Page:Elizabeth Fry (Pitman 1884).djvu/97

Rh In the year 1807, I returned to Europe. Shortly after my arrival in London, I stated in a memorial to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury the miserable situation of the female convicts, to His Majesty's Government at the Colonial Office, and to several Members of the House of Commons. From the assurances that were then made, that barracks should be built for the accommodation of the female convicts, I entertained no doubt but that the Government would have given instructions to the Governor to make some provision for them. On my return to the colony, in 1810, I found things in the same state I left them; five years after my again arriving in the colony, I took the liberty to speak to the Governor, as opportunity offered, on the subject in question, and was surprised to learn that no instructions had been communicated to His Excellency from His Majesty's Government, after what had passed between me and those in authority at home, relative to the state of the female convicts. At length I resolved to make an official statement of their miserable situation to the Governor, and, if the Governor did not feel himself authorised to build a barrack for them, to transmit my memorial to my friends in England, with His Excellency's answer, as a ground for them to renew my former application to Government for some relief. Accordingly, I forwarded my memorial, with a copy of the Governor's answer, home to more than one of my friends. I have never been convinced that no instructions were given by His Majesty's Government to provide barracks for the female convicts; on the contrary, my mind is strongly impressed that instructions were given; if they were not, I can only say that this was a great omission, after the promises that were made. I was not ignorant that the sending home of my letter to the Governor and his answer, would subject me to the censure as well as the displeasure of my superiors. I informed some of my friends in England, as well as in the colony, that if no attention was paid to the female convicts, I was determined to lay their case before the British nation; and then I was certain, from the moral and religious feeling which pervades all ranks, that redress would be obtained. However, nothing has been done yet to remedy the evils of which I complain. For the last live and twenty years many of the convict women have been driven to vice to obtain a loaf of bread, or a bed to lie upon. To this day there never has been a place to put the female convicts in when they land from the ships. Many of the women have told me with tears their distress of mind on this account; some would have been glad to have returned to the paths of virtue if they could have found a hut to live in without forming