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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmte A des taux de reduction diff«rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film« A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mtthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 ■ ■ *, 5 6 -■-;:■'« _^. "y ' NEW DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. ' Keprinted from the Letter of the Canada Correspondent of the London •,^,.. . Morning Post, April 3rd, 1856. . » ¥r^ w f / NEW DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS- The accounts which have been lately received of the daily occurrence of garotte outrages in England by ticket-of-leave men and discharged convicts, have induced the writer to republish the following communica- tion, which appeared in the Morning Post of April 3rd, 1856, recom- mending a return to the system of transportation in a field more adapted for its successful operation than Australia afforded. He is the more incline J to bring his views again before the English public, because they have now been confirmed by the experience of six years' subsequent events. Not only has the ticket-of-leave system failed in every part, but the fact has been established of the existence of many of those valuable mines and other resources in the Hudson's Bay and North "West Territories, includ- ing British Columbia, which the writer pointed out as offering facilities for the employment and classification of the convicts. A national under- taking upon which the better disposed convicts could now be profitably set to work, is the mail and passenger road to be constructed between Canada and the f'acific. With the usual overseers to each gang, the usual w>irdens and other attendants at each depot, an armed constabulary force at convenient stations, and with the whole Indian population of the country ever on the alert to obtain the reward hold out for the capture of runaways, no escapes to Canada or the United States need be feared. The hopelessness of succeeding in attempts to reach either would almost effec- tually prevent their ever being made. From the intelligent Indian tribes might be formed an auxiliary police for the entire region, who would become the most efficient scouts, and whose employment as such would have a very salutary effect upon the convicts generally. As to the objec- tion urged by an English paper, that an "underground railway" for the escape of the convicts would be organized by settlers living on the out- skirts of the province, it is sufficient to remark that, among civilized communities (and the people in any part of Canada are no exception to the rule), the runaway convict is looked upon as a dangerous wild beast at large, and would be hunted down as one, instead of being aided and welcomed, as are the slaves of the South in their efforts to attain freedom. In again bringing to the notice of the public the fad that the Hudson's Bay and North West Territories offer the most suitable field for the recep- hon, safe custody, and reform of English criminals, the writer hopes that Canada and the other British North American provinces will be induced to send their convicts there also, to be employed in turning to account their great northern wilderness, instead of retaining them in crowded penitentiaries, where the system of hard labour is carried out by handi- crafts which interfere with the earnings of the honest workman. The writer attaches to tho following communication some articles from the Enghsh, United States, and Canadian papers, out of many to which Its publication in the Morning Post gave rise. By these it will be observed that it attracted attention and caused some controversy upon both sides of the Atlantic. A. R. K Toronto, January, 1863. NEW DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS." From the "Morning Post" of April 8rd, 1856. (fBOH our own C0RUE8P0NDENT.) Toronto, March 8, 1856. " Any project for relieving England of her diflBculties in regard to the disposal and management of her convicts should at this moment bo indul- gently received by the British public, and its merits be carefully weighed. When all are feeling and crying out at the misfortunes and miseries which have been inflicted upon the country by the existing mode of disposing of her convicts, that period should be an opportune one for placing before the people of England a plan for the removal from among them of those evils which the writer has been led to draw up, in consequence of his having given an attentive observation to their growth and magnitude, and of hia being able to point out in \?hat way the much needed relief may be obtained. Everybody in England appears to be pretty well agreed that the present convict system must shortly undergo some change; that during its existence of two years it has been fairly tried, and that the result of that trial has shown its failure in every part All experience obtained of its working has proved it to have fallen short of every object for which it was intro- duced, whether we consider the effiect upon the ill-disposed or upon the convict himself, or whether we regard the protection and relief of the community. Since the working of the present system, under which, with the excep- tion of a few convicts still sent to Western Australia, Bermuda, and Gib- raltar, transportation has ceased, we have hardly taken up an English paper without seeing a report of several robberies and acts of violence committed by ticket-of-leave men, who swarm in all the great towns, and complaints of the insecurity of life and property, in consequence of their presence everywhere, and of their almost invariable return (whatever discipline they may have undergone in model prisons or philanthropic institutions), to their former habits, with increased ardour and more accomplished skill. We hear of complaints from all quarters upon this head — from the magis- trate in the police-office to the Chief Justice and judges upon the bench, and from the honest mechanic in his workshop to Lord Lyndhurst in the House of Peers. In fact, the evils of the present system are becoming so great — the ticket-of-leave and the conditionally-pardoned men are becoming so numerous and ao daring, that, without some change in that system, these 6 outcasts from all that is useful or good, will shortly become what the/orpats in Paris have been in the days of the greatest license there — the instigators and leaders of every riot and species of villany in public, as well as the chief actors in the greatest iniquities in private. ]Jut what tells more than any- thing else against the system of keeping the convicts in England, is the almost impossibility which a ticket-of-leave man has of pursuing an honest course there without running the risk of starving. Confined, as the ticket- of-leave holder now is, to the scene of his crimes and of his shame, sur- rounded and tempted by many of his old associates still at large, and always lying in wait for him, while he is repelled by the respectable employer, and his companionship is shunned by the honest workman, how can this be otherwise : Of the great failure of the system in this latter respect, a convincing proof is conveyed in the following affecting incident related in a London morning paper, under the head of Middlesex Sessions : — " As the learned sergeant (Sergeant Adams) was about to leave the bench on Monday evening, a man entered the court and stated that he had been unable to obtain admission to Nash's Reformatory Institution for adult criminals, at Westmin- ster, to which he had been recommended by his lordship. " It transpired that, some short time ago, the learned Assistant-Judge was accosted in the street, at Brighton, by the prisoner, who solicited alms, not knowing the person whom ho addressed. There was something in the man's demeanour which induced the learned sergeant to question him, and he at once frankly admitted that ho was a thief, and was then at liberty on a ticket-of-leave, adding that he had no hope of ever gaining a livelihood by honest labour, because his former character was so well- known that wherever ha was, ho was hunted about as a convicted thief, and thus deprived of an opportunity of redeeming himself. The Assistant-Judge, upon this desired him to call, at a certain hour, at the hotel ho was staying at, and the man punctually