SECTION XXIII.

When the new secretary of state saw that the probation gangs, formed under Lord John Russell's directions, were not attended with moral benefit, he attributed the failure to the defective supply of religious teaching, and not to the inherent qualities of the scheme. It became necessary to reorganise the whole plan, and to provide for the transportation of 4,000 men annually. Lord Stanley was greatly perplexed; but Captain Montagu (dismissed by Sir John Franklin) and the attorney-general of New South Wales happened to reach Downing-street at the moment: in concert with them, Lord Stanley framed the celebrated "System of Probation," which has astonished the whole civilised world.

The employment of men in gangs, had been practised from the foundation of these colonies: they usually, however, consisted of persons under short colonial sentences, and who were only sequestered awhile from society. The distribution of ten or twelve thousand men over a settled country, in parties of from two to three hundred, and subject to an oversight not usually exceeding the ordinary superintendence of free labor, was indeed an experiment, and fraught with the most important consequences.

At the head of this scheme was a comptroller-general, appointed by royal warrant, who, as colonial secretary for the convict department, was in communication with the governor alone. Under him were superintendents and overseers, religious instructors, and all other subordinate officers. He was authorised to make rules for the government of the whole, and these were minute and elaborate; and gave to the department the air of a great moral and industrial association.

The most severe form of this discipline was established at Norfolk Island, for the prisoners for life, or not less than fifteen years. For this purpose the island was relieved of persons entitled by the promises of Captain Maconochie to a more indulgent treatment, and the remainder were detained to assist in the preparation of buildings for the new plan. Thus the traditions of Norfolk Island--a complicated theory of evasion, artifice, pollution, and fraud--were preserved on the spot, and propagated through all the gangs located in Van Diemen's Land.

Persons sentenced for less offences, were transported to Van Diemen's Land: were formed into gangs, generally placed in close vicinity to the settled districts. Into these, men were drafted from Norfolk Island, when their first stage of probation was closed. The superintendents were instructed to keep a record of industrial and general improvements: the religious instructors were to insert a similar statement of moral and religious advancement. Thus it was expected, that at any instant the character and merit of every man might be known. The denominations selected to supply religious teaching were the episcopalian, wesleyan, and Roman catholic. The convicts having passed this probation were declared eligible for hire at wages, and entered the service of settlers. This portion of their progress was divided into three stages: in the first they were entitled to one-half, in the second to two-thirds, and in the last to their entire earnings. The masters were expected to pay the surplus into the hands of the crown; and the passholder was informed that the sum, if not forfeited by misconduct, would be receivable at his discharge, or in the event of death by his heirs. The fourth stage was revocable pardon, or ticket-of-leave: the holder could possess property, sue or be sued, and enjoy all the ordinary advantages of freedom, subject to police inspection. The last stage, pardon--conditional, or free: if the former, it removed the consequences of conviction in the colonies--if the latter, it had that effect in any part of the empire; but the enjoyment of this enfranchisement was made entirely dependent on the royal pleasure, and could not be demanded as a right. Such were the main provisions of the scheme: so fair in its outlines, so prodigious in its results.

In describing the operations of the probation system, it may be desirable to trace throughout the branch established at Norfolk Island. Major Childs, the commandant in succession to Captain Maconochie, was nominated by Lord Stanley. His fitness for the office was assumed from his reputation as a strict disciplinarian: in this the minister was mistaken. It must not, however, be forgotten, that many of the most flagrant evils attributed to his administration, had existed at different periods during the preceding experiments.

The island was annexed by parliament to the government of Van Diemen's Land, and thus terminated a connexion with New South Wales, which had subsisted from the colonization of that country.

Captain Forster, who succeeded to the chief control, was hostile to Maconochie's system, and proceeded to interdict all the privileges he had been accustomed to grant. A gang system of labour was restored; the barter of food was forbidden; vegetable stalls, pork shops and general stores, herds of swine and private gardens, were swept away. Thus, to all the prisoners left behind by Maconochie, the new regulations were equal to an additional sentence.

