OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 215 



politeness. This visit was particularly gratifying, as affording a view 

 of one of the most important features of this great penal establishment. 



Around Paramatta and Sydney, another such feature is to be seen 

 in the iron-gangs. These consist of the men who have not been 

 assigned, and likewise of all those who are returned by their masters. 

 They are met with upon the roads, working in pairs, chained together. 

 Their dress is peculiar, and they, in consequence, cannot readily 

 escape detection in case of absconding. On the back of the jacket is 

 marked, in conspicuous letters, " chain-gang." They wear a canvass 

 jacket and trousers, and a jockey-cap. They were a rough-looking 

 set, with bad countenances, and, like all other prisoners, stared us 

 broadly in the face. Sentinels or guards constantly accompanied 

 them. 



The English are very partial to this mode of treating criminals, 

 and cannot be persuaded that any better course can be devised ; yet it 

 is attended with obvious evils. 



For a trifling and first offence, a perpetual brand of infamy is set 

 upon a fellow-mortal, his family, and connexions. The natural con- 

 sequence has been to foster and keep alive a public opinion which 

 tends to the disorganization of society, and to obliterate all that re- 

 mains of principle in the criminal. 



The convict who has just arrived, is regarded by the others as a 

 simpleton and a mere novice; and they undertake to complete his 

 education. 



The exploits and crimes performed and committed by these hard- 

 ened offenders in Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of Poly- 

 nesia, exhibit a dark picture ; and the annoyance thus inflicted upon 

 their inhabitants would not be borne, had they the strength to resist it. 

 Power is the only right that can be urged by Great Britain as a justi- 

 fication of this infliction, and that it would be useless to question. 



The majority of convicts are either assigned servants or ticket-of- 

 leave men, and their condition is not unlike that of the slaves in our 

 Southern States. They form a distinct class, and may be considered 

 as the original groundwork of the colony. At present they constitute 

 about a third of the population, but when transportation ceases, their 

 relative numbers will rapidly decrease. 



This colony, take it all in all, is in spite of these drawbacks a noble 

 one, and is a new proof of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race, 

 and of its enterprise and perseverance in overcoming difficulties. 



I understood that Sir George Gipps had determined to adopt Captain 

 Maconochie's system in the management of the road-gangs, and shall 

 therefore proceed to examine it. 