attended. The Assistant-Judge then told him that, with the view of putting his sincerity *;o the test, he would pay his fare to London, and give him a recommendation to Nash's Institution, where if admitted, ho would have to undergo a probationary treatment on bread and water, to which ho replied that that would bo no hardiiliip ; but what, he asked, was ho to do with his wife ? As he had made no previous mention of his being married, the Assistant-Judge was surprised at the avowal, and asked where the wife was. The man replied by introducing her, and she had the appearance of a decent respectable woman. Satisfied, by the production of tl.e marriage certiflcate, that they were husband and wife, the AssistanfcJudge said he would pay the fare of both of them to town, wliich he did, and furnished the man with the promised recommendation. The man presented himself at the institution, but was tlicre informed that according to the rules, no married men could be admitted, and having ascertained who his benefactor was, he appeared himself to inform his lordship of the result of the application. " The Assistant-Judge expressed his deep regret that such a case could not be admitted into the. institution, and desired the man to attend this morning. " At the opening of the court the man made his appearance. " The Assistant-Judge mentioned the circumstance to Mr. Payne, the barrister, and inquired of him, as one of the committee of Nash's Institution, whether he knew of any, or could suggest any, other place where tlie man could be received or assisted, as he considered it a deserving case. " Mr. Payne said ho was not aware at that moment that ho knew of any such t>lace ; but before the next session he would make enquiry, and report the result to lis lordship. " The man was then directed to attend at the next session, and he went his way,'* Can any one doubt that this man, who responded to the invitation of the Assistant-Judge in anxiety and hope, went his way in despair ? How Was lie to subsist until the next session of the co^irt ? Hunted, as a con- victed thief, Tvherevor he looked for honest employment, what resource had ho to live by but by that which had made him a convict ? How difiFercnt the ultimate condition might be of one possessing such a frame of mind as that in which he presented himself to the Assistant- Judge, had he been permitted to commence a new life upon a new soil I There he might become not only a useful member of society, bu* an example and a blessing to the community in which he would be placed. As ho is, it is melancholy to reflect upon what his fate may be I We have seen, in the foregoing, the little hope that is held out to the repentant convict under the present system. In the following report of a debate in the House of Lords, in reference to that system, we see how completely it has failed to produce any beneficial effect upon the far more numerous class of hardened offenders, and what little protection is afforded under it to the community at large : — ' TICKET OF LEAVE SYSTEM. " lord Lyndhurst wished to call the attention of their lordships to a question of very considerable importance. He observed, from the newspapers, that a returned con vie!; on ticket of leave was yesterday placed at the bar of Bow-street Police-court, cliargcl with using obscene language to a policeman when in the disehnrgo of his duty. From the report in the papers, it appeared that the magistrate, Mr. Jardine, a gentleman of great learning and experience, said, ' The language must have been bad indeed to shock a policeman. It presented a striking contrast, no doubt, to the sentimetts expressed dv the prisoner in his interviews with the chaplain of the prison from which he had obtained his ticket of leave. On these occasions, it appeared, the adoption of a hypocritical tone and a canting expression of the counte- nance (which the worst of them were capable of assuming best, when it served their purposs to do so), sufficed to obtain the discharge before the expiration of half the term ol their original sentence, with the further advantage of a written character, enablinf them to impose upon the public. Why, he had not presided there any day for som« time past witliout having to dispose of some charge against a ticket of leave man. The neighborhood was infested with them. They stood at the corners of the streets at midnight, and, pouncing suddenly upon the lonely passenger, half strangled and rolbed him before even an alarm could be given.' This was the magistrate's sttttenieat, speaking of cases that had come within his own knowledge. Then Inspector Mackenzie, a policeman, said, ' There were 40 ticket of I'jave men in the immediate neighborhood of the court, and chiefly in Charles-street, Drury-lane, who liad returned to their old haunts and to their former course of life. In order, how- ever, to avoid the personal consequences, they usually employed boys and women to assist them, and these were constantly apprehended, while the principal delin- quents escaped altogether.' After these observations of the inspector, Mr. Jardine said, ' Ho had a very strong feeling upon the subject. Society was not safe with the present system In operation. It might be a desirable thing to clear the gaols of these men, but it was a bad thing for the public when they returned to a life of crime, having escaped more than half the punishment which it had been thought proper to award them for previous offences. The expense even of re-prosecuting tliese men, r,hen they were detected, must amount to a formidable sum.' Now, their lordships would recollect that a discussion took place on the Convict Bill when it was before the house, and he (Lord Lyndhurst) remembered that on that occasion the Lord Chief Justice stated his anticipations of what was likely to take place if the bill were passed, and pressed upon the Government to reconsider the subject. He must say that tlie anticipations of the noble and learned lord had been fully con- firmed. Every day would greatly increase the number of men discharged on tickets of leave, and the sooner the subject was taken up by the Government and their lord- ships the better it would be for ihe public. " Lord Cnmi^bell felt calleO upon to say thnt nfl Iho anUclpntlona ho hnd formed vcijnrdinjy; this mcasuro had bccu more tlmn realised, llo felt tlie utmost drcnd and npiirehenHion when ho was told that transportation, as n pimishment, was to bo auoHshcd, and that convicts in this country were to bo admitted to their freedom on tickets of leave. It was easy to perceive tnat the safety of society woidd soon bo at an end if this system were pursued. The observ itlons mado l)y Mr. Jardino wero no exag^oratlcn, aud ho therefore most earnestly joined his noble and learned friend In entreating tho earnest and tho immediate attention of tho Qovorumuut to the subject." Since this debate took place tho tickct-of-Icave holders have beconio umch more Dumcrous, and, if possible, much more daring ; so that instead of the magistrate, tho police officer, and the members of the Legislature (whose functions enable them to bo among the first to perceive the great evils which have been pointed out), being tho only classes to denounce tlie present convict system, wo have nearly the entire population of the British Isles crying out against its continuance. Notwithstanding the statistics furnished by Colonel Jcbb and others in support of a favorite system, so far as they have identified themselves with its operation, a thorovgh inciuiry into the more permanent effects of that system would shov its utter failure, including the working of tho various reformatory institutions for adult criminals which have arisen in connection with it, and vhich may be regarded as a part of its macainery. It is, therefore, time that we should turn to a quarter where the much-needed remedy for one cf the greatest social evils that could afflict a people can be easily supplied. To remove the evils, of which a slight and very imperfect sketch is given above, there can be no question that transportation beyond tho seas must be again resorted to. But to do this with the desired results to the country now groaning under the present system, to the convicts themselves, and to the country receiving them, the sunny regions of the south, vher e the climate invites, and, to a certain extent, permits and assists the