-yf > kBE^ ^ 
 
 /^ 
 

 >^' 
 
 ^ 
 
 rjt^'P^F STATE ^ 
 
 ^"^' TIfi^U^-lTED STATES./ {3 Y^ 
 
 lEPAUX 
 
 
 NO. .6814 ___... 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 
 
 SHKi.r, ...z/.y. 
 
 THE 
 
 WILLIAM R. PERKINS 
 
 UBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 

 
«kifi 
 
 DX^^U 
 
k. 
 
1/ 
 
 A 
 
 VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HARD-LABLOUR BILL; 
 
 BEING AN 
 
 ABSTRACT OF A PAMPHLET, 
 
 INTITULED, 
 
 ** Draught of a Bill, to punifi by Im- 
 p-ifonment and Hard-Labour, certain 
 Offenders y and to eJiabliJiD proper Places 
 for their Reception." 
 
 INTERSPERSED W I T K 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 RELATIVE TO THE SUBJECT OF t'hE 
 ABOVE DRAUGHT IN PARTICULAR, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 PENAL JURISPRUDENCE IN GENERAL. 
 
 By JEREMY BENTHAM, 
 
 OF LINCOLN'S INN, E S Q^ 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for T. Payne and Son, at the Mews-Gate; 
 
 T. Cadell, and P. Elmsly, in the Strand; 
 
 and E. BRookE, Bell-Yard, Temple-Bar, 
 
 M DCC LXXVUI. 
 

 
 i ! C-:»?^. 
 
 7 
 16 
 
 4h 
 
 "jri— •— ^ — 
 

ir 
 
 o ^ 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 . l(t. 
 
 OU 2d. 
 
 II. 
 
 TABLE II. referred to in A View of the Hard-hah our Billy 
 
 Diftrias 
 in each 
 Circuit. 
 
 ift. 
 
 III. 
 
 Place of 
 
 Meeting in 
 
 each Dillrift. 
 
 Chelmsford 
 
 Maidftone 
 
 Kinglton 
 
 Lincoln 
 
 Counties in each 
 Dillria. 
 
 Juftices 
 for each 
 County. 
 
 Eifex 
 Hertfordfliire 
 
 Kent 
 
 Canterbury 
 
 Suflex 
 
 burry 
 
 Derbyfliire 
 
 Lincolnihire 
 
 Lincoln 
 
 Nottinghamfliire 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 kuilandfliire 
 
 WaiAviclc 
 
 Lcicelterihire 
 
 Leicelter 
 
 Northamptonfhire 
 
 VVarwickdiire 
 
 Coventry 
 
 
 0=1 
 
 Z^ 2d. 
 
 Bedford 
 
 1 
 
 Norwich 
 
 Bedford/hire 
 
 Buckir.ghaniiiure 
 
 Cambridgclhire 
 
 Ely 
 
 Huntingdoniliire 
 
 Norfolk 
 Norwich 
 Suffolk 
 
 I 
 
 VI. 
 
 Convifts 
 in a Year 
 in each 
 County. 
 
 18 
 12 
 
 1,6~ 
 
 42 
 
 VII. 
 
 Convifts tt 
 
 be provided 
 
 for in each 
 
 Diftria. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 \ ^'\ 
 
 \A 
 
 . ' 6 
 
 7 
 
 90 ' 
 
 108 < 
 
 1"{ 
 
 1 + 
 
 \-\ 
 
 bums to 
 be allotted 
 
 to each 
 County. [/] 
 
 \\ 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 2 '. 
 
 Durham 
 
 Cumberland 
 Durham 
 Northumberland 
 erwick 
 
 Newcaltle 
 Weilmoreland 
 
 [*J 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 [^] 5 
 ['0 
 
 Lanculter 
 
 Lancafhire 
 
 26 
 
 5^ I 
 
 7« 
 
 3d. 
 
 Vork 
 
 York fn ire 
 
 York 
 
 Kin-fton 
 
 [/J 6 I 30 
 ' 3 
 
 [«] viz. for each of its Parts, one. 
 
 [/>] The Town of ££-rT',vfyt is fpecified in §. 5. p. 7. of the Bill, among the jurifdi^ions 
 compriled within the Northern circuit: but no Committee-Jullices are allowed to it in 
 
 [f] The average number ct convicl.s for Beravick is computed in the lump with the number 
 for Norihiiinhtrlund. 
 
 [^] No number of convifts is ftattd for Netvcajlle in the Bill : in the Table annex'd to th« 
 Bill it IS liated s.\ Ji-ve. This makes a difference i^i fifteen in the number to be provided for. 
 
Sections 3. 5. 6. 9. and il. 
 
 O Co 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Dillrias 
 in each 
 Circuit. 
 
 Place of 
 
 Meeting in 
 
 eachDiltria. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 •I ft. Oxford 
 
 ad. 
 
 Glouceftcr 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Counties in each 
 Diftria. 
 
 V. \ 
 
 Jiilliccs 
 for each 
 County, 
 
 Berkfliire 
 Oxfordrtiire 
 
 Gloceltcrlhirc 
 Glocefter 
 Hcrefordfliire 
 Monmoutlilhiie 
 
 Worcefter 
 
 1 
 
 Exeter 
 
 SalKbury 
 
 3d. 
 
 XVll 
 
 XVIII 
 
 XIX. 
 
 WELSH 
 
 DIS- 
 TRICT. 
 
 Wells 
 
 London 
 
 London, ^c. 
 
 Sliioplhirc 
 
 Siaffoidfliire 
 
 Litchfield 
 
 Worccrtcrfluie 
 
 Worcefttr 
 
 Cornwall 
 
 Dcvonfliire 
 
 Exeter 
 
 VI. I VII. ) 
 
 Convicts Convids to 
 in a Year be provided 
 
 in each 
 County. 
 
 13 
 10 
 
 22 
 
 3 
 S 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 I 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 for in each 
 Diftrid. 
 
 \ "I 
 
 VIII. 
 
 bums to 
 
 be allotted 
 
 to each 
 
 County. [fl 
 
 : 
 
 \-'\ 
 
 Dorfctlhire 
 
 Poole 
 
 Hampfhire 
 
 Southampton 
 
 Wiltlhire 
 
 Somerl'etlhire 
 Briltol 
 
 Chefter 
 
 London 
 
 Middlelex 
 
 Chcihire 
 Wclfli Counties 
 
 at large [/^] 
 Carmarthen f/] 
 
 22 
 
 19 
 
 I 
 
 14- 
 
 I J 
 
 \'-'\ 
 
 »3S« 
 
 ^5 
 17 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 I'otai of the Convids for ail the DKhids 
 
 .96 
 
 16 
 
 95,S[^' 
 
 } \ 
 
 88S 
 
 4.8 
 
 2S65[XJ 
 
 [r] The number in the Table is 66. See note [t/]. 
 
 f/"] viz. for each Riding, t-.vo. 
 
 [£] The County of the City o( Chcfler is in §. 3. p. 5. of the Bill among the jurifdiaions in- 
 cluded in the computation of the number of convids for r.ht Welch Dittrid : it is »lfo fpecified ia 
 ^. 5. p. 6. among the jurifdidions comprifed within that Diftrid : but no Committee- Juftices are 
 allowed it by §. 6. The County of the Town of Havcrford-iveft is in §. 3. p. 5. included ia 
 the computation of the average number of convids for the M^clch Diftrid : but it is not fpeci- 
 fied in ^. 5. p. 6. among the jurifdidions comprifed within that Diftrid : nor aie any Commit- 
 tce-Juftices allowed to it in §. 6, 
 
 [h] viz. for each, one. ♦ 
 
 [/] Blanks are left for thefe in the Bill : a column is here allotted to them for the conve- 
 nience of any one who may choofe to fill up the blanks with a pen, when thofe in the Bill are 
 filled up. 
 
 [/•] But fee note [^i]. 
 
 [/] Carmarthen is among the jurifdidions included, &c. (See note [gl) : but no Committce- 
 Juftices are allowed it. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 WHEN the propofed Bill, of which 
 the enfuing Sheets are defigned to 
 give a view, firfl fell into my hands, I was 
 employed in finilhing a work of fome bulk, 
 in which I have been treating the fubjeft of 
 Punijfjment more at large. In that work I 
 fhoiild have come in courfe to fpeak of the 
 particular Ipecics of Punifhment which is the 
 fubjeft of this Bill. In that work, there- 
 fore, feveral of the obfervations would have 
 come in courfe to be introduced, which I 
 have here fubjoined to feveral parts of the 
 text I have been abftrading : and being 
 there digefted into a method, and forming 
 a part of a fyftem, to which I have been 
 giving that degree of regularity which it has 
 been in my power to give it, would proba- 
 bly have come with more force, and fliewn 
 a to 
 
li PREFACE. 
 
 to more advantage, In company with the 
 reft. On this account, had I been at liberty 
 with refpedt to time, I fhould rather have 
 wifhed to have publifhed the whole together 
 firft, before I had detached from it thefe 
 fcattered fragments. The publication, how- 
 ever, of the propofed Bill in queltion, with 
 the intelligence that accompanied it, effec- 
 tually precluded any fuch option. To have 
 delayed the publication of this part of my 
 principal work till the Bill had been brought 
 in and palTed, would have been to delay it 
 till that feafon had been over, in which, if in 
 any, fuch parts of it as relate to the prefent 
 fubjeft, promifed to be moft ufeful. 
 
 When I had read Mr. Howard's Book on 
 Prifons, one fruit of it v/as, a wifh ftill more 
 earnefb than what I had been led to enter- 
 tain from theory, to fee fome general plan 
 of Punilhment adopted, in which folitary 
 Confinement might be combined with La- 
 bour. This capital improvement (for as 
 fuch I cannot help regarding it) in penal 
 legiflation, I fat wilhing, with fcarce any 
 mixture of hope, to fee carried into exe- 
 cution : fcr fome how or other the progrefs 
 that had been already made in it near two 
 
 years 
 6 
 
PREFACE. Ill 
 
 years ago in the Houfe of Commons *, had 
 efcaped me. How great then was my plea- 
 fure and furprize at feeing a plan (which 
 had aheady been pre-announced by the 
 Judges in their circuits) originating, as ap- 
 peared, from a high department in admini- 
 ftration, and carrying with it every pre- 
 fumptionof its being adopted j in which, not 
 only almoft all the excellent matter of the 
 book I have been fpeaking of is engrafted, 
 but many capital improvements fuper- 
 added ? This incident gave me frclh ala- 
 crity, and fuggelled frefli defigns. 
 
 This Bill (or draught of a Bill, as it is 
 called in the title, not having been as yet 
 brought into Parliament) is accompanied 
 with a Preface, fhort, indeed, but ample, 
 mafterly, and inftruftive. In this preface 
 an inftru6live but general idea is given of 
 the theoretic principles upon which the plan 
 of the Bill is grounded ; and a more ample 
 and detailed account of the documents 
 v/hich furniflied materials and reafons for 
 the feveral provifions of detail. A liiftory 
 of the fteps that have been taken in the 
 formation and profecution of the plan is alfo 
 interwoven. 
 
 • See Preface to the Bill, p. 5. 
 
 a 2 Upon 
 
Iv PREFACE. 
 
 Upon this it will naturally enough be 
 afked. What was the occafion, and what can 
 be the ufe of the enfuing fheets ? why pub- 
 liih them ? I anfwer — becaufe the Bill itfelf 
 is in fa6t not publifhed * : — becaufe, were it 
 publilhed, the contents of it are not quite fo 
 perfpicuous aS I imagined they might be 
 made: — becaufe I hoped to be a means, in 
 fome degree, of forwarding the good pur- 
 pofes of it, by ftating to the public more in 
 detail than it would have been competent 
 either to the text, or to the preface to have 
 done, the reafons on which the leading pro- 
 viiions in it feemed to be grounded, and 
 by fuggelling a few hints in the way of cor- 
 redtion or addition. 
 
 " Not perfpicuous (I think I hear fome- 
 " body exclaiming) what A6t of Parliament 
 " was ever more fo ?" None, I mull confefs, 
 that I can think of: but this affords me no 
 reafon for retracing. The Legiflator, one 
 would indeed naturally fuppofe, might (and 
 
 * I mean in the fenfe ordinarily put upon the word 
 fuhlijhed. It is not fold at any of the fhops. It has 
 no bookfellers nor printers name. It feems to have 
 been defigned for the perufal, not of the world at large, 
 but only of Members of Parliament, and of the Author's 
 private friends. 
 
 if 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 if he might, why fliould not he ?) fpeak his 
 own meaning fo plainly, that no one could 
 fpeak it plainer j fo concifely, that no one 
 could render his expreflion more concife : 
 in fuch a method, both as to matter and 
 form, that no one could cafi: it into a better. 
 He might, one fliould think : for what 
 fliould hinder him ? Is he the lefs qualified 
 for making himfclf underilood and remem- 
 bered by being a legiflator ? If he did, then, 
 as he might do, expofitions would be ufe- 
 lefs, and abridgements would be imprafti- 
 cable. But does he ? — confult the twelve 
 immenfe volumes of Afts of Parliaments : 
 to which another is in the way to add itfclf 
 every three years. 
 
 Let me not all this while be uuderftood 
 to refled cenfure oli a great maflcr of lan- 
 2:ua2;e, on whom nothini]: lefs than cenfure is 
 intended. Had cuftom (that is the law of 
 Parliament) left him at liberty to follow the 
 diiflates of his own intelligence, little or 
 nothing, I fuppofe, would have been left to 
 any one elfe to add to it on the fcore of 
 perfpicuity : if (fuppofmg the Bill and the 
 Preface to come, as they purport to do, from " 
 the fame hand) it be reafonable to judge 
 what he cotild have done from what he Z-j^^j 
 a 3 done. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 done. On this head I have fcarce an idea 
 of making any greater improvement on his 
 draught than what he could have made, if 
 he had plealed, and would, if he had 
 thought proper. He thought, 1 fuppofe (if 
 it occurred to him to propofe the fubjed to 
 his thoughts) that one plan of reformation 
 was enough to proceed upon at once. On 
 the prefent occafion his bufinefs was to re- 
 form a part of the fyftem of punifhment 
 adopted by our legiflation : not to go about 
 reforming the legiflative ftile. He has there- 
 fore, of courfe, conformed, in a great mea- 
 fure, to the ftile in ufe, though with a con^- 
 fiderable defalcation from the ufual comple- 
 ment of tautologies and redundancies : his 
 publication being a draught of the very in- 
 ftrument which it is intended fliould pafs 
 into an a6t. 
 
 The prefent abftrad: of it having no pre- 
 tenfions to be confidered in that light, I 
 have held myfelf at liberty to afford the rea- 
 dier many of thofe affiftances which parlia- 
 mentary men, in all their authoritative pub- 
 lications, feem fo iludious to reject. — I have 
 therefore prefixed numbers to the Sections : 
 I- have given them marginal contents : I 
 Jiav^ rnade frequent breaks in the letter- 
 
 prcfs ; 
 
PREFACE. vli 
 
 prefs : I have numbered, every now and 
 then, the leading articles, which, though in- 
 cluded together in one Section, feemed to 
 claim each of them a feparate meafure of at- 
 tention; and, by allotting to each a feparate 
 line, have difplayed them more diftinitly 
 than if lumped together in one unbroken 
 mafs. Thcfe, and other fuch typographical 
 affillances, are no more than what it is com- 
 mon enough for writers, on the moft ordi- 
 nary fubjeds, to give their readers : nor 
 would they be looked upon as fingular, or 
 indeed worth mentioning, but with refpc<5l 
 to thofe intricate and important difcourfes 
 which (land moft in need of them. 
 
 Another, and rather more ferious tafk has 
 been to break down the long fentences, into 
 which this compofition (being intended to 
 be pafTed into an Ad of Parliament) could 
 not but have been caft, into a multitude of 
 ihorter ones: to retrench the tautologies and 
 fuperfluities with which this compofition, 
 though remarkably fcanty on this head 
 (being intended for an A6t of Parliament) 
 could not but abound. In the courfe of 
 thefe operations, I have here and there ven- 
 tured to make fome little alteration in the 
 order qf the feveral matters contained in the 
 a 4 fame 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 fame Sedion : but with entire Sections I 
 have no where taken the like liberty. 
 
 This abflraft then (to mention a more 
 general ufe that may be made of it) will of 
 itfelf be fufficient to prove, that a fentence 
 of any given length is capable of being call 
 into as many fentences, and, confequently, 
 that each fentence is capable of being made 
 as Ihort, as there can be occafion to defire. 
 It is therefore of itfelf fufficient to diveft the 
 long-windedncfs of our legiflative. (one may 
 fay in general of our legal) ftile, of the plea 
 of neceiTity, the only one which a m.an could 
 think of urging in its favour. Flad this 
 been even my principal objecft, I lliould of 
 all others wilhed for a Bill like this to work 
 upon, for the fame reafon that grammarians 
 take the works of Pope, and Swift, and 
 Acldifon, for examples of folecifms in gram- 
 mar *. 
 
 But to return. By the means above- 
 mentioned I v/ill venture to hope, and that 
 v/ithout any pretenfions to make it a ground 
 of vanity, that this abfcract may be found to 
 read fomewhat more pleafantly than even the 
 Bill itfelf: and that on this head the reader. 
 
 See Bifhop Lowth's Grammar, paffim. 
 
 who 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 who means only to take a general view of 
 the Bill, and who is not in that line of duty 
 or of ftudy which would lead him to weigh 
 words and fyllables, may, as far as he thinks 
 he can depend upon the fidelity of this copy, 
 find it anlwer his purpofe as well as the ori- 
 ginal. 
 
 I am forry I cannot give equal fatisfa6lion 
 to his curiofity with rcfpe(ft to the Preface ; 
 in which the elegance of a Oile, which is 
 the Author's own, has been at full liberty 
 to difplay itfelf, unfettered by technical forms 
 and prejudices. This I muil not tranfcribe, 
 nor can prefume to imitate. The uncouth 
 piles of parliamentary compofition have not 
 often been graced with fuch a frontifpiece. 
 
 Amongll other things we learn by it, is, 
 that " the difficulties which towards the end 
 " of the year 1775 attended the tranfpor- 
 " tation of convii5ts *," gave great weight to 
 the inducements, if they were not themfelves 
 the fole inducement, that led to the inflitu- 
 tion of this plan. It may be fome confola- 
 tion to us, under the misfortunes from which 
 thofe difficulties took their rife, if they 
 fhould have forced us into the adoption of 
 
 • Page 1. 
 
 a plan 
 
 IX 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 a plan that promifes to operate one of the 
 moft fignal improvements that have ever 
 yet been made in our criminal legiflation. 
 It may not even be altogether extravagant 
 to fuppofe, that at the end we may be found 
 to have profited not much lefs than we fhall 
 have fufFered by thefe misfortunes, when 
 the benefits of this improvement come to 
 be taken into the account. For let it be of 
 ever fo much confequence that trade fhould 
 flouriHi, and that our property fhould go 
 on encreajingi it feems to be of not much 
 lefs confequence that our perfons fhould be 
 fafe, and that the property we have fliould 
 be fecure. If then the efforts of our ftatef- 
 men, to fave the nation from the ftroke of 
 thofe adverfities have not been attended with 
 the fuccefs they merited, let them not make 
 it an excufe to themfelves for fmking into 
 defpondency. Let them ratlier turn their 
 adlivity into a new channel : let them try what 
 amends can be made, in forne other line, to 
 their own reputation, and to the public fer- 
 vice : let them look at home -, and if, after 
 all that can be done, the nation muft lofe 
 fbmething in point of external fplendour, 
 let them try what they can gain for it in 
 point of domeflic peace. 
 
 I un- 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 I underftand that the plan Is not yet 
 looked upon as abfoliitcly coinpleated, which 
 may be one reafon why the circulation of it 
 has been hitherto confined to a few hands. 
 The ample ufe, however, and liberal ac- 
 knowledgement that has been made of the 
 helps afforded by former volunteers, indu- 
 ced me to hope, that any lights that could 
 be thrown upon the fubjedl, from any quar- 
 ter, would not be ill received. 
 
 Whatever farther additions or alterations 
 the propofed Bill may come to receive be- 
 fore it has been carried through the Houfe, 
 there feems to be no great likelihood of 
 their bearing any very great proportion, in 
 point of bulk, to the main body of the Bill 
 as it {lands at prefent. And as it is not yet 
 clear but that it may be carried through in 
 the courfe of this Sefllons in its prefent 
 Hate, it feemed hardly worth while to delay 
 this publication' in expet5lation of further 
 materials that may either never come, or 
 not in fuch quantity as to make amends for 
 the delay. It will be an eafy matter, if 
 there fhould be occafion, to give a fupplc- 
 meqtal account of fuch new matter as may 
 
 arifc. 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 arife. The attention of the country gen- 
 tlemen has already been drawn 'to the fub- 
 je£l by the general accounts given of the 
 plan by feveral of the Judges on their 
 circuits : and it Ihould feem that no farther 
 apology need be made for giving as much 
 fatisfaclion as can be given in the prefent 
 ftage of the bufinefs, to the curiofity which 
 a meafure, fo generally interefling, can fcarce 
 fail to have excited. That curiofity is likely 
 to be farther raifed by fome frefh enquiries, 
 which I underftand it is propofed to infti- 
 tute in the Houfe of Commons : and as the 
 refult of thefe enquiries comes to tranfpire, 
 the ufe and application of it will be the 
 better feen, by having fo much of the plan, 
 as is fketched out already, to refer to. 
 
 The hafte with which, on the above ac- 
 counts, it was thought neceffary to fend the 
 cnfuing flieets to the prefs, mud be my 
 apology for fome inaccuracies which, I fear, 
 will be difcoverable in them, as well in 
 point of method as of matter. It is not a 
 month fmce the propofed Bill firft fell into 
 my hands in the midft of other indifpenfable 
 avocations. 
 
 The ufe of them, however, if they have 
 
 any, will, I hope, not be altogether con- 
 
 8 fined 
 
PREFACE. Xiii 
 
 jfined to the fhort period between the publi- 
 cation of them, and the palTing of the Bill 
 into a law. For when a great meafure of 
 Icgiflation is eftablilhed, though it be too 
 firmly eflabliflied to be in danger of being 
 overturned, it is of ufe, for the fatisfadbion of 
 the people, that the reafons by which it is 
 or may bejuflilied, be fpread abroad among 
 them. 
 
 Lincoln's-Inn, 
 
 March 28, 1778. 
 
 
 TABLE 
 
TABLE I. CONTENTS 
 
 Sea. 
 I. 
 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 4- 
 
 6. 
 
 7- 
 8. 
 
 9- 
 lo. 
 
 II. 
 
 12. 
 
 13- 
 14. 
 
 16. 
 
 I?' 
 
 18. 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 28. 
 29.' 
 
 3°- 
 
 31- 
 32- 
 33- 
 
 General view of the Bill — j— -^ 
 
 Preamble— reafons for the Bill — 
 
 Labour-Houfes to be erefted throughout England ^Ti6. 
 Wales — ■ _ _ — 
 
 Supplies ior building, how to be levied and diftributed 
 — and applied — — — 
 
 Counties to be confolidated into Diftrifls — — 
 Committees of JulHces to be appointed for each Dif- 
 trift by the Seffions — — — 
 
 — or elfe by the Cuftos Roiulorum — — 
 
 How to be fnpplied or changed — ■ e. 
 
