The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811) by David Dickinson Mann
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David Dickinson Mann >> The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811)
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In the trial of civil causes, it had, until latterly, been the
custom of the court to insert in writing only the amount of the
debt sought to be recovered, the damages which have been awarded,
the names of the plaintiff and defendant, and the adjudication of
the court; but in the opinion of many persons of consequence and
respectability in the colony, it is absolutely requisite to cause
all the _viva voce_ evidence which is given in all civil
cases to be taken down in writing. The following reasons are
given for this alteration in the former custom, and their full
weight has been allowed to them whenever I have heard an opinion
given upon the subject. It occurs very frequently that appeals
are made from the decision of the civil court to the governor,
and, in consequence of the evidence which has been given before
the court not being taken down, the witness has an opportunity of
correcting, enlarging, or otherwise altering his depositions, so
as to make his own case appear in a very different point of view
to that which it bore in the former instance, and thus a
temptation is held out to perjury, which is too strong for the
weak morality of many in the colony to resist, and the current of
public justice may, by this method, be completely turned out of
its proper channel; and the decision of the civil court is at all
times liable to be disputed and reversed. No writ of court is
issued for less than ten pounds, so that the necessity of taking
down the evidence in a suit instituted for a sum beneath that
amount, does not appear to be so strikingly obvious; although an
appeal may be made to the governor from the civil court, for any
sum, even less than ten pounds; but this is not very often done,
although some instances have occurred in my recollection. Where
the sum sued for exceeds 300L. a court of appeal may be
demanded, and if the plaintiff is dissatisfied with the decision
of the governor, he has the right of appealing to the King in
council; and here the necessity of taking down the evidence
brought before the court becomes still more strong, since the
character of the court itself may be involved in the issue of the
legal decision. Suits to this amount are not now very rare, but
they may be expected to become much more frequent in the thriving
state of the colony.
The affixing a greater degree of respectability to the office
of chief constable at Sydney, and the attachment of a salary to
the situation from the crown, would be a desirable measure, since
on this officer depends, in a great measure, the peace, the
internal security, and good order of the colony; and it is
therefore worthy of consideration whether the trust, inferior in
importance to scarcely any in the settlement, ought not to be
reposed in a person of some respectability, and who, by the
receipt of an adequate remuneration, might be enabled to devote
his time and attention to the duties of his office. To this
situation so much responsibility is attached, and from it so much
good is expected, that the person who fills it ought to be
enabled to preserve a respectable appearance, and to embrace the
comforts of life, without being permitted to have recourse to
traffic or other pursuits which might contaminate his principles,
or render him less zealous in his exertions for the good order of
the colony. The benefit which must arise from the conscientious
discharge of the duties of this office is much more than can be
imagined at first sight; and the evils, on the other hand, which
flow from its mal-execution, are in an opposite extremely
baleful, and calculated more to promote excesses and tumults than
to repress them.
That prisoners who are transported for life are in general
indifferent to their future fate, and careless of their conduct,
is a fact well known to all persons who have resided in the
settlement; and it therefore becomes a naturally interesting
question, by what means these convicts may be brought to
discharge their duties with more readiness, and to follow a
course of life more fraught with happiness to themselves, and
more satisfactory to those who are placed near them. The best
method which suggests itself to me, is that of employing
prisoners for life on government labour for a limited time only,
at the expiration of which period they should be made free of the
country, and, in case their conduct had been such as to merit
approbation, should be allowed to become settlers, with the usual
indulgences, and thus have the means once again placed before
them of raising themselves to a respectable rank in society, in
that country to which they had been banished. Those, on the other
hand, who are found to be dissolute and abandoned characters when
their term of labour had expired, might be made free also; but,
instead of being allowed to become settlers and to receive
indulgences, they might be taken off the stores, and be compelled
to labour for their daily bread. Such an amelioration of the
punishment of those unhappy delinquents who have incurred this
heavy vengeance of the laws of their country, would induce
numbers to look forward into futurity with a satisfaction which
they had not possessed previously, arising out of the distant
hope of becoming opulent and respectable, and of making the
renewal, in the decline of their existence, of those prospects
which, in their earlier years, had been eluded and destroyed by
their vices; and this idea would not fail to stimulate them to a
conduct more laudable, and calculated to accelerate the
accomplishment of their wishes. It may be brought against this
measure, as an argument, that it would reduce the extent of the
power of government to grant pardons to deserving convicts, and
that government would thus lose the advantage which was derived
from the labour of those prisoners; but to the former objection
it may be replied, that the certainty of an alleviation, and of
the advantages which would attend a meritorious conduct during
the specified period of punishment, would prove a powerful
incentive to the convicts, and would tend to produce more good
members of society and useful settlers than could be expected,
unless some reward was to be the certain result of meritorious
conduct; without this stimulus, there might be, as there has
been, some good characters to reward, but their numbers would be
comparatively insignificant: To the latter objection it will only
be necessary to say, that if government loses the labour of these
convicts, it also disburdens itself of the weight of supporting
them and of providing them clothing, etc.