Two classes of prisoners were sent to Norfolk Island under the new system. The doubly-convicted colonial prisoners, and persons sentenced in England to transportation for fifteen years or life: the accumulation of both was rapid. Many bushrangers and other capital convicts, were transmitted to that settlement, to whom the arts of a prison were fully known; who were celebrated as "flash" robbers; and who bore down by their tyrannical wickedness all the weaker or better men within their influence. The numbers on the island in 1845, were nearly 2,000; of whom one-fourth were colonial or doubly-convicted prisoners. For these rapid additions no preparation was made: the buildings in the island, adapted for prison purposes, were dilapidated and insufficient. In the sleeping wards, the hammocks were placed in contact: the men were shut up after dusk, from eighty to a hundred together, in charge of a convict wardsman, until the morning. The place of promiscuous association was called the lumber yard, and was subject to the dominion of a "ring:" there old and new prisoners met; it was regarded as an Alsatia, or sanctuary. To arrest a prisoner there would have risked the life of the constable: attempts were sometimes met with concerted resistance: the whole body would surround the culprit, and draw their knives in defiance; in several instances the officers were assaulted with violence. The assembly of such numbers in one spot destroyed all authority: the officers did not choose seriously to infringe the privileges of the "ring." Those who gave information or evidence, did so at the venture of their lives. The harmless prisoners were the victims of oppression and rapid deterioration. At a station where the English and colonial convicts were intermixed, the colonial suffered various punishments, in three months 58 per cent., the English 30 per cent.; while the English separated from direct contamination suffered only about 18 per cent. Thus contact evidently produced one-half the penal disorders of the English convicts.

The incapacity and corrupt practices of the officers were serious obstructions to their usefulness. Thus, they were found to traffic with the men; to obtain their services under false pretences. The superintendents left the actual supervision of the work to the convict sub-overseers, who, had they been inclined to preserve order, or to enforce labor, would have been liable to vengeance.

The Rev. Thomas B. Naylor, chaplain, who quitted his employment in 1845, addressed a letter to Lord Stanley, describing the condition of Norfolk Island. This letter was intended for publication; but being placed in the hands of Captain Maconochie, he transferred it to Lord Stanley. Mr. Naylor asserted that the regulations were neglected: the commandant, a good intentioned but blustering person, was utterly incompetent to secure obedience. Thus the island was ever on the verge of insurrection. Large gangs had succeeded by mutiny in obtaining terms with their officers: the commandant himself had been knocked down. Convicts of every grade were intermixed; the fresh feelings of English prisoners cruelly insulted; youths seized upon with abominable violence--inter christianos non nominandum. He described the parade of separation, classification, and religious instruction, as an elaborate scheme of delusion.

The reports transmitted by different parties from Norfolk Island, were published in the colonial newspapers; and the lieutenant-governor (Wilmot) was induced to issue a commission of inquiry, entrusted to R. P. Stewart, Esq., whose bold and faithful delineation of abuses more than sustained the rumours that prevailed.

On his return to head-quarters Mr. Stewart furnished a minute report. He stated that the reins of authority were relinquished, and that the anarchy and insubordination justified the fear that the whole island would be involved in mutiny and bloodshed. He considered the commandant deficient in the qualifications required by his arduous and perilous post. This report occasioned the utmost alarm, and the executive council resolved on the removal of Major Childs without delay.

On leaving Norfolk Island, Mr. Stewart, in obedience to his instructions, recommended the commandant to a more stringent discipline. Many colonial convicts, who constituted the "ring," exercised a power over the less daring, which intimidated more than the authority of their officers, or the fear of punishment. The "flash" men conspired with the cooks to deprive their fellow-prisoners of their food, and were permitted to prepare in their own dishes the produce of their frauds.

To end this scandalous robbery of the well disposed, Mr. Stewart recommended that all should be deprived of cooking utensils, and receive their rations dressed. Unhappily the stores on the island were not sufficient to afford the stipulated quantity and kind of food. Many suffered from dysentery, which the medical officer considered to be aggravated by the state in which the maize was prepared. The sweet potato, which mixed with the meal so greatly improved the diet, was no longer attainable; pork was absurdly issued instead of vegetables; and the deficiency of proper food--a greater grievance than any amount of severity--provoked their murmurs and threatenings.

