Chapter I (14)

After maturely considering the enormous expence, and the total inefficacy of the System of the Hulks, aided by the new lights which have been thrown upon the subject by the important documents called for by the Select Committee on Finance, it appears clear to demonstration, that it would be for the interest of the Country to abandon the present System; and the Author heartily joins in the opinion expressed by those respectable members of the Legislature,--"_That our principal places of Confinement, and modes of Punishment, so far from the Conversion and Reformation of the Criminal, tend to send him forth at the expiration of the period of his imprisonment more confirmed in vice; and that the general tendency of our oeconomical arrangements upon this subject, is ill calculated to meet the accumulating burdens, which are the infallible result of so much error in the System of Police_."

Having thus explained the nature and effect of the punishment inflicted on convicts, through the medium of the Hulks, and also the expence attending these establishments; it will be necessary in the next place, to examine the authentic documents, as they relate to the transportation of Felons to New South Wales.

From the Appendix, page 122, of the 28th Report of the Select Committee on Finance, printed the 26th of June 1798, it appears that the number of Convicts sent to New South Wales and Norfolk Island[148] from the year 1787 to the year 1797 inclusive, stood thus:--

Men and
Women. Children. TOTAL.
1787 778 17 795
1789 1251 22 1273
1790 2029 9 2038
1791 408 11 419
1792 412 6 418
1794 82 2 84
1795 133 3 136
1796 279 13 292
1797 393 10 403
---- -- ----
5765 93 5858

[Footnote 148: Norfolk Island is a small fertile spot, containing about 14,000 acres of land, situated about 1200 miles distant from Sydney Cove in New South Wales, where the seat of Government is fixed.]

It appears also from another document in the same Report (being the last return of Convicts in the two Settlements) that their numbers stood as stated in the following Table,--

Convicts |Convicts |Convicts |Total |Total
|Victualled|Emancipated| |Men
| | | |and
Men Women|Men Women|Men Women|Men Women|Women
----------+----------+-----------+----------+-----
In New South } | | | |
Wales on the } | | | |
31 Aug. 1796 } 1633 755| 78 5| 20 9|1731 769|2500
| | | |
In Norfolk } | | | |
Island on the} | | | |
22 Oct. 1796.} 379 167| 53 0| 12 3| 444 170| 614
---- ---| --- -| -- --|---- ---|-----
2012 922| 131 5| 32 12|2175 939|3114

To which add the Convicts sent in 1796 and 1797,
including Children 695
----
Total 3809

The diminution of Convicts from 5858 to 3809 is to be accounted for, by a certain proportion leaving the Settlement after the expiration of their time, and also by deaths,[149] which in the natural course of things must be expected.

[Footnote 149: In 21 months after the arrival of the first Convicts in May 1788, there were 77 deaths and 87 births in the whole Settlement.]

In resorting to this mode of disposing of Convicts, which at the time must be considered as a choice of difficulties, a very large sum of money has been expended.--Certainly much more than could have been foreseen at the commencement: Since it appears from the 28th Report of the Select Committee on Finance, who certainly have bestowed infinite pains in the investigation, that the total amount exceeds _One Million Sterling_, as will be seen from the following Statement, extracted from page 120 of that 28th Report, viz:

Disbursed for 5858 Convicts including 93 Children, transported
to New South Wales

L. _s._ _d._
In 1786 28,346 3 6
-- 1787 29,242 11 10-1/2
-- 1788 18,008 9 2
-- 1789 88,057 18 2
-- 1790 44,774 4 6-1/4
-- 1791 129,019 19 10-3/4
-- 1792 104,588 2 3-3/4
-- 1793 69,961 16 6-1/2
-- 1794 79,381 13 11-1/2
-- 1795 75,280 19 0-3/4
-- 1796 83,854 18 0
-- 1797 120,372 4 8-3/4
To which add the total Naval Expences 166,341 4 11
------------------------
Total Expences in 12 Years L.1,037,230 6 7-3/4

Specification of the heads of Expences above stated--

Expences of the first Establishment of the
Settlement and Transportation of Convicts 264,433 11 0

Expences of Victualing Convicts and the
Settlement from hence 186,270 1 3-1/4

Expences of Cloathing, Tools, and Sundry
Articles 116,658 15 3

Bills drawn for the purchase of Provisions,
&c. for the use of the Colony 138,225 9 8-3/4

Expence of the Civil Establishment 48,134 0 2-1/4

Expence of the Military Establishment 94,993 11 3

Expence of the Marine Establishment 22,173 13 0-1/2

Naval Expences as above 166,341 4 11
----------------------
Total L.1,037,230 6 7-3/4
----------------------

Thus it appears, that in executing the sentence of the Law on 5765 Convicts more than One Million Sterling has been expended, nearly equal to 180_l._ for each Convict, exclusive of the expence incurred by the Counties, and by Government in the maintenance at home; and without taking into the account the very considerable charge, which must have been borne by the private Prosecutors in bringing these Offenders to Justice.