indul- gence of the gross passions of those unrestrained by moral obligitions, must not be selected for the experiment. Where, then, shall we turn for the desired relief but to the more suitable and disposable regions of the north ? No part of the world is so adapted for the purpose as the territory now lying useless in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company. Whether we regard the enormous extent of this territory, its varied features and resources, its agricultural capabilities in the lower latitudes, and its mines and fisheries in the higher ; or whether we view it in point of climate and position, or regard its present state of neglect and desolation, we must arrive at one conclusion, and that is, that no other place in the world affords so many elements for becoming a successful field of convict labour, and of convict management. Though situated within three weeks' steam- ing of England, the shores of Hudson's Bay are regarded by the masses in England as the most secluded, if not the most remote as well as the most inhospitable part of the world, and would, if transportation were directed there, present the greatest terrors to the imaginatiou of the evil- doers and the evil disposed. In accomplishing this end, the territory would be made to answer the first great object of punishment — namely, tho prevention of crime, in respect to which transportation to the smiling shores of Australia has signally failed. The expense also of conveying so convicts there would be trifling in comparigon to that of their convey- ance to Australia; and the climate (though very endurable and very healthy even in the higher latitudes), would effectually prevent those escapes which frequently occur in the latter, for the purpose of taking to and living out in the bush. The voyage, too, from its shortness, would not have that demoralising effect upon the convicts which the long voyage to Australia and Van Diemen's Land generally had. Nor would there bo the slightest difficulty in properly classifying and managing the convicts in this new field of penal industry and reformatory discipline — ample resources for these purposes existing there, in the numerous and distinct localities which it contains, and in the varied and suitable occupations which the whole territory could be made to afford. Thus, for the worst description of convicts, employment could be obtained in the rich mines of copper, iron, tin, lead, coal, plumbago, and cinnabar, which have been discovered in the northern parts of the territory, and in those of gold, silver, platinum, and precious stones, including the diamond, of which there are certain almost infallible indications in the same parts ; while the more easily man- aged of the reformed convicts might bo sent to the fertile districts and the comparatively mild climates of the Saskatchewan, the Upper Mackenzie, and of Oregon, and New Caledonia;* there to be employed not only 'a working the coal which exists in those neighbourhoods (for which a demanU would spring up by the occupation and progress of the territory), but also in the operations of agriculture, for the purpose of supplying the northern establishments with farm produce ; in improving and maintaining the communications, whether by land or water, and in many useful and important works, such as might be desirable for preparing the country for free settlers ; -the latter extensive sections of it being admirably adapted for colonisation. Works for. turning to account the porcelain clay, the malachite, the fine jasper and fine porphyry, and the beautifully variegated marble, which have been discovered in many parts of the territory, might also give employment to the convicts, according to their previous occupa- tions or their abilities, and the section of country in which they might happen to be located. The valuable salmon, sturgeon, whale, seal, and walrus fisheries would, in like manner, afford occupation to those convicts adapted for them j while the intercourse between the several stations, the transport of ores and minerals, of provisions and stores, and the interior commerce, as it were, of the whole territory, might be carried on by means of those who should have earned conditional pardons, tickets of leave, or some minor indulgence, by their good conduct. Thus the most suitable means would be found there of punishing and reforming the vicious, of encouraging the hopeful, and of rewarding the deserving. The entire system, embracing the different stages of penal servitude and of wholesome yet not necessarily severe discipline, the probationary course, the ticket- of-leave indulgence, and the conditional pardon release, could then be administered with a fair prospect of the great ends contemplated by punish- ment being attained. For many reasons, besides those which have been already given, this should never have been expected from transportation * Now (1863) British Columbia. * 10 to Australia. la the Hudson's Bay territory, with the system properly organized and conducted by proper machinery, there would be no excuse and no opportunity for idleness among any one of the classes of crimi- nals embraced with' a it. While the objectionable assignment system could not exist there at first, in consequence of ihe absence of all free settlers, and should never be introduced, the Government having the whole of the mines and other resources of the country in its own hand, with the exception of those of the fur trade, would not only be able to command full and remunerative labour for those convicts going through the first two stages of the system, but it would at all times be able to afford suitable and profitable employment to the ticket-of-leave holders and the condi- tionally-pardoned men, which was often found to be impossible in Australia. In the latter country useless occupation had sometimes to be found for those convicts of the former class ; and often when it was intended that they should be fully employed in gangs upon the roads and other public works, two-thirds of their time was consumed either in idleness or in very languid and unprofitable exertion. As for the ticket-of-leave holders in that country, they have, upon several occasions, been unable to obtain their own livelihood, and were again thrown upon the authorities, who had not even work to give them, but were obliged to supply them with rations, to prevent their being starved, or resorting to the means of existence adopted by the bush-ranger. It will be seen by what has been said in favour of the Government employing all classes in the new field, that these failures of the system in Australia and Van Dicmen's Land would not be likely to occur in the Hudson's Bay territory. The climate, too, of the latter, not only disposes and enables, but requires the human frame to labour, whilo in Australia, and all warm countries, the climate tends to produce the opposite effects. These effects were not only felt by the convict there, but had as much or more influence upon his overseer : hence, the work of the one being performed in proportion to the attention to duty of the other, much idleness aad many abuses crept into, and became part of the system. In Siberia the mines are worked both in winter and summer, so the former season would offer no interruption to the labours in the mines of the Hudson's Bay territory. The ticket-of-leave holders, who might be employed in agricultural operations during the summer in the southern districts of the territory, could in winter be engaged in cutting timber for many purposes from the magnificent forests in the neighbourhood, and also in many of the profitable occupations which arc carried on during that season in Canada. They might be engaged in building vessels, barges, boats, and canoes for the traffic of the lakes and rivers, according to the various facilities presented by these waters for navigation, and they might even be employed in the construction of houses for the reception of those settlers from Canada whose attention is now being directed to the fertile prairies of the Saskatchewan, and who will not be long iu penetratin"' to that quarter. By a judicious encouragement of the latter in the agricul- tural districts, and the organization of the whole territory into a field of penal labour and reformatory discipline, ameliorating agencies would be called into action throughout it; and