§ The DUKE of RICHMONDwished to put the question of which he had given notice on this subject to the noble Lord the Secretary for the Colonies—namely, whether the Government would consent to abstain from the entire abandonment of the system established with respect to the female convicts sent on board the Anson, and from giving orders for dispersing the staff employed on board that convict ship, until, by the production of the papers connected with the subject, their Lordships were enabled to see whether they could approve or not of that abandonment. It was the bounden duty of the Legislature to see whether some plan might not be adopted for the purpose of providing for the numerous class of female prisoners, now assembled on board the hulks, some means of reformation. If there were a large number of female convicts sent from the manufacturing districts to act as domestic 1172 servants in the colonies, to lake care of children, and so on, without any previous steps having been taken to reform them, it would be of course most destructive to the morality and well-being of the people there. He hoped the Government would not entirely break up the female convict establishment; but, at all events, that system should not be abandoned unless the Government were prepared to submit to the House some other plan which would have the effect of reforming those unfortunate females. He made no charge against the Government—he only wished to call his noble Friend's attention to the subject, being perfectly satisfied of his being most anxious to endeavour to reform those unfortunate young persons, many of whom had not reached the age of twenty years.
§ EARL GREYsaid, that in consequence of the notice which he had received from the noble Duke to ask the question which had been just put, he had referred to the correspondence on this subject in the Colonial Office, and he did not find in it anything to induce him to alter the arrangement that had already been come to. The papers on the subject had been laid upon the table of the House a few days ago, and would be at once in the hands of their Lordships. The establishment on board the Anson was entirely the act of the Executive Government of the day, for which the Government were alone responsible; and it required no interference on the part of Parliament to authorise any alteration with regard to it. The subject had been very fully and carefully considered; and, with the most perfect conviction as to the necessity of doing away with that establishment, he did not think that he would have been justified in postponing the despatch of his instructions to the colony until the question would have been considered by Parliament. He held in his hand an extract from the despatch of Sir William Denison, of the 5th of December, 1847, in which he stated—
In my last despatch I stated my opinion of the unsatisfactory nature of the establishment for female convicts on board the Anson. Since then. Dr. Bowden has died, and Mrs. Bowden has been continued, though at a reduced salary, as superintendent. I cannot, however, refrain from impressing upon your Lordship the advisability, in every point of view, of breaking up the establishment altogether. The returns which accompany the report of the Comptroller General show that the discipline, if such it can be called, is altogether inoperative in producing improved moral habits, and the material results are equally nugatory. The saving of expense by allowing the female 1173 convicts to be hired at once on their arrival, will be very great; and I feel certain that the change will be beneficial in every way.The view expressed by Sir William Denison was corroborated by Mr. Hampton, the Comptroller General of Convicts; but still, even after the receipt of that despatch, he had thought it better to wait for another half-yearly report, before taking any decisive steps on the subject. At the end of the next half-year, however, Sir William Denison and the Comptroller General of Convicts reiterated their former opinions, and convinced him of the expediency of no longer postponing the despatch of female convicts, more especially as a female house of correction had been opened at Ross, in the centre of the island, in a situation affording great facilities for the reception of offenders. He was persuaded that under the circumstances the hulk should be abandoned. He attributed the failure of the experiment not to any want of care or attention on the part of Mrs. Bowden, the superintendent, but as the necessary and inevitable result of any attempt to establish a system of female discipline on board a crowded hulk. Neither in the Bermudas, nor in Van Diemen's Land, nor at home, had such a system succeeded. The more he saw of this system, the more did he become convinced of the necessity of forming an establishment on shore for the reception of those convicts, where there would be sufficient space for separation of the classes, and for ventilation. He was of opinion that any attempt at improvement in the state of the convicts must be by subjecting them to a preliminary period of severe discipline in this country. The subject had undergone the most careful consideration both on his own part and on that of his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and they were both of opinion that the treatment of female convicts was a subject involving peculiar difficulties.
LORD STANLEYsaid, in the absence of the papers to which the noble Lord had alluded, he would not refer to the subject farther than to ask the noble Earl three questions; and he wished at the same time, to remind him that the establishment on board the Anson was merely a temporary establishment, which it was proposed to continue merely until a penitentiary, on an extensive scale, could have been erected on shore. He wished to know, in the first place, if the report of Sir William Denison, or of the Comptroller 1174 General of Convicts, was made from personal examination? And if so, whether such personal inspections had been frequent or otherwise? Also, whether, as Mrs. Bowden, the superintendent of the Anson, was at present in this country, the noble Lord had communicated with her so as to afford her an opportunity to explain the charges that had been brought against her management?
§ EARL GREYsaid, that the papers were now in the library of their Lordships' House, and the noble Lord would have them at his own residence to-morrow, when he could refer to thorn in detail. He was unable to state from memory how frequently Sir William Denison, or the Comptroller General of Convicts, had personally inspected the establishment. As to the other question put by the noble Lord, he certainly had not asked for any explanation from Mrs. Bowden, because no fault had been attributed to her management. On the contrary, he had already stated that the failure of the establishment was not owing to the management pursued, but that it was a necessary effect of a system of crowding a large number of female convicts on board a hulk.