The preceding pages exhibit a faithful account of the progress towards reformation made by the convicts under the system observed in their management during removal to New South Wales. The moment they were disembarked, my public functions regarding them terminated of course; yet the interest excited in my mind by the dawning of renovated moral feeling, which appeared general, made me still anxious to cultivate and keep alive amongst them, as much as possible, the influence of those salutary impressions which they appeared to have received during the voyage; and for this purpose I visited them frequently during their stay in the prison at Sydney.
According to the regulation at that place, convicts, on being disembarked, are placed immediately under the superintendence of a person appointed to keep them in charge until such time as they can be placed in situations. This person is always present at the mustering of the prisoners after their arrival; and keeps a book, in which are entered the name and age, and also the character, of the convicts, such as they may have merited while under the management of the Surgeon Superintendent, and also a description of the employment for which each prisoner is qualified.
The Superintendent of convicts is thus perfectly apprized of every thing requisite for directing a just and satisfactory assignment of the prisoners; and as, when once they are placed in his hands, no other authority interposes, much good or evil is to be expected from his management. Mr. Hutchinson, the person now exercising that office at Sydney, was himself formerly a convict; and from his various means of obtaining intelligence, well may he be supposed,—so far as the ample jurisdiction he exercises can extend,—to possess information universally correct regarding the circumstances of every family: he is therefore fully competent to determine what description of convict is best suited for any particular service: too often, however, does caprice, if not motives more unworthy, appear to influence him in the performance of this important duty.
It might be expected that the passions of prisoners, whether male or female, sentenced to transportation, having been long kept under by discipline, a sense of guilt, and repentant reflection during the voyage, would not easily be roused again into mischievous action; but a momentary consideration even of what is human nature, and how prone it is to evil, as also the former state of these persons, will forbid a too confident expectation that the mind long accustomed to habitudes of vice, and subdued only by a powerful sense of shame, or religious feeling, can be at once thoroughly reformed, and secure from relapse. It was doubtless with a view to prevent any thing of that unhappy tendency, that the local Government instituted the confinement of the prisoners, as already mentioned. The following circumstance will show how careful the Superintendent is to maintain this humane intention.
There were two of the females under my care, whose behaviour during the voyage was so profligate, that, besides the character with which they were handed over at the muster, I was induced to point them out to the notice of the Governor, with a request that they might be separated from the others: to this His Excellency paid immediate attention, and gave orders to that effect. I mentioned the same matter, moreover, to the Superintendent of convicts, who made a note of it in his book, in my presence; yet on that very same evening these wretched creatures were permitted to go at large in the streets of Sydney, where necessity, or their own abandoned propensities, must have driven them to infamous practices.
About one-half of the female prisoners were disposed of in Sydney and its neighbourhood, and the remainder were kept in a separate place in the gaol, until an opportunity should offer for removing them to Parramatta, whither the Governor had directed they should be sent by water, to prevent improper conversation with straggling prisoners of the other sex, who are continually infesting the roads. It is to be remarked, however, that those whose behaviour or disposition had most frequently incurred censure on the voyage, and consequently least merited favourable report, were singled out as the fittest objects for assignment, while many of those whose conduct had been uniformly deserving of approbation, whose names also were conspicuous for excellent character, were left to be transmitted to the Factory!
Another circumstance, though of itself unimportant, may be deemed worthy of notice, as throwing some further light on those proceedings. A settler, named Cooper, made application to have an elderly woman, whose relatives he knew formerly in England, assigned him as a servant, but was refused. He repeated the request, and was again refused on the plea that her character was very infamous. Mr. Cooper not believing this dogmatical assertion, and being unable to investigate the Superintendent’s real grounds for objection, applied to me for an account of the woman’s conduct, which during the voyage had indeed been exemplary. The poor woman herself appealed to me, and begged that I would do her justice. I assured her that her character should be fully vindicated before the Governor; but the Superintendent, not wishing the matter to be investigated, or his motives explained, before that tribunal, assigned the woman without further delay as desired.
Connexions too spring up unexpectedly between the female convicts and pretended relatives by whom they are recognised, as it were, on their landing. This practice had grown to such mischievous extent in former years, that it was found necessary to order that no person from the shore should be allowed to visit the ship, or hold communication with the prisoners, without permission signified in writing: and now a guard boat is commonly stationed in the Cove, to prevent any unauthorized persons from approaching a convict ship after her arrival, until the prisoners are disembarked. Previously to this order, it was usual for persons from the shore to go alongside those ships, and even on board, and choose from among the female prisoners, wives, sisters, or other relatives, as circumstances would suit, for themselves and others; and these claims they used afterwards to substantiate on oath; on which the prisoners were accordingly assigned them.
In most of these cases, it is well known, no relationship whatever exists, the parties having never before, perhaps, known or heard of each other. It must of necessity follow, that connexions thus formed cannot be in unison with truth or justice, and that the obligations of marriage can hardly escape violation. In fact, the language which female convicts on landing in the colony are accustomed to hear from every tongue, must have a predisposing effect upon minds ordinarily weak as theirs must be, anxious for protection in a strange country. It is usual to tell them, that they must now consider themselves in a new world,—that whatever may have been their offences, their former conduct would not now be considered for a moment;—that they should look upon every thing past as quite forgotten;—that they should begin life anew;—that if they behaved themselves prudently they should soon get husbands, and no doubt do well.
From representations such as these, it is not surprising that they should feel themselves encouraged to indulge in notions of fresh happiness: new hopes are kindled, and associations easily entered into without much regard to the propriety of the action. The Superintendent of convicts, and the fellows to whom he confides the secondary concerns of his office, are never at a loss to cultivate the opportunities to which such lessons tend; and as they all are or have been convicts, they dexterously keep up an intercourse ramifying through all that vast fraternity; and a marriage is contracted without difficulty or delay, doubtlessly very much to the happiness of the female, as well as the edification of the community!