There can be little doubt, and it may well be advanced as
an argument on the other side, when the rapid progress made by the Australian colonies under the influence of this transportation system is adduced as an example in point, that nowhere probably on the earth would external circumstances, position of the country, and development of the colony to such a pitch of prosperity, combine so wonderfully to produce such a result, as was the case with New South Wales. But even the clumsy method of carrying out this form of punishment, and the immense use made of it for selfish ends by men who had every opportunity for studying close at hand the influence it might have been made to exercise upon the development of the Australian colonies, could not weaken the conviction that, under more judicious management, it would have answered every anticipation that could reasonably be formed of any mode of punishment, and that it is better calculated than any other to prove conducive to the amelioration of the criminal himself. We might, while upon this subject, specially refer to the valuable and comprehensive work of Dr. Holtzendorf upon transportation as a means of punishment,[26] which embraces all that can be said on either side of the question, all put together in an attractive and exhaustive manner, and who, contemplating the great example presented to the world by Australia, has arrived at a similar conclusion, "that the working power of the criminal may,
under proper management, be made to produce results, able to accelerate the progress of a generation, while furnishing at the same time a lever by which to effect a moral reformation in the disposition of criminals." He foresees the time "when the colonists of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land need no longer feel ashamed at the historic recollection of their original convict associations, but might rather, viewing the prosperity of their country, and the tone and extent of their civilization, feel grateful to the criminals who landed in 1788 to become the pioneers of the country, and do them the justice of believing that the good which they were compelled to do to the soil still existed, while the evil they might have done was left undone of their own accord, or was gradually assimilated under substantial progress."
The greatest obstacle to be encountered by the transportation system will be found in the difficulty of hitting upon suitable localities. When we consider the many conditions which must be satisfied, some referring to the general objects aimed at in all punishment, some to considerations of humanity and utility, when selecting a site for a penal colony, such as climate, soil, distance, importance of the country as a market for the products of the mother country, &c., it will be found that the number of unclaimed or unbespoken territories, in which a scheme of compulsory colonization could be carried out on a large scale, is exceedingly limited.
For Germany, however, at least under her present political composition, the foundation of penal colonies oversea seems
all but entirely impracticable. She must, in the first place, have her maritime power more developed. On this subject the agreement is of importance which was entered into in 1836 between Mr. James Colquhon, Consul-General for the city of Hamburg, and the agents of the Australian Agricultural Society on the other, as, although nothing resulted from it, it nevertheless indicates how States that have no colonies can set about the system of transportation. The gist of that scheme was the subscription of a sum for the passage of such convicts as voluntarily accepted the offer, on their engaging to remain for a certain period at compulsory labour in Australia on the same terms as those of English convicts.[27]
Once the wish and the necessity shall arise in Germany, owing to the expansion of her population, for possessions beyond sea, and her navy shall increase on a scale adapted to their protection and defence, then, although the choice of locality may be limited, the idea will no longer remain impracticable. In the Indian Ocean as well as the Pacific there are numbers of island groups, which, by their hypsometric conditions, geographical position, and fertility of soil, are admirably suited for settlement by white labour. The prejudice against the climatic adaptability of the majority of these falls to the ground, when we recollect what entirely altered conditions in that respect have been brought about by the industry and energy of the colonists of Singapore and Pulo-Penang, on islands which, from being in the worst possible
repute for their deadly climate and dreaded forest malaria, are now favourite invalid resorts of the wealthy white residents of the islands of Eastern Asia. But German statesmen must no longer hesitate, or continue to sacrifice the future to the exigencies, even the most pressing in political eyes, of the present, for England noiselessly but systematically is possessing herself one after the other of all the islands that are as yet untenanted by the white man, as, for instance, quite lately of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, or, as in the case of the Feejee Islands,[28] accept a suspicious protectorate got up by an influential missionary; while the Emperor of the French, with his irresistible inclination for annexation, is incessantly occupied in seizing on points important either by geographical position or for trade purposes, of which New Caledonia furnishes the latest example. Too long delay and expectation may have for the contemplative German results similar to those which in
Schiller's beautiful poem, punished the dallying of the son of the Muses, whose fate, as compared with the actual political circumstances of Germany, suggests but too many painful analogies!
On 6th December the frigate was made ready for prosecuting her voyage, and the same evening all was ataunto. The following morning we were to be towed out of the many-coved port, till quite clear of "the Heads." The steamer, however, sustained an accident to her machinery, and we had her services little more than half a day. Early on the 7th, a breeze had sprung up from S.W. by S., accompanied by squalls and rain, which gradually freshened into squally weather from the S., and determined the Commodore to make all sail at once. Already, even while we were still in the port, the weather began to be stormy; we had to take in a reef in the mainsail, and by 9 A.M. found ourselves outside of "North Head." By the afternoon the low flat coast of Australia had sunk below the horizon, and the south wind had now become a gale. It seemed as though winds and waves had conspired to put to the severest test the operations of the caulkers, carpenters, and sail-makers of Sydney. But although the frigate rolled tremendously, and the frequent squalls propelled the sea against her hull with frightful violence, she did not ship a drop of water below. The repairs in dock had been most effectually performed. After a couple of days both wind and sea fell, the sun shone out with the mildness of early spring, and we bowled along in the most