22,104 25,051 129 563 13409 7,581 4,058 57,360 60,917 118,277 Newport 2,682 2,970 14 55 2,275 625 72 5,065 5,195| 10,260 6,925 7,569 14,194 156 5,880 4,270. 8,150 279 7,420 8,101| 15,521 449 6,682 7,258 13,940 808 8,006 8,806 16,814 481 9,566 11,595 |† 20,871 1,829 2,238 18 59 1,117 750 371 5,756 5,209 10,965 For the Monthly Magazine, CONCLUSION of the REPORT of the PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE appointed to INQUIRE into the manner in which SENTENCES of TRANSPORTATION are EXECUTED, and the FFFECTS which have been produced by that Mode of PUNISHMENT. T is to be found in the evi dence of Mr. Commissary Palmer, that the expense of each convict in the service of government was about 401. a year, and that a free labourer at Sydney could be hired for 701. but that he would do nearly twice as much work. Mr. Campbell states the annual expense of a convict at 301., but in the other point he agrees with Mr. Palmer. Some of the Lenefits of this system must be lost where too many convicts are given to one master, and in some instances forty have been put under the controul of a single settler; but from the extent of some of the farms, such a distribution appears to be unavoidable. In the distribution of female convicts great abuses have formerly prevailed; they were indiscriminately given to such of the inhabitants as demanded them, and were in general received rather as prostitutes than as servants; and so far from being induced to reform themselves, the disgraceful manner in which they were disposed of, operated as an encouragement to general depravity of manners. Upon the arrival of Governor Bligh two-thirds of the children annually born within the colony were illegitimate. Marriages have lat terly become more frequent, consequently prostitution is stated to have been less prevalent; and Governor Macquarie is directing his endeavours, under orders from government here, "to keep the female convicts separate, till they can properly be distributed among the inhabitants, in such manner as they may best derive the advantages of industry and good character." He further states in his dispatch, dated April 30, 1810, that the situation of the colony requires that as many male convicts as possible should be sent thither, the prosperity of the country depending on their numbers; whist, on the contrary, female convicts are as great a drawback as the others are beneficial To this observation your committee feel they cannot accede: they are aware that the women sent out are of the most abandoned description, and that in many instances they are likely to whet and to encourage the vices of the men, whilst but a small proportion will make any step towards reformation; but yet, with all their vices, such women as these were the mothers of a great part of the inhabitants now existing in the colony, and from this stock only can a reasonable hope be held out of rapid increase to the population; upon which increase, here as in all infant colonies, its growing prosperity in great measure depends. Let it be remembered too how much misery and vice are likely to prevail in a society in which the women bear no proportion to the men; in the colony at present, the number of men compared to that of women is as 2 to 1; to this, in great measure, the prevalence of prostitution is reasona bly to be attributed; but increase that proportion, and the temptation to aban doned vices will also be increased, and the hopes of establishing feelings of decency and morality amongst the lower classes, will be still farther removed. The supply of women to the colony must, however, be materially diminished by the proposed system of employing convicts in Penitentiary Houses; and your committee think this an additional reason for affording increased facilities to the wives of male convicts, who may wish to accompany or follow their husbands to New South Wales. This permission is now seldom granted, and that only to the wives of men transported for life, or for fourteen years. It is however the most eligible way of providing the colony with women, and one which may with very great advantage be much extended. In this manner At the expiration of the time to which the convicts have been sentenced, their freedom is at once obtained, and they are at liberty either to return to this country, or to settle in New South Wales; should the latter be their choice, a grant is made to the unmarried of 40 acres of land, and to the married, of something more for the wife and each child: tools and stock (which they are not allowed to alienate) are also given to them, and for eighteen months they are victuailed from the government stores. they have an opportunity of establishing themselves in independence, and, by proper conduct, to regain a respectable place in society; and such instances, your com mittee are glad to learn, are not unfre quent. They also see with satisfaction, that Governor Macquarie adopts it as a principle, "that long-tried good conduct should lead a man back to that rank in society which he had forfeited, and do away, in as far as the case will admit, all retrospect of former bad conduct:" this appears appears to him to be the greatest "inducement that can be held out towards the reformation of the manners of the inhabitants." In these principles your com. mittee cordially concur, and are the more anxious to express their opinion, as, under a former governor, transports, what ever their conduct might be, were in no instance permitted to hold places of trust and confidence, or even to come to the government house; those advantages be ing, in his opinion, not to be expected un. til after generations. No difficulty appears to exist among the major part of the men who do not wish to remain in the colony, of finding means to return to this country. All but the aged and infirm easily find employment on board the ships visiting New South Wales, and are allowed to work their passage home; but such facility is not afforded to the women: they have no possible method of leaving the colony but by prostituting themselves on board the ships whose masters may chuse to receive them.