Among the leaders of the "ring," were Westwood, or Jacky Jacky, and Cavannah, both bushrangers, recently re-transported. They were both able to read and write, and possessed a sort of intelligence which renders such men more dangerous. The conduct of the English prisoners at the stations, where they were separated from the doubly-convicted, was far from disorderly, and punishments were rare. There was no lack of severity elsewhere. A stipendiary police magistrate, appointed shortly after the system was changed, organised a body of police: twenty-five thousand lashes were inflicted in sixteen months, beside other forms of punishment. The men committed to the gaol were often tortured: iron-wood gags were bridled in the mouth. Men were sometimes tied to bolts in the walls, the arms being out-stretched, and the feet in contact fastened on the floor: this was called the "spread eagle." The solitary cells, as they were named, were often crowded, and the men exposed to more than disease. Yet all this severity was useless for the purposes of discipline, while the precautions against violence and crime were comparatively neglected.

The apprehensions of Mr. Stewart were, unfortunately, realised. A murderous outbreak on the 1st of July, filled the settlement with terror. The constables were ordered, on the 30th of June, to remove the dishes and cooking utensils while the men were in the school-room. Westwood was calculating a sum: at the sound, he raised the pencil and listened; and a murmur passed through the classes: a sullen gloom overspread the whole. The next morning they were mustered for prayers: their conduct was orderly. They then marched to the lumber-yard; there they collected in a crowd, and suddenly moved to the stores, which they broke open and carried off their impounded dishes. They then returned to the yard, and Westwood told them that he was going to the gallows, and advised those who were afraid to keep back. Several armed with bludgeons; Westwood caught up an axe, and in a few moments four constables were murdered, some in their beds. The military were instantly called out, and in a very short time appeared, and the prisoners, without waiting a charge, retired to their quarters. When the account of these proceedings were received at Hobart Town, a special commission was sent down to try the rioters: thirteen suffered death.

It is exceedingly difficult to determine to whom the chief blame of this fatal disaster belonged. The officers on the spot, whose testimony can be scarcely deemed impartial, alleged that it was chiefly due to the system of Maconochie: "when," said they, "the reins of discipline were tightened, the rage of the prisoners was unbounded." The police magistrate declared that he had all along expected such resistance: "before a more healthy state of things could be produced, a sacrifice would be made." It is, however, obvious that no such necessity could have existed, had the two classes of prisoners been divided, and proper military precaution secured.

On the 3rd of August, 1845, Major Childs was succeeded by John Price, Esq., formerly a police magistrate at Hobart Town. This gentleman, remarkable for his knowledge of prisoner habits, language, and artifices, was represented by the local government as unusually qualified to put down the disorders which prevailed. The greater number of the officers, civil and ecclesiastical, were dismissed or recalled; and Mr. Price commenced his career with a vigorous, summary, and, it is said, merciless exercise of his authority. The agents he employed were, of course, liable to strong objections: they were chiefly persons who were or had been prisoners; some remarkable for their crimes. The clergymen stationed on the island exhibited the most serious charges against the new commandant, and the persons acting under his authority and encouragement. Cruelties of the most atrocious description, and a toleration of evils of an appalling kind; but the often insane violence of the men, scarcely admitted of either much caution or delay. It could answer no purpose to collect the awful details. In part, these charges have been disputed; but their substantial truth is, at least, rendered probable, by the accumulation of similar facts in the history of such settlements.

The dismissal of the chaplains occasioned a long and painful controversy. The reports of their conduct appear to have been hastily collected; often dependant on testimony which would never be received elsewhere, unless strongly corroborated. The entire spirit of convict government is almost inevitably modified by its penal purpose. The instances are rare where a clergyman, acting in harmony with the design of the gospel, could escape the censure of men who look on prisoner piety with habitual suspicion and disdain, and who consider "doing duty," both the obligation and the limit of the clerical office. Thus when a prisoner desired to receive the sacrament, although a man of respectable origin and quiet demeanour, he was sent to the church in charge of constables, while men of far different habits were occasionally indulged with considerable liberty.

