On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
money . Those who are under sentence of transportation , know that their friends are making exertions to procure good situations for them , and indulge visions of wealth and happiness such as the honest poor man knows he has no chance of attaining in his native
land . Among a herd of criminals , some one is generally found who has been transported before , and whose representations of the prospect of doing well fill his hearers with delight . What wonder that people induce their relatives to commit crime in order to get them well established , as stated by Mr . Busby ? Or that a magistrate has been asked what extent of crime would ensure transportation ?
But it may be said that as good , or better prospects lie before the honest emigrant . This , however , is not the case . Those who cannot afford to pay their passage , are obliged to bind themselves on certain conditions , for a term of years ,, to serve the person who pays their expenses , and at about half the wages that they could , if free , obtain in the colony . The more honest the labourer , the more strictly will he adhere to his engagement ; and while a
convict obtains leave to work for himself , at the highest wages ,, at the end of four years ,, the honest man is in bondage for seven ; and it becomes clearly the interest of the settler to pay for his passage by the perpetration of crime . —That which is wanted is , that the sentence of the criminal should be defined ; that his labour should be distinguished in kind from that of the honest man , and attended with such hardship as shall make it disgusting ; and , above
all , that the substantial recompe ' nse of good conduct should be deferred till the expiration of the term of punishment . From the evils of a disadvantageous contract , the honest emigrant can be guarded only by the wider diffusion of knowledge respecting the state of the labour market in the country to which he wishes to go : but from other evils of arbitrary imposition he ought to be relieved , and will be , probably , ere long , since government has taken the matter into consideration . We trust that our courts of
justice will not long be the scene of the absurd scandal of a judge pronouncing sentence of transportation with tearful eyes , and after an awful preface about the horror of the punishment , while the prisoner tips the wink to his friends , or replies with a flippant ' Thank ' ee , my lord , 'tis the best thing could happen to me . ' We trust that free labourers will not long be disheartened in their plans of emigration by the intelligence that honesty is not the best policy ; and that while government and individuals are exerting themselves , in the most praiseworthy manner , to transmit our surplus numbers , all needless hinderances to their voluntary emigration may be removed . These beneficial changes are likely to take place , various plans having been already discussed by the general and local governments ; and some , bearing the impress of wisdom and humanity
Untitled Article
Van Diemen ' s Land . 375
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 375, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/15/
-