*" They who are sent to * Nothing can be more cruel, unjust, and faithless, than to send culprits convict ed of those small crimes, which are subjected by law to a limited transportation for SEVEN YEARS only, to a country so distant that the punishment becomes in most cases of necessity a transportation FOR LIFE! Such negligent practice demands the humane interposition of the legislature, and the attention and remonstrance of the whole nation. On this important point, which so deeply involves the character of the country and government, the several witnesses to this report replied as beneath: W. BLIGH, ESQ. What facility is there to a convict having served his time to return home, if such should be his choice?-I do not recollect any particular facility being ordered by government, but they do get on board of ships and return to England. When you say that the greater propor tion of them have returned home, do you include female convicts as well as males:- No, I think they should not be included; I rather think that the greater part of the female convicts do not return home, they cannot so regularly meet with the accommodation on board ships. Had they then any means of returning, New South Wales, that their former has bits may be relinquished, cannot obtain a return to this country but by relapsing into that mode of life which, with many, has been the first cause of all their crimes and misfortunes. To those who shrink from these means, or are unable even thus to obtain a passage for themselves, transportation for seven years is convert ed into a banishment for life, and the just and humane provisions of the law, by which different periods of transportation are apportioned to different degrees of crime, are rendered entirely null. To see this defect in the punishment reme died, is the anxious wish of your commit tee; and they trust that means may be devised to facilitate the return of such women as have passed their time of servitude, and are unwilling to remain in the colony, either by affording them a sufficient sum of money, or by some stipula except by prostitution?—I should think they had no other means. THOMAS ROBSON. What is the condition of the women, who having served their time are unable to return to this country, no provision being made by government for that purpose?-If they do not save money by one means or the other, they get to England by cohabiting with mates or masters of vessels, or some other persons. MAURICE MARGAROT. By what means did you procure a passage to return to Europe?-At my owu expense. To reach London it cost me within a few shillings of four hundred and fifty pounds, and a servant. I paid for my wife, and my own passage and a servant's, as far as Rio. What means had the women of procuring titution. a passage to return to Europe?-By pros Have you never known any woman hose period of transportation was expired, obliged to remain in the settlement because she could not procure the means of returning to Europe?-Many hundreds; they had generally cohabited with some man or other, and they continue in the same way. Do you know the cases of any men being detained in the settlement from their not being able to obtain a passage home?--Many; some are capable to work their passage home, but when men get infirm and old, they are precluded from that advantage. J. H. CAPPER, of the Secretary of State's Ofice. Are convicts ever sent whose sentence is within two or three years of its expiration? -Cases have occurred where that has taken place. tion in their favour with the masters of book tends much to narrow our confivessels touching at the settlement. It will be seen by the accounts laid before your committee, that the expenses of the colony are considerable. The bills drawn in the year 1810 amounted to 72,6001., being a great increase upon any preceding year, and the expendi ture of the year 1811 promised to be still greater; in addition to these, a great annual expenditure is incurred in the transmission of stores and merchandize, and in the freight of transports. Your committee trust that when the buildings ab solutely necessary for the public service shall be completed, as the commerce of the colony shall prosper, the duties become more productive, and, from agricultural improvement, the supply of stores to its present amount shall be discontirued, that this expence will be materially diminished; and it is their opinion, that it might even now be considerably reduced by the removal of part of the military force in the colony, which appears to them to be unnecessarily large. The whole population does not amount to 11,000, and of these 1,100 are soldiers.* To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. A SIR, N Essay on the Principle of Population has long circulated in Great Britain, which confers instruction on the reader, but which leaves behind a melancholy disappointed feeling. Mr. Godwin's Enquirer appeared in 1797. A paper in that volume suggested the investigation which in 1798 was sketched in an anonymous pamphlet, and which is since expanded into a ponderous volume. Mr. Malthus aims at proving that population, having a constant tendency to increase beyond the means of subsistence, and being incapable of actual increase beyond the lowest nourishment capable of supporting it, must eventually receive a strong check from the difficulty of acquiring food. This difficulty must fall some where: there must always be then a class exposed to misery. The superfetation of populousness is impeded by pestilence, by war, by vice all that can be done to better the state of society is to substitute moral restraint to these more prevalent impediments. Such are the gloomy inferences of this author; whose Some interesting facts relative to the present condition of this colony, may be found in Turnbull's Voyage round the World, 4to. dence of amelioration in the condition of mankind, but tends also to reconcile us to the actual state of the world, and to justify the ways of nature to mankind. The radical propositions of the author are thus expressed: 1. It may safely be pronounced (p. 5) that population, when unchecked, goes on doubling itself every twenty-five years, or increases in a geometrical ratio. 