their official duties some portion of that attention which ought to be wholly devoted to them.

A different arrangement with respect to the grants and leases of land would also be productive of beneficial consequences.

Whenever any of those deeds have been made, under the hand and seal of the governor, or of the colonial seal, they ought to be considered as secured to the grantee or lessee, their heirs, etc. and, under no pretence whatever, except a failure in the fulfilment of the conditions expressed therein, ought the governor, or any succeeding governor, to retain the power of taking that land away. The existence of such a power, indeed, is, upon its surface, arbitrary; and, in its effect, totally destructive of the spirit of improvement; for there scarcely exists a man who would bestow his whole exertions and property in increasing the value of buildings and land, which he holds by such an uncertain tenure. In the midst of his expectations, just as he has impoverished himself with the hope of reaping a future recompense, he may, by the sudden whims or caprice of an individual, be deprived at once of the means of gaining future subsistence, and plundered of every thing which he may have done with a view to his own benefit, and the bettering of the estate.

It is surely unwise to leave a power (which, it is to be hoped, is without authority) of this description, in the hands of any man, however exalted his character, and however conspicuous his love of justice.

The whole of the contingent expenses which would result from these improvements, might be paid by duties laid on importations, exportations, etc. which are at present by no means inconsiderable, but might be greatly increased, to the mutual advantage of the colonist and the government.

To expatiate largely on the benefits which would result from the establishment of a free trade, is altogether superfluous to men whose minds can embrace the increased stimulus which would be given to industry, the influx of wealth and population, the improvements in agriculture, commerce, and the arts and sciences, and the rapid advancement of the best interests of the colony, which must result from such a measure.

The strong necessity for some considerable alteration in the internal arrangement and policy of the colony, to various parts of which I have drawn the reader's attention, can but be apparent to all unprejudiced persons, who have but a superficial knowledge of the settlement. The suggestions I have now presumed to offer to the public, as my opinion for means of improvement, I beg to state, are as unbia.s.sed as my statements are faithful; and which are the result of some reflection, founded upon the experience of a long, and, I should hope, an unimpeachable residence, in the fulfilment of some important duties, thereby obtaining more than common means of observation. With these a.s.surances, I have to trust that due credit will be given to my intentions, which had their princ.i.p.al stimulus from an anxious wish that the mother country should receive every possible benefit, in the adoption of so promising and highly interesting a part of the uncivilized globe to its fostering care.

The End