When I concluded the last, I thought not to have tired the Reader any longer with the Subject of Malefactors: But it has been remonstated to me since, that what I had wrote, would seem very defective, and this Treatise be, in reality, imperfect, if I said nothing of Transportation; which, for some Years last past, on many Occasions, has been substituted, and inflicted in the room of capital Punishment; and having, at the same Time, been furnish'd with a Hint concerning this Affair, that may be of admirable Use, I cannot forbear imparting it to the Publick. There is no doubt but the Design of Transporting Felons, instead of hanging them, when their Crimes were not very enormous, was just and commendable, and it was reasonable to expect that it would have proved a powerful Remedy against the grand Evil I have all along complain'd of, and which has been so often repeated. But our subtle Criminals have found out Means hitherto to render it ineffectual: Some have made their Escape in the Voyage itself; others, condemn'd to this Punishment, never have been put on board; several have reach'd the Plantations, but been return'd again by the first Shipping, and great Numbers have been come back before half their Time was expir'd. Those that are forced to stay, do very little Service themselves, and spoil the other Slaves, teaching the Africans more Villany and Mischief than ever they could have learn'd without the Examples and Instructions of such Europeans. We have loud Complaints from all the Islands, that we send such Numbers, and they know not what to do with them. As they come from England, and are to serve English Men, their Colour, as well as Country and Language, plead for them; and the Masters that complain of them, are to blame themselves for treating them with less Severity than they do the innocent, as well as unfortunate Blacks, and more remisly than they ought, if they consider'd that these Country Men of theirs are sent thither on purpose to work, and are condemn'd to Hard Labour, as a Punishment for their Crimes. The mild Usage our Felons receive beyond Sea, and the many Examples of such as come back before their Time, with Impunity, have quite destroy'd the End which Transportation was design'd for. The Criminals have no dread against it, remain as they were themselves, and do no Service to others.
To redress this, there is an Expedient that may immediately be put into practice, and is, to my thinking, every way unexceptionable; for it would effectually prevent the returning of the Felons, make them serviceable in the most extraordinary Manner, and, at the same Time, be terrible beyond Expression. The Use I would put them to is, the Redemption of Slaves, that in Morocco, as well as Tunis, Algiers, and other Places on the Coast of Barbary, groan under a miserable Servitude. Should it be objected, that such abandon'd People would turn Mahometans, and our selves become accessary to their eternal Ruin, I would ask what Surety we had for those that were there already. Amongst our Seafaring Men, the Practice of Piety is very scarce: Abundance of them lead very bad Lives, who yet, as to the Love of their Country, and the Meum & Tuum, are very honest Fellows. There are not many that are well grounded in the Principles of their Religion, or would be capable of maintaining it against an Adversary of the least Ability; and we are not certain, that under great Temptations, they would remain stedfast to the Christian Faith. The Danger then of Apostacy being the same in both, we must be manifestly the Gainers, when we change lazy cowardly Thieves, and incorrigible Rogues for brave, laborious, and useful People. It would be no difficult Matter to enter into Negotiations with the several Powers of Barbary for this Purpose; neither is it reasonable to imagine, that they would scruple to take our Felons on account of the bad Lives they had led, or refuse any for their Impudence, Wickedness, or Aversion to Labour. They consider and manage their Slaves as we do our Cattle; and it is their Age, their Health, the Soundness of their Limbs, and their Strength, they examine into, with little Regard to their Temper or their Morals: They are ever watchful over them, without trusting to their Honesty, or expecting any voluntary Obedience from them. If bought Servants are able, Masters there have sure Ways to make them work. They laugh at Stubborness and refractory Spirits, and their steady Severity is a sovereign Remedy against Sloth, and all other Failings of the Will: From all which it is highly probable, that a Barbarian would be glad to change an elderly honest Man, pretty well worn, and above Fifty, for a sturdy House-breaker of Five and twenty: And as to those that might be pretty equal, as to Years and Abilities, what if we should give them three for two, or two for one? I am sure we could be no Losers. Those likewise that are known to be in Quality superior to common Sailors, might be redeem'd by still a greater Number of Felons; or, at the worst, they could be no Sufferers by the Exchanges of the others.
