The escape of convicts cannot he admitted as an objec tion to their transportation to the islands mentioned. Their deficiency in trees large enough to cut into boat timber, a fact well ascertained, and the want of tools and materials for constructing and rigging boats, or vessels by the convicts, are enough to allay our fears on that subject. The remote ness of the islands from land, may be added as an addi tional argument to believe, that once deposited, the con victs will not find their way back to the United States. Vessels will avoid an island filled with desperate outcasts. A ship with a deficient crew, may possibly go out of her way, to supply the place of a dead seaman, by taking a convict on board, but his return to the United States is not to be looked for ; and in the event of their escape to other countries, the object in sending them from the United States will still he obtained. A heavy penalty, moreover, might be imposed upon any master of a vessel bringing a convict back, or their return might be made a capital of fence ; and the fact of any being on board any vessel might form one of the interrogatories to be put to the captains at the custom house, when they enter. Finally, there are an hundred chances to one, that we shall never see a single criminal after they enter a transport ship.
I have been thus full on the subject of transportation. as 1 consider the adoption of the measure upon the plan I propose, connected with the best interests of the na tion, and of equal importance with any of the improvements of the penitentiary 1 have suggested ; and because I feel assured that the terror of it will diminish crime, and that with the probability of the convicts becoming more moral, they cannot fail of being stationary as to the actual com mission of gross crimes ; whereas, if they remain in the United States, in, or out of prison, they will only sink deeper in sin, and their chance for reform be for ever cut off.
I have now developed my plan for transportation, and I think refuted all the objections hitherto offered, and anticipated others against it. The legislatures of the United States will determine whether it is worthy of expe riment, or to be thrown aside upon the same summary argument that was often urged against the introduction of the mild penal code in Pennsylvania, viz. " that it is vi sionary, romantic, and impracticable." Having thus given my outline of a plan for relieving the evils we at present lie under, from the existence of crimes among us, it is proper to point out the means of preventing or diminishing them in future. Without such an attempt, my labours would be imperfect. The means may be pointed out in a few words. It is to instil the prin ciples of morality and religion in the minds of the rising generation, and to extend the benefit of education to all classes throughout the whole state.
If this were a new subject of discussion, if, like those connected with national finance, or public wealth, it ad mitted of dispute ; or there could be a doubt as to the be neficial influence upon the moral character, deportment, and orderly habits of a nation from the people composing it, being well educated, it might be proper to endeavour to establish the point ; but there can be no necessity for such digression. The history of all nations, particularly of those over whom the lights of Christianity- have been partially shed, fully proves the intimate connexion between moral conduct in the man, and his mental improvement when a youth. I cannot however omit to remark, that the effects of the general diffusion of early instruction, and of the principles of morality in a nation, are notably exem plified in the superior good order, industry, frugality, and comfort, prevalent among the laborious classes of society in Scotland, and the small number of crimes committed by them, when contrasted with the same classes in England and Ireland. In Scotland, a plain education is within the
reach of the children of every poor family, by means of the parochial schools established in 1696 ; while in Eng land and Ireland, little attention had been paid to the in struction of the poor, until the introduction of the simple and efficacious mode of Joseph Lancaster. Provision to a great amount, had indeed been made for the important object, by various benevolent men, particularly in England, but the funds thus humanely appropriated to the purpose, have been most shamefully misapplied, or purloined, by the corporate bodies, or individuals entrusted with their expenditure, or criminally permitted to remain unemploy ed.' In Ireland, that nursery of brave and generous souls, the vigour of whose faculties, and vivacity of mind, furnish the finest materials for benevolence and humanity to work upon, the poorer classes of society are so oppressed, that the means of decent subsistence are scarcely attainable. Education, even of the most elementary nature, is not therefore to be expected among them ; and every possible expedient is moreover taken to prevent it by the public authorities, local aristocracies, and petty tyrants, which the ill-contrived and worse administered government, for obvi ous purposes, tolerates and protects. Even the benefits of the few free schools, supported by the aid of the public purse, or by charitable endowments, are, with an unchris tian and disgraceful bigotry, withheld from Catholics, the most numerous, uninformed, and necessitous part of the community. Hence the majority of the poorer classes la bour under the most deplorable, intellectual, and moral de gradation. It cannot therefore be a cause of wonder, that among a people thus constituted, the controlling power of a sense of right and wrong, is found to be weak ; or that crimes should more abound, than among their fellow sub jects in other parts of the empire, who enjoy the blessings of mental improvement.t The difference in the conduct of the Scotch and other troops, during the late war on the continent ; also exhibit ed a striking contrast in the moral habits of the several divisions of the allied army. The Scotch, equally brave in presence of the enemy, as civil in the families on which they were billetted, and inoffensive among the people in the vicinity of whom they were encamped ; acquired the esteem of all those with whom they were co nnected, while the troops of all other nations were avoided, whether friends or foes. These facts are related by visitors to the scenes of the sanguinary contests, in June 1815, shortly after the close of the war.4 To lay the foundation for accomplishing the great ob jects under consideration, the legislature ought to comply with the injunction of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, (Art. 7, Sect. 1,) " to provide for the education of the poor, gratis, throughout the state." No plan is equal in point of economy, or efficiency, to that of Lancaster ; and where practicable, it ought to be adopted. It is in suc cessful and extensive operation in the City of Philadelphia and its Liberties.§ In thinly settled districts, the admirable laws of Con necticut and New York, for the dissemination of elemen tary instruction, may be substituted ; the Pennsylvania law of 1809, for that purpose, having been from false pride, but partially taken advantage of in the interior of the state.
IMEAsE.