 Appointment of C/er^j and 9Vm_/ar^?v — — 
 
 Supplies appropriated — — — 
 
 Committees, nvhen and nxjhere to be held — 
 
 Ground, to whom to be conveyed — — 
 
 Dimenfiom of the buildings — accommodations — 
 
 Power to contraft with builders — — 
 
 Contents of Sedlions from XV. to XIX. — — 
 
 Difabilities to alien removed ■ ■ •- •- 
 
 Purchafe-monies applied ■ 
 
 Proprietors compelled ■■ ' - " 
 
 Price to be fettled by a Jury • — 
 
 Cofts to await the Verdidl — — 
 
 Saving for dwelling-houfes andpleafure-grounds — 
 Contents of Sedlions XX. to LII. — - 
 
 Power to make regulations for the Labour- houfes — 
 
 Eftabliihment of officers 
 
 Governor tu have an intereft in the work — 
 
 Efcabiifhrnent of oiTicerSj how variable • 
 
 Governor a body corporate — his ceconomical pov/ers 
 Expences, how to be apportioned among the counties 
 Accounts to be kept by the officers — — 
 
 ^ — and audited by the Committees — 
 
 Powers given them as auditors — — — 
 
 Convifts what, when and for what terms to be com- 
 mitted to thefe houfes — — — 
 — how to be difpofed of till the houfe is ready — 
 — what to be ordered to hard labour upon rivers — 
 Provifo for convids pardoned on condition — 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 '% 
 
 "•3 
 
 Uh 
 
 c S 
 
 
 
 ""bO 
 
 a> 
 
 4» •?* 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 U* 
 
 Ph _ 
 
 I 
 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 II 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 ir 
 
 16 
 
 \z 
 
 21 
 
 12 
 
 21 
 
 
 22 
 
 13 
 
 22 
 
 13 
 
 22 
 
 14 
 
 £2 
 
 »5 
 
 24 
 
 16 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 25 
 
 
 25 
 
 17 
 
 25 
 
 18 
 
 26 
 
 18 
 
 32 
 
 18 
 
 33 
 
 19 
 
 34 
 
 J9 
 
 35 
 
 20 
 
 3f> 
 
 21 
 
 37 
 
 21 
 
 ^9 
 
 22 
 
 40 
 
 23 
 
 41 
 
 24 
 
 42 
 
 24 
 
OF THE SECTIONS. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 34. — how to be conveyed, and under what certificate — 
 
 35. Charges of conveyance — — — 
 
 36. Governors and Superintendants, their general powers 
 
 and puniOiments > . ' 
 
 37. Convifts — works they are to be employed in — 
 
 38. — their lodging and manner of working — 
 
 39. Days and hours of work .■ ■ ■ — — 
 
 40. Diet and apparel 
 
 41. Penalties on officers infringing the above regulations 
 
 42. Convi£ls, how to be provided for on difcharge — 
 
 43. Convifts to be divided into cAt^x — — 
 
 44. Furniture and police of the Lodging-rooms — 
 
 45. Provifion for ;Y/;^;oaj duties — • — 
 
 47. Vifitors — their appointment, powers, and emoluments 
 
 48. Power to fufpend officers — — 
 
 49. Tajk-majlcrs, their duty — — — 
 
 50. Powers of the Governor in punifhing offences com- 
 
 mitted in the houfe - — — 
 
 51. — of Vifitors and Committees — — 
 
 52. — in reiuardhig and reporting for mercy — 
 
 53. Superintendants, how to employ their convifts — 
 
 54. —not in delivering hallafl to veffcls — — 
 
 55. — how to diet and cloathe them — — 
 
 56. — and corred them — — — 
 
 57. How convifts may be pardoned, and how equipped 
 
 on their difcharge — — — 
 
 58. Expences of chaplains, furgcns, and coronas, and other 
 
 charges, how to be defrayed — — 
 
 59. Provifion for divine fervice — 
 
 60. Returns X.0 be made of the ftate of the eftabliflimcnt 
 
 61. Penalties for efcapes on the party — — . — - 
 
 62. on his affiftants . . 
 
 63. Pro/ecuticns for efcapes facilitated — 
 
 64. Penalties to be proceeded iov J'ummarily • 
 
 65. Judges may do bufinefs out of their jurifiiidio'5 — 
 
 66. Claufes of indemnity _. 
 
 67. Limitation of adions — 
 
 68. Prefent aft repealed — — 
 
 
 b4 
 
 43 
 
 45 
 
 2? 
 
 26 
 
 46,26 
 46:27 
 
 47 27 
 50 ,28 
 
 59 
 63 
 66 
 68 
 69 
 73 
 77 
 
 79 
 81 
 
 82 
 
 83J 
 
 85 
 90 
 
 9' 
 
 92 
 
 93 
 
 94 
 
 94 
 95 
 97 
 99 
 
 I02 
 104 
 105 
 
 106 
 106 
 
 io5 
 
 2S 
 29 
 29 
 
 30 
 30 
 
 3« 
 
 31 
 
 32 
 3J 
 
 35 
 
 33 
 34 
 
 \i 
 
 3^ 
 37 
 37 
 
 37 
 
 3^ 
 
 3^ 
 
 38 
 
 39 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 4« 
 42 
 42 
 43 
 43 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 " Con- r I \HE perfons who are ftiled ^' convi^s" in 
 
 " vias" i the enfuing abftrad, are ftiled " offenders'* 
 
 " OfFen- ^^ ^^ propofed Bill. I gave them the former 
 
 ** ders," name, to avoid a confufion I found occur in 
 
 fpeaking of them, at times virhen there was occa- 
 
 fion to fpeak of fuch frefh offences as may come to 
 
 be committed by the fame perfons during their 
 
 confinement, or of certain other offences which 
 
 the Bill has occafion to prohibit in other perfons, 
 
 q In regard to fex^ I make, in general, no fepa- 
 
 rate mention of they^w^y/^j that being underftood 
 (unlefs where the contrary is fpecified) to be 
 included under the exprefSon ufsd to denote the 
 male. • . 
 
 A VIEW 
 
A 
 
 VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HARD-LABOUR BILL. 
 
 A g ^HIS Bill has two capital objefts: General 
 I ft, To provide a new e.ftablilhmcnt ^he^Bill 
 
 1 
 
 of Labour-houfes all over England. 
 2dly, To extend and perpetuate the eftablilh- 
 ment already fet on foot, for the confinement 
 of convi6ls, to labour upon rivers. It con- 
 fifts of fixty-eight Sedions. The fifty- two 
 firft are employed upon the former of the 
 above objefts : the feven following upon the 
 latter : and the remaining nine upon certain 
 cuftomary provifions of procedure and a few 
 other matters that apply alike to both. 
 
 Firft with regard to the eftabliftiment of 
 
 Houfes of Hard Labour. — The firft twenty 
 
 Sections are employed in making provifion 
 
 B for 
 
Sea. I. 
 
 p. I. 
 
 Preamble 
 — reafons 
 for the 
 bill. 
 
 Difad- 
 vantages 
 of Tranf- 
 fortation 
 in com- 
 parifon 
 with 
 
 Hard La- 
 ieur. 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 for the ere<5lion of the buildings, and for the 
 appointment of the magiftrates and other of- 
 ficers to whom the management of that buli- 
 nefs is committed. The remaining thirty- 
 two Sections are employed chiefly in pre- 
 fcribing the regimen to be obferved in them 
 when built. 
 
 So much for the general out-line of this 
 regular and well-digefted plan. Let us now 
 take a view of the Se6tions one by one. 
 
 The firfl Seftion, or Preamble, Hates the 
 general confiderations which determined the 
 author to propofe the eftablifhments in quef- 
 tion. Thefe confiderations are the infuffi- 
 ciency of tranfportation for the purpofes of 
 example and reformation, the fuperior effi- 
 cacy of a courfe of confinement and hard 
 labour, and the unfitnefs of the prefent 
 Houfes of Correftion for that purpofe. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 Here would naturally be the occafion for a com- 
 mentator to dilate more particularly than it would 
 have been in character for the bill itfelf to have 
 done, upon the inconveniences of the old punifh- 
 ment of tranfportation, which it meant to fuper- 
 fede, and the advantages of the new mode of pu- 
 nifhment, which it is the object of it to introduce. 
 This I fhall have occafion to do at large hereafter ; 
 ftating in courfe the advantages and difadvantages 
 
 of 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 3 
 
 6f each : but a flight and immethodical fkctch is Scft. I. 
 as much as the prefent dcfign gives room for. °' 
 
 The punifliment of tranfportation, in itis ordi- 
 nary confequences, mc\uded fervitude ; the punifti- 
 ment here propofed to be fubftituted in the room of 
 it. At all events, it included bauiJJitnent. Thefe tv70 
 it comprehended profcfTedly and with defign ; be- 
 fides an uncertain, but at any rate, a very afflicSlive 
 train of preliminary hardfhipi, of which no ac- 
 count was taken ; amongft others, a great chancet 
 of producing death. 
 
 Taking it all together, it had a multitude of bad 
 properties ; and it had no good ones, but what it 
 derived from fervitude, or are to be found in the 
 latter puniflimcnt in a fuperior degree. 
 
 1. In point of proportion it was ttnequal : for a 
 man who had money might buy off the fervitude*. 
 With regard to the banifliment, it was acrain un- 
 equal ; for nothing can be more unequal than the 
 effeit which the change of country has upon men 
 of different habits, attachments, talents, and pro- 
 penfities. Some would have been glad to oo by 
 choice ; others would fooner die. 
 
 2. It was unexemplary : what the convicts fufFer- 
 
 • In virtue of the Statute 4 G. i. c. ii. the Court 
 ufed to contraiSt with feme perfon to convey the convidl 
 to the place of deftination : thereupon the conviil is 
 made over " to the ufe of" the contradtor and " his 
 *' affigns," who are declared in general terms to " have 
 " a property or intereft in" his " fervice/' for the time 
 fpecified in the fentence. 
 
 B z ed. 
 
4 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Se£l. I. ed, were it much or little, was unknown to the 
 P* ^' people for whofe benefit it was defigned. It may 
 be proved by arithmetic, that the purpofe of ex- 
 ample is, of all the purpofes of punifhment, the 
 chief. 
 
 3. It was unfrugal : it occafioned a great wafte 
 of lives in the mode, and a great wafte of money 
 in the expences, of conveyance. 
 
 4. It did anfwer indeed, in fome degree, the pur- 
 pofe of dlfabllng the offender from doing further 
 mifchief to the community during the continuance 
 of it ; but not in fo great a degree as the confinement 
 incident to fervitude. It has always been eafier for 
 a man to return from tranfportation, than to efcape 
 from prifon. 
 
 5. It anfwered, indeed, every now and then, 
 the purpofe oi reformation: But by what means ? By 
 means of the fervitude that was a part of it. It 
 anfwered this purpofe pretty well ; but not fo well 
 upon the whole, under the uncertain and variable 
 direction of a private mafter, whofe objedt was his 
 own profit, as it may be expected to anfwer under 
 regulations concerted by the united wifdom of the 
 nation, with this exprefs view. 
 
 Seft. II. Seftion II. provides in geiieral terms for 
 
 P- 2' the ereftion of Honfes for the purpofes of 
 
 Houfes confinement and labour throughout England 
 
 to be 2indL Wales. Thefe houfes are to be entirely 
 
 created 
 
 through- feparate from all other public habitations, 
 out Eng- whether deflined for the cullody or punilh- 
 
 l a fid ana 
 
 Wales. ment 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 5 
 
 ment of offenders, or for the maintenance of Sea. II. 
 the honeft poor. The legal appellation they ^' ** 
 are direfted to be called by, is that of Houfes 
 of Hard Labour. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 It might, perhaps, be as well to call t.\\Qm Hard- 
 labour Houfes, or Labour-houjes^ at once. This, 
 ©r fome other equally compendious, is the name 
 that will undoubtedly be given them by the people 
 at large : the tendency of popular fpeech being to 
 fave words and fhorten names as much as poffible. 
 Such a name fhould be analogous to the names 
 Rafp-huys [Rafping-houfe] and Spin-huys [Spin- 
 ning-houfej in ufe in Holland ; and in fhort, to our 
 Engl ifh word ^/^r^-/^(j2:(/^. The technical name would 
 by this means be the fame as the popular. This 
 would, pro tanto^ fave circumlocution, and guard 
 againft error in law proceedings. Where depart- 
 ing from the popular forms of fpeech is not ne- 
 cefTary, it is always inconvenient. So much for 
 an objed, which, 'perhaps, may be thought to be 
 hardly worth the words that have been fpent upon 
 it. 
 
 Se6lion III. is defigned to make provifion Seft. III. 
 
 for the raifing of the monies to defray the SuppJics 
 
 charges of purchafing ground, and building : for build- 
 
 and it prefcribes the proportions in which |o^be°e^ 
 
 fuch monies, when raifed, are to be diflri- vied and 
 
 butcd among the diftrifts eftablillied in the ^^^^^^ 
 B 3 next 
 
(5 \4 View of the Hard-Lahpur Bill. 
 
 §ea. III. next fedlion for the purpofes of the Aft,* 
 ♦ ' * Thefe proportions it takes from the number 
 pf convidls that have been ordered for tranf- 
 portation, in each county, within the corqpafs 
 of a year, upon an average taken for (tvtn 
 years lafl: paft. A blank is left for the par-« 
 ticular fund out of which the monies are to 
 iflue, 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The contribution by which thefe monies are to 
 be raifed, is made, we fee, not a local but a gene- 
 ral one. A local tax, however, is that which 
 feemed moft obvioufly to fuggeft itfelf, fmce the 
 expenditure is local : but a general one appears to 
 be much preferable. Had the tax been local, it 
 would have been raifed upon the plan of the county 
 taxes : it would by that means have fallen exclu- 
 fively upon houfeholders bearing fcot and lot. 
 But the benefit of it, be it what it may, is fhared 
 • indifcriminateJy among the whole body of the peo- 
 
 ple. Add to this, that the fums of money requi- 
 fite for this purpofe will probably be large. Thefe, 
 were they to be raifed at once in the feveral dif- 
 tridls in the manner of a county tax, would be apt 
 to ftartle the inhabitants, and prejudice them againft 
 the meafure. 
 
 As to the proportion in which the fupplies are tq 
 
 • See Table II. Col. 8, 
 
 be 
 
'A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill, J 
 
 he diftributed among the feveral diftridls, this is Se£l. III. 
 taken, we fee, from the average number of convifts. P* ** 
 This was an ingenious way of coming at the 
 extent it would be requifite to give to the refpedive 
 buildings, and the terms allotted would naturally be 
 proportioned to the extent. Rigid accuracy in 
 this apportionment, does not feem, however, to 
 have been aimed at. According to the method 
 taken, the allowance to the fmaller counties, will 
 be fomewhat greater in proportion than to the 
 larger. There are a great many counties whofe ave- 
 rage number is fettled at one: the computation does 
 not defccnd to fradions. This, if it be an error, 
 is an error on the right fide. 
 
 For two of the towns that are counties of them- 
 felves, no average number of convi£ls, I obferve, 
 is ftated : thefe are, Newcajile upon Tyne and Ha- 
 verfordwejl. 
 
 Upon turning to the table fubjoined to the bill, 
 it appears, that at Haverfordtveji, there have been 
 jio convicts at all within the time in queftion. At 
 Newcajile upon Tyne the average is ftated at five. 
 The omiflion in the bill feems therefore to be 
 accidental. 
 
 Se6lion IV. provides for the payment and Seft. IV. 
 
 application of the monies mentioned in the P* ?* 
 
 . . —and ap- 
 
 preceding Sedion. They are direded to be pUed. 
 
 paid to committees of Juftices, * or their 
 
 order, and applied to the building of the 
 
 • See Sedt. VI. 
 
 B 4 Houfea 
 
Sea. IV. 
 p. 6. 
 
 Sea. V. 
 p. 6. 
 
 Counties 
 tobecon- 
 folidated 
 into dif- 
 tiids. 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Houfes above-mentioned. The deficiencies. 
 If any, in the provifion thus nriade, are to be 
 borne afterwards by the diftrids. 
 
 By Seflion V. all England, including 
 Wales, is caft, for the purpofes of this A6t, 
 into diftrifls of a new dimenfion*. This 
 divifion is made commenfurate to the divi- 
 Hon into circuits, as well as to that into 
 counties. A certain number of thefe dif- 
 trifts are included in each circuit: and 
 each diftrift includes one or more counties. 
 Towns, that are counties of themfelves, are 
 put upon a footing in this refped with coun- 
 ties at large. London and Middlefex form 
 each a diftri6l by itfelf. The whole princi- 
 pality of Wales, together with Chefhire and 
 Chefter, are included in one diftrid:. Tlie 
 whole number of diftrifts is nineteen. The 
 reafon it gives for this junction of the coun- 
 ties is, that it will fei*ve to leflen the ex- 
 pence. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 The circuit divifions, it feems, were thought too 
 large ; the county divifions too fmall ; befides that, 
 the latter are unequal. This is the cafe more par- 
 ticularly with the towns that are counties of them- 
 
 See Table II. Col. 2. and 4. 
 
 felycs. 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 9 
 
 (elves, in comparifon with fomeof the larger flalrcs. Seft. V. 
 The ufe of making the diftri(Slslefs than the circuits, P' 
 and at the fame time larger than the counties, is the 
 adjufting the buildings to a convenient fizc. An 
 eftablifhment for the reception of a large number of 
 pcrfons may be condudled, as the preambular part 
 intimates, at a proportionably lefs expence than 
 an eftablifliment for the reception of a fmall num- 
 ber. The ufcs of making them lefs than the cir- 
 cuits, are two : ift, the leflening the cxpenccs of 
 conveying the convi»Sts from the place of trial to the 
 place of punifiiment : 2dly, th» leflening the 
 trouble and expence of the Juftices, who are to 
 travel out of their own counties to the town v/herc 
 they are to meet to carry the a6t into execution. 
 It is doubtlefs on the former principle that we 
 are to account for the comprizing the twelve 
 Welfh counties together with Chefhire and the 
 city of Cheller, in one diftriil ; for in this dif- 
 trid:, cxtenfive as it is, the average number of 
 conviiSls has been found to be lefs than in any 
 other. On the two latter principles, it may feeni 
 rather inconvenient that this difl:ri(^ fhould be 
 fo large. It is to be hoped, on this account, that 
 the fituation chofen for the labour- houfe for this 
 diftri<a:, will be as central as is confiftent in other 
 refpeiSs with convenience. 
 
 Seftion VI. eftabliflics the Commircees of Sea. VI. 
 
 Juftices who are to be appointed by the Coliimit- 
 
 General Sefnons of their refpeftive counties, tees of 
 
 to meet together for the purpofes of cairv- J"*i^^^» 
 
 ^ ^ .• to be ap- 
 
 ing pointed 
 
10 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 for each ing this Aft into execution at a particular 
 the^Sef-^ place within each of the diftrifls, within 
 fion. which their refpeclive counties are included*: 
 
 and it fettles the proportion which the num- 
 ber of Committee-men in each county is to 
 , bear to the number of Committee-men in 
 every other. Thefe Committees are em- 
 powered to appoint ftated meetings (giving 
 ten days notice) and to make adjournments. 
 The Committee-men are to be appointed 
 at the next General Seflions after the pafling 
 of this Ad. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The power of fending Juftices as Committee- 
 men, is given, we may obferve, to all the counties 
 at large, in various proportions, from one to five 
 inclufive ; likewife to all the town-counties except 
 three ; Berwick, Chejier, and Haverfordweji. 
 Whether thefe omiiTions are accidental or defio-n- 
 
 o 
 
 ed, is more than I can take upon me to con- 
 jecture. 
 
 Seft.VII. SedionVII. provides againft any failure 
 
 __P* jYg in the feflions to appoint Committee-men, 
 
 by the or in the Committee-men to take upon them 
 
 CujiosRo- j-j^gjj. ^^^^^ j£ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ General Seffions 
 
 zmcrui/t. 
 
 See Tabic II. Col. 5. and 3. 
 
 after 
 
'A View of the Hard-Lcthour Bill, li 
 
 after the pafllng of the Aft no Committee- Sea.VII. 
 men Ihould be appointed, or not enough, 
 or if any fhould refufe, power is given to the 
 Ctijlos Rotulorum to fupply the deficiency 
 within three months. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This provifion feems to proceed on the fuppofi- 
 tion, that in fome places the meafure of the bill may 
 prove unpopular among the country magiftrates. 
 By way of a fpur to them, this power is therefore 
 given to the Cujios Rotulorum : but may it not be 
 poflible, cfpecially in fome of the remote counties 
 (fuppofc the Welfli counties) that even the Cujios 
 Rotulorum may be tin£lured with the local preju- 
 dices ? It ftiould feem there could be no harm, 
 rather than there fhould be a gap in the execution 
 of the A<5t, in fubftituting the Lord Chancellor to 
 the Cujios Rotulorum, in the fame manner as he is 
 fubftituted to the SeiTions. 
 
 Seftion VIII. gives the SefTions the power Seft. 
 of changing their Committee-men from year ^^^^* 
 
 to year: alfo of fupplying vacancies at any —how* to 
 
 time when they may happen. ^^ ^"P- 
 
 ^ ^ ' ^ piied or 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. changed. 
 
 For conformity's fake, might not this latter 
 power, in default of the SefTions, be given to the 
 Cujios Rotulorum P and (if fuch an addition were 
 to be adopted) in his default, to the Lord Chan- 
 f el lor ? 
 
 Scftion 
 
t2 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Sea. IX. 
 p. 9. 
 
 Appoint- 
 ment of 
 clerks 
 and trea- 
 furers. 
 
 Sea. X. 
 p. 10. 
 
 Supplies 
 appropri- 
 ated. 
 
 Sea. XI. 
 
 p. II. 
 
 Commit- 
 tees, 
 
 *when and 
 nvhere to 
 be held. 
 
 Sedbion IX. requires the Committees to 
 appoint each a clerk and treafurer, with fuch 
 falaries as they fhall think reafonable, re- 
 movable at pleafure: the treafurer to give 
 fecurity in proportion to the fum likely to 
 come into his hands *. 
 
 Seflion X. appropriates the monies to be 
 received by the Committees, or their trea- 
 furer, to the ufes of the adl:. 
 
 Section XI. appoints the place and time 
 of the firft meeting of the feveral Com- 
 mittees f; empowering them (after chufing 
 their chairman, clerks, and treafurer) to ad- 
 journ to any other time and place within the 
 fame diftrifl. It then direfts them, at this or 
 any fubfequent meeting, to make choice of a 
 piece or pieces of ground to build on, one 
 or more for each diftridl. The orders for 
 this purpofe are to be certified in London 
 and Middlefex to the King's-bench, and 
 elfewhere to the Judges on their circuits i ex- 
 cept that, in the Welch diftrift, they are to 
 be certified, not to any of the Welch Judges, 
 but to thofe of Chefter : in cafe of their dif- 
 approval, a fecond order is* to be made, and 
 
 • See Table II. Col. 8. 
 