The constables were afraid for their lives: many of them, when the discipline became rigorous, implored to be removed from their office. One was sentenced to chains, for declining to be sworn; another, who had given evidence, entreated a discharge: he was refused, and was murdered. The civil commandant, Mr. Price, himself did not dare to neglect his personal safety, and appeared with loaded pistols in his belt.

When these accounts reached Downing-street, the abandonment of Norfolk Island was determined. The secretary of state having read the letter of Mr. Naylor, requested the lieutenant-governor to break up the establishment without delay: to withdraw the whole population to the settlement of Tasman's Peninsula, at the time a secondary penal station in Van Diemen's Land. No discretion was allowed in the execution of this imperative instruction. On further reflection, however, Earl Grey qualified his order.

When the proposal to vacate Norfolk Island, and to settle the prisoners in this colony, became known, the inhabitants manifested the strongest indignation. Their views coinciding with the wishes of the local authorities, were received with respect, and the lieutenant-governor decided to delay the measure until the secretary of state should be fully informed. The administration of Mr. Price had quelled the mutinous temper of the convicts, and the removal of the better class had greatly diminished the number. The desirableness of an island prison to punish colonial offences, and obstinate insubordination in the English penitentiaries, overcame the intention to desert once more that spot, so celebrated for its natural beauty and moral pollution (1849). The reader will not, however, confide in present appearances; but will expect a repetition, at some future day, of those startling disclosures which have several times filled the world with horror.

The attempts of the convicts to overthrow the authorities have been numerous. Three years after the re-occupation of the island (1827) a large body murdered the guard, seized the boats, and crossed over to Phillip's Island. Seventy were engaged, and their number screened them from the capital penalty. In 1834, a still more sanguinary attempt issued in the instant loss of several lives, and the execution of eleven men. It was on this occasion that Mr. Justice Burton sat as judge: when he heard the appeal which "brought tears to his eyes, and wrung his heart;" and which, recorded by the famous anti-transportation committee of the House of Commons, told with such power on public opinion. The culprit being brought up for sentence said--"Let a man be what he will, when he comes here he soon becomes as bad as the rest: a man's heart is taken from him, and there is given him the heart of a beast."

Such has been always the result of capricious severity; and not only to the prisoners--to the ministers of vengeance might often be extended, without injustice, the appalling description.

The administration of law at Norfolk Island was but a choice of difficulties. Special commissions were of late sent down, when cases were urgent or numerous. The temptation to risk life for a release from toil, or the excitement of a voyage, was thus removed. But at this settlement the formalities of justice were but a slight security for its fair distribution. The value of an oath was less than the least favour of the authorities; the prisoners without counsel; the jury taken from the garrison. A convict attorney was occasionally permitted to advise the accused; but in the case of the July rioters such aid was denied, and several who were convicted, died protesting their innocence. During the assize, one judge sat with the military as an assessor, under the old law of New South Wales; a second, under the law of Van Diemen's Land, which appoints a jury. Capital convictions were thus obtained by a process, one or the other, totally illegal. These would be deemed slight considerations, taken separately; but it is difficult to be satisfied with a trial, in which all, except the judge, may be interested in the prisoner's condemnation. Substantial justice will not be long secure, when its usual conditions are either evaded, or are impracticable. A civilized nation would release the culprit rather than condemn him in haste, and the judge is criminal who smites contrary to the law, though he smites only the guilty.

FOOTNOTES:

EXTRACTS.

August 6.--Visited the general hospital; found a man named Lemon dreadfully beaten, and having his arm broken. It appears that constable Baldock was taking a man to gaol, charged with either having or using a towel irregularly. He threw his shirt to Lemon, and asked him to get it washed. Baldock would not allow him (Lemon) to have it. Upon this the man Lemon gave Baldock either a blow or, as he says, a push, when a number of constables fell upon him and beat him with their clubs. It was just as divine service was commencing yesterday evening. All the officers and constables left the church, except Mr. Duncan, and the "old hands" made a general rush towards the windows to see what was going on. Mr. Bott told me he interfered to cause the constables to desist after the man was down, but Baldock said "lay it into him--lay it into him." While down he was handcuffed with his hands behind him; after this he was taken to gaol and gagged two hours, with his hands chained behind him to the lamp post, having all this time his arm broken! He was then taken to the new gaol, and Stephens sent for the doctor who received him into hospital.