The Select Committee in their laborious investigation of the effects of this System, very justly observe, "that the numbers of the Convicts do not appear to have kept pace with the increase of the expence."--They proceed to state (page 27 of the Report) "that after a trial of twelve years, it seems not too early to inquire whether the peculiar advantages likely to arise from this plan are such as may be considered as compensating for its probable expence. The security held out by the difficulty of return on the part of the convicts is the only advantage that strikes the eye: but the nature of this advantage, the amount of it, and the certainty of it, seem not altogether undeserving of inquiry; nor whether a security of the same sort more at command, and more to be depended on, might not be purchased on less exceptionable terms. It may be also worthy of inquiry (add the Committee) whether the advantages looked for, from this establishment may not be dependent on its weakness? and whether as it grows less disadvantageous in point of finance, it will not be apt to grow less advantageous in the character of an instrument of Police? The more thriving the Settlement the more frequented: The more frequented the less difficulty of return.--The more thriving too the less terrible. To persons in some circumstances;--to persons who otherwise would have been disposed to emigrate, it may loose [Transcriber's Note: lose] its terrors altogether, especially if by money or other means the servitude be avoidable. This inconvenience had already become sensible in the instance of the comparatively old planted Colonies. Many, though innocent, went thither voluntarily, even at the price of servitude, while others under the notion of punishment, were sent thither for their crimes; so that while to some the emigration remains a punishment, to others it may become an adventure; but a punishment should be the same thing to all persons, and at all times."

Contingencies, the Committee remark, may diminish the utility of the Establishment, or may increase the expence. "Bad seasons, and the destruction of the vegetable part of the stock of food: Mortality among the as yet scanty stock of cattle.[150] Mischief from the natives,--from insurrection among the convicts, or from the enemy.

[Footnote 150: An account of the Live Stock in the possession of, and Land in cultivation by, Government, and the Officers civil and military, 1st September 1796, extracted from page 123, of the above Report of the Select Committee on Finance.

Civil and
Military
Government. Officers. Settlers. Total.

Mares and Horses 14 43 0 57
Cows and Cow Calves 67 34 0 101
Bulls and Bull Calves 37 37 0 74
Oxen 46 6 0 52
Sheep 191 1310 30 1531
Goats 111 1176 140 1427
Hogs 59 889 921 1869
---- ---- ---- ----
525 3495 1091 5111[G]
---- ---- ---- ----

[Footnote G: In addition to the above Stock 61 head of Cattle were discovered in the year 1795, about 50 miles S.W. of the town of Sydney, which must have been produced from three Cows which strayed from the Settlement in 1788. This proves that at least one of the Cows at the time must have been big with a Bull Calf, and also gives the data for calculating the rate of the increase.]

Land in cultivation, viz:-- Acres.

Government 1700
Civil and Military Officers 1172
Settlers 2547
----
5419

The above 1700 acres were unemployed in 1796, on account of the want of public labourers, and the many buildings required--about 4-5th parts of the 1172 acres were sown with wheat--much timber cut, but not burnt off, on the 2547 acres belonging to the settlers.]

"Here, as at Sierra Leone, malice may produce an expedition of devastation. The illusions to which the spirit of rapine is so much exposed may give birth to an enterprize of depredation; apprehensions of any such event entertained here would necessarily give birth to preparations of defence. The apprehensions may be well or ill grounded--the measures taken for defence successful or unsuccessful; but the expence in the mean time is incurred. The distance is unexampled, and all danger as well as all expence swells in proportion to the distance: these topics appear to merit consideration.

"Another circumstance is, that the labour of the whole number of persons sent to these colonies, whether as Convicts or Settlers, _is entirely lost to the Country_, nor can any return, to compensate such a loss, be expected till that very distant day, when the improved state of the Colony may, by possibility, begin to repay a part of the advance, by the benefits of its trade.

"Supposing abundance established, and remaining for ever without disturbance, it may be deserving of consideration, in what shape and in what degree, and with what degree of assurance, Government, in point of Finance, is likely to profit by the abundance: for the stock of the individuals, which each individual will consume, lay up or sell, is on his own account; is not the Stock of Government. The saving to Government depends upon the probity and zeal, and intelligence of the Bailiffs in Husbandry, acting without personal interest in the concern at that immense distance."

After opinions so decided, the result of an inquiry, aided by extensive information, and conducted by men of talents and judgment, it would ill become the Author of this Work to offer (if he could suggest,) additional arguments to prove the disadvantages which have attended, and which are likely to attend the transportation of Convicts to New South Wales. Although with regard to mere _subsistence_, there may be a prospect (and it is yet a distant one), of the Colony becoming independent of supplies from this Country; yet with respect to most other articles its wants will experience no diminution, and having once engaged in the project, humanity requires that the Settlement should be supplied at the expence of the Nation.

When the measure of establishing this Colony was adopted, a hope was probably entertained that while the great difficulty and expence of the passage home, joined to the fertility of the soil and the salubrity of the climate, might induce convicts to remain after the expiration of the period specified in their sentence, so as not to become offensive again to their native Country; the removal to an unknown region, inhabited by Savages, and situated at such a remote distance from Great Britain would exhibit this species of punishment in so terrific a light as to operate powerfully in preventing crimes.

Experience, however, has shewn that this salutary effect has not been produced, and that crimes are not to be diminished by the dread of punishment in any shape. This great desideratum is only to be attained by a well-regulated Police, calculated to destroy the sources from whence evil propensities spring, and to remove the facilities by which criminality is nourished and assisted.

