Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/232

 194 EMANCIPATION. ^''^^ term of his original sentence had expired forfeited his emancipation, and might be sent back to finish his punish- ment, but that he placed his life in jeopardy. According i^ effect to the law at that time, a convict who returned from the of the ' condition, place of transportation to Great Britain or Ireland before the term of his sentence had expired was guilty of a capital offence, on proof of which he was liable to the punishment of death. Emancipation as granted under these Instructions was not therefore perfect liberty. The emancipist, if he remained in New South Wales, was a free man. He might labour for his own profit instead of for the advantage of the State, or seek his fortune in any colony or in a foreign State ; but if he returned to the land of his birth he did so at his peril.* Desireof the The desiro of most of the convicts transported from the convicts to ^ Si^uSid^ United Kingdom was to return to the country from which they had been banished, and some of them, in their eager- ness to get back, paid no heed to the danger into which they ran, and were punished for their temerity. It was the Diiwouraired established policy of the British Government to keep con- authorities, victs from returning, whether they had served their sen- tences or not. According to the view then held at Sydney Cove as to the effect of a sentence of transportation, it was doubtful whether convicts would be able to return to the places from which they had been despatched even when their sentences expired. In one of his early letters to Nepean, 9th July, 1788,t Phillip said that those whose sentences would soon expire intended to " apply for per- mission to return to England," but, he added, that until instructions had been received from the Government none would be allowed to leave the settlement. He expressed the opinion, however, that if ^^ the most abandoned and use- less " were permitted, on the expiration of their sentences, • A similar condition was imposed in the case of the convicts who were " pardoned *' for their services in connection with the wreck of the G-uardian. ■ — Ante, p. 44. t Historical Records, vol. i, part 2, p. 164.