2. It may fairly be pronounced (p. 7) that the means of subsistence, under circumstances the most favourable to hu man industry, could not possibly be made to increase faster than in an arithmetical ratio, To begin with the first. It may be very true that in some countries popula tion has doubled in twenty years, in some countries in twenty-five years, in some countries in thirty years, and yet the possibility of multiplication in a geometrical ratio may be unproved. The instances of most rapid population, are all taken from countries, whither the arts of life have been carried by nations previously civilized. They had capital, they had skill; they only wanted fertile land': they found it, and increased. But this increase has only gone on in proportion as the rising generation has separated from the parent stock, and sought for new districts to colonize. Wherever a condensation of populousness has been suffered to take place, the progress has relented. Surely the legitimate inference is, that population proceeds in the inverse ratio of the condensation. There may be physical causes for this. The effluvia perspired from the lungs and pores may be, and probably are, inju rious to the health of others. born a larger proportion may necessarily perish immaturely, where there are many, than where there are few residents; where there is much, than where there is little consociation. We know this to be the case in all the workhouses and public establishments, in all the metropolisses and crowded situations of Europe. Those constitutions which require to absorb but a small quantity of oxygen, seem to succeed best in full districts. A generation may be computed at thirty-three years. Compare any where the increase during one period of thirty-three years, with the increase during the next period of thirty-three years; it has every where relented. The analogy of experience, far from indicating a possible progress in Of the geometrical ratio, indicates an habitual progress + 25 And progress in a decreasing ratio. this takes place independently of vice, misery, imprecaution, or moral restraint: for the effects of vice, in checking, are nearly counterbalanced by those of moral Testraint, in favouring, population; those of misery, by those of benevolence; those of imprecaution, by those of medicine. Let us proceed to the second propositinn. Whether we ascend with the Jewish scriptures to the universal deluge, or with Leibnitz and Linnæus to the creation, an earth wholly covered with water is still the original world. The primæval island dries up first, then other mountain-tops; at length the islands coalesce into continents, and the continents into quarters of the globe. During this whole process, history no where intimates a state, in which the mass of unoccupied territory did not greatly exceed the demand of the mass of occupiers. From the analogy of experience, therefore, it ought to be inferred that the progressive desiccation exceeds in rapidity the probable multiplication; it is perhaps influenced by it. An increased depth of atmosphere may result from the increased number of respiring beings; and this may convert into heat, or into other gaseous solvents of water, a larger portion of the solar rays than would otherwise assume a desiccatory form. The earth itself is a growing, an expanding lump: the perpendicular fissures observable over its whole surface demonstrate that the parts of this surface were once more contiguous, and consequently lower: its diameter therefore is greater than of old. With two such mighty agents at work in the discovery of future habitable region, as the perpetual waste of ocean, and the perpetual protuberance of land, we may rest satisfied that the means of subsis tence will not be deficient before the ge neral conflagration; even if another week of millenniums is to intervene previouly to its advent. Our personal and political morality, then, may well be content to draw its inferences from things as they are, not from things as they may become. We are not to make wars, while we can coJonize, for the sake of thinning down the species to the probable provision of sub. We are not to abstain from procreation, while we can produce and rear healthy children, for fear of introducing too many scramblers at the table of nature. sistence. Whatever objections one may entertain against the system of Mr. Malthus, MONTHLY Maq, No. 246, the highest admiration must be felt for his clear and calm exposition of argument, for his comprehensive felicity of illustration, and for his occasional excur. sions into departments of practical polity. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, Ti HE calvinistick methodists do rejoice, that a man of Mr. Cowper's piety and talent, was enlisted under the banners of Calvin; but if Mr. P. reflects, he will find that those immortal works which he produced, (in wh.ch those doctrines are so nobly vindicated) were written after fourteen years spent in that melancholy state to which you allude; wherein, had his religious views been arminian, or unitarian, it would not have brought peace to his mind, as it was occasioned by disease; but when his health was restored, those doctrines which are termed calvinism, were the "joy and rejoicing of his heart," and always would have been so, had his health WM. MILFORD. been firm. Chudleigh. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, N every large town, particularly in I manufacturing towns, but especially in a metropolis so extensive as London, some means of consuming or purifying the immense volumes of smoke which is sue from the chimnies of brew-houses, glass-houses, steam-engines, and soap and other manufactories, is a desideratum worth the attention even of the legislature; not, certainly, by preventing the existence of the causes of the nuisance, which are indispensable, but by the offer of an adequate and stimulating reward to the inventor of an easy, practicable, and efficacious method of consuming smoke, or purifying it before it evapo rates from the chimney. The experiments of Mr. Winsor, shew not only the possibility of such an invention, but that the smoke of London, and other great towns, (at least so much of it as arises from furnaces, brew-houses, &c. and which forms the most considerable and most offensive part of it) might at once be prevented from rendering the air impure, and be converted into a source of profit. The inhabitants of London, who re. side in the streets leading down to the Thames, from the Strand, have experienced so prodigions an increase within 2 E the |