Under the present circumstances, where the mind continues depraved, and where the harvest is so prolific, it ceases to be a matter of wonder that a considerable proportion of the convicts transported to New South Wales, have found their way back to their native Country;--and that not a few of them have again afflicted Society by renewing their depredations on the Public.--It is, indeed, lamentable to reflect, that after the extreme labour which has been bestowed, and the unparalleled expence which has been incurred, no effect whatsoever favourable to the interest of the Community, or to the security of innocence, has been produced. Looking back to the period when Government was relieved of the expence of Convicts, almost of every description under sentence of Transportation, and reflecting on the enormous expence which has been incurred since the channel of disposal, through the medium of the late American Colonies, has been shut up; considering that within the short period of twenty-five years no less a sum than 1,663,974_l._[151] has been expended in transporting and maintaining about 15,000 Convicts, which would have cost nothing under the old System;--it cannot be sufficiently lamented, that so liberal a provision had not been employed in establishing Systems of Prevention. One fourth part of this enormous sum expended in a proper establishment of Preventive Police, would probably have rendered transportation and punishment in a considerable degree unnecessary, while the Country would have benefitted by the industry of a large proportion of these outcasts, who would then have been compelled to earn an honest livelihood by their labour.

[Footnote 151:

Expence of maintaining about 9000 Convicts in
the Hulks, from January 1, 1795, to January 1,
1798 L. 623,022

Expence of Transporting Convicts in 1785 and 1786 3,722

Expence of Transporting and Maintaining Convicts
from 1786 to 1797, New South Wales 1,037,230
-----------
Total L.1,663,974]

Deploring the mass of turpitude which has drawn from the resources of the Country so enormous a portion of wealth, it is no little consolation to be able to look forward to a measure recommended by the Select Committee, and in the train of being adopted by Government, which holds out so fair a prospect not only of gradually diminishing this expence in future, but also of rendering the labour of Convicts productive, and of securing the Public against the repetition of those depredations which have been rather increased than prevented, by the System of punishments which have been heretofore adopted.

The advantages in contemplation are to be attained by carrying into effect a _proposal for a new and less expensive mode of employing and reforming Convicts_, which has been offered to the consideration of Government by JEREMY BENTHAM, Esq. and which appears to have been fully investigated by the Finance Committee, who state it (p. 20, of Report 28,) "to be no small recommendation to the plan, that the Contractor proposes to employ the prisoners on his own account, receiving a proportionally smaller sum from the Public for their maintenance.--That the great and important advantages which distinguish that plan from any other which has been hitherto suggested, consist in the certain employment and industrious livelihood which it insures to those whose terms of confinement are expired. In the responsibility which the Contractor proposes to take upon himself, for the future good behaviour of Criminals entrusted to his care, even when they shall be no longer under his control: in the publicity which is meant to be given to the whole conduct and effect of the Establishment, _moral_, _medical_, and _oeconomical_, as well by an annual report of the state and proceedings, as by the constant facility of inspection, which will in an unusual manner be afforded by the very form and construction of the building, upon which the prompt and easy exercise of the superintending power of the Governor himself principally depends."

These advantages appear to the Committee of more importance, when the periods of the enlargement of the several Convicts now on board the Hulks are taken into consideration. The pernicious effects produced upon the unfortunate persons confined in these seminaries of vice; and the circumstance of 1411 destined to be enlarged in the course of 7 years, to afflict the Society from which they have been separated--the Committee consider as deserving of very serious consideration: and they conclude their view of the subject by expressing, an uncommon degree of solicitude, that no delay should take place in the execution of the contract with Mr. Bentham, "because it would deprive the Public for a longer time of the benefits of a plan, which they cannot but look to as likely to be productive of the most essential advantage, both in point of oeconomy and Police."

The object in view is by the aid of ingenious machinery, to render the labour of every class of Convicts so productive to the Contractor, as to admit of their being maintained at 25 per cent. less than the expence incurred on board the Hulks; while a rational prospect is held out of reforming these Convicts and returning them upon Society, not only with purer morals, but with the knowledge of some trade or occupation by which they may afterwards earn their bread;--but this is not all.--The proposer of this important design insures to the Convicts, after the expiration of their time, the means of obtaining a _livelihood_; by setting up a _Subsidiary Establishment_, into which all who found themselves otherwise destitute of employment would be admitted, and where they would be continued in the exercise of the trades in which they were employed during their confinement.

It is, however, impossible to do justice to the merit of this _Proposal_, without laying it wholly before the Public. It seems to embrace every object calculated to remove the errors and difficulties of the present System, while it promises in a short time to relieve the Finances of the Country from the enormous and unparalleled expence which is incurred by the Establishment of the Hulks, and by Transportation to New South Wales.

* * * * *

PROPOSAL

FOR A NEW AND LESS EXPENSIVE MODE OF

_EMPLOYING_ AND _REFORMING CONVICTS_.

The Author, having turned his thoughts to the Penitentiary System from its first origin, and having lately contrived a Building in which any number of persons may be kept within the reach of being inspected during every moment of their lives, and having made out, as he flatters himself, to demonstration, that the only eligible mode of managing an Establishment of such a nature, in a Building of such a construction, would be by _Contract_, has been induced to make public the following Proposal for Maintaining and Employing Convicts in general, or such of them as would otherwise be confined on board the Hulks, for 25 per cent. less than it costs Government to maintain them there at present; deducting also the average value of the work at present performed by them for the Public: upon the terms of his receiving the produce of their labour, _taking on himself the whole expence of the_ BUILDING, _fitting up and stocking_,[152] without any advance to be made by Government for that purpose, requiring only that the abatement and deduction above-mentioned shall be suspended for the first year.