thus a region, larger than the whole of Europe, occupying the most important position in reference to Europe, 11 ^ Asia, and tho United States, would bo rescued frem a state of utter neglect and desolation, so far as any vitality or progress may be regarded, and would in time become filled by the hardiest and most promising people ; forming a strong support to Canada, in opposition to her southern rival, though a great portion of them, like many in the Unit 3d States, would have sprung from parents not the most moral in the world. Though much worth has grown out of the sink of imported iniquity in the latter country and in Australia, much more good out of the same description of evil would be produced in the vast territory under consideration, and im- portant ends be obtained there which are not likely to be produced by other agencies, unaided by the former. Partly occupied by settlers from Canada, by way of Lake Superior and the Red River Settlement, and entered at Hudson's Bay, and penetrated in many directions by the exiles from England, accompanied by their guardians and other attendants, the whole region would become a scene of industrial progress, the future of which it would be difficult to estimate too highly. In the event of the Hudson's Bay territory being selected for the purposes above proposed, as soon as preparations could be made for their reception, the convicts should be sent out at once after being sentenced to transportation, instead of being detained, as formerly, in England, end undergoing there a course of probationary discipline. This preparatory course has generally been thrown away, not only by the course itself being a very imperfect one, and by the demoralising effects of a long voyage, but also by the great degree of liberty often granted to the convicts upon arriving at their des- tination, out of all proportion, when considered in connection with their previous discipline and the crimes for which they have been sentenced. Notwithstanding the long voyage which intervened, the change was too sudden and too wide. Upon this point, it may be as well to state what Sir William Denison, the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, has said : — " Con- victs who have gone through the secondary or probationary period in the colony are much better when they have become ticket-ol-leave men, than those who have gone through it in England, and have obtained tickets of leave upon landing." With a view, then, to prevent that enormous waste of money and of time which is now expended in England upon penitentiaries and model prisons for adults, such as those at Pentonville and Millbank, and to promote the real objects contemplated by penal discipline, an establishment, in some respect similar to that at Portland, should be formed at the entrance of one of the many rivers flowing into Hud- son's Bay,, or at some more suitable and more sheltered spot in their neighbourhood. Some place might be selected, where the construction of important public works, having reference to the opening out of the territory to the general enterprise of England and of Canada, besides those required for the establishment, would yield some return for the money laid out. The construction of wharves and of storehouses, for the accommodation of ships and goods, and tho erection of try-houses, and all the apparatus necessary for extracting the oil from tho whales caught in the bay, where they abound, and where they have hitherto remained unmolcetcd, might be among the first works of this nature upon which the 12 convicts should be employed. Some of the richest mines of copper, lead, and quicksilver exist in the neighbourhood of the bay, and might also afford occupation to the convicts there. To such an establishment as that above proposed all convicts sentenced to transportation should be sent in the first instance, and there be subjected to hard labour, combined -with such a course of improved discipline as the experience obtained of the working of the system at Portland should suggest. But, whatever the result of that experience may be, neither at this portal of the new field of punishment and of reward, nor at any interior station of it, should the murderer or the housebreaker be classed with the less hardened offender, unless crime committed by the latter within the territory should have placed them upon an equality. Nor should the whole of their time there be devoted to hard labour. Both the schoolmaster and the minister of religion should engross a portion of it each day, and their labour should, if possible, be such as to suit that industrial training which would best fit them for the occupations for which they might be destined in the interior or upon the coast. Considering the number of convicts to be disposed of by Great Britain annually, this depot should be able to contain, upon an emergency, as many as 2,000 at one time, though it would be advisable that the number should seldom exceed 800, which would be about equal to the number employed at Portland. The period for which they should be detained there should in no case be less than three months, or be more than twelve. For the first few years provisions could easily be supplied to this establishment by the Government from England. The wants, however, of so large a number of convicts, and of those in charge of them, would soon attract, even to the bleak shores of Hudson's Bay, a com- munity of importers and of breeders of cattle, &c., on the spot (for which the neighbourhood is well adapted); who would, in time, reap a rich harvest by supplying this establishment, and, perhaps, other establish- ments in the interior, and thus relieve the authorities at home of any anxiety upon this head. That this would be so, who can doubt, after considering the fact that the Dutch whale fishery alone gave rise to a flourishing community of traders at Smeerinberg, upon the barren shores of Spitzbergen, and that so great was its prosperity, while the fishery con- tinued to be prosecuted in its neighbourhood, that the Hollanders used to compare it with their famous settlement of Batavia, which was founded about the same time. ' Besides the trading community which would spring up in the neighbourhood of the proposed establishment at Hudson's Bay, and be partly supported by supplying the wants of the whalers which would then be permitted to visit the valuable fishing-ground in the bay, produce would soon be conveyed to that market from the lied River Settle- ment, and from the stations in the fertile valley of the Saskatchewan. To the latter the convicts should have a prospect of making their way, after they had gone through the industrial and moral training at the estab- lishment upon the shores of Hudson's Bay, and also through a longer piobationary course at the mines, or other stations at various points in the interior, or upon the coast. Any auxiliary establishments that might be required, such as houses of correction, partaking of the character of model prisons, might be formed at Hudson's Bay in connection with the general i; 13 depot there, and at one or two of the stations in the neighbourhood of the mines ; and a large penitentiary for females should be placed in some shel- tered spot in the far interior, where its inmates could be employed in making wearing apparel, and other useful articles, out of the flax growing spontaneously there, and of the wool of the big-horn sheep which inhabit New Caledonia. They could also find occupation in many other works of industry, which would minister to the wants of a vast convict community. The wool-bearing goats of the Rocky Mountains would probably furnish material out of which fabrics might be produced as curious and as valuable as the far-famed shawls of Cashmere. At all the various establishments which it might be necessary to form to carry out an efficient system of discipline in all its parts, no convict should be employed in any post of authority ; for to secure respect and obedience, as well as the beneficir.l influence of good example, all having the slightest control over the convicts, from the lowest constable to the governor of the territory, should be above suspicion. To the unpardonable neglect of this common sense view of the relationship which should exist between the convict and his overseer, may be attributed much of that failure in the late system- of transportation