en, ten years, or life. He deprecated those
lengthened punishments, which deprive men of the years of youth, and
strengthen and ripen every evil propensity into fatal maturity.

While the government of Norfolk Island developed the novel system,
accounts were conveyed to the colonies only at intervals: some in the
spirit of hostility, and others because they were idle, delighted to
depict the enthusiastic Maconochie as the subject of delusion, and the
butt of ridicule among those he reformed; but the climax at last came.

Never was Norfolk Island so gay, or its inhabitants so joyful, as on the
25th May, 1840. A proclamation had been issued by Maconochie, describing
the pleasures and festivities he contemplated. On this occasion he
resolved to forget the distinction between good and bad, and to make no
exception from the general indulgence; but he entreated the men to
remember that on the success of this experiment his confidence would
greatly depend: he warned them to suppress the first tokens of disorder,
and by retiring to their quarters at the sound of the bugle, prove that
they might be trusted with safety. On the morning of the day, the signal
colours floated from the staff, crowned with the union jack: twenty-one
guns, collected from the vessels and from the government-house, were
mounted on the top of a hill, and fired a royal salute. The gates were
thrown open, and eighteen hundred prisoners were set free, and joined in
various amusements, of which Captain Maconochie was a frequent
spectator. Eighteen hundred prisoners sat down to dinner, and at its
close, having received each a small quantity of spirits with water, they
drank health to the Queen and Maconochie--three times three for Victoria
and the captain rent the air. They then renewed their sports, or
attended a theatrical performance. New scenery, dresses, music, and
songs, contributed to the hilarity of the party. The performances were,
the _Castle of Andalusia_, in which the comic powers of the prisoners
were exhibited to their companions, a variety of glees and songs, the
tent scene of _Richard III._, the _Purse, or the Benevolent Tar_, and
finally the national anthem.[235] At the termination, no accident had
occurred; the gaol was entirely unoccupied; no theft or disorder had
disgraced the day; and thus the notion of Maconochie seemed to be
illustrated by the experiment. The contrast with the past system created
the greatest amazement, and the descripti