Considerations in selecting Sites for Penal Colonies. 87 



under proper management, be made to produce results, able 

 to accelerate the progress of a generation, while furnishing 

 at the same time a lever by which to effect a moral reforma- 

 tion in the disposition of criminals." He foresees the time 

 " when the colonists of New South Wales and Van Die- 

 men's Land need no longer feel ashamed at the historic re- 

 collection of their original convict associations, but might 

 rather, viewing the prosperity of their country, and the tone 

 and extent of their civilization, feel grateful to the criminals 

 who landed in 1788 to become the pioneers of the country, 

 and do them the justice of believing that the good which 

 they were compelled to do to the soil still existed, while the 

 evil they might have done was left undone of their own ac- 

 cord, or was gradually assimilated under substantial progress." 

 The greatest obstacle to be encountered by the transport- 

 ation system will be found in the difficulty of hitting upon 

 suitable localities. When we consider the many conditions 

 which must be satisfied, some referring to the general objects 

 aimed at in all punishment, some to considerations of 

 humanity and utility, when selecting a site for a penal colony, 

 such as climate, soil, distance, importance of the country as 

 a market for the products of the mother country, &c., it will 

 be found that the number of unclaimed or unbespoken terri- 

 tories, in which a scheme of compulsory colonization could 

 be carried out on a large scale, is exceedingly limited. 

 t For Germany, however, at least under her present political 

 composition, the foundation of penal colonies over-sea seems 