 6 
 
 t See Tabic II. Col. 3. 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill, 13 
 
 fo toties quo ties : fo, alfo if the fpot pitched Seft. XT, 
 upon be fuch as cannot be purchafed under ^' 
 the powers given by the ad*. With re- 
 gard to the choice of the fpot it gives fomc 
 diredions. The Committees are required to 
 have regard to 
 
 1 . The healthinefs of the fituation. 
 
 2. The facility of getting water. 
 
 3. The nearnefs to fome trading town. 
 
 4. But to avoid choofing any place 
 within a town, if any other convenient 
 place can be found. 
 
 5. To give the preference to a place 
 furrounded with water, if in other re- 
 fpeds healthy and proper. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 With regard to the places of meeting it feems 
 rather extraordinary, that in the fFclJ}] diftricT:, a 
 place fo far from central as Chcjfcr^ fhould be 
 appointed. This obliges the whole body of Com- 
 mittee-men from IVales to travel out of their prin- 
 cipality ; and a PeynhrokcJJnre Juftice, who has to 
 traverfe all North and South IVales^ may have, per- 
 haps, near two hundred miles to go before he 
 reaches the place of his dcftination. This inconve- 
 nience, indeed, is open, in fome meafure, to a 
 
 • See Sea. XVII. and XX. 
 
 remedy. 
 
14 A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 Seft. XI. remedy, by the power given to the Committees to 
 p. II. choofe the place of their adjournment ; but at any 
 rate, be the place ever (o central, in (o large a 
 diftri6l it cannot but be very remote from the 
 abodes of the greater part of the Committee men. 
 On this account, more efpeclally if the fp^el^ dif- 
 tri6l is to remain undivided, might it not be pro- 
 per to allow to the Committee-men, at leaft to 
 fuch as had to travel out of their ovi^n counties, a 
 fmall fum, (were it no more than ten fhillings a 
 day,) to help indemnify them for their expences ? 
 To many a magiftrate, vi^ho might, in other re- 
 fpeits, be better qualified for the bufmefs than a 
 richer man, the expence (to fay nothing of the 
 trouble) of making frequent journies to fuch a 
 diftance as he might have occafion to travel to, 
 might be an objedlion fufHcient to prevent his 
 acceptance of the office. There feems, at any rate, 
 to be much more reafon for giving a falary to thefe 
 Committee-men, than to perfons to be appointed 
 Vifitors to the labour-houfes * ; fince the vifitors 
 may be taken from the neighbourhood of the houfe, 
 and the committee-men wa/?, many of them, come! 
 from a great diftance. Suppofe the allowance 
 were to be fixpence a mile (the diftance to be af- 
 certained by the oath of the traveller) and a funl 
 not exceeding ten fhillings a day, fo long as the 
 Committee continues fitting ? 
 
 The dire£tions refpecting the choice of the fpoC 
 are well imagined, and ftrongly mark the judg- 
 
 See Sea. XXII. 
 
 pienC 
 
A Vkiv of the Hard-Labour Bill, 1 5 
 
 ment and attention of the author. His ideas on this Sc£l. XI. 
 matter feem to quadrate pretty exaiSlly with " the P* **" 
 *' fingular and well-dire£ted rcfearches" (as he 
 ftiles them) of Mr. Howard, to whofe merits, as a 
 zealous and intelligent friend of human kind, it 
 is difficult for language to do juftice. 
 
 One direction is, that a preference be given to a 
 fpot furrounded with water, if it be in other refpedls 
 healthy and proper. Unlefs the water be running 
 water, it is «ot very likely to be healthy. 
 
 Seflion XII. appoints a nominal pro- Sedl.XII, 
 prietor, to whom the ground, when purcha- ^' * ' j 
 fed, is to be conveyed. This peribn is to to whom 
 be the town-clerk, for London; the clerk t^^^/""- 
 or the peace, for Middlefex ; the clerk of 
 allize of the circuit, for the other Eng- 
 lifli diftrids J with a blank left for the Welch j 
 and ^or this purpofe the ofEcers in queftion 
 are refpcftively conftituted bodies corpo- 
 rate. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 After fuch a provifion, might it not be necef- 
 fary, or would it be fuperfluous, to provide that 
 any aftion might be brought by the Committee in 
 the name of any of the officers therein named, 
 without naming the perfon who holds the office ? 
 This is a precaution taken in fome Ads. The 
 occafion, if any, which may make it necefTary, 
 is that of a vacancy happening in any of thofe of- 
 2 fices. 
 
i6 A View of the Hard-Labour BUI. 
 
 Sei5l. XII. fices, at a time when It is requifite to bring (fup- 
 P' ^J* pofe) an action of trefpafs, for any encroachment 
 or other trefpafs committed upon the fpot thus 
 to be made the property of the public. The tref- 
 pafs is committed (fuppofe) at a junfture that 
 does but juft admit of an a£lion's being brought 
 in fuch time as to be tried at the next affizes. The 
 county is one of thofe in which the affizes are held 
 but once a year. To obviate this difficulty, if 
 there be one, why might not the Committee be im- 
 powered to bring any fuch adtion in their own 
 name ? in fhort, why might not the Committee 
 themfelves be the body corporate ? This would 
 fave circuity ; fmce whatever is done by the officer 
 above mentioned, muft be by their diredliori, and 
 under their controul. 
 
 Sea. Seftion XIII. gives a proportion for de- 
 
 XIII. termining the fize of the leveral houfes. They 
 
 p- i2« ° . , . ■' 
 
 Dtmen- are to be large enough to contain three times 
 
 J^", °f. the average number of convids in a year, it 
 
 che build- ^ - . , ._,.,, 
 
 ings— flf- being fuppofed tnat each convict Vvill con- 
 cemmoda- x^dviz in them three years upon an average. 
 It likewife gives fome direftions with re- 
 
 fped to the apartments. Each houfe, with 
 
 its appurtenances, is to contain 
 
 1. Lodging-rooms for the convifls. 
 
 2. Storehoufes and warehoufes. 
 
 3. An infirmary, with a yard adjoining. 
 
 4. Several cells or dungeons. 
 
 <. A chapel. 
 
 6. A 
 
 ttons. 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill, 
 
 6. A burying-groiind. 
 
 7. Apartments for the officers. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 To the above accommodations, it might, per- 
 haps, be not amifs to add a garden, to fupply the 
 houfe with vegetables. The laborious part of the 
 Vi^ork might be done by the prilbners themfelves, 
 who might be employed in it, either fome few of 
 them for a conflancy, or all of them occafionally. 
 In the later cafe, the privilege of being thus em- 
 ployed might conftitute an indulgence to be given 
 in the way of reward, as it would be an agreeable 
 relief from their ordinary domeftic labour *. It 
 feems probable, that a part of the labour might be 
 more oeconomically employed in this way than 
 upon the ordinary bufmefs of the houfe ; even 
 though the prime coll of a wall to inclofe the 
 garden were taken into the account. 
 
 With regard to the *' cells or dungeons," as 
 they are called, there are fome cautions that feem 
 highly ncccflary to be obferved. That, for the 
 punifhment of the refra6lory, there fhould, in 
 every fuch houfe, be fome places of confinement, 
 under the na?}ie of dungeons, feems perfeiflly ex- 
 pedient ; at the fame time that it is altogether in- 
 expedient there {hould any where be any place that 
 
 17 
 
 Sea. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 p. 12. 
 
 • Mr. Campbell, Superintendent of the Thamea 
 convifts, employs a part of the ground he has the ma- 
 nagement of in raifing vegetables fv^r their ufe. 
 
 C lliouB 
 
iS A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 p. 12. 
 
 Sea. fliould partake in all refpedls of the nature of thofc 
 ^ pefliferous abodes. 
 
 The purpofes for which dungeons feem in 
 general to have been calculated (I mean, fuch 
 purpofes as are juftifiable) are X.v^o \ fafe cujlody, 
 and terror. The firft muft, in all cafes, and the 
 fecond may, in many cafes, be defirable. But 
 in aiming at thefe two purpofes, another highly 
 mifchievous eiFe£t has unintentionally been pro- 
 duced ; the exclufion of frefh air, and, as one 
 confequence of it, the expofure of the room to 
 perpetual damps. Thefe apartments have been 
 contrived underground ; hence there have been no 
 lateral outlets ; but the entrance has been at top 
 through a trap-door. By this means the air has 
 remained almoft continually unchanged : being 
 breathed over and over again, it has foon become 
 highly unfit for refpiration : and having in a 
 fhort time difiolved as much of the damp as it 
 could take up, the remainder has continued float- 
 ing without any thing to carry it off. The perni- 
 cious confequences of fuch a ftagnation, in gene- 
 rating the moft fatal and peftilential difeafes, have 
 been inferred from theory*, and have been but too 
 fully verified by experience and obfervation f. 
 The bufinefs is then to make the neceffary pro- 
 
 • See, with refpect to the effefts of air tainted with 
 refpiration, Prieflly on Air, Vol. ill and 2d. With re- 
 fpedl to damps, Fordyce's Elements of the Pradice of 
 Phyfic, title Catarrh, and Haniilton's Eflays. 
 
 f See Howard on Prifons, fajlm. 
 
 8 vifiors 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour BiU. tcj 
 
 p. 12. 
 
 vifions for the purpofes of fufe cuftody and terror, Seft. 
 without excludliifr the frefli air. To effect the -^^^l* 
 
 O — _ _ 
 
 firft of thefe purpofes, other means in abundance 
 are afforded upon the face of the bill, as it {lands 
 at prefent (and if thefe be not fufficicnt, more 
 might be afforded) by the ftrudlure and regimen 
 of the prifon. Some expedients relative to this 
 defign will be fuggefted in the courfe of thefe ob- 
 fcrvations. 
 
 With regard to terror, the chief clrcumftance 
 by which a dungeon is calculated to anfwer this 
 purpofe, is the exclufion of day-light. In a dun- 
 geon this effedl is produced by a conllant and un- 
 alterable caufe — 'the fubterraneous fituation of the 
 place : but the fame effe6l may be produced more 
 commodioufly, by means which might be applied 
 or not, according as they were wanted; and that 
 without excluding the frefh air. The means I 
 am fpeaking of are very fimple. Air travels in all 
 direftions ; light only in right lines. The light 
 therefore may be excluded without the air, by 
 adapting to the window a black fcuttle infledled 
 to a riffht ano-le. If the door be made on the fide 
 oppofite to the window, there will be as much 
 draught as if the window opened dircdly into the 
 air, without the fcuttle. Light might alfo be 
 prevente;d from coming in at the door, by a return 
 made to it in the fame] manner. By thefe 
 means the prifoner's ordinary apartment, or any 
 other apartment, may be made as gloomy as can 
 be defired \yithout being unhealthful. 
 
 I do not deny, but that the terrors of a dun- 
 C 2 geon 
 
20 A View of the Hard-Labour BUI. 
 
 p. 12 
 
 Seft. geon may depend in fome degree upon the cir- 
 Aiii. cumftance of its being underground. In the 
 imaginations of the bulk of men, the circum- 
 ftance of defcent towards the center of the earth is 
 ftrongly conne£ted with the idea of the fcene of 
 punifliment in a future life. They depend in fome 
 meafure likewife upon the circumftance of Jiill- 
 nefs ; and the flillnefs may at the fame diftance 
 from a founding body be made more perfedt in a 
 dungeon than in an ordinary room : the uninter- 
 rupted continuity of the walls, at the fame time 
 that it excludes frefh air and day-light, ferving 
 alfo to exclude found. But I cannot look upon 
 the lirft of thefe circumftances of terror as 
 being of that importance, as to warrant the 
 paying fo dearly for it, as muft be paid by the 
 exclufion of wholefome air, which is fo apt to 
 change a punifhment, meant to be flight and tem- 
 porary, into a capital one. As to the purpofe of 
 flillnefs, it might be anfwered in a nearly equal 
 degree, by building cells (which, at any rate, 
 Ihould be called dungeons) at a diftance from the 
 houfc. If the utmoft degree of ftillnefs were 
 thought not to be abfolutely neceflary to be infifted 
 on, a man's own lodging-room might at any time, 
 by the contrivance above mentioned, be fitted up for 
 the purpofe. On another account, however, the 
 lodging-rooms are not quite fo anfwerable to the 
 defign, as a place on purpofe, fince fomething of 
 the effect depends upon the Jirangenefs of the 
 place ; and upon its being known to be appropria- 
 ted to a penal purpofe. 
 
 After 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. ii 
 
 After all, it docs not fecm advifcable to reft the Seft. 
 
 XIII 
 whole of the punifhment altogether upon the ^ 
 
 ground of terror; fince terror is obliterated by 
 
 familiarity. To make up a uniform complement 
 
 of punifhment, it is found neceflary to have re- 
 
 courfe to other circumftanccs of diftrcfs ; fuch as 
 
 the hard diet appointed by this bill. This confi- 
 
 deration makes it the lefs necefTary to be at any Tn- 
 
 convenient expence in fcrewing the fentimcnt of 
 
 terror up to the highcft pitch. 
 
 Sedtion XIV. dire6ls, that as foon as a fpot Sect. 
 of ground fliall have been purchafed,' adver- XIV. 
 tilements fliall be inferted by the Committees Power to 
 in the local news-papers, for builders to give contraft 
 in plans, with propofals and eflimates ; that builders, 
 a plan, when agreed upon by the Committee, 
 fliall be prefented to the Judges as before j * 
 and that after their approbation, fignified in 
 writing, .the Committee may contradl with 
 the architeft, and fuperintend the execu- 
 tion. 
 
 SeAions XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. and Contents 
 
 XIX. are taken up with a fet of regulations, °/ S^^- 
 
 which, though very neceflary, are collateral xv. to 
 
 to the main purpofes of the A6b, being em- ^X* 
 ployed in giving the ufual fyftem of powers 
 
 • See Sea. ii. 
 
 C 3 requifite 
 
Sea. XV. 
 
 p- n- 
 
 Difabili. 
 ties to 
 alien re- 
 moved. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 P- 13- 
 
 Purchafe 
 monies 
 applied. 
 Sea.- 
 XVII. 
 p. 14. 
 Troprje- 
 tois com- 
 pelled. 
 Sea. 
 XVIII. 
 
 Price to 
 
 be fettled 
 by a jury. 
 
 J View of the Hard-Lahour Bill 
 
 requifite to efFeduate purchafes to be. made 
 for public purpofes. With regard to thefe, 
 it will be fufficient to give a very general 
 fketch of the contents. 
 
 Seftion XV. removes the difabilities that 
 proprietors of certain defcriptions lie under 
 to alien. 
 
 Sedion XVI. provides for the diftribution 
 of the purchafe-money among the parties in- 
 terefled. 
 
 Se6lion XVII. prefcribes the ufual courfe 
 for bringing unwilling proprietors to com- 
 pliance. 
 
 Seftion XVIII. gives the ufual powers for 
 fettling difputes concerning the value of the 
 fpot, by the verdidl of a jury. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 In fettling the fine to be impofcd on witnefTes 
 in cafe of contumacy, it limits it, on the fide of 
 diminution, to twenty (hillings, and on the fide of 
 encreafe to ten pounds. This provifion feems li- 
 able to an inconvenience to which fines impofed 
 by ftatute are very apt to be liable, that of the pu- 
 nijhjnent'i proving, in many inftances, kfs than equi- 
 valent to the profit of the offence, A witnefs, we fhall 
 
 fay? 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. aj 
 
 fay, knows of a circumftance, not notorious in its Seft. 
 nature, that tends to diminifli the value of the ^^ *^^' 
 land : or, let the circumftance be notorious, one ^* '* 
 witnefs alone is fummoned, his defign of failing 
 not being fufpeified. The value in quellion being 
 the value of the fee fiinple, it will be fomewhat 
 extraordinary, if the difference made by fuch a 
 circumftance, be not more than ten pounds. In 
 fuch cafe, the owner, indemnifying the witnefs. 
 Is fure of gaining more than ten pounds, with only 
 a chanci? of lofing a fum between ten pounds and 
 twenty (hillings. A cafe might be figured, though 
 not fo natural an one, in which either the witnefs 
 or one of the parties might have an inducement to 
 fupprefs a circumftance that tended to encreafe 
 the value of the lands. 
 
 ■ On the other fide, the danger is greater but 
 the inconvenience lefs. The public does not fuf- 
 fer fo much by a charge affecting the public purfe, 
 as an individual by a lofs afFc£ling his purfe to the 
 fame amount. 
 
 Would there be any improper hardiliip in ob- 
 liging the party in this cafe (as he is in fo many 
 more cafes of greater inconvenience to him) to be 
 examined upon oath ? 
 
 If proper evidence cannot be got at one time, it 
 ought to be got at another. The trial therefore 
 ihould be adjourned, or rather, to prevent private 
 applications to the jurymen, a new trial ftiould be 
 appointed. Power (hould be given in fuch cafe to 
 compel the appearance of the contumacious wit- 
 pefs by arreft ; and if at laft he appears and is 
 C 4. examined, 
 
24 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Sea. 
 XVIII. 
 P 15- 
 
 Seft. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 p. 16. 
 Colts to 
 await the 
 verdi«5l. 
 Sedl.XX. 
 
 p. 17. 
 Savingfor 
 dwelling- 
 houfes & 
 pleafu re- 
 grounds. 
 
 examined, the natural punifhment for his ofFence 
 would be the being fubjedled to the cofts of the 
 preceding trial ; fince, if any part of the charge 
 were not borne by him by whofe delinquency 
 it was occafioned, it muft fall upon fomebody 
 who was innocent. This punifhment, however, 
 ought to be open to mitigation in confideration of 
 his circumftances ; fmce a charge to this amount, 
 though it might be a trifle to one man, might be 
 ruin to another. 
 
 In order, however, to ground a warrant for the 
 apprchenfion of a witnefs who, on a former trial, 
 had made default, an averment upon oath fhould be 
 exadled, from the party on whofe behalf the war- 
 rant is applied for, that in his belief the perfon 
 whofe teftimony is required is a material witnefs. 
 
 In juftice to the author, it may be proper, in 
 this place, to obferve, that the deficiencies, if 
 fuch they fhould be thought, which the above 
 propofals are calculated to fupply, are not charge- 
 able upon this bill any more than they are 
 upon all the TiSts in the flatute-book that have 
 correfpondcnt paffages. 
 
 Se6lion XIX.- provides, as is ufual, that 
 the cofts of fuch a trial Ihall await the ver- 
 dia. 
 
 Se6lion XX. makes a faving for dwelling- 
 
 houfes and pleafure-grounds *. 
 
 So 
 
 It would fave paper were the fix laft feftions gene- 
 ral! ssed 
 
xi View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 So much concerning the ground-plot and 
 the buildings. Next come the provifions 
 relative to the regimen of the Labour-houfes j 
 thefe occupy the thirty-two following Sec- 
 tions, all but fix, from the thirtieth to the 
 thirty-fifth inclufive, which concern the dif-, 
 pofal of convidts, previous to the com- 
 mencement of their punifhment. 
 
 Seflion XXI. provides, that when the 
 houfes are ready, or nearly (o^ the Com- 
 mittees fiiall appoint officers, lay in flock, 
 and efl:ablifh regulations in the cafes not pro- 
 vided for by the Bill : with power at any 
 time to make additions and alterations : every 
 regulation to be approved of by the Judges 
 afore mentioned. 
 
 Sedlion XXII. enumerates the different 
 claffes of officers to be appointed for each 
 Labour-houfe : empowers the Committees 
 to make removals and fupply vacancies, and 
 to exadl fecurity for the due execution of the 
 refped:ive offices. 
 
 Thefe officers are to be. 
 
 Contents 
 of Sec- 
 tions from 
 XX. to 
 LII. 
 
 Sea. 
 xxr. 
 
 p. 17. 
 
 Power to 
 make re- 
 gulations 
 for the 
 Labour- 
 houfes. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 xxir. 
 p. 18. 
 
 Eftablifli- 
 ment of 
 officers. 
 
 ralized by an aft on purpofe. The fame thing may be 
 obferved refpefting a firing of provifions at the end of 
 the bill. 
 
 I. Two 
 
zS A View of the Hard-Lahur BiU. 
 
 Se<a. I. Two vifitors. 
 
 XXII. ^ 
 
 P jg^ 2. One governor. 
 
 3. One chaplain. 
 
 4. One furgeon or apothecary, 
 
 5. One ftorekeeper. 
 
 6. One tafk-mafter. 
 
 7. One gaoler. 
 
 8. " Such under-kcepers, and other 
 " officers, as the Committee Ihall judge 
 " necelTary." 
 
 Sea. Section XXIII. relpetls the falary of the 
 
 o * governors : it direfts that this falarv fhall be 
 p. 18. ^ , ' 
 
 Governor fo ordered by the Committee as to " bear a 
 tohavean cc conftant proportion to the quantity of la- 
 i:he work. " bour performed in each houfe " and arife 
 chiefly, or, if poflible, totally from that 
 fource : and this to the end, that " it may 
 " become the intereji as well as the duty of 
 " each governor to fee that all perfons un- 
 " der his cuftody be regularly and profitably 
 employed." 
 
 cc 
 
 OBSERVATIONS, 
 
 The principle here Jaid down as the ground of 
 the above provifion, is an excellent lefTon to legif- 
 lators, and is of more ufe in that viev/, than from 
 its feeming obvioufnefs when announced, it might 
 at firft appear to be. 'Tis owing to the negle£l 
 of it, that we hear fuch frequent complaints of 
 
 thq 
 
'A View of the Hard -Labour Bill. 27 
 
 the inexecution of the laws ; a misfortune ordi- Sefl. 
 Iiarily charged to the account of individuals ; XXIIl. 
 but which ought in fail to be charged upon the * * 
 laws themfelves. The direillon here given is 
 a happy application of that principle. It is by 
 ftrokes like thefe that genius and penetration 
 diftinguifh themfelves from (hallownefs and empi- 
 ric! fm. The means that are c-mployed to connedl 
 the obvious intereft, of him whofe condudl is in 
 queition, with his duty, are what every law has 
 to depend on for Its execution. A legiflator, who 
 knows his bufiiiefs, never thinks it finiflied. while 
 any feafible expedient remains untried, that can 
 contribute to flrcngthcn this connetSlion. The 
 Utopian fpeculator unwarrantably prefumes, that a 
 man's condufl (on which fide foever his intereft 
 lie) w;7/ quadrate with his duty, or vainly regrets 
 that it will not fo. 
 
