NEW SOUTH WALES AND PARLIAMENT. 317 



tions l which gave in full detail the objects of his inquiry. He 

 was first to direct his attention to ascertaining " what altera- 

 tion in the existing system of the Colony can render it available 

 to the purpose of its original institution, and adequate for its 

 more extended application. With a view to this you will ex- 

 amine how far it may be possible to enforce, in the Colonies 

 already established, a system of general discipline, constant work, 

 and vigilant superintendence; the latter must necessarily be 

 understood to comprise complete separation from the mass of 

 the population, and more or less of personal confinement, ac- 

 cording to the magnitude of the offence. . . . Should it appear 

 to you, as I have too much reason to apprehend will be the 

 result, that the present settlements are not capable of undergo- 

 ing any efficient change, the next object will be the expediency 

 of gradually abandoning them altogether as receptacles for 

 convicts ; and forming on other parts of the coasts, or in the 

 interior of the country, distinct establishments for the reception 

 and proper employment of the convicts, who may hereafter be 

 sent out." 



In such a case the annual charge must be carefully inquired 

 into, " in order to enable His Majesty's Government to decide 

 whether it is advisable to continue or to alter or to abandon the 

 system which for near forty years has been pursued. . . ." 



Lord Bathurst concluded with a vigorous description of 

 transportation as it should be and as it had become "... you 

 will in the whole course of your inquiries constantly bear in 

 mind that transportation to New South Wales is intended as a 

 severe punishment, applied to various crimes, and as such must 

 be rendered an object of real terror to all classes of the com- 

 munity." This it had ceased to be. " For mere expatriation 

 is not in these days an object of considerable terror. The in- 

 tercourse which it breaks is readily re-established ; and the 

 mystery which used to hang over the tale of those condemned 

 to it can never long exist. ... If, therefore, by ill-considered 

 compassion for the convicts, or from what might, under other 

 circumstances, be considered a laudable desire to lessen their 

 sufferings, their situation in New South Wales be divested of all 



1 P.P., XIV., 1823. Instructions to Bigge, 6th January, 1819. 