which has generally been experienced wher- ever it has been tried. Other incentives to good conduct must be fouud than those of rewarding the apparently deserving (who at the same time may be the most accomplished hypocrites), at the expense of the convicts gene- rally, and, therefore, to the injury of the entire system. To be able also the more effectually to maintain discipline, and to produce amendment among the convicts, as well as for the object of protecting the native tribes, no spirituous liquors of any description should be allowed to be introduced into the territory ; and, from this prohibition, neither the officers of the Government, nor those of the Hudson's Bay Company, nor the free settlers, should be excluded. The great question in regard to temperance, now being agitated in many countries, would be then fairly tried in all its purity. As to move than one-half of the crime and misery in the world being produced by drink, there can be no doubt. In Siberia, the most; demoralising effects are produced among the convicts and among all classes by the great extent to which drunkenness prevails in that coun- try. There is nothing, in reality, in a cold climate to require the use of spirituous liquors, though in such a climate they do not produce that immediate ill effect upon the constitution which their use to any extent does in a warm country ; but that the abstaining from them is conducive to health in the former, has often been proved, not only in Canada, but also in the bleakest parts of the Hudson's Bay territory, and among the ice of the Arctic Sea. As a compensation for being deprived of their allowance in this respect, and for any extra exertion which they might have to undergo, the military employed in the new field of convict discip- line should be granted an increase of pay, and other advantages, during their sojourn there. For similar services in Siberia, without being sub- jected to the same deprivation, all officers, civil and military, obtain a step of rank upon being ordered to that region, and are permitted to return to Europe in the higher grade after three years' service. In the territory under consideration, the military should have every inducement held out 14 to them to become settlers, after a reasonable period of serrice. Special corps might be formed for the country, and be sent out every five years, to succeed the troops absorbed there. It would promote many of the important ends which are aimed at by the present proposal, if, within a short period from tho commencement of their probationary course at the mines or other public works, those convicts deserving of the indulgence should have their families sent out to them, the expense of which might be partly paid by them, after they should have earned enough for the purpose by task-work (the most salutary in its effects), or have become holders of tickets of leave. Considering the returns which the mines would yield, and tho relief to the mother country which such a step would afford, even the whole of this expense might be cheerfully borne by the Government. As to the good effects of sending the families out, n& one can doubt. With little opportunity to escape from localities cut off by 500 or 1,000 miles of forest from Canada or the United States, and with a prospect, depending upon their own conduct, of doing well in a few years in a more favourable locality, these convicts, if judiciously and firmly managed, would require few chains or other degrad- ing restraints to bind them to their work of labour and of amendment. With short hours at their daily tasks, with their families around them, and the clergyman and the schoolmaster in their midst, using moral and persuasive means to lead them in the right path, would it be too much to expect that they would cheerfully resign themselves to a lot which would have few careSj and which might be attended by future advantages? Knowing also, by the performance of " task work," that they would be laying up some little store for a brighter period of their career, can we doubt that each man would proceed to his daily toil with cheerfulness and hope, and return to his wife and comfortable log-house at " early eve" to busy himself with some little improvements there, with feelings very dif- ferent to those generally attributed to the convict while undergoing his sentence of transportation ? Of the convicts naturally well disposed, but who had been led away by strong temptations, or had been the victims of circumstances, all this, and more than this, might be looked for. Of course, the same gratifying results could not be expected from the same treatment in the case of the most vicious, or the incorrigible, upon whom it would, therefore, be necessary to place some greater restraint. Dis- cipline, however, should be strictly laid down for all, and be as strictly maintained ; but it should partake more of the character of that discipline which has been made to accomplish such wonders with men sometimes taken from the worst part of a population and formed into an army. The lax system which was introduced by Captain jMaconochie at Norfolk Island, and tried there for several years, and a similar system which at one time prevailed in Siberia, resulted in complete failure. In a region presenting so many terrors to the imagination of the unio- formod, from whom the greater number of criminals proceed, it might hardly be considered necessary to establish an ultra place of punishment; but all cxperienco has shown that, among large masses of criminals, there will always be found some of that savage nature which nothing but physi- cal suffering can subdue or render harmless. For all such (whom it would 15 be uecessary to separate at once from the better disposed), an asylum should be provided, situated far away from the other stations, either upon the bankb of the Coppermine Biver, or within the northern latitudes of the more fertile but equally rich mineral country of the Mackenzie. The influence, too, which the knowledge that such a place of punishment existed within the Arctic circle, where winter reigns supreme for nine long months, and darkness covers the face of everything for many weeks together, would be most salutary upon the minds of tho convicts scattered throughout the territory, and also upon those of tho ill-disposed in the mother country who had not yet ventured deeply into crime. In consideration of the important objects to be produced by the carrying out of the present plan, not only in regard to England, but to the convicts and to the country of their reformation, the latter should be organized into districts or provinces, each presided over by a superintendent or lieutenant- governor, and the entire region should be placed under the charge of a governor-general, who would not only hold supreme command over the whole of the convict settlements, and the military or other parties attached to them, but who would also administer the general government of the territory, including all public matters relating to the proceedings of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the native tribes — whose especial protector he should be — and to the free settlers, who should be encouraged to come within his jurisdiction. He would also adopt measures for discovering and developing all the resources of the territory, and for attracting a free population there. With regard to the position of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, th#y might be permitted to occupy one somewhat similar to that which is held by the Bussian Fur Company in Siberia, where the latter company, with large establishments and many dependents, are subordinate to the governor-general and the other imperial officers stationed in the country. For the preservation of their rights as a fur company (should it be deemed advisable to continue them), stringent laws might be enforced to prevent the wanton destruction of the fur-bearing animals. In Siberia, with a population of several millions, industriously employed in all the occupations and all the arts of civilized life, an immense and a profitable trade in fura is carried on every year with no apparent decrease. With the regulations and the experience of that country to guide us, we may easily accomplish in the more hospitable and the more accessible region of Hudson's Bay what has been successfully accomplished