Part 38 (1/2)

By the Act of 30 George III. cap. 47, the Governor of the Settlement may remit the punishment of offenders there: and on a certificate from him their names shall be inserted in the next General Pardon.

Under these various legislative regulations, the two Systems of Punishment, namely, the _Hulks_ and _Transportation_ to New South Wales, have been authorized and carried into execution.

The System of the Hulks commenced on the 12th day of July, in the year 1776; and from that time until the 12th of December 1795, comprehending a period of nineteen years, 7999 Convicts were ordered to be punished by hard labour on the river Thames, and Langston and Portsmouth harbours, which are accounted for in the following manner:

1. Convicts ordered to hard labour on the River Thames, from 12th July 1776, to the 12th January, 1778 2024

2. Convicts, _under sentence of Transportation_, put on board the Hulks on the River Thames, from 11th January, 1783, to 12th December, 1795 4775

3. _Deduct_, under sentence of Transportation, put on board the Hulks in Langston and Portsmouth Harbours, received from the Hulks at Woolwich, on the 20th of June, 1791 466 ---- 4309

Additional Convicts sent from different prisons to Portsmouth and Langston from 1791, to 1st December, 1795 1200

To which, add those from Woolwich as above 466 ---- 1666 ---- Total 7999 Of the above convicts there have been Discharged 1610 Pardoned 790 Escaped 130 ---- 2530 Removed to other Gaols 17 Transported to New South Wales 2207 Died[143] 1946 ---- 6700

And there remain in the Hulks on the Thames 523

And at Langston Harbour 776 ---- 1299 Total as above 7999

[Footnote 143: A malignant fever, at one period, carried off a vast number, in spite of every effort to prevent it.]

By a subsequent account laid before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Finance, and stated in Appendix, M. of their 28th Report, dated the 26th of June, 1798, it appears that the number of Convicts stood thus:

In the Hulks on the Thames, at Woolwich 501 At Portsmouth 948 ---- Total 1449

Besides 415 under Sentence of Transportation in the different Gaols, making in all 1864.

From the same authentic Doc.u.ments, (pages 115, 116,) it appears, that of these Convicts, the following numbers will be discharged upon Society in the succeeding 13 years:[144]

Portsmouth. Woolwich.

In 1800 140 115 1801 106 43 1802 127 26 1803 107 46 1804 149 77 1805 33 3 1806 1 1 1807 1 1 1808 1 1 1809 1 0 1810 1 0 1811 10 4 1812 1 0 --- 678 --- 317 For life 76 22

[Footnote 144: See page 98 of this volume, for an Account of the Convicts enlarged the preceding eight years,

in all 1383 To be discharged as above 995 ---- Total 2378]

RECAPITULATION.

Convicts discharged from the Hulks, from 1792 to 1799 inclusive (_See page 98 of this Treatise_) 1383

To be discharged from the Hulks at Langston chiefly in 6 years 678

From Woolwich, chiefly within the same period 317 ---- Total 2378

In the same authentic Doc.u.ments, namely the Appendix (L. 1 & 2) page 103 of the 28th Report of the Select Committee on Finance, a Statement is given of the Expence which has been incurred by Government, ”for or in respect of the Conviction, Confinement, and Maintenance of Convicts, from the 1st January, 1775, to the year ending the 31st December, 1797,” of which the following is an abstract:

1 Jan. 1775 to 1 Jan. 1776 paid at the Exchequer .8,660 0 0 -- 1776 -- 1777 -- 7,950 16 10 -- 1777 -- 1778 -- 13,676 14 5 -- 1778 -- 1779 -- 17,939 18 0 -- 1779 -- 1780 -- 22,292 11 1-1/2 -- 1780 -- 1781 -- 21,034 0 1-1/2 -- 1781 -- 1782 -- 18,686 19 0 -- 1782 -- 1783 -- 22,320 10 9 -- 1783 -- 1784 -- 17,669 3 11 -- 1784 -- 1785 -- 31,555 18 11 -- 1785 -- 1786 -- 32,343 17 7 -- to 7 March 1786 -- 9,353 17 0

To 31 December 1786 22,282 18 4 1787 33,927 9 7 1788 34,059 14 8 1789 62,656 15 5 1790 46,865 4 6 1791 43,840 9 0 1792 22,300 12 7 1793 25,403 16 0 1794 25,751 3 7-1/2 1795 14,195 7 4-1/2 1796 36,174 7 9 1797 } { 19,506 15 11 1797 } { 12,574 0 0 --------------- Total Expence of Convicts in the } Hulks, from the Commencement } .623,022 14 5 of the System to 1 January 1798 }