e female
convicts, I entertained no doubt but that the Government would have
given instructions to the Governor to make some provisions for
them. On my return to the colony, in 1810, I found things in the
same state I left them; five years after my again arriving in the
colony, I took the liberty to speak to the Governor, as opportunity
afforded, on the subject in question, and was surprised to learn
that no instructions had been communicated to His Excellency from
His Majesty's Government, after what had passed between me and
those in authority at home, relative to the state of the female
convicts. At length I resolved to make an official statement of
their miserable situation to the Governor, and, if the Governor did
not feel himself authorized to build a barrack for them, to
transmit my memorial to my friends in England, with His
Excellency's answer, as a ground for them to renew my former
application to Government for some relief. Accordingly, I forwarded
my memorial, with a copy of the Governor's answer, home to more
than one of my friends. I have never been convinced that no
instructions were given by His Majesty's Government to provide
barracks for the female convicts; on the contrary, my mind is
strongly impressed in that instructions were given; if they were
not, I can only say that this was a great omission, after the
promises that were made. I was not ignorant that the sending home
of my letter to the Governor and his answer, would subject me to
the censure as well as the displeasure of my superiors. I informed
some of my friends in England, as well as in the colony, that if no
attention was paid to the female convicts, I was determined to lay
their case before the British nation; and then I was certain, from
the moral and religious feeling which pervades all ranks, that
redress would be obtained. However, nothing has been done yet to
remedy the evils of which I complain. For the last five and twenty
years many of the convict women have been driven to vice to obtain
a loaf of bread, or a bed to lie upon. To this day there never has
been a place to put the female convicts in when they land from the
ships. Many of the women have told me with tears their distress of
mind on this account; some would have been glad to have returned to
the