April 16 (Friday).--Had a long chat with Dytton. He was chained down to the floor by Mr. ---- order, and had been gagged. I asked the reason: he said for getting up to the window to get some air in the hospital cell, as the doctor had ordered him to have air and he was refused out. He has been ill at the general hospital--had six or seven weeks' sickness--has never been well since a beating he received while I was absent from the island. He was then in the chain-gang. Some pegs had been removed upon which he hung his clothes and rations. He abused the gaoler for removing the pegs; was gagged and taken to the new gaol, and chained down; was then dreadfully beaten by six or seven constables. He lay in a puddle of blood. The next day a constable came in and jumped upon him, and severely hurt his chest: he pierced his body with a piece of sharp iron or steel. He showed me a scar on his arm he had received on that occasion. He said Mr. Elliot came to the cell and found him in that mutilated condition, and asked ---- when it was done. ---- replied, "he received a portion yesterday and a portion to-day."

August 6, 1847.--Visited the gaol. Found Waters strapped down on suspicion of having prevented his eye from recovering. His back was bad, having been flogged, and the cord which laced the straitwaistcoat which they put on him pained him much. His eye was very bad. He was laid on his back, bound unable to stir hand or foot, and in agony of pain from the pressure of his lacerated back on the lacing cord. Having asked to see Major Harrold as a magistrate, he said to the turnkey, "If I am guilty of injuring myself let me be punished; but if not, why am I strapped down?" For saying this he was flogged! He told me that Dr. Everett said he did not think he had done anything to his eye. I saw him again soon after: he said his back had stunk most offensively, and through the intercession of the turnkey Mr. Price had allowed the cord to be removed; but his hands were chained to the foot of the bed. He had received a sentence of eighteen months on the reef in chains. [Note: Some of these chains were 36lbs. weight; and on the reef the men had mostly to work up to the middle in water.--T.R.]"

"In one of the turnkeys' rooms in the new gaol is to be seen an article of harness, that at first sight creates surprise in the mind of the beholder, when considering what animal of the brute creation exists of so diminutive a size as to admit of its use; but on enquiry it will be found to be a bridle, perfect in head band, throat lash, &c., for a fellow creature. There is attached to it a round piece of ironwood of almost 4 inches in length, and 1-1/2 in diameter; this again is secured in a broad strap of leather to cross the mouth. In the wood there is a small hole, and, when used, the wood is inserted in the mouth, the small hole being the only breathing space; and when the whole is secured with the various straps and buckles, a more complete bridle in resemblance could not well be witnessed. This is one of Mr. ---- instruments for torturing the unhappy and fallen men, and on one occasion I was compelled to witness its application on a poor blind wretch, named Edward Mooney. My duty required my attendance at the gaol occasionally. I came in one evening after eight o'clock. I was conversing with one of the turnkeys; the notorious ----, who robbed Mr. Waterhouse of L700, was present; he also at that time being a turnkey, holding a third class pass, and in receipt of 2s. per diem. Everything was quite still. I could not help remarking how quiet the gaol was, when the said ---- exclaimed, 'there's some one speaking; I know what b---- it is;' and forthwith took from its pegs one of the bridles just described and a pair of handcuffs. I followed him to one of the cells which he opened, and therein was a man lying on his straw mat undressed, and to all appearance asleep. ---- desired him to get up, calling him by his name, and to dress himself. He did so, and came out into the yard, where ---- inserted the ironwood gag into his mouth, and the sound produced by his breathing through it (which appeared to be done with great difficulty) resembled a low indistinct whistle. He then led him to the lamp post in the yard, placing him with his back to it, and his arms being taken round were secured by the handcuffs round the post. As the night was very chilly, I buttoned his jacket up to the throat, speaking at the same time a few words to cheer him, that brought tears from his sightless eyes, to think that some one felt for his miserable and forlorn condition; and this convinced me still further, that even the most hardened villain can be melted by kindness, however trifling. Having enquired how long he was to remain in the condition described, I was told three hours!"