Against the perpetual imprisonment of convicts the following
reasons may be brought forward:--The restlessness and
indifference which generally pervade the conduct of delinquents
of this description, who, seeing no termination to their
captivity, lose the inclination to labour, if they ever possessed
it, and become indolent and careless as to the colour of their
future fate; the impossibility of any governor, however diligent
and compassionate, being enabled to discover all the meritorious
convicts of this description who might be entitled to their
liberation in pursuance of the present system, since he could not
possibly, at any time, keep an eye upon the whole, scattered as
they are through the settlements, and in the employ of various
persons; many deserving prisoners, having never been in the
service of an officer, have none to recommend them, and remain,
consequently, unnoticed, although they may be more meritorious
than even some who are emancipated; and the numerous desertions
which take place amongst those convicts who have no prospect of
amelioration in view, and who are, therefore, indifferent what
becomes of them, placing upon a level the dangers of destruction
and the prospect of toiling away existence, without the hope of
freedom or of happiness, to the close of their days. Such a
conduct as this is truly not to be wondered at, when the
behaviour of some criminals at the bar of their country is
recalled to mind, where they have declined that mercy which has
been extended to them, and preferred death to a perpetual
banishment from that society which they had injured. If any of
the liberated convicts should afterwards attempt to make their
escape from the colony, they might be returned to the public
labour, or be sentenced to such other punishment as may be
thought adequate to the importance of their offence. What the
consequence of the amelioration of the rigour of punishment would
be may easily be imagined; instead of continually murmuring at
the gloomy prospect before them--of displaying indifference to
the future--of beholding before them no limitation of their
slavery, nothing but misery, toil, and death; instead of these
cheerless contemplations, they would begin to display a degree of
contentedness with the situation to which their delinquency had
reduced them, and their progress would be marked by utility to
the government and to the community, instead of being chequered
by continual efforts to elude the vigilance of their overseers,
and to escape from a scene of uniform hardships, unillumined by a
single ray of hope.
The best interests of the colony would be greatly forwarded,
if government were to select some clergymen, of unequivocal piety
and zeal, to inculcate religious and moral principles. For this
purpose, they should be chosen of unblemished character, whose
respectability and exemplary conduct would assist to give weight
to the doctrines which flow from their lips. Much good cannot be
derived from the efforts of men, who are chiefly engaged in
farming and traffic, and who will sell a bottle of spirits, or
_oblige_ some of those very persons with it, to whom they
have just before been preaching the duty of temperance, and whose
learning and appearance are better adapted to less important
avocations, than fulfilling the sacred functions it is intended
they should perform.--The future prosperity of the settlement
also greatly depends upon the manner in which the rising
generation are instructed. The education of youth is, at present,
much neglected, through the want of four or five schoolmasters of
sufficient capacity. There cannot be a doubt that persons
qualified for this profession would meet with very liberal
encouragement, as the children are numerous, and there are but
few parents who cannot afford to educate their offspring
respectably.
The want of some able superintendants in different branches of
business is at present much felt, since such individuals might be
usefully employed in training up youth to the pursuits of
industry; by which means the commission of crimes would be
rendered less frequent, and the dispositions of children would
receive a proper bias. An arrangement of this nature would also
remove the severe inconvenience occasioned by the extreme
scarcity of able mechanics throughout the colony.
It will be immediately admitted by every unprejudiced mind,
that the salaries of the deputy-commissaries should be increased,
when the circumstances under which they are placed are duly
considered. They have now only five shillings a day; a sum so
totally inadequate to the services they perform, as to excite
surprize in all who witness the extent of the trust reposed in
them. This daily pay is barely sufficient to purchase a dinner in
the colony, as they are obliged to appear in every respect as
gentlemen; and the necessary consequence is, they are compelled
to enter into other occupations, unless they have a better source
of income than their salaries, in order to meet their own
unavoidable expenditure, and to maintain (as is generally the
case there) a wife and large family. The impolicy of giving small
salaries must be obvious, when it is considered that individuals
who are thus sparingly rewarded for their labour, abstract from
their official duties some portion of that attention which ought
to be wholly devoted to them.
A different arrangement with respect to the grants and leases
of land would also be productive of beneficial consequences.
Whenever any of those deeds have been made, under the hand and
seal of the governor, or of the colonial seal, they ought to be
considered as secured to the grantee or lessee, their heirs,
etc. and, under no pretence whatever, except a failure in the
fulfilment of the conditions expressed therein, ought the
governor, or any succeeding governor, to retain the power of
taking that land away. The existence of such a power, indeed, is,
upon its surface, arbitrary; and, in its effect, totally
destructive of the spirit of improvement; for there scarcely
exists a man who would bestow his whole exertions and property in
increasing the value of buildings and land, which he holds by
such an uncertain tenure. In the midst of his expectations, just
as he has impoverished himself with the hope of reaping a future
recompense, he may, by the sudden whims or caprice of an
individual, be deprived at once of the means of gaining future
subsistence, and plundered of every thing which he may have done
with a view to his own benefit, and the bettering of the estate.
It is surely unwise to leave a power (which, it is to be hoped,
is without authority) of this description, in the hands of any
man, however exalted his character, and however conspicuous his
love of justice.
The whole of the contingent expenses which would result from
these improvements, might be paid by duties laid on importations,
exportations, etc. which are at present by no means
inconsiderable, but might be greatly increased, to the mutual
advantage of the colonist and the government.
To expatiate largely on the benefits which would result from
the establishment of a free trade, is altogether superfluous to
men whose minds can embrace the increased stimulus which would be
given to industry, the influx of wealth and population, the
improvements in agriculture, commerce, and the arts and sciences,
and the rapid advancement of the best interests of the colony,
which must result from such a measure.
The strong necessity for some considerable alteration in the
internal arrangement and policy of the colony, to various parts
of which I have drawn the reader's attention, can but be apparent
to all unprejudiced persons, who have but a superficial knowledge
of the settlement. The suggestions I have now presumed to offer
to the public, as my opinion for means of improvement, I beg to
state, are as unbiassed as my statements are faithful; and which
are the result of some reflection, founded upon the experience of
a long, and, I should hope, an unimpeachable residence, in the
fulfilment of some important duties, thereby obtaining more than
common means of observation. With these assurances, I have to
trust that due credit will be given to my intentions, which had
their principal stimulus from an anxious wish that the mother
country should receive every possible benefit, in the adoption of
so promising and highly interesting a part of the uncivilized
globe to its fostering care.
The End
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