[Footnote 152: All these articles taken into the account, the originally-intended Penitentiary Houses on the late Mr. Blackburne's plan, would not have cost so little as L.200 per man:--for 1000 Prisoners, L.200,000: exclusive of the whole _annual_ expence of maintenance, &c. to an unliquidated amount.]

Upon the above-mentioned Terms, he would engage as follows:

I. To furnish the Prisoners with a constant supply of
wholesome _Food_, not limited in quantity, but adequate to
each man's desires.

II. To keep them _clad_ in a state of tightness and
neatness, superior to what is usual even in the Improved
Prisons.

III. To keep them supplied with _separate Beds_ and Bedding,
competent to their situations, and in a state of cleanliness
scarcely any where conjoined with liberty.

IV. To insure to them a sufficient supply of artificial
_warmth_ and _light_, whenever the season renders it
necessary: and thereby save the necessity of taking them
prematurely from their work, at such seasons (as in other
places) as well as preserve them from suffering by the
inclemency of the weather.

V. To keep constantly from them, in conformity to the
practice so happily received, every kind of _strong_ and
spirituous liquor; unless where ordered in the way of
medicine.

VI. To maintain them in a state of inviolable, though
mitigated seclusion, in _assorted_ companies, without any of
those opportunities of promiscuous association, which in
other places, disturb, if not destroy, whatever good effect
can have been expected from occasional solitude.

VII. To give them an interest in their work, by allowing
them a share in the produce.

VIII. To convert the prison into a _school_, and, by an
extended application of the principle of _the Sunday
Schools_, to return its inhabitants into the world
instructed, at least as well as in ordinary schools, in the
most useful branches of vulgar learning, as well as in some
trade or occupation, whereby they may afterwards earn their
livelihood. Extraordinary culture of extraordinary talents
is not, in this point of view, worth mentioning: it would be
for his own advantage to give them every instruction by
which the value of their labour may be increased.

IX. To pay a penal sum for every _escape_, with or without
any default of his, irresistible violence from without
excepted; and this without employing _irons_ on any
occasion, or in any shape.

X. To provide them with _spiritual_ and _medical_
Assistants, constantly living in the midst of them, and
incessantly keeping them in view.

XI. To pay a sum of money for every one who _dies_ under his
care, taking thereby upon him the insurance of their lives
for an ordinary premium: and that at a rate grounded on an
average of the number of deaths, not among imprisoned
Felons, but among persons of the same ages in a state of
liberty within the Bills of Mortality.

XII. To lay for them the foundation-stone of a _provision
for old age_, upon the plan of the _Annuity Societies_.

XIII. To insure to them a _livelihood_, at the expiration of
their terms, by setting up a _Subsidiary Establishment_,
into which all such as thought proper, should be admitted,
and in which they would be continued in the exercise of the
trades in which they were employed during their confinement,
without any further expence to Government.

XIV. To make himself personally responsible for the
reformatory efficacy of his management, and even make
amends, in most instances, for any accident of its failure,
by paying a sum of money for every Prisoner convicted of a
Felony after his discharge, at a rate, increasing according
to the number of years he had been under the Proposer's
care, viz. a sum not exceeding 10_l._ if the Prisoner had
been in the Penitentiary Panopticon _one_ year: not
exceeding 15_l._ if _two_ years; not exceeding 20_l._ if
_three_ years; not exceeding 25_l._ if _four_ years; not
exceeding 30_l._ if _five_ years or upwards: such sum to be
paid immediately on conviction, and to be applied to the
indemnification of the persons injured by such subsequent
offence, and to be equal in amount to the value of the
injury, so long as it did not exceed the sums respectively
above specified.

XV. To present to the Court of King's Bench, on a certain
day of every Term, and afterwards print and publish, at his
own expence, a Report, exhibiting, in detail, the state,
not only moral and medical, but economical, of the
Establishment; showing the whole profits, if any, and in
what manner they arise; and then and there, as well as on
any other day, upon summons from the Court, to make answer
to all such questions as shall be put to him in relation
thereto, not only on the part of the Court or Officer of the
Crown, but, by leave of the Court, on the part of any person
whatsoever; questions, the answer to which might tend to
subject him to conviction, though it were for a capital
crime, not excepted: treading under foot a maxim, invented
by the guilty for the benefit of the guilty, and from which
none but the guilty ever derived any advantage.

XVI. By neatness and cleanliness, by diversity of
employment, by variety of contrivance, and above all, by
that peculiarity of construction, which, without any
unpleasant or hazardous vicinity, enables the whole
Establishment to be inspected at a view, from a commodious
and insulated room in the centre, the Prisoners remaining
unconscious of their being thus observed, it should be his
study to render it a spectacle such as persons of all
classes would, in the way of amusement, be curious to
partake of: and that, not only on Sundays, at the time of
Divine Service, but on ordinary days, at meal-times, or
times of work: providing thereby a _system of
superintendance, universal, unchargeable and uninterrupted_,
the most effectual and _indestructible_ of all securities
against abuse.

