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 award of the executive towards individuals who had forfeited their lives to the community: but, by a system of pardons and indulgences the most injudicious and unwarrantable, it has been rendered in many instances a complete mockery of all law and justice. It has been well remarked by Rousseau, that, "under the Roman republic, neither the senate nor the consuls ever attempted to grant pardons," and that "the frequency of pardons indicates that in a short time crimes will not stand in need of them." I am sorry to add, that while the Roman practice has been but little followed, we have had abundant evidence of the natural result and the necessary consequence of neglecting it in the Australian colonies.

4. In regard to the cost of transportation, as compared with other modes of punishment, Archbishop Whately observes, "That this point is of far less consequence than the others; and of less than it is, I think, usually considered; but still is one which must not be entirely overlooked, since a failure in this point, inasmuch as it admits of infinite degrees, might conceivably be such as to amount to a very serious evil." I am disposed to concur with His Grace in considering the comparative cost of any description of punishment as by no means a point of primary importance; as it is possible that the cheapness of a particular