Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/49

1832.] before. Several of them learned to read and write, and improved in their conduct upon the passage.

Dr. Martin's system of discipline does not exclude corporal punishment in extreme cases; but it unites firmness with kindness, and such an appeal to the convictions, as brings a sense of its justice with the exercise of coercion. The prisoners of good behaviour, particularly the boys, were encouraged by a reward, of a little more time on deck than the others. I was much gratified with the inspection of this ship: it in no degree diminished the interest I have felt for this degraded part of the human family: and I thought it very evident, that persons coming out under religious impressions, might be very useful in assisting the surgeons, in the discharge of the important duties that devolve upon them in convict vessels. On mentioning my views to Dr. Martin, he said he should have been very glad of such help; and I apprehend such would be the general feeling of the surgeons employed in this service. It is impracticable for them personally to superintend the adults and the boys at the same time, when they are confined in separate places.

20th. We went to the Penitentiary to see the convicts from on board the Elizabeth, examined by the Lieut. Governor, who spoke to several of them individually: he alluded to the degraded state into which they had brought themselves by their crimes; this he justly compared to a state of slavery; he gave them counsel regarding their future conduct, warning them particularly against the influence of bad company, and of drunkenness; and told them they might regard the door of a public house, through which many of them had come into their present situation, as the entrance to a jail; that their conduct would be narrowly watched, and if it should be bad, they would be severely punished, put to work in a chain-gang, or sent to a penal settlement, where they would be under very severe discipline; or their career might be terminated on the scaffold. That, on the contrary, if they behaved well, they would in the course of a proper time, be indulged with a ticket-of-leave, which would permit them to reap the profit of their own labour: that if they should still persevere in doing well, they would then become eligible for a conditional