 The objcdl in view in it, we fee, is partly 
 Dtconomical and partly moral -y that fuch a profit 
 be drawn from the labour of the convi<Sts as may 
 altogether, or at leaft in part, compenfate the ex- 
 pence of the eftabliftiment ; and that the morals 
 of the convi£ls may be improved by a habit of 
 fleady and well-dirediied induftry. The means 
 by which it aims at the attainment of this ob- 
 je<3:, are the giving to the perfon who has the 
 government of the convidls, an intereft in cauf- 
 ingthe labour to be thus applied. This, as far as 
 it goes, is excellent; but perhaps there are means 
 by which the power applied to produce labour 
 might receive a ftill further encreafe. This 
 
 power 
 
2^ J Fieia of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 XXII r 
 p. 1 
 
 Seft.^ power can operate no farther than as it comes 
 home to the perfons whofe labour is in queftion. 
 Thefe perfons are the convifts. Giving the go- 
 vernor an emolument in proportion to the labour 
 they exert, it is expected, will caufe them to exert 
 more labour than they would otherwife j why ? 
 becaufe the governor will employ fuch means as 
 he has in his hands to induce them to exert it. 
 Thefe means muft be tiih&v punijhment or reward y 
 thefe being the only certain inducements by which 
 one man can influence the condu6l of another. 
 Of thefe two inducements, punifhment is the moft 
 obvious, and at firft view, the leaft coftly to him 
 who is to apply them. Taken fingly, however, it is 
 not always the moft efficacious, nor in the end 
 the moft ©economical. The quantity of work 
 done will depend upon the ability of the 
 workmen ; the quantity of work which a tafk- 
 mafter can exaiSl by dint of punifhment, will de- 
 pend upon the apparent ability of the workmen. 
 Nov/, if the apparent ability of the workmen were 
 always equal to the real, punifhment alone might 
 be fufficient to extract from him all the labour 
 he can exert. But this is not the cafe : a man 
 can always fupprcfs without poffibility of de- 
 tection, a great part of the ability he aSlually 
 poiTclles, and ftifle in embrio all the further ftock 
 of ability he itiight have pofTefTed in future. To 
 extraifl, therefore, all the labour that can be got 
 from him, it is necefTary to apply reward, in aid 
 of punifhment j and not only to punifh him for 
 failing fhort of the apparent meafure of his ability, 
 
 but 
 
A Fiezv of the Hard-Labour Bill. 29 
 
 but to reward hliii for exceeding it. Thus it is, Sed. 
 that the courfe which recommends itfelf to fe7iti- ^^^y* 
 ment, as the moft humane, approves itfelf to rea- 
 fon as the moft ufeful. 
 
 It feems, therefore, as if it might be an ufeful 
 fupplement to the above provifion, if the convi<5ls 
 themfclves were to be allowed fome profit, in pro- 
 portion to the produce of their own labour. This 
 profit fliould be the grofi profit ; becaufe that de- 
 pends upon thcmfelves j not the clear profit, be- 
 caufe that depends upon the occonomy of the 
 governor. Such a provifion v/ould have a double 
 good effeiSt, on the welfare of the public at large, 
 in making their labour more productive ; and on 
 their own happinefs, by making them take a plea- 
 fure in their bufinefs. 
 
 It is to be obferved, however, that this regula- 
 tion can have effe(St only in the cafe where the 
 produce of the labour of one man can be diflin- 
 guiflied from that cf the labour of another. From 
 a pafTage in fedion 27th, it looks as if the notion 
 of the author were, that it could be done in all 
 kinds of manufa<5lures. But this, I fear, is hardly 
 the cafe. If not, would it or would it not be 
 worth while to reftricSl the employment of the con- 
 vi<Sls to fuch manuladures in which it could be 
 done ? Where it cannot, the profit that each man 
 can reap from his own labour will be leflened in 
 proportion as the number of his comrades is en- 
 crcafed. To illuflrate this. 
 
 Let 
 
Sea, 
 xxiir. 
 p. 18. 
 
 L^ Fiew of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 r 1 
 
 d. 
 
 Let the value of "^ 
 the grofs pro- j 
 
 duce of each }, , , a thafis hv ' f 
 
 t^.^'c 1 u ^bytheday^ 2* v^natiSjDy s, 
 man s labour ^ ^ -^ ^ 6 ,'^the week f 3 
 
 be, upon an J I | I 
 
 average, j [ j ^ 
 
 Let the profit al- 
 lovi^ed him be 
 one-fixth. 
 
 / that is, by \ <5^- /that is, by J 
 f the day "l ^ fthe week J 
 
 Ifhe has five com- 
 rades, whofe 
 work is blend- 
 ed indiftin- 
 guifliably with 
 his own, fo 
 that there are 
 fix perfons in ^^bytheday"* 
 all to fliare the 
 profit of his la- 
 bour, hisfhare 
 will be but 
 one - fixth of 
 that one-fixth, 
 that is. 
 
 of 
 I 
 
 d. 
 
 I J 
 
 by the ^ 
 week 
 
 I 
 
 L 
 
 He fhares, it is true, in the profit upon their la- 
 bour; but over this he has not that command that 
 he has over his own. He knows, therefore, that he 
 cannot depend upon it. If he could depend upon 
 it, it would not be worth his while to exert his 
 own. 
 
 A queftion 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 31 
 
 p. 18. 
 
 A queftion that occurs here is, in what manner Seft. 
 Hiall the workman be let in to participate of the XXIIi. 
 profits ? (hall he be enjoined a certain tafk without 
 profit, and then be allowed the whole profit upon 
 the overplus ? or, fhall he be enjoined a lefs 
 taflc, and then be allowed a fhare only in the pro- 
 fit upon the overplus ? or, fhall he be allowed a 
 fhare, but of courfe a lefs fhare, upon every part 
 of the produce of his labour, be it lefs or more ? 
 All thefe three expedients appear to be pradlifed 
 in different foreign work-houfes. The firft (or 
 poffibly the fecond) in the great houfe of correc- 
 tion at Ghent * ; the fecond, in the houfe of cor- 
 re(5lion at De/ft in Holland f ; the third, in the 
 great houfe of correflion in Hamburgh %' The 
 firft, however, is liable to this objection ; if the 
 talk be fuch, as any man of the leaft degree of 
 adroitnefs can perform, it muft to fome of the 
 moft adroit, be a very flight one ; to fuch perfons 
 the reward will be a very lavifh one ; more cer- 
 tainly than is neceffary, perhaps more than is 
 expedient. If it be fuch as require more natural 
 adroitnefs than falls to the (hare of every body, 
 fome will be altogether excluded from the reward. 
 The fecond expedient too, will, in a greater or 
 lefs degree, be liable to the one or the other of 
 thefe objeftions. The third is free from both : 
 this, therefore, feems to be the preferable one of 
 the three. 
 
 See Howard J43. f lb. 132. 
 
 t lb. 116. 
 
 As 
 
32 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Sedl. 
 XXIII. 
 p. 1 8. 
 
 As to the making the emoluments of the gover- 
 nor bear a conftant proportion to the quantity of 
 labour, the beft way feems to be to give him fo 
 much per cent, upon the produce of it, at the fame 
 time enfuring it not to fall fhort of fuch or fuch 
 a fum ; fuppofe one hundred pounds a year. The 
 fum it is thus infured at, muft, on the one hand, 
 be as 7nuch as is requifite to induce a competent 
 perfon to undertake the charge : on the other hand. 
 It muft not be fo much as appears likely to come 
 near the probable profit that might be made from 
 the per centage upon the produce of the labour. 
 If this profit were to be lefs than the falary al- 
 lowed in lieu of it, or indeed, if it were but 
 little more, it would not make it worth his while 
 to beftow the trouble it might take him to improve 
 that fund to the beft advanta2;e. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 p. 18. 
 
 Eftabliih- 
 ment of 
 officers 
 how va- 
 riable. 
 
 Seftion XXIV. gives power to the Com- 
 mittees to " encreafe, diminifh, difcontinue, 
 " or vary the number of officers," with the 
 approbation of the judges as before; " ex- 
 " cept by taking away or difcontinuing the 
 " offices of 
 
 " I. Vifitor. 
 
 " 1. Governor. 
 
 " 3. Chaplain. 
 
 *' 4. Surgeon or apothecary." 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 PofTibly the meaning might have been more 
 10 clearly 
 
'A View of the Hard-Labour Bill, 
 
 33 
 
 clearly exprefled by giving the power to Tupprefs 
 any of the officers mentioned in fe6tion 22d, (ex- 
 cept as herein is excepted) or create any new ones, 
 or alter the number of officers in each office. 
 Thus ample, at leaftj I take the powers to have 
 been, that were meant to be conferred. 
 
 Seft. 
 XXIV. 
 p. i8. 
 
 Se6lion XXV. eftabliflies the oeconomical 
 powers of the governor. 
 
 I. It conflitiices him a body corporate. 
 
 1. It empowers him to contract for the 
 articles wanted in the houfe : to wit, 
 
 1. For cloathing, diet, and other ne- 
 Ceflaries, for the ufe of the convicts. 
 
 2. For implements and materials of 
 any manufa6lure they may be employed 
 in. 
 
 3. It empowers him to carry on fuch manu- 
 facture, and to fell the produce. 
 
 4. It impowers him to draw on the trea- 
 furers of the feveral counties included within 
 the diftrid, for the amount of the above ex- 
 pences. 
 
 5. Alfo for the other expences of the 
 houfe, under the following heads, viz, ' 
 
 1. Salaries. 
 
 2. Wages. 
 
 3. Coroner's fees. 
 
 4, Funeral charges. 
 
 D 
 
 Sea. 
 XXV. 
 
 p. 19. 
 
 Governor 
 a body 
 corporate 
 — his 
 oecono- 
 mical 
 powers. 
 
 5. Re- 
 
34 -^ V^^'^^ °J ^^^ Hard Labour Bill, 
 
 Seft. c. Repairs. 
 
 XXV" 
 p^ J * 6. Other necelTaries in general. 
 
 6. It impowers him to draw for the firft 
 quarter in advance : fuch draught being 
 allowed by the Committee, and counter- 
 figned by their clerk. 
 
 7. Laftly. Whatever monies he receives 
 as above, it enjoins him to apply to the 
 purpofes for which they are ilTued. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 It Could hardly have efcaped the notice of the 
 author, to what a degree the power of making 
 thefe contracts lies open to abufe ; and yet, upon 
 the face of the claufe now before us, this power 
 is committed folely to the governor, without any 
 exprefs reference to the Committee for their con- 
 currence. The danger, however, is not altoge- 
 ther unprovided againft. They have a general 
 power of difplacing him ; and the dependance 
 feems to have been upon their availing themfelves 
 of that power to exercife an occafional negative 
 upon thefe contra(fl:s, or to make fuch general 
 regulations they fhould deem requifite to obviate 
 the abufe. 
 
 3^'r Seflion XXVI. proportions the fum to be 
 
 p. 19. drawn for upon each county, &c. within the 
 
 Expencei (ii{];i-i^ ^q ^\-^q averao-e number of the con- 
 how to be ° 
 appor- vidls 
 
A Vieiv of the Hard-Labour Bill, J 5 
 
 vi6ls, as declared in Scftion 8*. Difputes tioned 
 
 concerning the proportions it refers to the t]^°c(Kin- 
 
 Judges, as before f, whofe determination it ties, 
 makes final. 
 
 Seftion XXVII. prefcribes the accounts Seft. 
 
 XXVII 
 that are to be kept by the governor, ftore- ^o * 
 
 keeper, and taflc-mafter. Accounts 
 
 I. The governor is direfted to enter into !° 
 
 a book " all accounts touching; the mainte- 
 
 kept. 
 
 nance of the houfe, and the convidls therein." 
 
 2. The governor and ftorekeeper are each 
 to keep feparate accounts of all the ftock 
 brought into the houfe. 
 
 3. The ftore-keeper is to deliver out the 
 ftock to the tafk-mafter, and take receipts 
 from him. 
 
 4. The tafk-mafter is to deliver out the 
 work to the convids. 
 
 5. The tafk-mafter is to keep accounts of 
 the quantities daily worked by them refpec- 
 tively. 
 
 6. He is to return the materials, when 
 wrought, to the ftore-keeper, taking his re- 
 ceipt for them. 
 
 7. He is to difpofe of the wrought mate- 
 rials, with the privity of the governor, to 
 
 • Sec Tab. II. Col. 5. f SeeSea. 11, 21. 
 
 D 2 whom 
 
26 
 
 Sea. 
 pcxvii. 
 
 p. 20. 
 
 Seft. 
 XXVIII. 
 
 p. 21. 
 
 — and 
 audited. 
 
 A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 whom he is to pay the produce : for which 
 the governor is declared to be accountable 
 to the Committee. 
 
 8. The governor and ftore-keeper are to 
 keep feparate accounts of the materials 
 wrought and difpofed of under the following 
 heads : 
 
 1. Species and quantity of the materials 
 in queftion. 
 
 2. For what fold. 
 
 3. When fold. 
 
 4. To whom fold. 
 
 Se6lion XXVIII. direfts the manner in 
 which the above accounts Ihall be audited 
 by the Committee : 
 
 1. They are to examine the entries, to 
 compare them with the vouchers, to verify 
 them by the oaths of the governor and ftore- 
 keeper, and upon that to allow or difallow 
 them. 
 
 2. An account, if allowed, is to be 
 figned by two or more members of the 
 Committee. 
 
 3. If the balance fliould be in favour of 
 the governor, they are to pay him by 
 draughts in the manner above fet forth * : if 
 
 • See Seft. XXV. 
 
 againft 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 37 
 
 againft him, they may either leave it in his ^|^^' 
 hands, or order it to be paid over as they p. 21.* 
 think proper. 
 
 Section XXIX. empowers the Committee, Y-jfy 
 in cafe of their fufpefting fraud, to examine p. 21.' 
 upon oath any perfons whatfoever refpeding Their 
 the above accounts ; and in cafe of any falfe auditors, 
 entry, or fraudulent omifTion, or other 
 fraud, or any collufion of an officer or fer- 
 vant with any other officer or fervant, or 
 with any other perfon, to difmifs the officer 
 or fervant, and appoint another : or, if they 
 think fit, to indi6t the offender at the next 
 Sefiions of the Peace for the place wherein 
 the houfe is fituated : and it limits the pu- 
 niffiment to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, 
 or imprifonment not exceeding fix months, 
 or both : faving the right of aftion to any 
 party injured. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 With refpeft to the puniftiment of officers, 
 this fe(Elion, when compared with fedion 24, 
 feems not altogether free from ambigurty. Af- 
 ter impo^ering the Committee to difmifs officers 
 for mifbehaving in any of the manners fpeciiied, 
 it goes on and fubjoins, in the disjunctive, another 
 mode of puniftiment ; they may be difmilTed, it 
 fays, " or" indicted. It looks, from hence, as 
 D 3 if 
 
jS A View of the "Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 p. 21. 
 
 Se£t. if it were not the intention of the author, that 
 an offender of the defcription in queftion Ihould 
 be punilhed by difmiffion and indidlment both ; 
 yet this he might be, notwithftanding, under the 
 general power of difmiffion at pleafure, given by 
 feclion 24 ; unlefs this fe£lion be underftood pro 
 tanto to repeal the other. 
 
 It may be faid by way of reconciling the two 
 fedions, th^it the fenfe is, that the offender may, 
 if thought proper, be difmiffed, or he may be in» 
 dialed J but that if he has been difmiffed, he is 
 not to be indicted. But fuppofe him to have 
 been indicted firjl, and perhaps convi^led, may 
 he, or may he not then afterwards be difmijfed ? 
 
 As to the quantum of puniftiment allowed to be 
 infii6led upon indiftment, this may, perhaps, 
 be liable, though in a much inferior degree, tp 
 the objection againft a correfpondent provifion 
 ftated in fefiion 18. 
 
 With refpect to the jurifdi6tion within which 
 the indiftment is to be preferred, may there not 
 be feme danger in confining it to the fcffions of 
 the peace for the very place within which the 
 houfe is fituated ? Suppofe the delinquent to be a 
 governor, and the houfe to be fituated in a fmall 
 town, fuch as Warwick or JVelh * j the houfe at 
 Warwick is calculated for 118 convi<Sl:s ; that at 
 TVells for 126. The contrafts for the mainte- 
 nance of the houfe are all to be made by the go- 
 vernor ; might not this privilege give him a con- 
 
 * See Table II. Col. 
 
 fiderable 
 
A View of the Herd-Labour Bill. 39 
 
 fiderablc degree of influence among the grand Scft. 
 jurymen for fuch fmall places as thofe towns. ^'^»'^» 
 There are no feparate feflions indeed for IVcUs or ^* 
 JVarwick \ fo that the grand jurymen at the {q{- 
 fions there, would come out of the body of the 
 county. But it might very well happen, on any 
 given occafion, that the grand juries for the re- 
 fpedlive counties might, the greater part of them, 
 come out of thofe towns j and the towns of Lin- 
 coin., Norivich., Durham^ York^ Gloucejler^ JForceJier, 
 Exeter^ and Chejhr^ all of them places wherein the 
 Committees arc to meet, and within which there- 
 fore Labour-houfcs are likely enough to be fitu- 
 ated, have all feparate feffionsof their own. The 
 houfes, indeed, are dirccSlcd not to be ** tuiibln 
 *' any town, If any other convenient place can 
 " be found ■" that is, not encompafled with 
 buildings; but this may upt every where hinder 
 their being within the juriiJidtiou : nor is the di- 
 redlion peremptory; and they are recommended to 
 be 7iear a town, to wit, a town of trade. The 
 danger certainly is not very great ; but it may be 
 obviited without difficulty. All that is neccllary 
 is, to impower the Committee, if they think fit, to 
 prefer the indi(fi:ment in any adjoining county at 
 large; or in London or Adiddlcfex, if the dillriiil 
 be in the home circuit. 
 
 Seftion XXX. declares for what offences, Sea. 
 
 XXX. 
 and for what terms, convi6ls may be com- p. -22'. 
 
 mitted to thefe houfes. Thefe are Convids 
 
 what, 
 when and 
 D 4 For forwhac 
 
40 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill 
 
 terms to 
 be com- 
 mitted to 
 thefe 
 houfes. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 p. 23. 
 —how to 
 be dif. 
 poftfd of 
 till the 
 houfe is 
 fead/. 
 
 For petty larceny, J "">^ ^^^^ "°^ ^^^^^^- 
 
 ing two years. 
 
 For offences 
 punifhable by -{ 
 tranfportation. 
 
 for 7 years 
 
 any term not 
 exceeeding 5 
 years, nor lefs 
 than I year. 
 
 !any term nop 
 exceeding 7 
 years. 
 
 I 
 
 Offenders are to be lent to the houfes as 
 foon as the Committee certifies to t\it judges, 
 as before % that the houfe is ready to re- 
 ceive them. 
 
 Seflion XXXI. empowers the feveral 
 courts in the mean time, until the Labour 
 Houfes are made ready, to commit of- 
 fenders to the County Bridewells^ injoining 
 the Juftices in SefTions to fit up thofe places 
 for the " temporary reception, fafe cuftody, 
 " employment, and due regulation of the 
 offenders" that are to be fent there : and it 
 declares that for fuch time the places in 
 queilion fliall be deemed Labour-houfes, for 
 
 • See Sedt. 11, 21, 26. 
 
 all 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 41 
 
 all the piirpofcs within the meaning of this 
 Aft. 
 
 Seflion XXXII. is confined to jnale con- 
 vi6ts. It empowers Courts to commit of- 
 fenders of the male fex to work upon the 
 Thames, or upon any other river that may- 
 be fixed upon for that purpofe by an order 
 of council. Thefe are to work under the 
 dircdion of a fuperiniendant : to be ap- 
 pointed, for the Thames, by the Juftices of 
 Middlefex ; for anv other river, by the Juf- 
 tices of fuch adjoining counties as fhall be 
 fixed upon by the privy council. 
 
 The terms! f f "l 
 
 for which , not to I I 
 
 nor to 
 
 Sea. 
 xxxr. 
 p. 23. 
 
 Se£t. 
 
 xxxir. 
 p. 24. 
 
 — what 
 to be or- 
 dered to 
 hard la- 
 bour up- 
 on rivers. 
 
 they may ^be lefs ^lyear,^ 
 
 be com- 
 mitted are 
 
 than 
 
 L 
 
 exceed 1 
 
 L 
 
 The provifions of this Section are in the 
 preambular part of it declared to be de- 
 figned " for the more fevere and eff'edlual 
 " punifhment of atrocious and daring of- 
 « fenders." 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The confinement and labour upon the Thames is 
 looked upon, it appears from this, as being feverer 
 
 than 
 
26 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 p. 24. 
 
 Sea. 
 XXXIII. 
 
 p. 24. 
 
 Provifo 
 for con- 
 vifts par- 
 doned on 
 condi- 
 tion. 
 
 than the confinement and labour is at prefent in the 
 county bridewells, or is expe6led to be in the La- 
 bour-houfes in queftton. It is not exprefsly refer- 
 red to the option of the courts, which of thefe 
 two fpecies of hard-labour or confinement they 
 will order a man to : but as, by feparate claufes, 
 they are impowered to order a convict of the de- 
 fcription in qiieftion to each, and not perempto- 
 rily enjoined to order him to either ; it follows of 
 neceflity, that it was meant they fhould have that 
 option. The preambular words above quoted be- 
 ing too loofe to operate in the way of command^ 
 can be intended only for dircSiion. 
 
 With regard to the fuprintendent under whofe 
 management the Thames convids are to be, it 
 fpeaks of him as one who is ta he appointed by the 
 Middlcfex Juflices. Now, the prefent a£l under 
 which the prefent fuperintendent ha$ been ap- 
 pointed, is, by the laft fedtion of the bill to be re- 
 pealed. This being the cafe, it looks as if a frefli 
 appointment of the fame or fome other perfon to 
 be fuperintendent would be neceflary, unlefs fome 
 flight alteration were made in the wording of this 
 claufe. 
 
 Sedtion XXXIII. extends the provifions re- 
 fpefting convifts fentenced to tranfportation, 
 to capital convi£ts pardoned on that condi- 
 tion : and it allows and enjoins any one Judge, 
 before whom the offender was tried, upon 
 a written notification of his Majefty's mer- 
 cy, given by a fecretary of ftate, to allow the 
 
 offender 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour . Bill. 43 
 
 offender the benefit of a conditional pardon, Seft. 
 
 as if it were under the Great Seal. „ ,, * 
 
 p. 24. 
 
 Seflion XXXIV. prefcribcs the method in Seft. 
 
 which an ©fTcnder is to be conveyed from XXXIV. 
 
 p. zc. 
 the place of fentence to the place of pu- how to 
 
 nidiment, too-ether with the documents by ^^ ^°"- 
 
 . . . . vcyed, 
 
 which the right of conveying him thither, andun- 
 
 and keeping him there, is to be eftabliflied. '^^^ what 
 
 Upon the making of any order for the ^ate. 
 
 commitment of an offender to hard-labour, 
 
 a certificate is to be given by the clerk of 
 
 the court to the fheriff" or gaoler who has 
 
 him in cuitody. 
 