Such are the methods that have occurred to him for accomplishing that identification of "_interest with duty_," the effectuating of which, in the person of the Governour, is declared to be one of the leading objects of the Penitentiary Act.--[19 GEO. III. ch. 74.]

The station of Gaoler is not in common account a very elevated one: the addition of Contractor has not much tendency to raise it. He little dreamt, when he first launched into the subject, that he was to become a suitor, and perhaps in vain, for such an office. But inventions unpractised might be in want of the inventor: and a situation, thus clipped of emoluments, while it was loaded with obligations, might be in want of candidates. Penetrated, therefore, with the importance of the end, he would not suffer himself to see any thing unpleasant or discreditable in the means.

* * * * *

_Outline of the Plan of Construction alluded to in the above Proposal._

The Building _circular_--about the size of _Ranelagh_--The Prisoners in their Cells, occupying the Circumference--The Officers, (Governor, Chaplain, Surgeon, &c.) the Centre.

By _Blinds_, and other contrivances, the Inspectors concealed (except in as far as they think fit to show themselves) from the observation of the Prisoners: hence the sentiment of a sort of invisible omnipresence.--The whole circuit reviewable with little, or, if necessary, without any change of place.

_One_ Station in the Inspection-Part affording the most perfect view of every Cell, and every part of every Cell, unless where a screen is thought fit occasionally and purposely to be interposed.

Against _Fire_ (if, under a system of constant and universal
inspection, any such accident could be to be apprehended,) a
pipe, terminating in a flexible hose, for bringing the water
down into the central Inspection-Room, from a cistern, of a
height sufficient to force it up again by its own pressure,
on the mere turning of a cock, and spread it thus over any
part within the Building.

For _Visitors_, at the time of Divine service, an _Annular Gallery_, rising from a floor laid immediately on the cieling of the Central Inspection-Room, and disclosed to view, by the descent of a central _Dome_, the superior surface of which serves, after descent, for the reception of Ministers, Clerk, and a select part of the Auditory: the Prisoners all round, brought forward, within perfect view and hearing of the Ministers, to the front of their respective Cells.

_Solitude_, or _limited Seclusion_, _ad libitum_.--But, unless for punishment, limited seclusion in assorted companies is preferred: an arrangement, upon this plan alone, exempt from danger. The degree of _Seclusion_ fixed upon may be preserved, in all places, and at all times, _inviolate_. Hitherto, where solitude has been aimed at, some of its chief purposes have been frustrated by occasional associations.

The _Approach_, _one_ only--_Gates_ opening into a walled
_avenue_ cut through the area. Hence, no strangers near the
building without _leave_, nor without being _surveyed_ from
it as they pass, nor without being known to come _on
purpose_. The gates, of _open_ work, to _expose hostile_
mobs: On the other side of the road, a wall with a branch of
the road behind, to _shelter peaceable_ passengers from the
fire of the building. A mode of fortification like this, if
practicable, in a city, would have saved the _London
Prisons_, and prevented the unpopular accidents in _St.
George's Fields_.

The _surrounding Wall_, itself surrounded by an open
palisade, which serves as a fence to the grounds on the
other side.--Except on the side of the Approach _no public
path_ by that fence.--A _Centinel's Walk_ between; on which
no one else can set foot, without forcing the fence, and
declaring himself a trespasser at least, if not an enemy. To
the four walls, four such walks _flanking_ and _crossing_
each other at the ends.--Thus each Centinel has two to check
him.

In contemplating the whole of this important design, it is impossible to avoid congratulating the Public on the prospect which now opens by a recent vote of Parliament,[153] for the purpose of carrying it speedily into effect.

[Footnote 153: At the close of the Session in June 1798, the House of Commons voted 36000_l._ to Mr. Bentham, toward the expence of carrying his plan into execution. See the Appropriation Act, 39 Geo. III. c. 114.]

It comprizes in its structure every thing humanity can dictate, or which a mind full of resource, and a judgment matured by great depth of thought could suggest, for the purpose of relieving Society from a dreadful and oppressive evil.

It is even to extend comforts to offenders in the course of punishment; and they are to be returned to Society after the period expires, not as at present, polluted and depraved beyond what the human mind can conceive; but impressed with the force of religious and moral instructions, with an abhorrence of their former course of life, and with a resource for obtaining an honest livelihood by the trade or occupation which they were taught during their confinement.--And if employment should fail, when at liberty to make their own election, an asylum is provided, into which they will be admitted, and where they may continue to exercise the trades in which they were employed during their confinement, with certain advantages to themselves.

These Convicts are, moreover, while in confinement, to have an interest in the work they perform, by being allowed a share of the produce, which may be either partly or wholly applied in laying the foundation-stone of a provision for old age, upon the plan of the Annuity Societies, which is to form one of the oeconomical arrangements of this excellent Establishment.

