Reflect seriously on those tremendous denunciations of the vengeance of offended Heaven: give them the consideration their importance deserves. Put this question to yourselves individually: “Shall I gratify a gross and silly propensity, and thereby consign my immortal soul to perdition? or shall I resist the brutal importunity of a sensual human beast, and by a virtuous life ensure the inconceivable joys of an endless eternity?” O my friends! death and eternity are awful sounds to an unrepenting, woe-stricken sinner. Picture to yourselves the life of a prostitute, lost to shame, in the streets; abandoned by her seducer, and her soul harrowed by remorse for her fall from innocence, and the infamy of her abject state; her tender frame shrunk with the ceaseless gnawings of hunger; houseless, friendless and unpitied! After a little time, and a series of necessitous guilt, behold this metamorphosed wretch, almost consumed by disease, crawling into some dismal hovel to yield up her life of pain and sorrow, without a creature to administer the last sad office of friendship. No father nor mother near to shed the hallowed tear of sympathetic commiseration! her undutiful behaviour most likely has sent them both to an untimely grave.—I cannot longer pursue the dreadful detail; my soul sickens and recoils from the contemplation of such complicated misery.
I can state, for your comfort, that I know of many women in New South Wales who are happily married, and mix in the most respectable society; and those estimable females were formerly unfortunate, and once placed in the same situation as yourselves. I think, were there no other inducement, the knowledge of this circumstance alone ought to stimulate you to the practice of morality and virtue. Should there be, however, any one present so hardened in guilt, so abandoned to all sense of propriety, as to persist in this profligate vice, I must now inform her that the utmost vigilance of both myself and Captain Brown will be directed to the detection of that odious violation of Christian propriety, and of our determination to restrain by prompt and efficient means its detestable occurrence. Although this painful portion of our duty shall be unremittingly attended to, as well as every other inviolably discharged, still it is my desire that you should apprehend no unnecessary measures of severity; do not deserve them; but rather look to me, as your friend anxious to promote your comforts; and from the humane attention of the commander, I am confident you may anticipate so much alleviation as is in his power to bestow. If you have any complaints or grievances at any time, make them known to me immediately, and you may rest assured that it will always afford me pleasure to redress them to the utmost of my power. You shall have every indulgence that can possibly be granted; my happiness will be increased by seeing you all comfortable; but I must solemnly declare myself an enemy to the vice above mentioned, nor will I allow the commission of it to escape punishment.
To snatch from the overwhelming gulf of destruction an unthinking, unrepenting fellow-being, is a duty which I owe to my God, to my country, to humanity, and to myself: to that effect shall my utmost efforts be ever exerted, so long as Providence spares me the power of exertion.
I sincerely hope you will not allow the foregoing observations to be lost or thrown away: if you treasure them in your hearts, and make a right application of them, they will give life to feelings of pleasure and self-approbation in moments of affliction; and at the hour of death, a consolation which the united riches of the earth could not purchase. If I can be the instrument, under Heaven, of rendering you any real service, and leading your minds to a just sense of religion and virtuous action, the feelings of my own heart will be a rich reward for any pains it may cost me: whether I succeed or fail in my endeavours, the consciousness of having faithfully discharged my duty (which with regard to you I consider most weighty in a moral sense), to the best of my ability, will console me through life, and in the close will accompany my spirit to another and, I hope, a happier world.
One word further for your good. In the treasures of the sacred Scriptures you will find exhaustless sources of comfort to your souls; for which purpose copies of the Holy Bible will be distributed amongst you, and the use each of you shall be observed to make of it will be strictly recorded in the journal.
Thomas Reid.
25th.—At noon this day Mrs. Pryor came on board; and after expressing her regret for the disorderly conduct of the female prisoners, previously to their leaving Newgate, and reproving them for their ingratitude in that respect, as well as the injury their unruly behaviour had done to the cause of benevolence, she distributed a considerable number of check aprons to each, with haberdashery and other needful articles. Having performed this charitable act, she examined the prison, hospital, &c., and was much pleased with the regularity that every where prevailed. She then read to them a suitable portion of Scripture, and dismissed them with good moral advice.
Two women from York were brought on board, and a few minutes afterwards three more from Winchester.
This forenoon I had the messes arranged, also the sleeping-places allotted, the bedding, bags, and other things belonging to the convicts permanently marked, to prevent confusion and irregularity hereafter; I also distributed to each individual some religious book or tract.