 In this certificate are to be fpecified, 
 
 1. The Chriftian name of the offender. 
 
 2. His fur- name. 
 
 3. His age. 
 
 4. His off'ence. 
 
 5. The court in which he was con- 
 victed. 
 
 6. The term for which he is ordered 
 to hard-labour. 
 
 Immediately after the receiving fuch certi- 
 ficate, the gaoler is to caufe the offender to 
 be conveyed to the place of punifliment, 
 and to be delivered, together with the certi- 
 ficate, as the cafe is, 'to the governor or 
 fuperintendent, or *' fuch perfon or perfons 
 
 *• as 
 
44 -^ y^sw of ihe Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Sea. « as fuch governor or fuperintendent fliall 
 p. 25.* " appoint:" and the perfon who receives 
 him is to give a receipt in writing, under 
 his hand : which receipt is declared to be a 
 fufficient difcharge to the perfon who deli' 
 vers him. This certificate " the governor 
 " or fuperintendent, or other perfon or per- 
 " fons to whom fuch offender fhall be fo 
 " delivered," is required " carefully to pre- 
 " ferve." 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 With refpe<5l to the words, '* fuch perfon or per- 
 *' fons as fuch governor or fuperintendent fhall ap- 
 ** point," I doubt feme little difficulty may arife. 
 Does the paflage mean any perfon in general acting 
 under the governor or fuperintendent ? any perfon 
 employed by them as a fervant in the difcharge of 
 the duties of their office ? or does it mean, that 
 fome one particular perfon or perfons ftiould be 
 appointed by them for this particular purpofe j fo 
 that a delivery made to any other perfon in their 
 fervice ftiould not be good ? On the one hand, it 
 is not every perfon w^ho may be occafionally em- 
 ployed in the fervice, whom it would be fafe to 
 truft with fuch a charge : on the other hand, it 
 might be attended with a good deal of inconve- 
 nience, if upon any occafion the governor or fu- 
 perintendent, and any one perfon refpedlively ap- 
 pointed by them for this purpofe, fnould by any 
 accident be both abfent or difabled by illnefs. A 
 3 remedy 
 
A View of the H^rd-Lahour Bill. 45 
 
 remedy to both inconvenicncies may be the di- Seft. 
 redino- the eovernor to give ftandinjr authorities ^ * ' 
 for this purpofe in writing, to fuch a number 
 of his fervants, as miiy obviate any danger there 
 might be of their being all out of the way at the 
 fame time. In fuch cafe, there could be no in- 
 convenience in making it neccfTary to the dif- 
 charge of him who is to deliver the prifoner, that 
 he who is to receive him, fhall have produced and 
 fhewn him fuch authority. 
 • 
 
 Seftion XXXV. provides for the fees and Seft. 
 
 XXXV 
 expences of conveyance. The clerk of the ^^^ 
 
 court, on granting the certificate, and the Charges 
 
 flierifF or gaoler, on delivering the offender, °gy°nc5. 
 
 are to have the fame fees as would refpe6tive- 
 
 ly have been due to them had he been 
 
 " fentenced to" tranfportation. 
 
 The expence of thofe fees, and the other 
 
 expences of conveyance, are to be borne by 
 
 the jurifdi6lion over which the court pre- 
 
 fides J and are to be paid by the clerk of 
 
 the court, upon an order made by the 
 
 General SefTions of the peace for the jurif- 
 
 di6tion. 
 
 Sedlion XXXVI. appoints, in general Seft. 
 
 XXXVI 
 terms, the powers a governor or fuperin- 26.* 
 
 tendent, or perfons adling under them, are Gover- 
 
 to hi:ve, and the punilhments they are to be Supgrrn- 
 
 liablc tendents. 
 
46 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill, 
 
 their ge- 
 neral 
 powers 
 and pu- 
 aifh- 
 ments. 
 
 Sedl. 
 XXXVII. 
 
 p. 27. 
 
 Convids 
 —works 
 they are 
 to be em- 
 ployed 
 in. 
 
 liable to in cafe of mifbehaviour : thofe 
 powers and thefe punilliments it declares to 
 be the fame as are incident to the office of 
 a fherifF or gaoler. 
 
 Se6bion XXXVII. gives dire6bions refpedt- 
 ing the fpecies of work in which the con- 
 victs are to be employed. For this purpofe 
 it marks out two clafTes of employments, 
 correfpondent to fo many different degrees 
 of bodily fbrength. Thofe whofe ftrength 
 is in the firft degree, whether of the one fex 
 or the other, it deflines -to labour of the 
 " hardeft and mod fervile kind:" thofe 
 whofe ftrength is in a lower degree, to 
 " lefs laborious employments:" and in de- 
 termining whether an offender Ihall be 
 deemed to come under one of thefe clalTes 
 or another, it direfts that the three circum- 
 ftances of healthy age, and/^;c, be all taken 
 into confideration. 
 
 Of each of thefe clafles of employment it 
 gives examples. Of the hardeft and moft 
 fervile kind it propofes, 
 
 1. Treading in a wheel. 
 
 2. Drawing in a capftern for turning a 
 mill, or other machine or engine. 
 
 3. Beating hemp. 
 
 4. Rafping logwood. 
 
 8 5. Chopping 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour BilL 
 
 47 
 
 5. Chopping rags, 
 
 6. Sawing timber. 
 
 7. Working at forges. 
 
 8. Smelting. 
 
 Of the lefs laborious clafs, it inflances : 
 
 1. Making ropes. 
 
 2. Weaving facks. 
 
 3. Spinning yarn. 
 
 4. Knitting nets. 
 
 Of thefe, and other fuch employments, 
 it leaves it to the Committees, to'choofe 
 fuch as they fliall deem moft conducive to 
 the profit, and confiftent with the conve- 
 nience, of the diftrid. 
 
 Seftion XXXVIII. regulates the lodg- 
 ment of the offenders. 
 
 I. The males are at all times to be kept 
 " feparate from the females ; without the 
 " leail communication on any pretence 
 " whatfoever." 
 
 1. Each offender is in all cafes to have 
 a feparate room to fleep in. 
 
 3. Each offender, as far as the nature of 
 his employment will admit, is to work apart 
 from every other. 
 
 4. Where the nature of the employment 
 requires two perfons to work together, the 
 
 room 
 
 Sea. 
 
 xxxvrr. 
 
 p. a;. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 xxxviir. 
 p. 27. 
 
 — their 
 lodging 
 and man- 
 ner of 
 working. 
 
4^ A View of tha Hard-Lahour Eilh 
 
 Sea. room they work in is direfted to be of 
 
 XXXVIII. '^ w* 
 
 p. 27, ' " fuitable dimenfions." 
 
 5. Such two perfons fhall not continue 
 together but during the hours of work. 
 
 6. Nor fhall the fame two perfons work 
 together for more than three days fuccef- 
 fively. 
 
 7. If the nature of the work requires 
 *^ many" to be employed together, " a com- 
 " mon work-room or flied" may be allotted 
 them. 
 
 • 8. But in this cafe the governor, or fome- 
 
 body under him, " fliall be conllantly pre- 
 " fent to attend to their behaviour." 
 
 9. If the work require inftruction, in- 
 ftruftors Ihall be provided, who fhall be 
 paid by the Committee. 
 
 It likewife gives fome direflions con- 
 cerning the dimenfions and flrudlure of 
 the lodging-rooms. 
 
 rj.i "J length f twelve feet. 
 
 J. >breadth< eight ditto, 
 not to exceed ml,., I ,'^ ,. 
 
 J height (.eleven ditto. 
 
 1. They are to have no window within 
 fix feet of the floor. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 Nothing can be better contrived than this 
 little firing of regulations. They appear to be 
 
 fuch 
 
A View of the Hard- Labour Bill. 49 
 
 be fuch as cannot but be conducive in the highcfl Seft. 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 degree to the two great purpofes of fafe cuftody 0,37. * 
 and reformation. They involve, it is true, a very 
 confidcrable degree of expence ; but perhaps there 
 is no cafe in which there is more to be faid in 
 behalf of a liberal fupply. 
 
 With regard, indesd, to the firft of the above 
 rcflraints, this, it muft be confefled, is of itfelf, 
 in fome cafes, a pretty fevere, and upon the 
 "whole, rather an unequal punifliment. The 
 amorous appetite Is in fome perfons, particularly 
 in the male fex, fo ftrong, as to be apt, if not 
 gratified, to produce a fcrious bad efFc6t upon the 
 health : in others, it Is kept under without diffi- 
 culty. On the fcore of punifhment, therefore, 
 this hardftiip, could it be avoided, would, 011 
 account of its inequality, be ineligible. Under 
 a religion which, like the Mahometan or Gcntoo, 
 makes no account of the virtue of continence, 
 means, perhaps, might be found not inconfiftent 
 with the peace of the fociety, by which thefe 
 hardfhips might be removed. But the Chriftian 
 religion, at leafl: according to the notions ewter- 
 tained of it in protcftant countries, requires the 
 temporal governor to put an abfolute negative upon 
 any expedients of this fort. Since then the grati- 
 fication of this defire is unavoidably forbidden, the 
 beft thing that can be done is, to feclude the 
 parties, as much as poflible, from the view of every 
 object that can have a tendency to foment it. 
 On this account, the firft of thefe regulations is 
 as ftronglv recommended by humanity as a means 
 E of 
 
50 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Seft. 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 p. 27. 
 
 ofpreferving the quiet of each individual convict, 
 as it is by policy as a means ofpreferving the peace 
 of thevi^hole community of them at large. Happi- 
 ly the difpofitions of nature in this behalf feconds, 
 in a confiderable degree, the difpofitions of the 
 legiflator. Hard-labour, vi^hen not compenfated 
 by nourifhing and copious diet, has a ftrong ten- 
 dency to diminifh the force of thefe defires, whe- 
 ther by diverting the attention, or by diminifh- 
 ing the irritability of the nervous fyftem, or by 
 weakening the habit of body : and the defire, 
 when the habit of gratifying it is broken off, 
 fubfides and becomes no longer troublefome. 
 
 With regard to the fize of the rooms, this we 
 fee has limits fet to it on the fide of augmenta- 
 tion ; on the fide of diminution it has none. 
 This partial limitation, I muft confefs, I do not 
 very well perceive the rcafon of. Errors, if at 
 all, feem more to be apprehended on the fide of 
 diminution than on that of augmentation. That 
 the rooms fhould not be lefs than of a certain fize, 
 is conducive to health. The danger feems to be, 
 leaft the committees fhould, out of oeconomy, 
 be difpofcd to put up with narrower dimenfions. 
 If the fums provided by the bill out of the national 
 fund are not fufficient, the deficiency, we may re- 
 member, is to be provided for by the counties. 
 
 Sea. 
 XXXIX. . 
 
 Days and WOrk. 
 hours of 
 
 ■^vork. 
 
 Sedtion XXXIX. prefcribcs the times of 
 
 The days of work are, unlefs in cafe 
 
 of 
 
A Vtezu of the Hard-Labour Bill. 51. 
 
 of ill health, to be all days in the year : Scfl, 
 
 XXXIX, 
 ^'^^^P' p. 28. 
 
 I. All Sundays. 
 
 1. Chriflmas-day. 
 
 3. Good-Friday. 
 1. The hours of work, as many as day- 
 light and tlie feafon of the year will permit, 
 including two intervals : to wit 
 
 I. For breakfaft - - - Half an hour. 
 
 1. For dinner - - - One hour. 
 
 3. At the clofe of the day, when working- 
 time is over, fuch of the materials and im- 
 plements as admit of removal, are to be 
 removed from the work-rooms to places 
 proper for their fafe cuftody, there to be 
 kept till it comes round again. 
 
 OBSERVATION'S. 
 
 With refpedl to the hours of work, the dura- 
 tion of day-light, if taken for the fole meafure, 
 (as one would fuppofe it to be by this pafTage in 
 the bill) would, I doubt, be found rather an in- 
 convenient one. In the depth of winter, the time 
 of working can fcarcely begin fo early as eight 
 in the morning, nor continue fo late as four in 
 the afternoon. In the height of fummer, it 
 may begin earlier than three in the morning, and » 
 
 it may continue later than nine in the evening ; 
 but if from eight till four, that is eight hours, be 
 •f- 2, ' enough. 
 
52 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 p. 28. 
 
 Se£t. enough, from three to nine, that is fixteen hours, 
 XXXIX. ^ej-e g^^j^ nothing more than the duration of the 
 labour to be confidered, is furely too much. But 
 labour of the fame duration and intenfity, is feverer 
 in fum.mer than in winter ; heat rendering: a man 
 the lefs able to endure it. The better way, there- 
 fore, feems to be, if not to make the time of work- 
 ing longer in winter than in fummer, at leaft to 
 make it of an equal length. As eight hours, or 
 the leaft time of day-light, therefore, is evidently 
 too fhort a time, this will make it necefTary to 
 have recourfe to lamps or candles. As the walls 
 and floors will of courfe be of brick or ftone, 
 without any combuftible linings, thefe artificial 
 lights can fcarcely be attended with any danger. 
 
 Whatever be the hours of labour fixed upon as 
 moft proper for an average, there are fome among 
 the employments above mentioned *, that will 
 probably be found too laborious for a man to be 
 confined to 'during the whole time. In fuch a 
 cafe, either he muft remain without any thing to 
 do, or employed in fome kind of work fo much 
 lefs laborious as to ferve as a kind of relaxation 
 from the other. The latter courfe feems beyond 
 comparifon the beft. On this account, it feems 
 as if it would be of advantage, that no perfon 
 fhould be confined exclufively to the moft labori- 
 ous of the clafles of erriployments above fpecified; 
 but that fuch offenders as were dcftined principally 
 to an employment of that clafs fhould, for fome 
 part of the day,, be turned over to one of the fe- 
 
 scc Sea. xxxvir. 
 
 dentary 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahoiir Bill. 5J 
 
 dentary kind. On the other hand, neither would Sei5l. 
 it be fo well, perhaps, that offenders of the leaft J 
 
 ~ p. 20. 
 
 robuft clafs fhould be confined wholly to employ- 
 ments purely fedentary. The relief of the former 
 and the health of the latter would, it ftiould feem, 
 be beft provided for by a mixture of the laborious 
 and the fedentary. By this means, the time of the 
 conviiSts might, it fhould feem, be better filled up 
 and the total quantity of their labour rendered 
 more produiSlive. 
 
 The great difficulty is, how to fill up their time 
 on Sundays : for, with regard to men in general, 
 more particularly to perfons of this ftamp, the 
 danger always is, that if their time be not filled 
 xip, and their attention engaged, either by work 
 or by innocent amufement, they will betake them- 
 felves either to mifchief or to defpondency. Di- 
 vine fervlce, it is true, is appointed to be per- 
 formed, and that twice a day ; but that, according 
 to the ordinary duration of it, will not fill up 
 above four hours ; that is, about a quarter of 
 the day. 
 
 To fill up the remainder, four expedients pre- 
 fcnt themfelves. i. One is, to protraifl the time 
 of reft for that day ; which may be done either 
 by letting them lie longer, or fending them to bed 
 earlier. 
 
 Another is, to protracfl: the time of meals. 
 
 A third is, to protraifl the time of divine fer- 
 vice. 
 
 A fourth is, to furnifh them with fome other 
 kind of employment. 
 
 E _^ Th(5 
 
54 -A View of the Hard-Lai our Bill, 
 
 Seft. The two firft are commonly enough prat^ifcd 
 
 XXXIX. 
 p. 28. 
 
 by the working clafs of people at large who are 
 at liberty. But when put both together, they 
 will not go any great way. 
 
 ^ The time of attendance at church might be 
 lengthened in two ways. i. By adding to the 
 ordinary fervice a {landing difcourfe or difcourfes 
 particularly adapted to the circumftances of the 
 congregation. This might confifl:, ift, of pray- 
 ers, 2dly, of thankfgivings ; neither of which, 
 however, could, with propriety, be very long ; 
 and 3dly, of a difcourfe compofed of moral in- 
 ilruflions and exhortations. The inftruilions 
 and exhortations would naturally have two ob- 
 jects ; the conduct of the hearers, ift, during 
 the continuance of their punifhment : 2dly, after 
 their refloration to fociety. 
 
 2. Another way of adding to the church fer- 
 vice is by mufc. This will, at any rate, be 
 a. very agreeable employment to many ; and, if 
 properly managed, may be a very ufeful one to 
 all ; even to thofe who have no natural relifh for 
 mufic in itfelf. The influence which church- 
 mufic has over the generality of men in bringing 
 them to a compofed and ferious turn of mind is well 
 known. The mufic might be either vocal only 
 or ailifted by an organ. In either cafe, the vocal 
 part might, with a little inftruilion, be perform- 
 ed by the congregation themfelves ; as it is at 
 the Magdalen, and other public foundations. 
 
 4thly, As to other employments, walking (in 
 as far as their limits will permit them) might go 
 
 fome 
 
A Vieiv of the Hard-Lahur Bill. 55 
 
 fome way towards filling up their time. This Seft. 
 would be an additional ufe for the garden pro- ^^XIX. 
 pofed in the obfervations to fc(3:ion 13, On this 
 occafion, to prevent infurretflions and cabals, the 
 convi6ls might be connected two and two toge- 
 ther; a flight chain, not heavy enough to incom- 
 mode them by its weight, might anfwcr the pur- 
 pofe : each offender would, by this means, be a 
 clog and a fpy upon his companion. In this 
 view, the idea adopted in fct^ion 38, with re- 
 gard to the manner of working, might be purfu- 
 cd, fo as that the fame two perfons fhould not be 
 coupled together two fucceflive days j nor fliould 
 it be known before hand what two perfons are to 
 be together. To prevent this, the names fhould 
 be drawn out every day by lot. By this means, 
 fuppofing an oft'ender had fucccedcd fo far in a 
 projecSl of efcape or mifchief, as to engage fome 
 one of his comrades to join with him, he could 
 not, for a long time afterwards, unlefs by a very 
 extraordinary turn of chance, refume the con- 
 vcrfation without the privity of two others, whofe 
 difpofitions could not be known before-hand. If 
 the expedient of a garden were to be employed, 
 fuch an arrangement would have a farther good 
 cfFecl, in rendering it more difficult for them to 
 wander out of bounds, and do mifchief to the 
 cultivated part of it. 
 
 The interruptions of bad weather, and the 
 
 fliortnefs of the day, at any other time than the 
 
 heighth of fummer, would ftill leave a confider- 
 
 able part of their time, which could not be filled 
 
 J-: 4 up 
 
5^ ^. View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Seft. up in this manner : either, therefore, thev muft 
 
 C^8 ^^ permitted to employ themfelves in fome other 
 
 "' " ' manner, or they muft be compelled to abfolute 
 
 inadlion. They cannot, as other perfons of the 
 
 working clafs do, employ themfelves on thofe 
 
 days in vifiting their friends. 
 
 They may employ themfelves, it is true, in 
 reading the Bible, or other books of piety j but 
 there will be a great many who cannot read j 
 and of thofe who can, many will have fo little 
 inclination, that on pretence of reading, they 
 will do nothing. 
 
 It is to little purpofe to iflue directions which, 
 in the nature of them, furnifh no evidence of their 
 having been complied with. The not attending 
 to this, is a common ftumbling-block to fuper- 
 ficial reformers. The evidence of a man's hav- 
 ing complied with a diredlion to work, is the 
 work he has done : this may be judged of at a 
 glance ; but what is the evidence of a man's 
 having employed himfelf in reading ? His giving 
 a good account of what he has read ? Unqueftion- 
 ably : but fuch an one as it would be to little 
 purpofe to think of exacting : for, though his 
 attention has been diligent, his memory may be 
 weak. Befides, who is to judge? who could find 
 time enough to catechize fuch a multitude ? It 
 would require no fmall number of fchoolmafters 
 to turn fuch an eftablifhment into a fchool. 
 
 Upon the whole, I can fee no better expedient 
 at prefent than that of permitting them (not ob- 
 liging them, \)\i.t permitting them) to betake them- 
 felves 
 
'A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 57 
 
 felves to fome eafy fedentary employment ; fuch Seft. 
 as knitting, fpinning, or weaving, that might ^^^|^^« 
 afford them a fmall profit. This profit, if made 
 their own, would make the employment plea- 
 fant to them. Devotion, it is true, is better on 
 fuch a day than induftry ; but induftry is better 
 on every day than total idlenefs ; that is, than 
 defpondcncy or mifchief. The neceflity in this 
 cafe fecms at leaft as ftrons; as that which has in- 
 duccd the legiilature to permit the practice of cer- 
 tain trades on the day in queftion, and which is 
 univerfally underftood to authorize pcrfons of all 
 defcriptions to purfue moft of their houfehold oc- 
 cupations. It were hard if an inftitution, con- 
 feffedly no original part of the religion we profefs, 
 but only adopted into it by early practice, and in 
 later times fandlioned by human authority, murt, 
 at all events, be permitted to oppofc the main ends 
 of religion, innocence and peace. 
 
 I fpcak all along under correction ; and what 
 I propofe is only upon the fuppofition, that no 
 other means can be found of filling up their time 
 in a manner more fuitable to the day. 
 
 With regard to the making the windows not 
 Icfs than fix feet above the floor, this regulation is 
 alfo recommended by Mr. Howard*. His defirrn 
 in it I cannot find he has any where mentioned. I 
 fuppofe it to be to prevent the convidls from 
 looking out. The profpeiSls or moving fcenes, 
 whatever they might be, which the windows, if 
 lower, might open to their view, might ferve to 
 diilradt their attention from their work. This 
 
 privation. 
 
5^ A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Se£l. privation may be confidered In the liaht of an 
 /^' independent punifhment, as well as in that of a 
 * means of enfuring their fubje6lion to the other. 
 
 Befides this, Mr. Howard is ftrenuous againft 
 glafs windows ; he would have nothing but open 
 grating. In this cafe, the height of the windows 
 would be a means, in fome meafure, of fhelterrno- 
 
 to 
 
 the inhabitants from the wind, though, on the 
 ether hand, it would expofe them more to rain. 
 I know not, however, that he has been any where 
 explicit in giving hisreafons for reprobating thefe 
 conveniencies. 
 
 One reafon may be, the enfuring a continual 
 fupply of frefh air j but this does not feem conclu- 
 ilve. In apartments, indeed, fo crowded and ill- 
 contrived as many of thofe he had occafion tovifit, 
 the windows being glazed, might, bv accident, 
 be attended with bad effe6ls j for, I think, he . 
 complains in many places, of the clofenefs of 
 fuch rooms, owing, as it feems, either to the 
 v/indows not being made to open, or to the inat- 
 tention or ignorance of the gaoler or prifoners in 
 not opening them. But under the excellent re- 
 gulations provided for thefe houfes, the apart- 
 ments never will be crowded ; they will not be 
 crowded more than thofe of a private houfe ; and 
 in a private houfe it never furely was underftood 
 to be neceffary, or even of ufe to health, that there 
 Ihould be nothing but grates for windows. If the 
 convidls were to eat in a common room, the fetting 
 open the doors and windows for an hour and a half 
 (which is the time allotted them for meals) would 
 be quite fufficient for the purpofe of ventilation. 
 
 Another 
 
A View cf the Hard-Lahour Bill. 59 
 
 Another reafon for having nothing but grating, Seft. 
 may be the contributing to give a gloomy and XXXIX. 
 diftrefsful appearance to the outfide of the prifon. ** 
 This reafon, as f;ir as it applies, fecms to be a 
 very good one. But it applies only to the front 
 of the houfe ; for this is all that need, or indeed, 
 that ought, to be cxpofed to the eyes of paflcngers. 
 The apartments thus expofed, might be deftined 
 for thofe whofe labour was the hardeft, and whofc 
 treatment, upon the whole, was defigned to be 
 the fcvcreft ; or the whole or a great part might 
 be taken up with common worlcing rooms not 
 made ufe of for lodgrino: rooms. 
 
 Sefbion XL. regulates the articles of diet Sea. XL. 
 and apparel. For food the convidls are to -^(^^ ^^^ 
 have apparel. 
 
 1. Bread, and any coarfe meat, " or 
 " other inferior food." 
 
 2. For drink, water or finall beer. 
 
 3. The apparel is to be coarfe and uni- 
 form, with certain obvious marks or badges 
 on it. The declared purpofes of thefe marks 
 are, ifl to humiliate the wearer, adly to 
 prevent efcapes-. 
 