Among many other advantages calculated to improve the morals of delinquents, and to render them useful to Society, it will possess, after a certain period, the singular faculty of extending to the Public these incalculable benefits, _perhaps without any expence whatsoever_; since it may be reasonably expected, that by training both Sexes to productive labour, extended and rendered valuable by the proposed introduction of ingenious machinery, it will hereafter become an object of advantage to new Contractors, (after the System is fully matured, and the profits arising from it clearly ascertained), to take upon them the conduct of the design, without stipulating for any annuity or assistance whatsoever from Government. Nay, the certainty of this profit, and its magnitude arising from labour alone, may, perhaps, ultimately even create a competition of Contractors, who, instead of _receiving_, will be induced to _offer_ a premium to Government for the appointment to the situation; the value of which will be evidenced by the increasing annual profits.

It is, indeed, highly probable, that as the Institution advances to maturity, under a plan so admirably adapted to render labour productive in the greatest possible degree; in the same manner will the profits gradually increase year after year until they shall be rendered obvious and certain, and not as at present depending on speculative opinions.

The proposed annual report to the Court of King's Bench, through which medium the progressive profits will be generally promulgated, will create notoriety, and excite attention; and it is by no means improbable, that when the contract becomes open, by the decease of the two Gentlemen to whom the Public are to be indebted for this invention, that it will acquire _a precise value_, like any other saleable commodity.

This was exemplified in the instance of Convicts sent to America, which for a great length of time cost Government a large sum annually, until a discovery of the profits, arising from the disposal of the services of Felons, created a competition, which eased the Public of every expence whatsoever on account of their Transportation.

But these are not the only advantages which the Country will derive from this new Penitentiary System. Its success will rapidly change the oeconomy of the many unproductive Houses of Correction, which have been erected at an enormous expence to the different Counties, under the Act of the 16th of Geo. III. cap. 43. Those in the management of these respective Establishments will gladly follow an example which mingles in so great a degree--_humanity with reform and profit_, thereby holding out a prospect both of diminishing crimes, and reducing the County Rates, now estimated by the Finance Committee at _fifty thousand pounds a year_ for prisons, and criminal Police alone.

Such are some of the benefits which may be reasonably expected to arise from the proposed Penitentiary System. If they shall be realized to the extent which is contemplated, so as to render transportation, as well as the Hulks, unnecessary, the pecuniary saving to Government in twenty years will be immense. This may be ascertained by referring to a preceding page, where the disbursements in the criminal department are inserted, which have taken place since the commencement of the American war, which rendered a new System necessary. If to this sum is added the expences incurred by the Counties, it will probably be found to have exceeded _Two millions sterling in all_.

But still further advantages may be contemplated in addition to those of a pecuniary nature.--By retaining delinquents in the Country, and rendering their labour profitable to the State, a new source of wealth is opened which never existed at any former period, since the labour of convicts transported, whether to America or New South Wales, has been totally unproductive to the Country.

The success of such a design, once clearly manifested, would give a new and favourable turn to the System of Punishments. Labour would be exacted in almost every case, not more for the benefit of the State than the advantage of the Prisoner, since labour and reform generally go hand in hand.--Without the aid of labour, it is in vain to expect an improvement in the morals or habits of delinquents--without an asylum to which discharged prisoners can resort for employment, their punishment produces no advantage. On the contrary, the vices of a Gaol send them forth more hardened in iniquity, and greater adepts in the trade of thieving than before.

Nothing, therefore, can be more hostile to the diminution of crimes than the present mode of punishment for small offences, by a short imprisonment, without being employed in useful and productive labour.

Under this defective System the different Gaols in the Metropolis and the Kingdom, are periodically vomiting forth hordes of Minor Delinquents, who serve as recruits to the more desperate gangs, and remain in a course of turpitude until cut off by the commission of higher offences. Some exceptions, doubtless, there are; but while the resource for honest labour is so effectually shut out, many who have totally lost character, and are without friends, seem to have no other resource.

To all who may be confined in the proposed Penitentiary Establishment, this difficulty will be removed.--A difficulty in the present state of things, the magnitude of which cannot be estimated, since it generates most of those evils to which are to be attributed the extensive corruption of morals, and the increase and multiplication of crimes.

Upon the whole, it would be expedient to give full effect to the new Penitentiary System as soon as possible; which, to use the language of the Select Committee, (p. 30.) "seems to bid fairer than any other that was ever yet offered to the Public, to diminish the Public expenditure in this branch, and to produce a salutary reform in the objects of the proposed institution."

At the same time for the purpose of rendering the System of Punishments useful in the greatest possible degree to the Community, and that they may operate, in the fullest extent, as an example, tending to the prevention of crimes, it would seem that the following general principles should be adopted.

1st. That examples of punishment by death, (except, perhaps,
in cases of Murder), should only take place twice a year:
and that the impression upon the Public mind may be stronger
from the less frequency of such painful exhibitions, they
ought on all occasions to be conducted with a degree of
solemnity suited to the object in the view of the
Legislature, when the life of a fellow-creature is
sacrificed, that it may really prove useful in deterring
others; and not be contemplated with indifference, as is too
often the case at present, without making the least
impression, or being in any degree beneficial to the great
ends of Public justice.

2d. That the System of the Hulks should be at once wholly
abandoned, as a source of great expence, producing in the
result infinitely more evil than good, and thereby
exhausting the Finances of the Country without any one
beneficial consequence.