"Perkins had another drubbing some time since coming out of church. ---- a prisoner constable, was the first to fall on him, and after him a host who soon covered him with blood and wounds, for not walking in a proper manner out of church. And the commandant allowed this drubbing to stand as a sort of instalment of punishment when the man was brought up for trial. On account of the beating he received a lighter magisterial sentence. Mr. ---- told me one day that the commandant censured the conduct of the constables who complained of some man not opening his mouth to have the inside of it searched for tobacco. It seems they were deemed blameworthy for having in this instance neglected to use violence. 'Why didn't you knock him down like a bullock?' was the interrogatory at Norfolk Island!"--Correspondence, pp. 41, 42.

"Before Mr. Price's arrival I resided for twelve months on the Cascade station. Its strength was between three and four hundred men. I have known this station to continue twenty days without a single case requiring the intervention of a magistrate. Within three months after Mr. Price's arrival, I have known forty cases for the police-office on one single morning! Many of the men thus brought up were sentenced to solitary confinement, and sent to the Longridge cells--our own not being sufficient to contain a quarter of them. The Longridge station had a strength of five hundred men, and the united solitary sentences of both stations often trebly filled the Longridge cells. I have frequently found in my daily visits as chaplain from twenty to forty men confined by threes and fours in the Longridge cells, doing what was called 'solitary;'--three men sleeping together on the floor of a cell four and a half feet wide by seven feet long. For pulling a lemon or guava--for laughing in the presence of a convict policeman--for having a pipe--for wearing a belt or button not issued by government--for mustering in dirty trousers on Sunday, although to wash them the owner would have to go naked all the Saturday afternoon--for having half or a quarter of a pipeful of tobacco--for offences the most trivial, and sometimes on false charges--the most inoffensive and best behaved men of Cascade and Longridge were often to be found filling up the cells which might otherwise have been set apart for the custody of some of the grosser criminals who were tried at the assizes.... The convicts selected as constables were like a ruthless band of predatory assailants, seizing their fellow-prisoners under any and every pretence, in order to have 'cases for the police-office!' A first-class officer overheard the following speech uttered by a convict policeman:--'I have no case for court this morning--what will Mr. ---- say to me? But a case I must have--and a case I will have--and here goes!' This policeman proceeded with another into the bush, and in an hour returned bringing in two men on a capital charge. On the evidence of their captors alone these two men were committed to gaol, tried at the assizes, and sentenced to death. By whom were the police compelled to such activity? By Mr. Price. His opinion, publicly expressed, was, that a policeman could not be doing his duty unless he had 'cases for court.'"--Ibid, pp. 88, 89.

* * * * *

"A short analysis of the abstract would quickly strip the favored '25' of some rays of their infamous glory, and do more to expose the blunders, follies, and ferocious inhumanities of convict discipline than volumes of concocted reports and oracular despatches. From his position, Dr. Hampton must know that under the name of discipline, deeds have been done sufficiently atrocious to glut the soul of a Caligula. He knows that the perjuries and punishments about tobacco were sins that cried to heaven for abolition. He knows that in every seven cases out of ten the convicts at a penal station are more sinned against than sinning. Nothing is required to prove this but a critical inspection of their 'police sheets.' In the court-house at Hobart Town, a youth, E---- G----, aged 19, was on his trial for a capital offence. The crown prosecutor referred to the prisoner's bad character as exhibited by the unusual number of offences on his police sheet. The judge asked to see the parchment. While looking at it, G---- said, 'Your honor, the whole of them wouldn't make one ---- good one!' For a few moments the judge continued to examine the record, and then flung it on the floor of the court-house with an expression of disgust at the childish nature of the 'trifling offences' set down as serious crimes."--Review of Dr. Hampton's First Report on Norfolk Island: By Rev. T. Rogers. p. 21.]