No. II. MAY 5, 1852. Trust no future, howe'er pleasant! Let us, then, be up and doing, ADDRESS TO THE PRISONERS. 66 OUR reporter has enabled us to furnish our readers with the Surgeon Superintendent's speech of the 28th inst. This gives us much satisfaction, knowing how deeply interesting it was to all, and how necessary it is to keep the truths expressed in it constantly in our memory. He commenced by saying " With the intention of maintaining order on the lower deck during my absence, I have selected twenty men from amongst you, whose characters form a sufficient guarantee that they will efficiently discharge the duties entrusted to them. These men shall act as if under my eye, armed with my full authority, whenever they may observe any violation of that order and harmony which ought to be permanent amongst you. They will protect the well disposed and peaceable from insult and outrage, and on all occasions be prepared to arrest or report those who, in the infatuation of their disorderly purposes, obstruct or violate the regulations which I have established for your guidance, your comfort, and your safety. All those who have sincerely resolved to begin a new life in accordance with the laws of God and man, will, I hope, see the advantage of having a force enlisted in the cause of order, constantly guarding them. All of you having any respect for yourselves, any hope of happiness for the future, will earnestly support that force against the odium which the evil disposed, directed by their hatred of every thing good, will try, by slander or ridicule, to bring against them. Nothing is more strange, and at the same time more true, than the fact, that in every society, no matter how constituted, we constantly behold the elements of good and evil mingled, nearly in the same relative proportion—the former always struggling in the embrace of the latter. This strife is incessant, but virtue is always triumphant. Pure and magnificent she stands—a diadem of beauty encircling the spiritual serenity of her lofty brow-robes of azure, spangled with stars, flowing around her; while vice and her grovelling train, crawling below, disfigured and ghastly, writhe in a sickening mass, like maimed serpents -impotent, yet poisonous-crushed, yet retaining an indestructible vitality. "We are not surprised, then, that we have discovered vicious men amongst you, although the prison authorities exercised the greatest possible care in the selection of those who now crowd this deck. These incorrigible men blindly throw away the benefits bestowed on them. They forget their position, and pursue a course that must inevitably end in their ruin,—that awful ruin accomplished by misery and degradation. If any spark of reason remains in them, pity induces me to try to blow it into a flame, that may show them the folly, the madness of their conduct. Let me then describe shortly the true position D you occupy here. Transportation, or rather emigration to Tasmania, is considered a reward for good conduct, and ought to be so appreciated by you. There, far from the scenes of your infamy-far away from all your companions and associations in crime-from the rigid exclusiveness of home society, opportunities will be presented to you of beginning life afresh, under the most advantageous circumstances. You will there see around you many who have occupied the same condition in a transport you now do, standing in an honourable position, entirely redeemed, by active virtue, from past crimes. These will be examples-practical, living examples of what a convict is and ought to be capable. To you the same road to success is open, nay, even tracked and smoothed by their advance. You will find yourselves, on landing, comparatively free men-free so far as regards the employment of your labour or skill, and of the capital derived from them. By correct behaviour you will soon take that position of which you prove yourselves worthy, and of which no invidious distinction, no heartless egotism, can deprive you. Man in a state of society such as exists in those young and vigorous colonies to which our prow is directed, owes his standing to no old associations, no family ties, but solely to his own energy and talents, sustained by the impressions those acquainted with him receive of his honesty of purpose and character. Here, then, is a field peculiarly and advantageously adapted for you. It seems a kind of paradise, in which you may repose after your sorrows, but which you can only enter purified by suffering and repentance. For remember, upon your behaviour here depends your prospect of enjoyment there. Here you must consider yourselves still under punishment, and in a state of probation. A certain freedom is allowed you, which only renders the termination of the latter more precarious, as it allows me a means of discriminating character, which will be fully taken advantage of. Not an act can be performed by you, not an expression conveying an evil design, which will not be discovered to me, so various and extended are the sources from which I derive information. I see with the liveliest satisfaction that generally you are actuated by the best motives, by the most sincere intentions to deserve my approbation; but, to my sorrow, instances of the reverse have also come to my knowledge. I hear that some of you have attempted to deter the constables from performing their duty. Threats have been slyly thrown at them; they have been attacked by ridicule, by malicious insinuations, and openly called spies. I rejoice that the character and courage of these men have been found impenetrable by such weapons. This assures us that their virtue becomes a high principle, beyond the reach of men; but I will not allow for a moment, on that account, any attack to be made on their feelings and sympathies. If any of you hereafter make use of any offensive or insulting expressions to them, I shall consider such to be a sure indication of the irreclaimable perversity of the offender's disposition, and award to him the punishment his crime deserves. Not the slightest whisper will evade my rigid scrutiny. Be assured also that no puling sentiment will prevent me exercising to the uttermost my authority. Although I feel the profoundest pity for the unfortunate criminal, yet I bear as deep a hatred to crime. This gives me resolution to put into action the unlimited power with which I have been entrusted. Remember, that to the cruelest punishments here, I can brand your name with a stigma that will consign you, on your arrival at Hobart Town, to the chain gangs, or to death-like seclu sion in the isolated penal settlements of Port-Arthur or Norfolk Island. There, severed from all that makes life or the world pleasing, you will pray even for death as a happy release. I beseech you to spare me the necessity of having recourse to such an exercise of my authority. How infinitely more agreeable and profitable will it be to you and me, if you act so as to deserve my approbation and the goodwill of your fellow men! In that case my conscience and inclination will combine to benefit you. To have the satisfaction of painting your dispositions as good and exemplary, will be a rich reward for my exertions. Save me then the pain, and yourselves the new trials, and perhaps irredeemable loss, that the contrary will inevitably produce. "It is only to the civil consequences of your actions that I have directed your attention, but let me not be understood to undervalue the doctrines of our holy religion. In them you will find consolation for the mourner, an exalted rule of life, and a prospect on dying, that even the dark grave cannot throw one shadow across. To your religious instructors belongs the privilege of directing your thoughts to these subjects, and I therefore treat them briefly, trusting to the effect the constant ministrations of your teachers will produce on you." MY BIBLE. WRITTEN WHILE UNDERGOING SEPARATE CONFINEMENT." THOU balm of thorny life, and all my woes, That do beset my passage to the sky. |