 4. The articles under the above heads are 
 to be ordered in fuch manner as the " Com- 
 " mittee fliall from time to time appoint." 
 
 5. No offender is to be permitted to have 
 
 any 
 
6o A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 Sea. XL. ^j^y other food, " drink, or cloathinff, than 
 p. 28. . 
 
 " fuch as fhall be fo appointed. * 
 
 Perfons wilfully furnifhing him with any 
 
 articles of the above kind, other than what 
 
 fliall have been fo appointed, are to forfeit 
 
 not more than 10/. nor lefs than 40 j. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The expedient of marking the apparel is well- 
 imagined, and quadrates with the practice of fe- 
 veral foreign countries *. It is defigned, we fee, 
 to anfwer two purpofes : ift, that of a feparate 
 punifliment, by holding up the wearer in an igno- 
 minious light : 2dly, that of fafc cuftody, to en- 
 fure the continuance of the whole puniihment to- 
 gether. The firft of thefe purpofes it may be made 
 to anfwer as completely as any other that can be 
 propofcd : with refpedl to the latter, it will readily 
 be acknowledged not to be perfectly efficacious. 
 
 Marks employed for this purpofe, may be either 
 te?nporary or perpetual. Againft perpetual marks 
 in every cafe then, except where the confinement 
 is meant to be perpetual, there is this conclufive 
 objedion, that they protradl a great part of the 
 punifnm.ent b'eyond the time that was meant to 
 be prefcribed to it. Temporary marks may either 
 be extraneous or ijiherent. The marks here pro- 
 pofed are evidently of the former kind. Thefe, 
 fo lono- as they continue, are very efficacious 
 
 * See Howard on Prifons. 
 
 meaus 
 
A View of the Hnrd-Lahour ML 6i 
 
 means of deteiflion, and may be made more palp- Seft. XL, 
 able than any that arc inherent. They ferve very P- *^' 
 well, therefore, as obftacles to an efcapc during 
 the firft moments : in fhort, until fuch time as 
 the fugitive can by force or favour procure frcfii 
 apparel. But if he is once houfcd among his 
 friends or confederates, the ufe of them is at an 
 end. If his perfon be not known, he may go 
 about boldly like another man. 
 
 Inherent marks feem never hitherto^ to have been 
 thought of. Thefe may be produced by either 
 mechanical means or chpnical. 
 
 Inftances of rnechanical means are the partial 
 fliaving of the head, or of the beard, or the chin, or 
 mouth J or the fliaving of one eye-brow. But the 
 mark made by the partial (having of a part of the 
 face, of which the whole is ufually kept fliaved, is as 
 foon got rid of as any mark that is but extraneous : 
 befides that, it is inapplicable to boys and women. 
 The mark made by the ftiaving of one eye-brow 
 feems to promifc better ; but it is not free from all 
 objections. In the firft place it is not abfolutely 
 a fure one. Some pcrfons have naturally fo little 
 hair on their eye-brows, that, if the whole of it 
 were taken off from both, it might not be miffed: 
 and artificial eye-brows are faid to have been made 
 of moufe-fkin, or in other ways, and that fo natural, 
 as not to be detected without previous fufpicion. 
 In the next place, there is fome danger that a 
 mark continually renewed, as this muft be, by 
 repeated fliavings, would be in fome degree per- 
 petual. If the fame eye-brow were to be con- 
 • ftantly fubjeded to the operatigii, the hair might 
 10 be 
 
62 A View of the Hard-hob our Bill, 
 
 Seft. XL. be {o thickened as to appear difFerent from the 
 P* ^°' other eye-brow. If fometimes one eye-brow and 
 fometimes the other were to be fhaved, there muft 
 frequently be times when the growth of them will 
 be alike, and the diftin£lion no longer apparent. 
 As far then as it goes, the beft expedient feems to 
 be the keeping them conftantly both fliaved. 
 
 Inftances of chym'ical means of producing marks 
 are wafhes applied to the forehead, or to one or 
 both cheeks, or, in fliort, to the whole face, fo as 
 to difcolour it. Chymiftry furnifhes many wafhes 
 of this fort. Of feveral of thefe I have often un- 
 defignedly made trial upon myfelf. Various me- 
 tallic folutions produce this efFedl in a ftate fo di- 
 luted as prevents any obje£lion on the fcore of 
 expence *. The ftain lafts without any frefli ap- 
 plication, as long as ^t Jlratiim of fkin which it 
 pervades j that is, to the beft of my recolledlion, 
 about a week. No other wafhes have ever yet 
 been found to difcharge it. 
 
 Marks of this kind, we fee, cannot be put off 
 like thofe of the former ; nor, if made as extenfive 
 as they may be, can they be concealed without 
 fuch a covering as would be almoft equally cha- 
 ra6i:eriftic with the mark itfelf. When the term 
 of punifhment was fo near being expired, that it 
 
 * Solution of gold in aqua regia produces a purplifh 
 colour, folution of filver in aqua foriis , and folution of 
 mercury in the fame acid, a black. Solution of filver 
 is the operative ingredient in feveral of the fluids that 
 are advertifed to dye the hair. 
 
 could 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 63 
 
 could manifeftly not be worth while to run the Seft XL. 
 rifle of an efcape, they might be difufed. For P' 
 greater fecurity, they might be lo fliaped, per- 
 haps, as to exprefs the furnamc of the offender, 
 the firft letter of his Chriftinn name, and the name 
 of the place in which the labour-houfe he belong- 
 ed to was fituated. 
 
 One great advantage of thefe permanent marks 
 with refpedl to the offender, is, that they would 
 render the ufe oi chaijis lefs necefiary. The con- 
 vi6ls upon the Thames^ in confequence of repeated 
 efcapes, are made to work conllantly in fetters. 
 
 By Sedlion XLI. officers and fervants be- ^^^* 
 longing to the houfc are fpecially reilrained p_ 29, 
 from contravening the regulations eftab- Penalties 
 lifhed in the preceding Sedlion. Upon any infHno-- 
 fuch delinquency the offender is to be fuf- ^"g ^^e 
 pended by the governor forthwith : the go- aulations. 
 vernor is to report him to the vifitors, and 
 the vifitors to the Committee at their next 
 meeting. The Committee is to enquire . 
 upon oath, and, if found guilty, to punilli 
 him by 
 
 I . Forfeiture of his place ; 
 
 1. Or fine, not more than ten pounds ; 
 
 3. Or imprifonment, for not more 
 than fix months. 
 
 4. Or any number of fuch punifh- 
 mcnts in conjundion. 
 
 An 
 
'4 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 |e^» An exception is made with regard to any 
 
 p. 29. c^iet or liquors ordered, in cafe of illnefs, by 
 the furgeon or apothccaiy. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The fine in this and the preceding fe£lion is not 
 liable to tiie objedion made to the like provifion 
 in fe<Sl:ion 29. The profit of the offence can 
 never, in any ihape, come nearly equal to the 
 greateft quantum of the fine. Let the offences In 
 the two cafes be compared, it will be {^zn how 
 much greater the temptation is in the latter than 
 in the former. 
 
 The regulations in this and the preceding {zc~ 
 tion, about not punifliing the convicts with any 
 extra articles of confumption, might need to be a 
 little altered, if what I have ventured to propofe 
 concerning the allowing them a part of their 
 earnings * were to be adopted. Thefe earnings 
 muft either be hoarded up for them, to be given 
 them at their difchargc, or allowed them to be 
 fpent. In the firii: cafe, the danger is, lefl an ad- 
 vantage fo diftant, fhould not, in their impru- 
 dent minds, have influence enough to operate as 
 an inducement. *' I may be dead before then," 
 a man may fay, " and what \x{it will all the money 
 " be of to me ? befides, if I am alive, how can 
 " I be fure that I fhall get it? What need have I 
 *' then to punifh myfelf with working more than 
 
 * See Obfervations to Scd. XXIII. 
 
 " I am 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahotcr BilL ^B 
 
 ■** I am obliged to do ?" — I fhould not, therefore, Seft, 
 cxpe6l any very general or confiderable good efFedl ^^'* 
 from fuch an allowance, without the liberty of ^' ^* 
 fpending it, or at leaft a part of it, in prefent. 
 The bufmcfs then would be, to determine the 
 articles in which they might be allowed to fpend 
 it. Even drink, fo it be not any of thofe drinks 
 that are known commonly by the name of fpiri- 
 tuous liquors, need not be abfolutely excluded : 
 but, for very good reafons, which are ftrongly 
 infifted on by Mr. Howard f, no profit upon 
 the drink fhould be allowed to the governor, or 
 any perfons under him; or elfe (what would come 
 nearly to the fame thing) if there were a profit 
 allowed upon that article, it fliould not be 
 greater, nor indeed fo great, as the profit to be 
 allowed upon the other articles among which they 
 were to be permitted to take their choice. The 
 fmallnefs of their fund would probably of itfelf be 
 fufficient to limit their confumption within the 
 bounds of fobriety. If not, the quantity of drink 
 of each fort, which any one man fhould be al- 
 lowed to purchafe, might be cxprefsly limited. 
 The circumftances of their being fo much apart 
 from one another, and fo much under the eye of 
 their infpedors, would obviate the difficulty there 
 would be otherwife in carrying fuch a limitation 
 into efFe«^. 
 
 t P. 49- 
 
 f Sedion 
 
XLir. 
 p. 29. 
 
 i6 A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 Se^^ Section XLII. makes provifion for the 
 
 equipment of the offender upon his dif- 
 charge. Upon his commitment, the cloaths 
 he brings with him are to be cleaned, 
 ticketed, and laid up. Upon his difcharge 
 they are to be delivered back to him, to- 
 gether with fuch additional cloathing as the 
 vifitors fhall think proper. A fum of money 
 is alfo to be allowed him for his immediate 
 fubfiftence, to the amount of not more than 
 Five Pounds, nor lefs than Forty Shillings. 
 And if he has behaved himfelf well during; 
 his confinement, the vifitors are to give 
 him a certificate to that effed under their 
 hands. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 There is fomething fingularly charafteriflic m 
 the forefight and humanity difplayed in this pro- 
 vifion. It is copied from the experimental a£l of 
 1776. After a long feclufion, the convicft is once 
 more turned adrift into fociety. His former con- 
 nedlions are by this time, perhaps, difTolved j by 
 death, by change of abode, or by eflrangement : 
 at any rate, he is probably at a diftance from 
 them. His known delinquency and his punifliment, 
 though, after fuch a courfe of difcipline, it is to 
 be hoped it will not operate upon all perfons (o 
 as to prevent their employing him, may, how- 
 ever, operate upon many. Mean time, if he be 
 3 totally 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahotir Bill €y 
 
 totally unprovided, he muft either fink at once Seft. 
 into the idlcnefs and mifcry of a poor-houfe, or XLII. 
 beg, or ftarve, or betake himfelf to courfes fimi- ^' °* 
 lar to thofe which brought him to the place of 
 punifhment he is juft freed from. The expedient, 
 therefore, of giving him a temporary fupply, is 
 an highly proper one ; though not fo obvious as 
 for the credit of human fagacity and compaflion it 
 were to be wifhed it were. 
 
 But fuppofuig an offender's behaviour to have 
 been fuch as renders it improper for the Vifitors 
 to give him the certificate here mentioned. What 
 is to become of him then ? Were no certificate to 
 be given in any cafe, fome perfons might, per- 
 haps, be induced to run the hazard of employing 
 a convid:, to whom it would not have been proptr 
 to have granted one. But when it is known that 
 a certificate of good behaviour is granted to the 
 generality of the convicts, the denial of fuch a 
 certificate to any one amounts in fa6t to a certificate 
 of the contrary. In fuch a cafe, it is not very 
 probable that he will find employment any where. 
 The fupply provided for him, liberal as it is, 
 can reprieve him only, not fiive him, from the 
 above-mentioned dilemma. * 
 
 In fuch a cafe, I fee but two courfes that can 
 be taken. One is, to impower the Committee to 
 continue him in his confinement, till his beha- 
 viour fliall have entitled him to his certificate: the 
 other is toenlifthim by compulfion in the land 
 or fea fervlcc. How far it would be confident 
 with the honour of either of thcfe fcrvlces to 
 F 2 admit 
 
68 A View of the Hard-Lahour BilL 
 
 Se£l. admit a man with fuch a ftamp of uncancelled 
 
 XLII ■ • • • 
 
 Ignominy upon him, is more than I can take 
 
 upon me to determine. At any rate, it feems 
 hardly proper to let him rank upon a par with 
 honeft men. In the fea fervice, provifions being 
 found him, his pay might very well bear to be 
 reduced below the common level : in the land fer- 
 vice, provifions not being allowed, the fubfift- 
 ance is too bare to admit of the leaft reduftion. 
 
 It is to be hoped, indeed, that after fo ftricl and 
 well-regulated a courfe of difcipline as that pre- 
 fcribed by the bill, there will be very few con- 
 vidls to whom it will be necefl'ary to deny the 
 certificate in queftion ; but it is fit that every cafe 
 that can happen, fhould be provided for. 
 
 Se«^. Seftion XLIII. provides that the offen- 
 
 p^,q/ ders fhall be divided into three clafles ; in 
 Convifts each of which every offender is to ranked, 
 vldedinto ^"""g ^" equal part of his time : and as he 
 clajjes. advances from a prior to a fubfequent one, 
 his confinement and labour are to be gra- 
 dually lefs and lefs fevere. The different 
 gradations of -feverity are to be fettled from 
 • time to time by regulations to be made by 
 the Committee, fo as not to clafh with the 
 provifions of this Bill. 
 
 OBSER V ATlb^NS. 
 
 This divifion of the convidls into clalTes will 
 be exam'ned, when we come to conlldir the ufes 
 that are made of it. 
 
 ^ - Sedion 
 
c 
 
 A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 65 
 
 Seflion XLIV. regulates the furniture and Seft. 
 police of the lodging-rooms. ' 
 
 I. Evd"y lodging-room is to be " pro- Furniture 
 " vided with matting for lying upon, a f"^ ^J? j^ 
 " coverlid, and two or more coarfe blan- Lodging' 
 " kets." ""'"'' 
 
 1. " Alfo with proper tools or inftruments 
 *' for their employment." 
 
 3. No perfon (except as herein is ex- 
 cepted) is to " be permitted to go at any 
 " time into thefe rooms, or to fee or con- 
 " verfe with the offenders." 
 
 4. Perfons excepted are, i. The ofBcers 
 and fervants of the houfe : 2. Any perfon 
 who has an order from any member of the 
 Committee. 
 
 5. At night, as foon as the time of work 
 is over, a bell is to be rung, the doors of 
 the rooms locked, and the lights in them 
 put out : and from that time,, till the hour 
 of work comes round again, a watchman is 
 to patrole over every part of the houfe every 
 half hour at lead. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Under the article of" bedding, I fee no mention 
 
 made oi Jl^eets. Was this omilfion undefigned, or 
 
 was it meant that they (hould have none ? or 
 
 would not the ufe of linen, if not abfolutely ne- 
 
 F 3 cclTary, 
 
^O A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 XLIV. 
 P'3i 
 
 Se<5t. ceflary, at leaft be conducive however to the pre- 
 fervation of their health ? Mr. Hume, I think, ia 
 his hiftory, Mr. Barrington f, and, I believe, me- 
 dical writers, have mentioned the ufe of linen as 
 being a principal caufe why the leprofy, which 
 was once fo common in this country, is now fo 
 rare. 
 
 I fee no mention neither of a hed-Jlead, Mr. 
 Howard in general terms recommends bed-fteads 
 for health and cleanlinefs *. A bed-ftead, how- 
 ever cold the materials (fuppofe iron) will be 
 warmer than the fione or brick floor, with only 
 matting to cover it j for the furface of the iron in 
 the bedftead being much lefs than that of the covered 
 part of the floor, the natural warmth of the body, 
 accumulated on the bedding, will be conduced 
 away much lefs readily by the former than by the 
 latter. At any rate, the elevation given by a bed- 
 ftead will fave the bedding from being trampled 
 on and covered with duft and dirt. It will alfo 
 give accefs for the air to ventilate the under part 
 of it. 
 
 Bed-fteads are actually allowed to felons in 
 many gaols %. 
 
 I fee no provifion made here for firing : yet 
 
 fome provifion of this fort feems abfolutely necef- 
 
 ary, at leaft, in extreme cold weather, for thofe 
 
 f Obfcrvatlcns on the Statutes, Title Confuttudines 
 0t JJfjfa Forefiee, p. 193. 3d edit. 
 * P. 71. 264. 
 X Howard, (^6, 264,292, 404, 407, 443, 454. 
 
 whofe 
 
A View of the Hard-Lalour Bill. 
 
 71 
 
 whofe employments are chiefly of the fedentary 
 kind, and for all of them at times, when no 
 work is done, as on Sundays. For this purpofe, 
 it is by no means ncccfTary, nor even advifeable, 
 that there fhould be a fire to every room, nor 
 between every two rooms, nor indeed that there 
 Ihould be in any of the rooms any fire-places at dl. 
 The moft occonomical way as yet in ufe, of ge- 
 nerating and applying heat for this purpofe, fccms 
 to be that which is praftifcd in hot-hbufcs, by 
 means of flues or lateral chimnies, in which the 
 fmoke depofits its heat in its pafl'age to the atmo- 
 fphere. The fire employed in heating th-; bread- 
 oven, might, perhaps, be occafionally made ufe- 
 ful in this way. I have heard it fuggefted, that 
 the fieam of boiling water might perhaps be ap- 
 plied to the purpofe of heating rooms, in a method 
 that might be more oeconomical than that of heat- 
 ing them by fmoke. Iffthis expedient were em- 
 ployed, the coppers in which the viiSluals were 
 |)oiled, might perhaps be adapted to this pur-r 
 pofe *. 
 
 The provifion for excluding promifcuous vifi- 
 tants feems highly eligible. In a nation, how- 
 ever, fo jealous of every thing that favours of 
 fecrecy in the exercife of coercive power, even 
 over the moft obnoxious of its members, it required 
 no mean degree of intrepidity to propofe it. I 
 had, in truth, but little hope of feeing it pro- 
 
 Seft. 
 XLIV. 
 p. 30. 
 
 • Mr. Howard found ftoves, and a regular provifion 
 for firing, in feveral foreign prifon*. See How. i©^, 
 
 114. ^17- 
 
 F 4 pofcd. 
 
7^ ^ View of the Hard-Lahour Bill, 
 
 Se£l, pofed, much lefs adopted and acquiefced in, as 
 XLIV, it already is in the inftance of the Thames con- 
 *■ 2 • vi<Els. Aji acquiefcence fo complete and general 
 as this has been found to be, argues a greater 
 fund of folid fenfe, and lefs fenfibility to inflam- 
 matory ideas, than perhaps, before the experiment 
 was made, could reafonably have been hoped for. 
 This, together with many other examples to the 
 like efFeft, may ferve to filence at leaft, if not to 
 remove, any objedlions that may be entertained 
 againfl: a meafure acknowledged to be beneficial in 
 itfelf, on the fcore of its being obnoxious to popular 
 fentiment, unwarranted by the didlates of utility. 
 
 The eflablifhment of Vifitors, who are fre- 
 quently to be changed, and the admiilion of occa-t 
 fional vifitants by order from any member of the 
 Committees, are expedients that feem amply 
 fufficient for obviating any real danger of abufive 
 feverity. It is furely a notion too wild to be fe- 
 rioufly entertained, by any one who will give him- 
 felf leifure to refle£l:, that the whole body of 
 country magiftrates, and the whole circle of their 
 acquaintance^ are likely to be tainted with the 
 principles of ariftocratic tyranny. Suppofmg this, 
 againft all probability, to be the cafe, and that any 
 one habit of undue feverity were eftabliflied, any 
 one falfe brother would be fufficient to betray the 
 fecrets of the confederacy, and expofe it to the 
 refentment of the public. 
 
 At the fame time, it is highly expedient to give 
 
 as little admittance as poffible to perfons of fuch 
 
 yanks in life as are moft obnoxious to the pu- 
 
 % nifhment 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 73 
 
 niftiment inflidlcd in thefe houfcs. The circum- 
 ftancesof fecrecy and feclufion give an air of 
 myftery to the fccne, which contributes greatly to 
 enhance the terrors it is intended to imprefs. True 
 it is, that the convidls, as they come to be dif- 
 charged, and to mix again with fociety, will cir- 
 culate, among pcrfons of the fame ranks in life, 
 fuch accounts of what they have fcen and felt, 
 as it may be thought will be fufHcient to cor- 
 rect any inaccuracies in the notions that may 
 have been fuL'p:c{l-ed by imagination ; this however, 
 I take it, will not be altogether the cafe. Ex- 
 perience and ocular obfcrvation might indeed, in 
 time, difiipate the illufion, and bring down the 
 apparent horrors of the fccne to a level with the 
 real fufFering ; but in the fufceptible minds of 
 the giddy multitude, it is not mere report alone 
 that can obliterate the influence of firft impref- 
 fions. 
 
 Sea. 
 XLIV. 
 p. JO. 
 
 Seflion XLV. makes provifion for com- ^^^• 
 
 . XLV. 
 
 municating to thele focieties the benefits 
 
 of relie;ion. 
 
 I. On all Sundays, as alfo on Chriftmas- 
 
 P- 31- 
 Provifion 
 for reli- 
 gious du- 
 
 day, and Good-Friday, there is to be morn- ties, 
 ing and evening fervice, with a fermon ' 
 
 after each : at which fcrvices all the convifts 
 (unlcfs difabled by illnefs) are to be pre- 
 fent. 
 
 2. The two fexcs are to be kept at a 
 
 diflancc 
 
XLV. 
 P- 31 
 
 74 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Sect. diftance from, and, by means of partitions, 
 out of fight of, one another. 
 
 3. Of the officers and fervants, fuch as 
 can be fpared from their employments, are 
 likewife (unlefs prevented by illnefs) to be 
 prefent. 
 
 ' 4. The chaplain is required to vifit, at 
 their requefir, and empowered to vifit at his 
 own difcretion, any of the offenders, fick 
 or in health, who may fland- in need of 
 his fpiritual aOillance : fo that his vifits in- 
 terfere not with their ftated labours. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 It were to be wifhed on this occafion, if it could 
 be done without inconvenience, that fuch of the 
 convidts as may happen to be of a religion diffe- 
 rent from the eftablifhed, might have the benefit 
 of fpiritual confolation in their own way. It is 
 no anfviTer, to fay with a fneer, that the inhabitants 
 of thefe houfes are in little likelihood of beino; 
 incumbered with religious fcruples ; for a total 
 indifference to religion is by no means a necelTary 
 accompanyment to an occafional deviation from 
 the dilates of morality : on the contrary, it is 
 no uncommon thing to obferve in the fame perfon^ 
 a great inattention to the efTentials of morality, 
 joined to an anxious attention to the ineffentials 
 and externals of religion. This point, however, 
 could not be compafTed without fome difficulty. 
 It would be endlefs to fet up as many chapels as 
 
 there 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahcur Bill. 75 
 
 ;there may chance to be fe6ls in this community. Sc£l. 
 At any rate, it is not the belonging or profcfling XLV. 
 to belong to any other fcdt, that fhould be al- ♦ ' ^ * 
 lowed to excufc a man from attending the ftatcd 
 fervice ; for, if this were the cafe, perfons who 
 cared nothing about religion, would be apt to pro- 
 fefs thcmfelvcs of fome diiTenting feel, that, in- 
 ftead of gu'.ng to chapel, they might fpend the 
 tim? in idicr-efs. The being obliged to give fuch 
 attenf^ante, would be no hardfhip to any, even in a 
 religious view ; for I do not believe there is at this 
 time of day any fedt which holds it fmful merely 
 to be prefcnt at divine fervice performed accord- 
 ino; to the rites of the church of Enirland *. I 
 fuppofc there are few, indeed, but would even 
 think it better to attend that fervice than none 
 at all. 
 
