agreed in supporting what the most eminent political economist of the present day had described as 'a system begun in defiance of all reason, and persevered in in defiance of all experience.'

'And not only so, but it spoileth the plantation.'

Bacon has not pointed out one particular disadvantage of this mode of colonization. The emancipists, as they are called -those who have come out as convicts, are described, and that by some advocates of the system, as for the most part idle, unthrifty settlers; and the currency, those born in the colony, are represented as generally preferring a seafaring life; having the odious associations of crime and slavery connected with agricultural pursuits,—a feeling perfectly natural under such circumstances, but the very last one we would wish to find in a colony. One of the results-not, I apprehend, originally contemplated when penal colonies were established in New South Wales by the English government,-is that these wicked condemned men have planted for themselves several volunteercolonies; escaping in small craft either to the South Sea Islands (in many of which, for a good while past, each native chief has for a prime-minister some choice graduate of the university of Newgate), or, more frequently, to some part of the coast of New Holland. Thus the land is certainly planted, but it is planted with the worst of weeds, according to the ingenious experiment suggested, in the Tempest, for Prospero's island:

'Gonzalo. Had I plantation of this isle, my lord . . . .
Antonio. He'd sow it with nettle seed.'

This was one of the arguments put forward by me, in the hope of awakening the public mind to the real character and extent of the evil, in a pamphlet in the form of a letter addressed to Earl Grey, from which I give some extracts.

'The defenders of the system generally keep out of sight the inconsistency of professing to aim at the mutual benefit of the mother country and the colonies, on a plan which sets the two in direct opposition; and present, separately and alternately, the supposed advantage of 'getting rid' (as it is called) of criminals, and that of encouraging a growing colony, so as to withdraw the attention from the real incompatibility of the two.

In other subjects, as well as in this, I have observed that two distinct objects may, by being dexterously presented, again and again in quick succession, to the mind of a cursory reader, be so associated together in his thoughts, as to be conceived capable, when in fact they are not, of being actually combined in practice. The fallacious belief thus induced bears a striking resemblance to the optical illusion effected by that ingenious and philosophical toy called the 'thaumatrope;' in which two objects painted on opposite sides of a card,-for instance, a man, and a horse, a bird, and a cage,-are by a quick rotatory motion, made to impress the eye in combination, so as to form ⚫ one picture, of the man on the horse's back,-the bird in the cage, &c. As soon as the card is allowed to remain at rest, the figures, of course, appear as they really are, separate and on opposite sides. A mental illusion closely analogous to this is produced, when, by a rapid and repeated transition from one subject to another, alternately, the mind is deluded into an idea of the actual combination of things that are really incompatible. The chief part of the defence which various writers have advanced in favour of the system of penal colonies consists, in truth, of a sort of intellectual thaumatrope. The prosperity of the colony, and the repression of crime are, by a sort of rapid whirl, presented to the mind as combined in one picture. A very moderate degree of calm and fixed attention soon shows that the two objects are painted on opposite sides of the card.

'In aid of this and the other modes of defence resorted to, a topic is introduced from time to time in various forms, which is equally calculated to meet all objections whatever on all subjects: -that no human system can be expected to be perfect; that some partial inconvenience in one part or in another must be looked for; and that no plan can be so well devised as not to require vigilant and judicious superintendence, to keep it in effectual operation, and to guard against the abuses to which it is liable, &c. &c.

'All this is very true, but does not in reality at all meet the present objections. Though we cannot build a house which shall never need repair, we may avoid such a misconstruction as shall cause it to fall down by its own weight. Though it be impossible to construct a time-piece which shall need no winding up, and which shall go with perfect exactitude, we may

guard against the error of making the wheels necessarily obstruct each other's motions. And though a plan of penal legislation, which shall unite all conceivable advantages and be liable to no abuses, be unattainable, it is at least something gained if we do but keep clear of a system which by its very constitution shall have a constant and radically inherent tendency to defeat our principal object.

'For, let any one but calmly reflect for a few moments on the position of a governor of one of our penal colonies, who has the problem proposed to him of accomplishing two distinct and in reality inconsistent objects: to legislate and govern in the best manner with a view to-1st, the prosperity of the colony, and also, 2ndly, the suitable punishment of the convicts. It is well known that slave labour is the least profitable; and can seldom be made profitable at all, but by the most careful, difficult, troublesome, and odious superintendence. The most obvious way, therefore, of making the labour of the convicts as advantageous as possible to the colony, is to make them as unlike slaves as possible,-to place them under such regulations, and with such masters, as to ensure their obtaining not only ample supplies both of necessaries and comforts, but in all respects favourable and even indulgent treatment; in short, to put them as much as possible in the comfortable situation which free labourers enjoy, where labour is so valuable, as from the abundance of land, and the scarcity of hands, it must be, in a new settlement.