in tho former, not only by introducing a population, by constructing roads, and building up cities and manufactories, but by taking measures at the same time to preserve and increase the trade in furs. The fear, therefore, which the Hudson's Bay Company have always evinced that this trade would become extinct or worthless, if attempts were made to people the territory and developo its other much more valuable resources, is not a legitimate feeling. lUxt, afler tho rich harvests which the company have gathered during the last two centuries from the country, they would do well to retire from it, so soon as means commensurate to the undertaking shall be avail- able for turning all its varied resources to account. The company might then obtain from the British Government terms equal to those which were granted to tho East India Company upon the latter giving up their charter 16 '4 as a commercial body — viz., an annual sum paid to them, eqiial to 10 per cent, upon their fiaid-up capital. The interest at that rate upon the sum of j£400,000, which the Hudson's Bay Company acknowledge as their present capital, would amount to £40,000 annually ; but as not more than one-half of the former sum was ever subscribed, but has been added to from time to time, by sums taken from their profits, and also by a simple declaration that their capital should represent twice the amount which had been paid up, the latter sum might be considerably reduced. Under any circumstances the company should not be allowed much longer to throw a blight over a region which, were it not for their connection with it, would have become long since one of the most important dependencies of the British Crown. Having for nearly two centuries confined themselves exclusively to the prosecution of the fur trade, and studiously neglected that ievelopment of the mineral and other resources of the territory with ;yhich they were charged by their charter — that others might not be attracted to it by the display of the latter — now that these resources have become well known through the explorations of scientific and other travellers unconnected with the Hudson's Bay Company, and that parties could be found in England and Canada willing and able to assist the British Government to turn them to proper account, the company would probably promote their own interests were they to retire from a field for which they are no longer fitted, while they can do so with that profit which they prize more highly than the mere reputation, which they might have earned, of being benefactors to the country of their birth, and to the country of their stewardship. To return to the main subject of this communication. Many questions in regard to it, bearing upon matters of expense, and upon the adaptability of the Hudson's Bay territory in point of climate, and in some other respects, for becoming a Kuccessful field oT convict discipline, may be dis- cussed by the writer in a future communication. He cannot, however, help expressing an opinion at the present time, that if the n\oney which is now expended upon model prisons and philanthropic institutions for adult criminals in England, which he believes> to result in making finished hypocrites of the greater number of their inmates (thus adding to crime, and creatine; future burthens upon the country, instead of bringing it relief), were applied to the carrying into effect, in the Hudson's Bay territory, of some plan of transportation, similar to the one now proposed, ample means would be obtained for the purpose, and the most important ends be secured to both countries. For any hope of accomplishing much with adult criminals, new soil is required for the effort, where a wholesome and not an unnatural and a debasing process, would restore them to all that they had lost by plunging into crime. Let every one of them, there- fore, be sent abroad to a country where treatment in model institutions (intended to prepare the convict for taking his proper place in the walks of life, and not to incapacitate him for so doing by enervating both mind and body), followed by judicious care and authority, and a certain means of profitable livelihood, might be reasonably expected to accomplish some- thing for him, and where hi presence would become a blessing to the country instead of its being a curse in England, as it is now regarded there. Let, however, all juvenile offenders continue to be treated at Parkhurst, 17 and at other refonnatories at home ; for upon their minds former associa- tioDS may easily be made to give way to new impressions, and the same difficulties in an after career in England (almost insurmountable in the case of the adult convict), need not be encountered by them. That the Hudson's Bay territory is adapted for such a field as England now requires to absorb her convict population, wo have only to turn our attention to the more inclement, the more barren and less accessible region of Siberia, to which 10,000 criminals and their families are marched some 6,000 miles over the bleakest country every year, and which can now boast of a busy population of five millions. "With mineral resources quite as rich as those of Siberia, the Hudson's Bay territory possesses manv advantages in respect to climate and soil, position and access, of which Siberia cannot boast It is surely, therefore, not presumptuous to suppose that the enterprise of England and Canada could effect as much in the one as Russia has accomplished in the other." 18 "CONVICT COLONIES." From the London " Morning Post." " The third report of the select committee on transportation, which has just been published, contains the concluding portion of the evidence, as well as the general resolutions of the committee. The subject is too ex- tensive to be considered within the limits of a single article ; but the first and second resolutions relate to a matter which may be treated by itself, and we therefore propose, upon the present occasion, to confine our observations to those two resolutions. The first states that the punishment of transportation is more effectual and deterring, be^tter adapted for the ultimate reformation of convicts, and more beneficial to this country thaa any other secondary punishment for serious crimes which has yet been tried. On this point there is the concurring testimony of Mr. Baron Alderson, of Mr. Justice Cresswell, and of Lord Chief Justice Campbell — judges of great experience and sagacity, all of whom are in favor of the revival of the punishment of transportation. Lord Campbell, we know, has repeatedly stated in his place in Parliament that he was appalled when he heard that transportation was to be abolished, and therefore it can excite no surprise that the noble and learned lord should again state to the com- mittee that, in his opinion, " the Government ought to use every possible effort to establish colonies to which convicts may be transported." It appears, however, that there is some difficulty in providing convict estab- lishments in the existing colonies of this country. Those colonies which are thriving and prosperous will not receive felons from England, and it appears from the evidence, that even in Western Australia, which is still willing to accept this discription of labour, the experiment has not been very satisfactory or encouraging. Sensible of this difficulty, the committee in its second resolution, recommends the continuance of the sentence of transportation " so far as her Majesty's dominions may afford safe and proper facilities for that purpose." They do not |draw a comparison Detween the relative merits of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Falkland Islands, Vancouver's Island, or any other portion of her Majesty's dominions — a task in which to a certain extent, they had been anticipated by the Select Committee of the House of Lords. But on the continent of North America far from everi/ British Settlement, in a climate rigorous, but not unhealthy, with a soil capable of production, there exists a large tract of land, which, from the time of Charles II., has remained a mere preserve for wild ani- mals. We mean the immense territory over which the Hudson's Bay Company holds dominion. A short time ago we published some articles from our correspondent in Canada, pointing out the expediency of select- ing some portion of this wilderness — now unprofitable as