Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

Jan. 1836. new south wales. 531 her future manufactories. Possessing coal^ she always has the moving power at hand. From the habitable country ex- tending along the coast, and from her English extraction she is sure to be a maritime nation. I formerly imagined that Austraha would rise to be as grand and powerful a country as North America; but now it appears to me such future grandeur is rather problematical. With respect to the state of the convicts, I had still fewer opportunities of judging than on other points. The first question is, whether their condition is at all one of punishment : no one will maintain that it is a very severe one. This, however, I suppose is of little consequence as long as it continues to be an object of dread to criminals at home. The corporeal wants of the convicts are tolerably well sup- pUed; their prospect of futm-e liberty and comfort is not distant, and after good conduct certain. A " ticket of leave," which, as long as a man keeps clear of suspicion as well as of crime, makes him free within a certain district, is given upon good conduct after years proportional to the length of the sentence. For life, eight years is the time of pro- bation ; for seven years, four, &c. Yet with all this, and overlooking the previous imprisonment and wretched passage out, I beheve the years of assignment are passed away with discontent and unhappiness. As an intelligent man remarked to me, the con\'icts know no pleasure beyond sensuality, and in this they are not gratified. The enormous bribe which government possesses in offering free pardons, to- gether with the deep horror of the secluded penal settle- ments, destroys confidence between the convicts, and so pre- vents crime. As to a sense of shame, such a feeling does not appear to be known, and of this I witnessed some very singular j^roofs. Though it is a curious fact, I was uni- versally told, that the character of the convict population is one of arrant cowardice : not unfrequently some become desperate and quite indifferent of life, yet a plan requiring cool or continued courage is seldom put into execution. The worst feature in the whole case is, that although there 2 M 2