 Jezus and Catholics would be the worft off: Jews, 
 with their continual domcftic ceremonies, and 
 Catholics with their numerous facraments. Ca- 
 tholics t feem, at firft. fight, to be without hope 
 of remedy : a door, however, though but a narrow 
 one, is opened for their relief, by the general 
 power vefted in the members of the Committees 
 to give orders of admiflion. As to Jeijcs^ I muft 
 
 * In the prifons at Paris however Proteflants art 
 excufed from hearing mafs. See Howard, 8i. 
 
 f By Stat. 27 Eliz.c 2. for a popilli piicJl or otiier 
 ecclefiallical perfon to ^be in any part of the realm is 
 treafon : and for any one wittingly and willingly to re- 
 ceive, relieve, or comfort him is a capital felony. 
 
 confefs, 
 
7^ A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 Se£l. confefs, I can fee no feafible way of making, in 
 each labour-houfe, the provifions requifite for 
 fatisfying all their various fcruples. As it hap- 
 pens, there feems reafon (I do not know whether 
 to fay to hope, but at any rate) to believe, that of 
 fuch of them as are likely to become inhabitants 
 of thefe houfes there are not many on whom 
 thefe fcruples would fit heavy. The only expe- 
 dient I can think of for the indulgence of thefe 
 people is, to have one labour-houfe for all the 
 convicls of this perfuafion throughout the king- 
 dom. In fuch cafe, it would be but reafonable 
 that the whole community of Jews fliould be at 
 the expence of this eftablifhment, including the 
 charges of conveyance. They might then have 
 their own Rabbles y and their own cooks and 
 butchers. 
 
 The provifion for the concealment of the fexes 
 from each other, has been exemplified by the 
 pra6iice in the Magdalen and other chapels. 
 
 In fome of the larger houfes, confidering the 
 number of perfons, either fick or in health, who 
 might be difpoftd to receive the alliftance of a 
 minifter, or to whom a zealous minifter might be 
 difpofed to give it, efpecially if thefe additions 
 were to be made to the fervice that are propofed 
 under feition 39, a fmgle chaplain might hardly 
 be fufficient to go through all the duty. In fuch 
 cafe, the contributions that might be required of 
 occafional vifitors at chapel, who are likely to 
 become numerous, might probably provide for an- 
 other chaplain. 
 
 Sedtion 
 
Irf View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 77 
 
 Section 58, which relates to convidls working 
 upon rivers, provides for the burial of fuch as 
 die under confinement. I fee no fuch provifion 
 relative to fuch as may die in the labour-houfes. 
 Would it not be proper to annex to each houfe a 
 piece of ground to be confecrated for that pur- 
 pofe ? 
 
 Sea. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 p. 31. 
 
 Section XLVI. makes provifion for the Se^- 
 article of health. p. 31. 
 
 1 . There are to be two or more yards, in — heahh. 
 which the offenders are to be permitted to 
 
 take the air by turns, as their health may 
 require : in thefe yards, if proper employ- 
 ment can be found, they are alfo to be per- 
 mitted to work, inftead of working in the 
 houfe. 
 
 2. Any offender appearing to be fick, is, 
 upon report made by the fjrgeon or apothe- 
 cary that his ficknefs is real, to be ordered 
 by the governor to the infirmary, if his 
 ficknefs be of a nature to require it, and en- 
 tered in a book upon the fick lift : and 
 upon the furgeon or apothecary's report of 
 his being recovered and fit to work, he is 
 to be brought back to his lodging-room and 
 put to work again, as far as is confiftent 
 with his health. 
 
 O B- 
 
78 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill, 
 
 ^eft. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 P* 3I' The number of 5'ards is required, we fee, to be 
 
 two at leaft : the intention is manifeit enough, 
 though it is not mentioned : it is, that the two 
 fexes may, in conformity to the plan of fepara- 
 tion marked out in fedlions 38 and 41, have each 
 a yard to themfelves. 
 
 As to the purpofe of airing, the beft place of 
 all is the top of the houfe. The air on the top 
 of the houfe is likely to be purer than the air in 
 any yards can be, furrounded as fuch yards muft 
 be by a high wall : ift, fuch a fituation would be 
 higher than the damp or the noxious effluvia would 
 afccnd, were the air to remain unchanged : 2dly, 
 befides this, the air, on account of the opennefs 
 of the fituation, would, in fa6l, be continually 
 renewing *. For this purpofe, it would be ne- 
 ceffary the roof of the houfe fhould be flat, and 
 covered with lead. The infirmary might be 
 fituated in the highefi ftory; fo that frorri 
 thence to the leads would be but a few fteps. It 
 is doubtlefs for thefe or fimilar reafons, that a 
 fituation thus elevated is very generally chofen for 
 the infirmary in foreign prifons f. In order that 
 thofe whofe health might require it, might enjoy 
 the benefits of air and exercife in fome degree, ever! 
 in rainy weather, it would be of great ufe if the 
 building, or a great part of it, were raifed upon 
 arcades. This Mr. Howard recommends flrong- 
 
 * Howard, 82, 91. f Ibid. 82, 91, 96. 
 
'A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Jy for fo much of it as is occupied by lodging- 
 rooms, on the fcore of fecurity. 
 
 The expence, indeed, of building upon arches, 
 and of leading, would be very confiderable ; but 
 the plan feems to be not to fpare expence. The 
 Conciergerie at Paris *, the Dol-huys at Amfter- 
 <Iam t, the Maifon de force at Ghent J, are raifed 
 upon arcades |1 : in the Baftile at Paris, the roof 
 is flat and leaded. I muft confefs, I fee not why 
 England fliould be lefs able to bear fuch an 
 expence than France, Holland, or Auftrian 
 Flanders. 
 
 Sefbion XLVII. regulates the appoint- 
 ment, powers, and falaries of the Vifitors. 
 
 1. Each Committee is to appoint two 
 vifitors, " Juftices of the Peace, or other 
 fubftantial houfholders," who are to be re- 
 fident in the diftrift. 
 
 2. Of thefe vifitors, one is to be changed 
 every year : no one is to continue for more 
 than two fucceffive years ; but any one, after 
 an interval of two years, may be again ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 3. The Vifitors are to attend at lead once 
 in every fortnight. 
 
 79 
 
 Seft. 
 XLVI, 
 
 p. 31* 
 
 Sea. 
 XLVII. 
 p. 32. 
 Vifitors 
 —their 
 appoint- 
 ment, 
 powers, 
 and emo« 
 lumentst 
 
 • Howard, 82. 
 X Ibid. 140. 
 
 t Ibid. 128. 
 II Ibid. 82. 
 
 4. At 
 
So A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 XLVII. 
 P- 32 
 
 Seft. 4. At each attendance they are to go 
 
 through the following heads of duty : 
 
 1. To examine the Hate of the 
 " houfe" [buildings]. 
 
 2. To fee every convi6t. 
 
 3. To infpe6l the accounts of the go- 
 vernor and flore-keepers. 
 
 4. To hear any complaints concerning 
 the behaviour of the officers and fer- 
 vants. 
 
 5. Or of the convi6ls. 
 
 6. And in general to examine into the 
 condudt and management of the houfe, 
 
 5. For thefe purpofes every vifitor is im- 
 powered to examine any perfons upon 
 oath. 
 
 6. They are likewife empowered to apply 
 punifhments or rewards as under -men- 
 tioned. 
 
 7. They are from time to time to make 
 their reports to the Judges *, as before, or to 
 the Committee of the diftrift. 
 
 8. They are to have a gratuity, if they 
 think proper to demand it, for each attend- 
 ance, to be fettled by the Committee, and 
 approved of by the Judges. 
 
 See Sc£t. 11^ 21, zj^, 26, 30. 
 
 OB- 
 
A Vilin) of the tJard-Labour BilL 
 
 81 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The rotation eftablifhed among thefe officers is 
 grounded upon approved principles, that are exem- 
 plified in many other inftanccs. If the fame two 
 Vifitors were to be continued for life, the degree 
 of difcipline kept up in the houfe might come to 
 depend more upon the notions and temper of thofe 
 two pcrfons, than upon fettled rules. Having no 
 emulation to animate them, they might grow tor- 
 pid and indifferent : they might contrail too clofc 
 an intimacy with the governor and other officers, 
 fo as to be difpofed to connive at their negligence 
 or peculation : they might make what is^^called a 
 job of their offices, looking upon the emoluments 
 of it as an eftablifliment for life. On the other 
 hand, were both Vifitors to go out at once, the 
 frcfli comers would for a time be new and awk- 
 ward in their office ; and the fund |of experience 
 colleiled at each period, would be diffipated by 
 every frefh appointment. But upon this plan, 
 that fund is continually accummulating, and is 
 tranfmitted entire through every fucceffion. At 
 the fame time, by admitting the re-cle6lion of a 
 Vifitor after a certain interval, room is left for ac- 
 ceptincr the fervices of fuch gentlemen as in point 
 of inclination and ability may {hew themfelves 
 moft competent to the office. 
 
 Sea. 
 XLVII. 
 
 p. 32. 
 
 Seftlon XLVIII. cjives power to the Vi- Sea. 
 fitors to fufpend any ofKcer or fcr'-ant, ex- ,, ' 
 
 G f^pt Power t« 
 
82 A View of the Hard-Labour BilL 
 
 fufpend cept the Governor, in cafe of " corruption, 
 " or other grofs mifbehaviour." 
 
 Seft. Seftion XLIX. appoints the duty of the 
 
 ^^^^- Taflc-maflcr. 
 p. 33. 
 
 Tfijk-maf- I. He is conflantly to fuperintend the 
 
 ters, their ^vorks carried on by the convi6ts. 
 duty. TT • ■> 
 
 1, He IS to " taice an account of every 
 
 *^ negleft of work or other miilDehaviour. 
 
 3. Alfo of any inftance of extraordinary 
 diligence or good behaviour. 
 
 4. He is to make his reports from time 
 to time to the Governor, who is to caufe 
 them to be entered in a book to be kept for 
 that purpofe. 
 
 Sea. L. Sedion L. defines the powers of the Go- 
 P- 33' vernor in punifhing offences committed in 
 the Go- the houfe. Thefe are enumerated under the 
 vernor in following heads : 
 
 cifences"^ *• Difobcdicnce of the " orders of- 
 
 commit- '^ the houfe/* 
 
 houfe ^ ^ ^* ^^^^"^^s, negligence, or wilful mif- 
 
 management of wor-k. 
 
 3. Affaults not attended with any 
 dangerous wound or bruife by one con- 
 vict upon another. 
 
 4. Indecent behaviour. 
 
 5. Profane curfing and fwearing. 
 
 6. Ab- 
 
A Vieix^ of the Hard-Lahour Bill, %2 
 
 6. Abfence from chapel. Seft. L. 
 
 7. Irreverent behaviour at chapel. ^' '^* 
 5. For any of the above offences the 
 
 governor may punifli by clofc confinement 
 in a " cell or dungeon," for any term not 
 exceeding three days, and keeping the of- 
 fender upon bread and water only. 
 
 3. Touching any of the above offences, 
 the governor may examine " any^' perfons 
 upon oath. 
 
 Sedion LI. impowers the Vifitors and the ^^^- ^^* 
 
 Committee to punifli certain other inflan- _ofVi"fi- 
 
 ces of bad behaviour in a feverer manner. '^^^^ ^"jl 
 
 Commit- 
 
 I. To the Vifitors power is given to pu- tees. 
 hifh, in any convid, the following additional 
 offences : 
 
 1. Abfolute refufal to perform his 
 work. 
 
 2. Wilful abufe of the materials, 
 
 3. Attemps to cfcape. 
 
 4. Affaults on any perfon at large, who 
 happens to be prefent. 
 
 5. Affaults on any officer or fervanu 
 of the houfe. 
 
 ■1. They are empowered alfo to punifli any 
 
 affaults by one convift upon another, that 
 
 G 2 mar 
 
S4 ^ yi^"^ of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 Sea. LI. may happen not to have been punilhed by 
 ^* ^^'- the Governor* 
 
 3. Alfo any of the offences which the 
 Governor is authorized to punilh in the cafe 
 where, by reafon of the enormity or re- 
 petition of the offence, the punifhment which 
 the Governor is empowered to inflid of his 
 own authority, is thought by him not to be 
 fufficient. 
 
 4. For an^ of the above offences the vi- 
 fitors may punifh by either 
 
 1 . Moderate whipping. 
 
 2. Confinement upon bread and water 
 in a dungeon, for any time not exceed- 
 ing ten days. 
 
 3. Or both the above punifhments in 
 conjunftion. 
 
 5. Concerning the above offences they are 
 empowered to examine upon oath, with an 
 injundion that it be in the prefence of the of- 
 fender. 
 
 6. In the cafts No. 2. and 3. " the go* 
 " "uernor may, and he is hereby required to, 
 *' order fuch offender to the cells or dungeons^ — 
 *' and is immediately y" or at the next coming of 
 the VifitorSy to ^'^ report fuch offence to fuch 
 " Vifitors ; who are hereby empowered and re- 
 '^ quired to enquire and determine concerning 
 «' the fame r 
 
 7. In 
 
'A View of the liar d-Lah our Bill. "85 
 
 7. In cafe of any offence which the Seft. LI. 
 Vifitors fliall deem worthy of a greater pu- 
 nifhment than they are authorized to inflift, 
 
 they fhall report the offence, with the nature 
 and circumftances of it, and the name of tlie 
 offender, to the next meeting of the Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 8. To the Committee power is given to 
 punifh offences thus reported to them, by 
 cither 
 
 1. Moderate whipping. 
 
 2. Confinement upon bread and water 
 in a dungeon. 
 
 3. Turning down from a higher clafs 
 to a lower. 
 
 4. All or any of the above punifh- 
 ments in conjun6lion. 
 
 9. " In cafe of removal into a prior clafs j 
 " the offender f jail J from the ti?ne of making 
 " ftich order of removal^ go through fuch prior 
 " clafsy and alfo the fiibfequent clafs or claffes, 
 " /;; the fame manner^ and for the fame time as 
 " under his or her original commitment.'^ 
 
 Sedion LII. is the converfe of the Section Sea.LTI. 
 laft preceding : it opens a door to pardon __P-3S- 
 upon the ground of extraordinary ^(?(?t/ be- txardin'g 
 
 haviour. and re- 
 
 porting 
 _ for mirc-^ 
 
 Gj T.If 
 
86 A View of the Hard-Labaur Bill, 
 
 Sefl. LII. 1 . If in any convi6t committed by Juftices 
 ?* ^^* in Sellions, the Vifitors " fliall at any time 
 ^' obferve, or be fatisfaftorily informed of, 
 " any extraordinary diligence or merit," 
 and make report accordingly, " the faid Juf- 
 tices" [fhall] " may, if they think proper, 
 advance him into a higher clafs.'* 
 
 1. "When any convidt has been promoted 
 as above, the time of his confinement is to 
 *' be computed as if he or fhe had regularly 
 *^ pafled through the prior clafs or clafTes." 
 
 3. With regard to any convifts committed 
 by the Judges *, whether originally, or upon 
 a pardon granted upon that condition, for a 
 certain term, the Judges are, upon a like 
 report, to have like power to alter andi 
 Ihorten his confinement. 
 
 4. Convidts, committed for life, may, 
 upon being reported to the Judges as afore- 
 faid, be by them reported to his Majelly for 
 mercy. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This and the two laft preceding fedlions bear- 
 ing a clofe relation to one another, I fhall con- 
 fider them together. As to the laft of the two 
 
 ♦ At the Old Bailey, or on the Circuits. 
 
 8 para-!- 
 
A View cf tie Hard-Labour Bill, S7 
 
 paragraphs I have printed in Italics I muft Seel. Lir, 
 confefs I am not altogether certain about tlic P* 35' 
 fcnfe of it. My doubt is, whether a convict, 
 upon his degradation into a lower clafs, is to 
 be puniflied with rcfpeA to the feverity of his 
 treatment only, or, bcfidcs that, with rcfpccSl to 
 the duration of his confinement. I am inclined 
 to imagine, both ways ; but this conftrudlion 
 feems not to be abfolutely a neceflary one. 
 
 A convicl, fuppofe, has been committed for 
 three years. He has ferved the firft year of his 
 time, and half his fecond. Of courfc, he has been 
 half a year entered in the fecond clafs. He now 
 commits an ofFence which the Committee think, 
 proper to.punifli with degradation : he is turned 
 down into the firft clafs. What now is to become 
 of him ? Is he to flay two years and a half longer, 
 to wit, one half year more in the firft clafs, and 
 a year in each of the other clalTes, or only one 
 year and a half, that is, half a year in each of 
 the three dalles ? In the firft cafe, it feems hardly 
 proper to fay, that he has gone through " fuch prior 
 *' clafs, and alfo the fubfcquent clafl'es in the 
 •* fame manner, and for the fame time, as under 
 *' his original commitment;" for it feems that 
 he has gone through fuch prior clafs, and al/b the 
 fubfequent claffes (in the fame manner, perhaps, 
 but) for a longer time than he was to have had to 
 go through them in under his original commitment. 
 Had there, however, been no diftin6tion in the 
 treatment to be given to the refpeftive clafies, ir 
 muft have been underftood in this feafe, as pro- 
 G 4 longing 
 
^^ A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Seft. LII. longing the total time ; for the provifion would 
 P' 35* have had nothing but the circumftance of time to 
 operate upon. 
 
 Another doubt I have refpefting the claufe in 
 fe(5tion 50, which limits the time for which a o-o- 
 vernor is impowered to keep a convi6i: in a 
 dungeon upon bread and water to three days. 
 This paflage I know not very well how to recon- 
 cile to a claufe in fection 51. In this latter fec- 
 tion, in cafe of an offence which, in the opinion 
 of the governor, deferves a greater punifhment 
 than what he is himfelf authorized to infliiS:, he is 
 diredled to report it to the Vifitors, who, in fuch 
 cafe, are authorized to order the offender to con- 
 finement in a dungeon, there to be kept on bread 
 and water, if that be the mode of punifhment they 
 think proper to adopt, for ten days. Thus far, 
 •' then, their power extends ; to the confining a 
 man for ten days. To the governor, in the laft 
 preceding fedtion, it was not thought proper to 
 give fo great a power : his power v/as to extend 
 no farther than to the confining a man for three 
 days ; yet in this fame fe6lion, in the cafe above 
 mentioned, where, by the fuppofition he cannot 
 punifh by confinement for more than three days, 
 the Governor is impowered and *' required" to 
 order the convict to the dungeon, and " imme- 
 *' diately, or the next time the Vifitors fhall 
 ** come," report the offence to them, for them 
 to punifh it. Now, for what time the convidl 
 committed in this manner to a dungeon is to re- 
 main there, is not exprefsly faid : as no time is 
 
 mentioned 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 89 
 
 mentioned for his rcleafement, it feems impof- Seft. LII, 
 fible to put any other conftruvStion upon the claufe P* 35- 
 than that he is to ftay there till the coming of the 
 Vifitors. But the Vifitors may not come for a 
 fortnight *. So long then may a convidl remain 
 in one of thefe dungeons by the authority of a 
 Governor. The confequence is, ^that indireflly 
 a power is given to this officer, of inflicting a pu- 
 nlfhment more than three times as great as that 
 which it is thought proper, in dire6l terms, to 
 impower him to infliCl ; and (as far as concerns 
 this fpeciesof punifliment) greater than that which 
 it has been thought proper, in any terms, to im- 
 power the Vifitors to infli£l. On this occafion, 
 no mention, I obferve, is made of dieting upon 
 bread and water : the Governor is fimply required 
 to order the offender to one of the dungeons. Is 
 he then, or is he not in this cafe, authorized to 
 add that hardftiip to the confinement ? Is the diet- 
 ing in this manner, or is it not, to be regarded 
 as an article included of courfe in the regimen of 
 a dungeon ? This power of punifliing an offender 
 previoufly to trial, is confined, I obferve, to the 
 Governor: it is not given to the Vifitors. 
 
 The provifion for difpofing of the convit^s in- 
 to clafi^es t, fo as to be liable to be advanced or 
 to be degraded J, ftems an excellent expedient for 
 ftrengthening the influence of the fcveral authori- 
 ties to which it is meant to fubjeil them. It feems 
 
 ♦ See Sea, 47. f See Sed. 43. 
 
 X Sce^a. 51. 
 
 extremely 
 
90 , A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Seft. LII. extremely well contrived for exciting emulation ; 
 P*3S* for making a {landing and palpable diftindion 
 betwixt good and ill behavaour, and for keeping 
 their hopes and fears continually awake. If it 
 ihould be thought proper to indulge the convi<Sls 
 with a fhare in the profit of the labour *, this 
 would aiFord a farther means of adding to the 
 diftindlion. 
 
 Here ends that part of the bill which concerns 
 the eftablilhment. of labour-houfes. What follows 
 in the feven next fecStions is confined to the fyf- 
 tem of labour to be carried on upon rivers. The 
 greater part of them are employed in re-enacling 
 fo many correfponding claufes of the prefent act f. 
 Concerning thefe, it will not be neceflary to be 
 very particular. 
 
 Sea. Seflion LIII. eflabliflies. In general terms, 
 
 I' the authority of the Superintendants above 
 
 Superin- fpokcn of J. It empowers them, upon the 
 
 tendants, (Jeliverv of any male convift into their cuf- 
 hov/ to •' "^ 
 
 cnipioy tody, to keep him, for the term mentioned 
 n his fentence, to hard labour. This hard la- 
 :jour is to be applied " either to the raifing 
 ^ of fand, foil, and gravely or in any other 
 
 * See Obfervations on Se£l. 23. 
 
 f The name given to the head perfon who Is to have 
 the charge of the convids 'upon this eftablilhment is 
 changed from Oijer/eer (the word ufed in the former 
 a6l) to Superintenda?!t, 
 
 X See Sccl. 32, 33, 34, s6. 
 
 " la- 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill, 91 
 
 ^' laborious fervice for the benefit of the Seft. 
 
 '^ navigation of the T'bameSy or of fuch p^ .^^ 
 
 *^ other navigable rivers, "or harbours, as 
 
 " aforefaid * :" when on the Thames, " then 
 
 *' at fuch places only, and fubje6t to fuch 
 
 '' limitations, as the Trinity-Houfe fhall, 
 
 ** from time to time, prefcribe." 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This, as to the greater part of it, is an exadl 
 tranfcript of the latter pai^ of fe<^tion 5. of the 
 prefcnt a6l f. 
 