'And the masters themselves may be expected, for the most part, to perceive that their own interest (which is the only consideration they are expected to attend to) lies in the same direction. They will derive most profit from their servants, by keeping them as much as possible in a cheerful and contented state, even at the expense of connivance at many vices, and of so much indulgence as it would not, in this country, be worth any master's while to grant, when he might turn away an indifferent servant and hire another. The master of the convictservants would indeed be glad, for his own profit, to exact from them the utmost reasonable amount of labour, and to maintain them in a style of frugality equal to, or even beyond that of a labourer in England: but he will be sure to find that the attempt

to accomplish this would defeat his own object; and he will be satisfied to realize such profit as is within reach. He will find that a labourer who does much less work than would be requisite, here, to earn the scantiest subsistence, and who yet is incomparably better fed than the best English labourer, does yet (on account of the great value of labour) bring a considerable profit to his master; though to employ such a labourer on such terms, would, in England, be a loss instead of a profit. It answers to him, therefore, to acquiesce in anything short of the most gross idleness and extravagance, for the sake of keeping his slave (for after all it is best to call things by their true names) in tolerably good humour, rather than resort to the troublesome expedient of coercion, which might be attended with risk to his person or property from an ill-disposed character, and at any rate would be likely to make such a servant sulky, perverse, and wilfully neglectful. 'To give some idea of the serious loss of time, as well as of the great trouble caused by being far removed from a magistrate alone, I need only state, that when a convict-servant misconducts himself, the settler must either send the vagabond to the nearest magistrate, not improbably some thirty or forty miles distant, or he must overlook the offence."

'It may easily be conceived, therefore, what indulgent treatment most of the convicts are likely to receive, even from the more respectable class of settlers. As for the large proportion, who are themselves very little different in character, tastes, and habits, from their convict-servants, they may be expected usually to live (as the travellers who have described the colony assure us they do) on terms of almost perfect equality with them, associating with them as boon-companions. But, to say nothing of these, the more respectable settlers will be led, by a regard for their own interest, to what is called the humane treatment of their servants; that is, to endeavour to place all those in their employ who are not much worse than such as, in this country, few would think it worth while to employ at all, in a better situation than the most industrious labourers in England.

'Now, it is evident that the very reverse of this procedure is suitable for a house of correction,-a place of punishment. And it is no less evident that a governor must be led both by his

1 Excursions in New South Wales, by Lieutenant Breton.

feelings, by his regard for his own ease,-and by his wish for popularity with all descriptions of persons around him, as well as by his regard for the prosperity of the colony, to sacrifice to that object the primary and most important one,—of making transportation, properly, a penalty. We can seldom expect to find a governor (much less a succession of governors) willing, when a choice is proposed of two objects at variance with each other, to prefer the situation of keeper of a house of correction to that of a governor of a flourishing colony. The utmost we can expect is to find now and then one, crippling the measures of his predecessors and of his successors, by such efforts to secure both objects as will be most likely to defeat both. But the individual settlers, to whom is intrusted the chief part of the detail of the system, are not (like the governor) even called on by any requisition of duty, to pay any attention to the most important part of that system. They are not even required to think of anything but their own interest. The punishment and the reformation of convicts are only incidental results. It is trusted that the settler's regard for his own interest will make him exact hard labour and good conduct from the servants assigned to him. But if indulgence is (as we have seen) likely to answer his purpose better than rigid discipline, he cannot even be upbraided with any breach of duty in resorting to it.

'Of the many extraordinary features in this most marvellous specimen of legislation, it is one of the most paradoxical, that it intrusts a most important public service, in reference to the British nation, to men who are neither selected out of this nation on account of any supposed fitness to discharge it, nor even taught to consider that they have any public duty to perform. Even in the most negligently-governed communities, the keeper of a house of correction is always, professedly at least, selected with some view to his integrity, discretion, firmness, and other qualifications; and however ill the selection may be conducted, he is at least taught to consider himself intrusted, for the public benefit, with an office which it is his duty to discharge on public grounds. However imperfectly all this may be accomplished, few persons would deny that it is, and ought to be, at least, aimed at. But this is not the case in the land of ornithorhynchus paradoxus and of other paradoxes. There, each settler is, as far as his own household is concerned, the keeper of a house of