PUNISHMENT. 



fliftion of a ten months' voyage, to a life of alternate 

 flavery and rebellion, where guilty or cruel cxcefs fucceeds 

 exquifite fuffering, without varying the uniform mifery, or 

 changing the prevalent charafter of the body ; and all this 

 paffes at the oppofite extremity of the earth's diameter, from 

 whence it operates no more in any manne;- of way upon the 

 inhabitants of England, than if it were pafling in the moon. 

 The tendency of difcipline in the colony to reform the con- 

 vifts, fuppoling them to have arrived there, may eafily be 

 eftimated. They are not feparated from their companions 

 in guilt ; they have no better examples before them, no eyes 

 to watch them. The partial hiftorian of the rifing fcttlement, 

 himfelf the chief magiftrate, (Mr. Collins,) has fupplicd 

 us with the details ; and, in fpite of his inclination to fee 

 every thing in the faired light, he has painted, if the pages 

 of a journal for fixteen years may be laid to paint, by far 

 the blacked picture ever yet exhibited of human fociety. 

 His book is a catalogue of crimes ; it would be a record of 

 conviAions, but that perjury fo univerfally prevails as to 

 enfure the efcape of all who are not taken in the faft. The 

 vice at the root of all the reft, a rage for fpirits approaching 

 to frenzy, can neither be cured, nor deprived of gratifica- 

 tion. Far from improving by their rcfidencc there, it was 

 only at the firll ellabhfliment that any remiffion of un- 

 favourable fymptoms appeared. As foon as the firft con- 

 vifts had finifhcd their period of fervitude, their liberty 

 brought along with it an influx of diforder and contamina- 

 tion, which each fucceeding year feems to uicreafe. If this 

 fyftcm, then, prevents the delinquent from repeating his 

 crimes, it is only by transferring the fcene of them to a dif- 

 tant fettlement, where it foilers and augments them ; and al- 

 though, with reference to one part of the empire, this may 

 be termed prevention, the Icglflator, whofe care fliould em- 

 brace the whole, has no right to give it fnch a name. As 

 to the pecuniary expence, by which fo much evil is pur- 

 chafed, we find it in the parliamentary reports eftimated at 

 above a million in about ten years, or about thirty-eight 

 pounds for each convift, befides the value of his labour. 

 Laft of all, the punifhment inflifted is perfeftly different 

 from the one to which the fenteiicc of the law has con- 

 demned the convi£l. Not to mention the detention before 

 tranfportation, and the arrival fometimes when the term of 

 punifhment has nearly expired, the power of returning at 

 its expiration is pofleffed by few men, and no women ; 

 while of the voyage fome idea may be formed, from the 

 average mortality between 1787 and 1795, being above one 

 in ten ; and from a jail fever, always a probable occurrence, 

 on one occafion, in 1799, having carried off one hundred in 

 three. If, in Inch a cafe, we could look to the fettlement 

 as a colonial fpeculatioii, we fliould find its gains in a fimilar 

 proportion ; but this eftimate would be as fuperfliious after 

 what has been faid, as it would be foreign to the defign of 

 this inquiry. 



In the work before us we have a general fl^ietch of the 

 author's plan of improvement upon this fyftem, together 

 with a view of its connedlion with the principles which he 

 has unfolded, and of ilie prodigious advantages accruing 

 from it. The " Panopticon" is diftinguifhed by three lead- 

 ing properties. From the form of the building, and the 

 difpofition of the cells, the inl'peftor can fee each prifoner 

 at all times, without being feen by them, and can direft 

 them without leaving his poft : the management of the 

 eftabhihment is carried on by contrad, the government 

 paying a fixed price for the whole expences of each convift, 

 and the contraftor having the whole profit, as he has the 

 entire charge and regulation, of the work to be performed, 

 but allowing a certain proportion of the gain to the convift ■. 



the contraftor infures the lives and fafe cuflody of the con- 

 vifts ; he is allowed yearly a certain fum for the deaths, ai 

 calculated from the common tables, and he pays the fame 

 fum for each death which ailually does happen, and for 

 every efcape which takes place. If we miftake not, Mr. 

 Dentham, by his contraft with government, further engaged 

 to pay fo much for each prifoner who, after his difchargc, 

 fliould afterwards be convifted of any offence. The entire 

 publicity of his accounts was another condition, and one 

 upon which he himfelf infifled. The Panopticon was to be 

 open at all times to every magiftrate, and at certain hours 

 to the public generally. 



The moft ftriking points of the comparifon between both 

 fyftems, as they are prefented to us by the anonymous 

 author of the article on the fubjeft in the Edinburgh Re- 

 view, are fuch as follow. The punifliment is in the higheft 

 degi'ee exemplary ; it is all feen and undtrflood ; ;t appears 

 much grt rater than it really is ; the comforts of the convidts, 

 in their intercourfe with each other according to their im- 

 provement, and in the (late of induftry, and cleanliiiefs, and 

 wholefome regimen, for which they have exchanged their 

 ordinary habits, being, however real, by no means fuch as 

 flrike the multitude of fpeftators, who only fee confine- 

 ment, compulfory labour, and ignominy. The reforming 

 effifts of the plan are equally manifeft : the labour, to 

 which they are in part allured by a fixed allowance of profit ; 

 the perft ft temperance in which they live; the facility af- 

 forded of fcparating them into clafTes, according to their 

 habits and behaviour ; the means of eafy inftruftion, both 

 religious and other, which they give ; all furnilh as good a 

 chanc-- of reclaiming thofe unhappy perfons who are not 

 hardened in guilt, as from any fuch difcipline can reafonably 

 be expcfttd. The preventive powers of the Panopticon are 

 complete, while the convift remains in it ; and although a 

 relapfe after liberation can only be guarded againfl by re- 

 formation, a contrivance is added to this eftablifhment, ad- 

 mirably calculated to provide againft the firft dangers of the 

 difcharge : the convift is transferred to another place of 

 mitigated confinement, where he is rather under infpeftion 

 than in cuftody, and from whence he is gradually allowed 

 wholly to withdraw. With refpeft to the coft of the plan, 

 we may form fome eftimate of it from the terms of Mr. 

 Bentham's contraft. Each convift was to coft government 

 13/. lOj-., including l/. 10^. for the proportion of the ex- 

 pences of building and ground. He was to provide a fund 

 for indemnifying the parties injured ; to allow the convifts 

 one quarter of the profits of their labour ; and, after the 

 firft trial, to make a reduftion in the charge. Praftical 

 men, well verfed in fuch matters, had no doubt that a very 

 confiderable reduftion might have been fpeedily afforded ; 

 and that, in a few years, the profits would entirely defray 

 the expences of the eftablifhment to the ftate. While all 

 manner of delays and difficulties were thrown in the way of 

 this experiment ; while wits and jobbers, or, as they termed 

 themfelvcs, matter-of-faft men, averfe to theories, and de- 

 precating novelties, were employed in running it down ; 

 trials were made in America of penitentiary houfes upon 

 fimilar principles, though in a much lefs perfeft iTiape, and 

 without fome of Mr. Bentham's chief improvements. We 

 have the moft irrefragable teftimony borne to their fuccefs, 

 by the interefting narratives of the due de Rochefoucault 

 Liancourt and captain Turnbull : the one a perfon emi- 

 nently fkilled in the fubjeft of prifons ; the other a mere 

 praftical obferver, imbued with no knowledge beyond that 

 of the naval profeflion. Both tliefe very different witnefies 

 concur in their ftatement of the falutary confequences of the 

 plan ; and if we wifhed to find a perfeft contraft to the 



melancholy 