3d. That Transportation to New South Wales and Norfolk
Island, should be limited to a few of the most depraved,
incorrigible, and irreclaimable Convicts, whose vicious and
ungovernable conduct, while under the discipline of a
Penitentiary House, rendered their reform hopeless.--That
shipments should only take place once in three years, and
that the Civil and Military Establishment of the Colony
should be gradually reduced, so as to bring the National
Expenditure on this branch of Police within moderate bounds.

4th. That every thing should be done to accelerate the
erection of National Penitentiary Houses.--That their
capacity, including appendages, should be equal to the
accommodation of 3,500 Convicts of all descriptions, so as
to admit of different degrees of treatment and labour,
according to the _age, sex, and state of health of the
Convicts_.

5th. That the local Penitentiary Houses in the different
Counties, destined for the Punishment of persons convicted
of Larcenies, and other minor offences, should be conducted,
as nearly as possible, upon the plan of the National
Establishments; and also by contract, under circumstances
where the labour of the Convicts may, by the resources of
the Contractor, be rendered (without hardship) equal, or
nearly equal, to the expence; a measure conceived to be
almost, in every instance, practicable, where knowledge of
business, stimulated by interest, shall form an ingredient
in the executive management.

6th. That there should be attached to each County
Penitentiary House, a Subsidiary Establishment, into which
all discharged prisoners should be admitted who choose it,
and where they might be continued in the exercise of the
trades in which they were employed during their confinement,
and for which they should receive wages in proportion to
their earnings, until they could otherwise find a settled
employment through an honest medium: thus giving those who
are desirous of reforming an opportunity of sheltering
themselves from the dangers of relapse, which arise from
being afloat upon the Public--idle, and without the means of
subsistence.

In carrying the Penitentiary System into effect, it ought not to escape notice, that the hardship imposed on Convicts, with respect to manual labour, would be no more than every honest artisan who works industriously for his family, must, during the whole course of his life, impose upon himself. The condition of a Convict would, even in some respects, be superior, inasmuch as he would enjoy medical assistance, and other advantages tending to the preservation of health, which do not attach to the lower classes of the people, whose irregularities not being restrained, while their pursuits and labours are seldom directed by good judgment and intelligence, often produce bad health, and extreme indigence and distress.

The difficulty which has heretofore been experienced with respect to productive labour in the Provincial Houses of Correction will vanish, when the System shall be exemplified in the National Penitentiary Establishment. To conduct a Plan of this nature with advantage to the Public and to the individual, an assemblage of _qualities_, _dispositions_, and _endowments_, which rarely meet in one man, will be necessary--namely, _education, habits of business, a knowledge of the common affairs of life--an active and discriminating mind--indefatigable industry--the purest morals, and a philanthropic disposition, totally divested of those hurtful propensities which lead to idle amusements_.

Such men are to be found, and would come forward, as Contractors, with ample security as often as opportunities offered, after the System became matured. It is only by the uncontrolled energy of talents, where duty and interest go hand in hand, that labour is to be obtained from Convicts.--No fluctuating management, nor any superintendance whatsoever, where a spring is not given to exertion by motives of interest, can perfect any Penitentiary design; or, indeed, any design where profit is to be derived from labour. Hence the ill success of almost all the well meant establishments with respect to the Poor, and to most of the local Penitentiary Houses. In some instances a few establishments at first hold out prospects of success; but at length they dwindle and decay, and in the result they have mostly all been unprofitable. The death or removal of an active or philanthropic Magistrate produces a languor, which terminates often in the ruin or the abandonment of the design.

The National Penitentiary System is guarded against this contingency; and until the local Establishments can enjoy equal advantages, success in any degree is scarcely to be expected, and _permanent success_ is altogether hopeless.

The object to be attained is of great magnitude.--Let an appeal be, therefore, made to the good sense of the country, and to the feelings of humanity in behalf of an unfortunate and noxious class of individuals. Let the effects of the present System be candidly examined, in opposition to the benefits which may result from that which is proposed, and let the decision be speedy, that Society may no longer be tormented by the evils which arise from this branch of the Police of the country.

The suggestions which are thus hazarded on the subject of punishments, are by no means the refinements of speculation doubtful and uncertain in their issue.

The System accords either with what has been already enacted by the Legislature or recommended by the Finance Committee. And the whole has been admitted to be practicable under an able and permanent superintendence. A hope may, therefore, be indulged, that where the interest of Society and the cause of Humanity is so deeply concerned, a design which holds out so many advantages, will experience that general support which it unquestionably merits; since its object is not only to reclaim the Out-casts of the present generation, but also to rescue thousands yet unborn from misery and destruction.

CHAP. XVII.