far as the arts of life are concerned— as the site for convict establishments. These articles at the time of their appearance excited considerable attention, and the plan 10 was muoh canvassed both by tbe press in this country and in Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company, jealous of any interference with « 'Ls ancient solitary reign/' naturally viewed the proposal with apprehen"' on and dis- favour. But in Canada, where more is known of thr nistory of that corporation, the whole matter was fully discussed, and we may state, as the result of that discussion, that, at the present moment, the Provincial Government is engaged in making preliminary inquiries, with the view of urging upon the Home authorities the policy of rendering some portion of the Hudson's Bay territory available for the purpose of colonization. For some years past the administration of our colonial affairs has been attended with little difficulty. We do not wbh to be prophets of ill ; but Mr. Labouchere must bo prepared before long to consider the whole question of the Hudson's Bay monopoly, and to listen to the claims which Canada will make to have thrown open to civilization a territory vast in extent, and which it is well known is not unsuited for European colonization. If Russia on the other side of the continent, in regions still mere inhospitable, can form thriving settlements, England,, either by convict >3stablisbments, or by the enterprise of free labor, should surely endeavor to open a country which is now only occupied by the scattered posts of a trading company. Various very obvious reasons may be urged in favor of placing convict establishments within the Hudson's Bay territory. In the first place, the expense of conveyance would be inconsiderable, when compared with the cost of a voyage either to Northern Australia, the Falkland Islands, or Vancouver's Island. In the second, the convicts .would not be brought into contact with any existing settlements ; in the third, all chance of escape would be impossible ; and in the fourth, they might be employed in useful labour — such as constructing public works, cultivating the soil, and thus becoming the pioneers for other and more extended colonization. The right of the crown to form such establishments is, we believe, indis- putable. The Act of the 1 and 2 Geo. IV., o. 65, provides that the Crown may establish any colony within the territories assigned to the company, and also the right of annexing any part of such territories to any existing colony. We therefore believe that no part of her Majesty's dominions affords " safer and more proper facilities'' for the continuance of transpor- tation than the Hudson's Bay territories ; and, should this view be adopted by the Government, one difficulty which tk3 committee anticipated will have been removed, and the way opened for the admission of the larger claim which Canada is about to urge." "PENAL SERVITUDE AND TRANSPORTATION.*' From the London " Spectator." " As if to give the debate upon our system of penal servitude a practical and startling illustration, the Morning Post conspicuously advocates a proposal for founding a penal settlement on the Northern coast of America. Considering the relations of the Morning Post and the attention which it 20 pays to ccrtaia forms of law-aracndment, wo incline to suppose, 'vvithont straining the supposition too far, that there is some connexion between this project and Mr. Soott's proposal for a Select Committee with a view to the renewal of transportation ; and we are inclined to fear that there may be some connexion between the perplexed position of Crovernmcnt and this project advocated bv the Morning Poit. The scheme is to a certain extent plausible. We have been compelled, as we observed last week, to discontinue transportation without having thoroughly studied the praoti- oability of a substitute. With a dislike to anything resembling theory or projects, — though no country is so fertile in projects as England,— our official people have endeavoured to accommodate our convicted felons at home, without introducing new provisions in the system of their confine- ment. This was in itself an absurdity ; for the act of keeping at home the criminals was a great and it ought to have been a formidable novelty. Throughout history there has been no country with such a numerous popu- lation, so closely confined, producing such a large number of criminals, and at the same time keeping those criminals at home. When we introduced the new plan of detaining the criminals at home, the difficult undertaking was only accompanied by a palliative in the shape of letting them loose under a licence if tnev could go through the form of appearing to behave well. The tickets-of-leave have given rise to com- plaints ; out the complaints are justly due to the imperfection of the mode for carrying out the auxiliary relief, not to its nature ; whereas the official managers have met the complaints by retrenching the relief. They have produced no contrivance for providing better custody and better employment for convicts. They have simply contracted, almost discontinued, the licences to go at large. They render the system less complete, less com- mensurate to the necessity, than when they began it. What is more, we have not seen in the debate of last week, in the letters of Colonel Jebb, or in any official statement whatisoever, the slightest hint that they have selected or aaoertained any principle for their action — anything to guide them out of the embarras in whicu they are at present placed. It was under these circumstances that Mr. Scott made his motion ; it is under these circumstances that the Canadian correspondent of the Morning Post has thrown out a suggestion, which is greedily caught up, for founding a settlement on the shore of Hudson's Bay. We extract from the editorial columns a statement of the advantages which the Hudson's Bay territories are supposed to offer." 'They are out-of-the-way regions, little known, and seldom visited; and the prospect of transportation to them would excite that fear in the criminal which the expectation of getting to Australia has failed, for many years, to produce. There are no large towns, no great seats of conunerce or industry in them ; so that the public would not be scandalized by seeing or hearing of such criminals as forgers, and those who had received some education, becoming, by-and-by, leading men, and driving their carriages, as they have done before now in Sidney. Again, they are much nearer than Australia ; they are within three or four weeks' steam-voyage of England ; the demoralizing effects of a long voyage to the Antipodes would be avoided, and the conveyance of criminals to their destination would cost less. In the next place, the g^eat difficulties which had to be surmounted in Australia before suitable arrangements for carrying out a system of classification could be effected, would never present themselves in those extensive regions ; for the numerous and I 't. I 21 dlBtinct localities in thorn, with the varied occupations which the whole territory ftfTords, provide a natural system of classification to begin with, — the mines of copper, coal, lead, and other metals, in tlie Northern parts, supplying worlc and 1)unl8hment nt the some time for the worst class of convicts, whilst ngriculturol abour, and the coal districts in the more Southern parts, would afford employment for tlio less depraved criminals. Hero there would be no inducement, an(\, conse- quently no danger of the convicts escaping to tlie woods, as they have run off to the bush in Australia ; the inclemency of the winter seasons and tho impossibility of one or of a few runaways obtaining subsistence with ease during tho colder months, would prevent any such attempt, and tho extensive forests which separate these regions from Canada ond the United States would place an obstacle almost insur- mountablo in the way of escape to tho more densely-populated districts in the South. The assignment syntem, wiiich was adopted in Australia, and was so much criticized and reprehended, could never bo introduced in a country where there were no free settlers to whom the convicts might be assigned. And, lastly, tlio cold and bracing atmosphere would exercise a healthful influence over tho officials and military employes, no less than over tho