What I am speaking of, I confess would be a very severe Punishment for Felony; but I cannot imagine, how we can think on the Rigour of it, without reflecting, at the same Time, on the Inhumanity we are guilty of in the small Concern we often shew, for many Years, for the Captivity of those who have deserv'd no Punishment at all. The greater the Calamities are of that cruel Bondage, the more reasonable it is, that the Guilty should suffer it rather than the Innocent. It is unpardonable not to deliver from the Yoke of Infidels, when it is in our Power, our Fellow Subjects, whom we have no Complaint against. When sufficient Sums cannot be rais'd to redeem them with Money, what should hinder us from doing it at the Expence of Miscreants, whom it is Injustice not to punish, and who, out of Chains, cannot be otherwise than noxious to the Publick? If this be duly weigh'd, I doubt not, but what, at first, seems to be the greatest Objection to this Proposal, would, on further Reflection, be found an unanswerable Argument why we should embrace it. There would likewise be room always, with fresh Supplies of Felons, to release those, who might be cured, or, at least, thought to have been sufficiently punish'd; and, to prevent all Tricks and Escapes, this Service might be perform'd by Men of War instead of Merchant Men, or Transports. This effectual Manner of Transportation, as Felons are treated, and Things are managed now, would be more dreadful than hanging, whilst it was only talk'd of; but when it came to the Push, and Criminals came near, and under the Gallows, there would be very few, if they were sober enough to think at all, that, before the Cart drove away, would not change their Minds, put off the evil Hour if they could, and chuse Slavery, or any Thing else, to avoid immediate Death. But then, if the Regulations I have offer'd in the foregoing Chapter were likewise to be put in Practice, the forc'd Abstinence, and unavoidable Sobriety in Prison, with the other Preparations before Detail, and the Journey from Newgate to Tyburn, without Hopes of Pardon or Reprieve, would strike great Terror even at a Distance; by which Means, the Thoughts of either would be insupportable, and there would be no great Purchase in the Choice. The Horror loose People would conceive against such Proceedings, would be of inestimable Consequence to the Nation, and Thousands that are yet unborn would, deterr'd by the Rigour of those Laws, turn their Hands to honest Labour, and die in their Beds in their own Country, that without them, and Things remaining as they are, will either be hanged, or transported long before the End of this Century. But if what I propose should not lessen the Number of Felons so much as ought to be expected, it would clear us at least from the Blame of not having endeavoured it; and from Transportation we should have the Satisfaction, that the Kingdom would not lose so many Inhabitants by it as it does now, though the same Numbers were sent abroad. But, what is infinitely more valuable, that Punishment likewise would rid without Slaughter, or Probability of Return, the Country of the Vermin of Society, that, perpetually nibbling at our Property, destroy the Comforts of secure and undisturb'd Possession, at the same Time that it would furnish us with an Opportunity of performing the most charitable Action in the World; for such I will not scruple to call the redeeming and restoring to their Friends, without their Cost, industrious Mariners, that lost their Liberties, and became Sufferers in an honest Calling, and were led into dreadful Captivity by Infidels, whilst, in promoting the Interest of Commerce and Navigation, they were labouring for the Safety, the Wealth, and Glory of their Country.
I shall be told by some of my Readers, that they are ready to contribute to the Redemption of unfortunate Captives with their Purses; but that among Christians, free-born Subjects ought never to be made Slaves for any Reason, or at any Rate whatever. But this is a Singularity peculiar to Englishmen, more built on an Excess of Good-nature, than any sound Reason. France and Spain make use of Malefactors in their Gallies, and the Hugonots of the first would never have complained of that Punishment, had it never been inflicted on any but Thieves and Villains. But these are Roman Catholick Countries, and arbitrary Kingdoms: Of Holland you can say neither, and yet the great Cities of it have all Work-houses for Criminals. At Amsterdam there is one, where Felons are kept constantly employ'd in rasping of Brasil Wood: To earn at this as much as they spend is not to be done without excessive Labour, though they fare as hard as they work; yet they are obliged to get more than their Maintenance costs considerably. They have a Task set them, which if they do not perform, the Neglect of their Hands is reveng'd on their Bellies; and they are stinted in their Allowance in Proportion to the Deficiency. In this Place a very strict Hand is kept over them; no Offences are left unpunished, and they are often drubb'd even for ill Language. The Periods of Time, for which Felons are condemned to this Rasp-house, are vastly different, according as their great Crimes, or slighter Trespasses deserve this Tuition, and themselves are young or old Offenders, and judged to be more or less incorrigible, from six Weeks to ninety nine Years. These are not called Slaves; but such is their Abode, their Diet, and their Discipline, that of those who were to be confined there for any considerable Number of Years, I don't believe there ever was one who would not have thought it a glorious Preferment, if, instead of it, he might have taken his Chance, and been sold for a Slave in Turky.
We have, I own, no open Enemies in Africk more than any where else at present; and our most gracious Sovereign has, by his Clemency and powerful Influence over the Emperor of Morocco, procured Liberty to those of his Subjects that had been taken in English Ships: But it is wrong from thence to infer, that there are no Slaves in Turky of the British Nation.
Among those that are brought up to the Sea, there are many, that, by several Accidents, are left ashore in Foreign Parts, and are necessitated to enter themselves on any Ships they can meet with. If this be done in Time of Peace, and when they are not summoned to serve their own Country, they are guilty of no Fault. But as all Mariners, as well as Soldiers, share the Fate of those on whose Side they engage, so many of our Sailors are Slaves in Turky, that were taken in French, Dutch, and other Ships, and are consequently not reclaimable by any Treaty made with Great Britain. Tho' these might not deserve the same Regard altogether with those that were taken in Ships of the British Nation; yet, as they are our Countrymen, and have committed no Crime, their Redemption ought not to be deferred one Moment, if they might be had in Exchange for others, whom we have judged not worthy to live amongst us. Besides, as we are at Peace now with all those Rovers, so half a Year hence, some or other of them may fall out with us; their Friendship is not much to be depended upon: Let the Provision but be made, and Felons kept at hard Labour, and under strict Discipline at home, till they are wanted abroad, and we shall find, that the Institution it self, the very Name of it, will be of vast Use, before the Thing itself is put into Practice.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTE:
[9] This was wrote some Months before Jonathan Wild was apprehended.