_The Police of the Metropolis examined--Its organization
explained, with regard to that branch which relates to the
prevention and suppression of Crimes.--The utility of the
new System, established in 1792, examined and
explained.--Reasons assigned why this System has not tended,
in a greater degree, to the suppression and prevention of
atrocious Crimes--Its great deficiency from the want of
funds, by which Magistrates are crippled in their exertions,
with regard to the detection and punishment of
Offenders.--Reasons in favour of a New System.--The Police
of the City of London (as now constituted) explained and
examined.--Suggestions relative to established Justices, and
the benefits likely to result from their exertions in
assisting the City Magistrates: from whose other engagements
and pursuits, that close and laborious attention cannot be
expected which the Public interest requires.--The
Magistrates of London the most respectable, perhaps, in the
world.--The vast labour and weight of duty attached to the
chief Magistrate.--The Aldermen have certain duties assigned
them, which ought not, in justice to be augmented, as they
act gratuitously.--The benefits which result to the
Community from established Police Magistrates, considered in
different points of view; and exemplified in the advantages
which have arisen from the System under the Act of
1792.--General Reflections on the advantages which would
arise from the various remedies which have been proposed in
the course of this Work.--These benefits, however, only of a
partial nature, inadequate to the object of complete
protection, for want of a centre-point and superintending
Establishment, under the controul of the first Minister of
Police.--Reasons assigned in favour of such a System.--The
advantages that would result from its adoption.--The ideas
of enlightened Foreigners on the Police of the Metropolis
explained.--Reflections suggested by those
ideas.--Observations on the Police of Paris previous to the
Revolution in France: elucidated by Anecdotes of the Emperor
Joseph the Second and Mons. de Sartine.--The danger of an
inundation of Foreign Sharpers and Villains on the return of
Peace.--The situation of Europe requires, and the necessity
of a well-regulated Police points out the utility of, a
Central Board of Commissioners for Managing the
Police.--This measure recommended by the Select Committee of
Finance, since the publication of the last Edition of this
Work._

Having in the preceding Chapters endeavoured to bring under the review of the Reader, not only those prominent causes which have occasioned that great increase of Public Wrongs, which every good man must deplore, but also the _various classes of delinquents_ which compose the melancholy catalogue of human depravity; having also stated such observations and facts, relative to _detection_, _trials_, and _punishments_, as seemed to be necessary for the purpose of elucidating a subject of great importance to be understood; it remains now to explain and develope the _System_ hitherto established for the purpose of protecting the Public against those enormities; and from which is to be expected that energy, and those exertions, which have been shewn to be so indispensably necessary, for the suppression and prevention of crimes.

The POLICE _of this great Metropolis_ is undoubtedly a System highly interesting to be understood, although heretofore (as far as the Author has had access to know) it has never been, at any period, fully explained through the medium of the press;--and hence it is, that a vast proportion of those who reside in the Capital, as well as the multitude of strangers who resort to it, have no accurate idea of the principles of organization, which move so complicated a machine.

It has been already stated in a preceding Chapter, that twenty-six Magistrates, forming that respectable body, comprehending the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen,[154] sit in rotation every forenoon, at the Mansion-house, and at Guildhall, and take cognizance of all matters of Police within the ancient jurisdiction of the City of London; while twenty-six established Magistrates appointed for every other part of the Metropolis,[155] including the River Police, having particular offices or courts of justice assigned them at convenient distances in Westminster, Middlesex, and Surry, sit every day (Sunday excepted) both in the morning and evening, for the purpose of executing all the multifarious duties, connected with the office of a Justice of the Peace, which unavoidably occur in large societies.[156]

[Footnote 154: The following are the names of the Aldermen at present in the Magistracy of the City; arranged according to their Seniority.

1761 Right Hon. Thos. Harley, Bridge Ward Without
72 Sir Watkin Lewis, Knt. Lime-street
72 Sir William Plomer, Knt. Bassishaw
74 Nathaniel Newnham, Esq. Vintry
82 John Boydell, Esq. Cheap
84 Paul Le Mesurier, Esq. Dowgate
84 Brock Watson, Esq. Cordwainers
85 Thomas Skinner, Esq. Queenhithe
85 William Curtis, Esq. Tower
86 William Newnham, Esq. Farringdon Within
86 G.M. Macauley, Esq. Coleman-street
89 J.W. Andersen, Esq. Aldersgate-street
90 Harvey C. Combe, Esq. Aldgate
90 Sir Richard Carr Glyn, Knt. Bishopsgate-street
93 William Staines, Esq. Cripplegate
95 Sir John Eamer, Knt. Langborne
96 Sir William Herne, Knt. Castle-Baynard
96 Robert Williams, Esq. Cornhill
97 Charles Hamerton, Esq. Bread-street
98 Charles Price, Esq. Farringdon Without
98 Peter Perchard, Esq. Candlewick
98 Thomas Cadell, Esq. Walbrook
98 George Hibbert, Esq. Bridge Within
98 James Shaw, Esq. Portsoken
98 John Perring, Esq. Broad-street
99 William Leighton, Esq. Billingsgate

Sir John William Rose, Knt. Recorder of London, a Magistrate, holding rank above the Aldermen who have not served the office of Lord Mayor.--He assists at the General and Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and in the principal affairs of the City; but does not sit in rotation.

Richard Clark, Esq. Chamberlain, acting judicially with respect to Apprentices.

Mr. Newman, Clerk to the Lord-Mayor, or Sitting Alderman at the Mansion-house.

Mr. Whittle, Clerk to the sitting Alderman at Guildhall.]

[Footnote 155: The following are the Public Offices in the Metropolis; (exclusive of the City of London;) and the respective Magistrates who _preside_, and the Clerks who _officiate_ at each.

Westminster.

Bow-street, Sir William Addington, Knt. }
Covent Garden. Nicholas Bond, Esq. } _Magistrates_.
Richard Ford, Esq. }
Mess. Lavender and Davies, _Clerks_.

The following seven Public Offices were established by the