convicts, compared with tho relaxing climate of Australia,' " There would be some merit in this proposal if it could possibly be carried out. Tho convicts must either be restricted to the territory, or not re- Btricted. If they were really kept at Hudson's Bay, and worked in mines, the confinement without relief would, as we may gather from Norfolk Island,'" convert them into devils incarnate ; and they would die so rapidly as to raise a cry at home that they were subjected to slow capital punishment more cruel than hanging. In this state of things, the system as regards the mass of criminals could not be executed. The Home Office would be placed in a permanent state of siege. It is one thing to pass severe laws through the Legislature, and another to execute them steadily. People are readily led into severity against abstractions, but when those abstrac- tions become individualized^ wonderfully good reasons are found for lenity in each particular case. The horrors of the territory would be very suitable as an adjunct to a penal sentence for felony if the convict could be kept there ; but he could not. The Home Office would let him off ; and at all events he would return after the expiry of his sentence. This would abolish one of the " andvantages" of transportation. Australia was further off, and there were temptations for the freed man to remain. Hudson's Bay is nearer, without any such temptations." " PENAL COLONY IN BRITISH AMERICA." From the Philadelphia " North American." " A great deal of discussion has taken place recently in the papers of Canada and tho neighbouring British Colonies, upon a proposition which has emanated from the Home Government to establish a penal settlement in tho vast territories of the Hudson's Bay Company. • The experience of the defects in the management of the convicts, at Norfolk Island and in Australia, would suggest the adoption of improved management in any now trial of transportation, whereby those defects would be avoided. It appears to be received favorably or UDfavorably according to the prc-concoived notions of those who discuss it. Some, filled with a phara* saical horror of the very name and jpresonoo of convicts, shudder at the idea of founding a colony of them m America. They affect to perceive some vague injuries likely to be inflicted on Canada thereby, though they cannot exactly say what. Others, unaffected by illiberal prejudices, and looking only to the early settlement of the immense wilderness to which the Hudson's Bay Company has given its name, see that there is ample icope and verge enough for such an establithment without in any way injuring the present colonies. The subject of fixing a new location for a convict settlement has occasioned a great deal of trouble to British statesmen of late. The policy of transportation having become a permanent one in the British Kingdom, it is necessary to find a suitable place of deposit for the mass of refuse humanity, constantly ready to be sent forth. Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, the Capo Colony, Norfolk Island — all have outgrown the system. It did well enough for them when they were infant settlements, in need of compulsory labor to till the soil, build bridges, open roads, &o. ; but now that they have large numbers of moral and respectable settlers who feel shocked at the imputation of originating from convicts, some new colony must be found. Temporary places will not do. There must be a permanent colony — permanent, at least, for many years to come. North America is about the only place offering a site, because of its vist unsettled interior wilderness. The object in view in fixing upon Mackenzie Biver as the scene of the new settlement, would be to remove the convicts entirely from all likelihood of contact with Canada and the other British North American Colonies. It, however, hardly seems necessary to seek so remote a region, since the shores of Labrador and Hudson's Bay might answer the purpose much better. But whatever the location, may be the movement is one of much importance. Should it be undertaken, it will probably result in building up a Britbh Siberia in the frigid wilds of America." "NEW DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS." From the " Montreal Oazette." <ointed out as a suitable field for convicts, and the idea has been received verv avorably in Great Britidn and also in Canada. But two objections have been startea, one on behalf of the Company, which claims to hold the soil by right of charter, which charter is unexpired and therefore still in force ; and the other the danger to be apprehended from the proximity of such a colony to the settled portions of Canada and the United States. These objections, however, do not possess m«'ch force, since that part of the territory designated as the proper site for such a settlement is one thousand miles away from any civilized place, with a dense forest intervening. With such an impassable barrier, and with a police force, organised from the hatf- breeds, it is contended that escope would be impossible, at alfevents scarcely within the compass of human courage and perseverance to accomplish. The unexpired charter of the Company must be respected, but the Company must not be unreason- able. The scheme in view is one of great magnitude and of pressing interest. The unhappy criminals in Great Britain fiU all the jails and penitentiaries, where the unfor- tunate can neither have recreation nor health, and what is worse, little or nomoral re- form. On the ground of humanity, then, this plan can be pressed, and pressed we hope it will be to a fortunate consummation. We could say much on this topic, but we forbear, and refer the re.^der to an able communication in this day's issue, written by a gentleman who resided many years in Australia, and who seems master of hia subject. We may point out, neverflieless, what our correspondent enforces, namely — ^tnat these penal settlements soon become colonies of nigh moral and political value. The traces of convict origin are lost in the very first generation — nay more, many of the convicted themselves from being removed from their old haunts and bad associates become under the encouraging prospects of once more rejoining virtuous society, reformed, respectable, and often wealthy members of the community. The colony, too, in due process of time, rises to the dignity of a first class British Pro- vince as in Australia.' • ,' ' ' ' •( ' " HUDSON'S BAY, AND CONVICTS." From the " Quebec Gazette." « It has been proposed to convert the wilderness at present possessed by the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, into a second Siberia, where con- victs of all ranks, may grow into exemplary characters, and have wives and fortunes. The proposition is a good one. The vast territory extend- ing from Greenland to Kamschatcka, north of Canada, is at present occu- pied only by some wild beasts, and a few hunters. It is, as a land, entirely unproductive. No one produces, no one imports, nor does any one ex- port anything, furs excepted. The soil is not incapable of cultivation. It IS well watered, has its growing season ; and the earth is fertile. All that the country requires to bring forth food for man and beast abundantly, is the presence of man. But man is not permitted to show himself in the Hudson's Bay Territory, unless he be an agent of the Hudson's Bay Company. Thousands of miles remain a wilderness, to gratify one mer- cantile establishment in the city of London. Now, to break up this hideous monopoly, it is proposed to convert the territory into a convict, or penal settlement ; in other words, to convert a wilderness into a new coun- try, for the certain reformation of characters who cannot be reformed at their homes. The proposition meets entirely with our approbation. If 'i ■; 29 the present Hudson's Bay Territory were peopled with the refuse of Eng- land or Europe, it would be better for Canada than it now is. Convicts aro not worse than other men, unless in so far as accidental circumstances have made them so. He has but little faith in himself, who eschews the casual contact of other men, lest that contact may contaminate him or his. But what contamination could there be as regards Canada, in the settle- ment of the Hudson's Bay Territory with English convicts?" ▼. C. CHIWITT * 00, PE1OTKB8, 17 AKD 19 BHO BT. USX, lOMHIO.