protest, not only
as defeating the primary objects of a penalty, but as constituting a
community charged with the elements of future mischief. He reasoned in
his closet, and formed his conclusions from a process of investigation
which was not complete: he overlooked some facts which tended largely to
neutralise the evil, and that suppress or defeat propensities which
thrive in Europe. He made many senatorial converts, and those he did not
convince, in reference to his main proposition, were anxious to obviate
his objections.

To meet, however, the views which prevailed, and which were strongly
recommended by the parliamentary committee of 1832, the government
determined to increase the rigour of transportation. The effects of the
French revolution, and the pressure of commercial distress, had produced
a strong tendency to crime. In the agricultural districts of England
riot and arson were prevalent: the utmost exertion of the laborer did
not preserve his family from want. Depredations upon game, and other
species of rural property, exasperated the legislative class. The hulks
were crowded: it was proposed to establish a penitentiary at Dartmoor,
long the site of a French prison, and employ the convicts in cutting
granite for sale; but the discussions in parliament manifested the
strong preference of the agricultural interests for a system of absolute
banishment. It was observed by Peel, that the detention of prisoners
exposed the government to endless annoyance, and before half their time
was expired the solicitation of their friends often procured a
remission.

Pending these enquiries, a rumour reached the colony that transportation
was abolished. The papers broke out in the language of wailing and woe:
the _Courier_, especially, gave utterance to the most passionate grief.
The editor described the melancholy visage of the settlers, and the
different expressions of vexation and disappointment which he heard
around him. One declaiming against the perfidy of government, and
another delineating the ruin involved in the fatal resolution. Some
threatening to leave the country ruled by covenant breakers, who, in the
spirit of reckless experiment, were not only demolishing the finest
imaginable system of penal discipline, but sacrificing the fortunes of
colonists, who had emigrated in the confidence that convicts would
follow them in an uninterrupted stream.[195] These apprehensions were
but temporary. The strong represent