N E W S O U T H W A L E -S. . ' ■ 
the Britiili government, in appointing a place for the c 
banilliment of a certain clafs of criminals. 
The caufe of the determination to fend out in this 
manner the convi(5ts under fentence of tranfportationj 
was, as is well known, the neceffary ceflation of their re- 
moval to America ; and the inconveniences experienced 
in the other modes of deftination adopted after that 
period, '/ . v' ■ . ',■ ' 
Virginia, greatly in v/ant, at its firft fettlement, of 
labourers to clear away the impenetrable forefts which 
impeded all cultivation, was willing, from very early 
times, to receive as fervants, thofe Englifh crimi- 
nals whom our Courts of Law deemed not fufii-- 
ciently guilty for capital punifhrnent.--''-- The planters 
hired their fervices during a limited term; and they 
were latterly fent out under the care of conti-a<fi:orSy 
who were obliged to prove, by certificates, that they, 
had difpofed of them, according to th<5 intention of the 
law. 
* Banifhment was firfi: ordered' as a punifhment for rogues and vagrants, hy. 
Satute 39 Eliz. ch. 4. See Blackft. Com.. IV. chap. 31. But no place was there- 
fpecified. The pratStice of tranfportin^ criminals to America is faid to have com- 
menced In the reign of James I ; the year 1619 being the memorable epoch.of its- 
origin: but that deftination is firft exprefsly mentioned in 18 Car. II. ch. 2.-— 
The tranfport traffic was firft regulated by ftatute 4 George I. ch. 11. and the 
eaufes expr.efl'ed in the preamble to be, the failure of thufe who undertook to tranfport 
themfelves, and the great VAint of fervants in his Majefty's plantalions. Subfe- 
t^uent A-Cis enforced further regulaliDns... 
Th.€: 