 Section LTV. prohibits Superintcndants Sea, 
 from employing tlieir convicls in delivering p^ ,5^ 
 ballaft lo fliips : it reftritls the application —not in 
 of the labour to the above-mentioned obje^l \nvbaflafi 
 of benefiting the navigation of the rivers or to veflels. 
 harbours in queftion : except that it permits 
 the employing them in making or repairing 
 embankments or fea-walls. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This fcc^ion is an exact tranfcript of fe5:icn 6. of 
 the prefcnt a6l, with the addition only of the 
 
 * vSce Se»Sl. 32. 
 
 f By the prcfent a^ I mean al! alonf; the Stat. 16 
 .Geo. 3d. ch. 43, beifig that whicii u in fore;; at the 
 time I write. 
 
 above 
 
$2 A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 Seft. above exception. As this new kind of employ- 
 V: ment was meant to be permitted, the infertion of 
 
 "' * the above exceptioA for that purpofe, was no more 
 than prudent, at leaft, if not abfolutely necef- 
 fary : for the main defign in making of embank- 
 ments or fea-walls, is to-fave the land from being 
 carried away or overflowed ; and it may be of 
 little or no fervice to the navigation. Mr. Camp- 
 feell, Superintendant of the Thames convidts, pur- 
 fuing the fpirit of his inftruftions rather than the 
 letter, has already ventured to employ his con- 
 vifts in fome ufeful \forks on fhore ; perhaps it 
 might not be amifs to add a retrofpedtive claufc 
 for his indemnity. 
 
 As to the prohibition above mentioned, no rea- 
 fon for it is given. I imagine the reafon to have 
 been the preventing that intercommunication which 
 in fuch a cafe, would have been neceflary between 
 the convidls and the fhips-crews. It can have no- 
 thing to do with any privileges of the Trinity- 
 houfe ; not being confined to the Thames, but 
 extended to all rivers and harbours where convidls 
 ihall be employed. 
 
 Seft. LV. Seftion LV. provides for the diet and ap- 
 
 P- 37- parel of convifls, under the care of fuperin- 
 
 iliet and dants, as Sedion XL. did for thofe who are 
 
 cloath fQ be confined in the Labour-hoiifes. In 
 
 point of diet it dire6ts that they be fed with 
 
 bread, and any coarfe or inferior food, and 
 
 water or fmall beer, as in Sedion XL. only 
 
 the 
 
A Vieio of the Hard-Lahour Bill, ^ 
 
 " the word " mear is dropped here after tlie Seft. LV. 
 word coarfe (whether by accident or defign P* 37* 
 is more than I can determine). The apparel 
 it leaves altogether to the " difcretion of the 
 " fuperintendants :" it likewile prohibits the 
 fupplying the convifts with any other food, 
 drink, or cloathing, under a penalty of not 
 more than ten pounds, nor lefs than forty 
 lliillings.' 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This fedtion is the fame as fcdlion 7. of the 
 prefent adl ; except with regard to the penalty 
 which, by the prefent ad, is not to be more than 
 forty (hillings. 
 
 Sedion LVI. invefts fuperintendants with Sedl. 
 the power of correftion. A convict refufing ^ *^^' 
 to perform his work, or " guilty of any other — and 
 " mifhehaviour or diforderly condu^fy" may be 
 puniflied by the fuperintendant, by " fuch 
 " whipping, or other moderate punifliment, 
 " as may be inflifted by law on perfons 
 " committed to a houfe of corre6lion for 
 " hard labour." 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This fedion is the fame in every refpc£l as 
 fedion 8. of the prefent adl, 
 
 Se6tion 
 
 corr$3 
 them. 
 
94 
 
 Sea» 
 LVII. 
 
 P- 37- 
 How they 
 
 may be 
 pardon- 
 ed, and 
 how e- 
 quipped 
 on their 
 <iif- 
 charge. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 p. 38. 
 Expences 
 of chap- 
 lains, fur- 
 gecni, and 
 £ or oners, 
 and other 
 charges, 
 how to be 
 defrayed. 
 
 A ViiiJO of the tiard-LahdUr Bitt^ 
 
 Seflion LVII. provides a fupply for coil- 
 vidls of this defcription, upon their dif- 
 charge, to the fame amount as Sedion LIL 
 did for the convifts in the Labour-houfes» 
 It likewife provides for the difcharge of any 
 convid, previous to the expiration of his 
 term, upon a letter written, upon a recom- 
 mendation from the Judges as in Sed. LX* 
 by a Secretary of State. The fum of money, 
 and the cloathing, it refers, in this cafe, to 
 the determination of the above Judges.* 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This fedion is the fame, in every refpe£t:, as 
 feilion 9. of the prefent acl» 
 
 Se6lion LVIII. makes provifion in the 
 lump for the afliftance, medical and reli- 
 gious, to be given to the convifts in quef- 
 tion, as likewife for the burial of fach as 
 may chance to die, as aifo for thefe and all 
 other expences attending the keeping of the 
 convifls under the care of fuch Superinten- 
 dants Thefe expences it direfts to be an- 
 nually laid before the Houfe of Commons, 
 and undertakes, that, after deducing the 
 net profits (if any) of the labour, they fhall 
 
 * See Sect. 11, 21, 24, 26, 30, 47, 52. 
 
 be 
 
A flew of the Hard-Lahouf Bill, 95 
 
 be provided for in the next lupplies granted Sea. 
 
 by Parliament. The chaplains, furgeons, g| 
 
 and apothecaries to be provided, are to be 
 
 fuch as " the Superintendant fliall find it 
 
 " expedient, or fhall be required" (it does 
 
 not lay by whom) " from time to time to 
 
 " employ." The convifts are to be " Juried 
 
 " in the moft commodious parts of the 
 
 '^ fliores, in or near whicli they have been 
 
 " employed," and " according to the form 
 
 *^ prefcribed by the Liturgy of the Church 
 
 *' of England. The necefTary charges of 
 
 " fuch funerals, and alio of the coroners, 
 
 " who fliall fit on the bodies of fuch con- 
 
 '^ vifls, are to be defrayed in the manner 
 
 above-mentioned. 
 
 Se(5tIon LIX. provides, that fuch chap- Seft. 
 
 lains fliall read morning and evening prayer, g 
 
 and preach a fermon after each, every Sun- Provifion 
 
 day, as alfo on Chriftmas-day and Good [^j,,^"^;"' 
 Friday. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Thefetwo fecftions are fo many additions to th^. 
 prefent zSt. In this the whole bufinefs was referred 
 fo entirely to the difcretion of the Superintendant, 
 that no exprcfs provifion was made for either the 
 fpiritual or medical afliftance, or the burial of the 
 eonvi<5ls. Neither was any provifion made for 
 
 the 
 
56 A Vie'-jo of the Hard-Labour Bilh 
 
 Seft. the coroner's fees ; whereby that expence (which 
 LIX. vvas not altogether a trifling one) falls folely as yet 
 ^' ^ • upon the counties bordering that part of the 
 Thames they are employed upon ; that is, upon 
 the counties of Ketit and EJfex^ one or both of 
 them. Thefe omiflions are fupplied in the bill 
 before, as it was highly requifite they fhoiild be. 
 
 In the mean time, they have been voluntarily 
 fupplied by the attention of Mr. Campbell, the 
 prefent Superintendant. A furgeon of a battalion 
 attends the convidls once a day j and the furgeon 
 general of the artillery vifits them once a week. 
 A clergyman fent by the countefs of Hunt- 
 ingdon, gives them the afliftances belonging to 
 his profeffion, without any gratuity from Mr, 
 Campbell, or any expence to the eftablifhment. 
 Not content with performing the ordinary duty 
 in the manner provided for in the bill, he is ^f- 
 fiduous in giving them^ the benefit of his inftruc- 
 tions by every means, and at every opportu- 
 nity in his power. He has diftributed Bibles 
 among them ; and has endeavoured to diredl their 
 attention to the facred writings, by giving them 
 rewards for performing little exercifes pfopofed to 
 them as tefts of their proficiency. 
 
 The loofe and general way in which thefe and 
 other exigencies are provided for, with refpeil to 
 convicts of the defcription now before us, efpe- 
 cially when compared with the ftri6l and minute 
 attention paid to the regimen of the labour-houfes, 
 are ftrong teftimonies of the extraordinary confi- 
 dence repofed in the prefent Superintendant. I 
 
 have 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 97 
 
 have nevtu" heard of any faiS fo much as furmifed, Seft. 
 
 that afforded the leaft reafon for deemino- that LiX. 
 
 p. %%• 
 confidence mifplaccd ; and I have much reafon *^' j * 
 
 for entertaining a contrary opinion; yet I fhould 
 be forry'to fee the merit of this individual officer 
 made an argument for entailing powders fo unli- 
 mited upon what perfon foever may chance at 
 any time hereafter to bear his office. The cfUb- 
 lifliment upon the Thames has been acknow^ledged 
 to be intended but as a meafure of experiment j it 
 is to be hoped therefore, that when the effe6l of 
 the regimen prefcribcd for the hard-labour houfes 
 has been approved by experience, it will be extend- 
 ed to the eftablifhments upon rivers, yealoufy, not 
 conjidence, is the charaiferijVtc of wife laivs. 
 
 Sedion LX. enjoins the Governors and Sea. LX. 
 Superintendants to make returns of the ftate P' 3^* 
 of the convidls under their care. Thefe re- be made 
 turns are to contain the following parti- ^^^'^^ r 
 culars : the eftab- 
 
 1. The name of each convid com- li^^^^nt, 
 mitted to their cuftody. 
 
 2. His offence. 
 
 3. His fentence. 
 
 4. His ftate of body. 
 
 5. His behaviour while in cuftody. 
 They are alfo to exhibit the names of all 
 
 fuch convidts, as, fince the laft return, have 
 paffed out of their cuftody, whether 
 I. By death, 
 
 H 2. By 
 
98 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Sea. LX. 2. By efcape. 
 
 ^* ^ ' 3' By releafement, whether by order 
 
 of a Secretary of State or otherwife. 
 For the purpofe of making thefe returns 
 regular books are to be kept by the perfons 
 who are refpeftively to make them. 
 
 They are to be made by the fuperinten- 
 dant of the Thames convids to the King's- 
 bench, the firfb day of every term : by the 
 governors of Labour-houfes, and the fuper- 
 intendants of any other work, to the Judges, 
 as before *, at each AfTize ; to the Juftices 
 of the Peace for every county and divifion 
 within the diftrift, at the two SefTions holden 
 next after Eafter and Michaelmas. 
 
 They are to be made upon oath, to be 
 adminiftered to them by the refpeftive 
 courts. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The ordering thefe returns is a meafure of excel- 
 lent ufe in furnifhing data for the legiflator to go 
 to work upon. They will form all together a kind 
 oi political barometer, by which the efFe6l of every 
 legislative operation relative to this fubje<ft, may 
 be indicated and made palpable. It is not till lately 
 thatlegiHators have thought of providing themfelves 
 
 * See Sedt. 11, 31, 24, 26, 30, 47, 52. 
 
 with 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 99 
 
 with thefe neceflary documents. They may be Se6l. LX; 
 compared to the bills of mortality publiflied an- P' 3°' 
 nually in London ; indicating the moral health of 
 the community, (but a little more accurately, it 
 is to be hoped) as thefe latter do the phyfical. 
 
 It would tend ftill farther to forward the good 
 purpofes of this meafurc, if the returns, as foon 
 as filed, were to be made public by being printed 
 in the gazette, and in the local news-papers. 
 They might alfo be colle<£led once a year, and 
 publiflied all together in a book *. 
 
 Sefbion LXI. provides a penalty for ef- ^^•^* 
 capes. This penalty, if the convid: had p/39, 
 
 been ordered to hard labour in lieu of capi- Penalties 
 
 tal punifhment, is death : if in lieu of tranf- fcapd 
 
 portation, in the firfb inftance, an addition of on tht 
 
 three years to his term of fervitude j in the ^^'^^' 
 fccond inftance, death. 
 
 • A few years ago, I began Dcetching out a plan for a 
 colleftion of documents of this kind, to be publiflied by 
 authority under the name of bills of delinquency , with 
 analogy to the bills of mortality above fpoken of: but the 
 defpair of feeing any thing of that fort carried into exe- 
 cution foon occafioned me to abandon it. My idea 
 was to extend it to all perfons convi£ted on criminal pro- 
 fecutions. Indeed, if the refult of all law proceedings 
 in general were digefted into tables it might furnilh 
 ofeful matter for a variety of political fpeculations. 
 
 H 2 OB. 
 
 le 
 
loo A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Sea. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 p. 5Q, I cannot help entertaining fome doubts of the 
 
 expediency of capital puniflimcnt in cafe of efcapes. 
 Punijhments that a rnan has occafion to choofe out of, 
 fhould he commenfurahle. That which is meant to 
 appear the greater fliould either be altogether of 
 the fame kind, or include one that is of the 
 fame kind with the leffer ; otherwife, the dan- 
 ger always is, confidering the variety of men's 
 circumftances and tempers, left the punifliment 
 which appears the greater to the legiflator and 
 the judge, as being in general the greater, fhould 
 appear the leffer to the delinquent. On the other 
 hand, you may be fure of making your punifh- 
 ment appear the greater to the delinquent, when 
 keeping to the fame fpecies, you can either en- 
 creafe it in degree, or add a punifliment of ano- 
 ther fpecies. A fine may t6 one man be worfe 
 than imprifonmentj imprifonment may to another 
 man be worfe than a fine : but a fine of twenty 
 pounds muft to every man be worfe than a fine of 
 ten pounds ; imprifonment for fix months than 
 imprifonment for three : fo alfo muft imprifon- 
 ment, though it were but for a day, added to a 
 fine of ten pounds, than a fine of ten pounds by 
 itfelf. 
 
 In the prefent inftance, it may very well hap- 
 pen, that a convidl may even prefer certain death 
 to his fituation in a labour-houfe or on board a 
 lighter : in fuch cafe, the punifhment of death, 
 it is plain, can have no hold on him. What is 
 ftill more likely to happen is, that although he 
 
 would 
 
A View of the Hard-Labou7' Bill, 1 01 
 
 XLI. 
 p. 39. 
 
 would not prefer certain death to fuch a fituation, Seft. 
 he would yet prefer fuch a cha7ice of death as he 
 appears likely to be liable to, after having efFc6l- 
 ed his efcape. I fay, after having cfFeifed it : 
 for the attempt^ I obfervc, is not made punifhablc 
 in this manner. 
 
 It may be objedled in the firft cafe, that if death 
 were preferable in his eyes to fervitude, he would 
 iiiflid it on himfelf. But the inference is not 
 juft. He may be reftrained by the dread of future 
 punifhment ; or by that timidity which, though 
 it might fufFer him to put himfelf in the way of 
 dying at a fomewhat diftant and uncertain period 
 by the hand of another, would not fuffer him, 
 when the time came, to employ his own. In 
 either of thefe cafes, capital punifhment, fo far 
 from ailing as a preventative, may operate as an 
 inducement. 
 
 In cafes of efcape, little, it (hould fccm, is to 
 be done in the way of reftraint, by means that 
 apply only to the mind ; phyfical obftaclcs arc 
 the only ones to be depended on. To the cata- 
 logue of thefe, large additions and improvements 
 have been made, and flill more, as I have ven- 
 tured to fuggeft, might be made, if neccfTary, by 
 the prcfent bill. The degree of fecurity which 
 thefe promife to afford, feems to be quite fufficient 
 without having recourfe to capital punifliment. 
 This will fave the unpopularity of inflidting 
 a punifliment fo harfli, for an offence fo na- 
 tural. 
 
 In preference to capital punifliment, I would 
 H 3 rather 
 
102 !// View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 Se£t. rather be for applying hard labour for life. Such a 
 ^'-'^' punifhment is already admitted of by this bill *. 
 P- 39- 
 
 Seft. Se(5bIon LXII. inflifls penalties on fuch 
 
 LXII • 
 
 ' ' perfons as may be initru mental to efcapes. 
 
 i^on Bis T. Any perfons refcuing fuch a c^n^dft, 
 
 a ants, git-hg,- from the place of his confinement, or 
 from the cu.lody of any who are conveying 
 him to it, or affifting in fuch refcue, are to 
 fuffer as for refcuing a felon, after judgment, 
 from a gaoler. 
 
 2. Any perfons, who by fupplying arms, 
 or inftruments of difguife, or otherwife afllft 
 a convict in efcaping, or attempting to ef- 
 cape, are to fuffer as for felony. 
 
 3. Perfons who, having the cuftody of 
 fuch a convift, or being employed by one 
 that has, permit him to efcape, if volunta- 
 rily 3 are alfo to fuffer as for felony. 
 
 4. If negligently y are to be deemed guilty 
 of a mifdemeanor, and are to be liable to a 
 fine not exceeding ten pounds, or to im- 
 prifonment for not more than fix months, or 
 to both. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 The punifhment here appointed for negligently 
 permitting an efcape, is, I fear, liable to be too 
 
 • See Sea. 53. 
 
 fmallj 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 103 
 
 LXII. 
 p. 40. 
 
 fmall ; efpecially confiderliig, that a wilful per- Se£l 
 minion of this fort, may frequently, for want of 
 dired: proof, be no otherwife puniiliablc than as 
 an a6l of negligence. If a conviiS: of this (lamp 
 be a man of fubftance, as may fometimes happen, 
 he may be very well able to give an under-keeper 
 fuch a reward for his connivance as may very well 
 indemnify him againft the chance of lofing ten 
 pounds, and fufFering even a fix months im- 
 prifonment. What is remarkable, this punifh- 
 ment is no greater than that which, in another 
 part of this bill *, is appointed for the trivial of- 
 fence of fupplying a convift with prohibited meat 
 or drink. Inftead, therefore, of faying that it 
 fliould not be were than the quantum fpecificd, I 
 would rather fay, that it fhould not be lefs. At 
 any rate, it fliould contain fome imprifonment ; 
 for, againft imprifonment a man cannot be fo 
 completely indemnified as againft fine. 
 
 I fee no puniftiment for the attempt to ref- 
 cue, or the aflifting in fuch attempt : yet the 
 attempt to refcue is an offence as much more 
 atrocious than the aflifting in a quiet attempt to 
 cfcape, as robbery is than Ample theft. 
 
 What is the ufe of defcribing the punifliment 
 of a refcuer in a round-about way by reference? 
 why not make it felony at once ? The ftanding 
 punifhment for the refcuing of a felon (meaning 
 a fimple felon) is no more than fmiple felony. 
 It ought, however, to be greater, or elfe the af- 
 
 • Seft. 41,55. 
 
 H 4 fiftin 
 
104 
 Sea. 
 
 LXII. 
 p. 40. 
 
 Sea. 
 LXIII. 
 
 p. 40. 
 Pro/ecu- 
 iions for 
 efcapes 
 facilitat- 
 ed. 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 fifting in a quiet attempt to efcape, ought to be 
 lefs : otherwife the offender has nothing to determine 
 his choice in favour of an offence lefs mifchievous, 
 in preference to an offence more mifchievous. 
 
 I take for granted it could never have been 
 the intention that, under this claufe, the refcuer 
 of a capita] felon pardoned on condition, fhould 
 fufFer capitally, 
 
 Seflion LXIII. is calculated to facilitate 
 the profecution of perfons concerned in ef- 
 capes. 
 
 1. Convifts efcaping may be tried in the 
 county in which they are retaktji. 
 
 2. In a proficution for an efca e or rcicue, 
 or attempt to efcape or refcue, either ajainft 
 the convid himfeif, or any perfon alliling 
 him, the certificate above-mentioned (after 
 proof made that the culprit is the fame that 
 was delivered with fuch certificate) is to be 
 deemed conclufive evidence of his being the 
 perfon who was ordered to the confinement 
 therein mentioned. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 To fhew the beneficial efFecls of thefe provi- 
 fions, in faving ufelefs trouble, the way would be 
 to ftate and explain the feveral rules of law which 
 they difpenfe with ; but this is a piece of infor- 
 mation that would not be very interefling to read- 
 ers at large, and lawyers have no need of it. 
 
 Sedion 
 
A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 10- 
 
 Seftion LXIV. appoints the mode of pro- Seft. 
 cedure for the recovery of the pecuniary * 
 
 penalties inflicted by this Bill, when no par- Penalties 
 ticular method is prelcribed *. It is to be ceedejfo^ 
 Himmary, before two Jnftices of the Peace : fummari' 
 the imprifonment, in cafe of failure, is to' be ^* 
 for not lefs than one month, nor more than 
 fix. The other provifions are what are ufu- 
 ally inferted in cafes of lummary procedure. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Setftion LXV. is another provifion of 
 procedure difpenfing, for the purpofcs of this p ,^ 
 Aft, with the general rule of law, that Judges 
 Judges muft be in the jurifdi(5tion/<?r which bufine^ 
 they are doing bufinefs. It fometimes hap- out pi 
 pens that the Court-houfe for a town that rifdiZ"" 
 is a county of itfelf, is the Court-houfe for tion. 
 the county at large, but the Judges lodg- 
 ings are not fituate in both. It therefore 
 declares, that for the above purpofes, they 
 fliall be " conftrued and taken to be fituate 
 " in both"' 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Here the hand of the lawyer is vifible ; a 
 plain man would have contented himlelf with 
 
 • See Seft. 40, 55. See alfo Seft. 18, 41, 62, where 
 tther modes of procedure fcem to be intended. 
 
 laying. 
 
io6 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill, 
 
 Sea. 
 
 LXV. 
 p. 41. 
 
 Seft. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 p. 41. 
 Claufesof 
 indemnity. 
 
 Sea. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 p. 42. 
 
 Limita- 
 tion of 
 actions. 
 
 Sea. 
 LXVIII. 
 
 p. 42. 
 Prefent 
 aa re- 
 pealed. 
 
 faying, that a judge of the defcription in queftion 
 might do fuch bufinefs as might be done at his 
 lodgings, for any county, although he were in an 
 adjacent one. But there never was yet a lawyer, 
 who, when either would equally well ferve the 
 turn, did not prefer a falfe account to the true 
 one. The old maxim which, to another man 
 would I'eem inflexible, '* nothing can be in two 
 *' places at once," bows down before him. 
 Thefe paradoxes are a kind of profeflional wit j 
 which is altogether innocent in the intention, 
 though not altogether harmlefs in its effects. 
 This is no reflecSlion on the uuthor : it is only 
 attributing to him, in common with every body, 
 what no body is afhamed of. 
 
 Se6licn LXVI. allows perfons profe- 
 ,cuted for any thing done in purfuance of 
 this Bill, to plead the General IJfue -, if the 
 fuit terminates in their favour, gives them 
 treble cofts : if againft them, and by verdift, 
 exempts them from colls, iinlefs the Judge 
 certify his approbation of the verdi<5t. 
 
 Se(5lion LXVII. limits the place and time 
 of fuch a profecution. The jurifdiftion is to 
 be that wherein the aft was done : the time 
 within fix months of it. 
 
 Sc6lion LXVIII. and lafl, repeals the 
 prefent Acl, except with regard to fuch of- 
 fenders whofe terms are unexpired. 
 
 0£^ 
 
A View of the Hard-Labour Bill, 107 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. SeS. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 Perhaps the fimpler and more commodious way p. ±1, 
 
 would be to take a fe(5lioii by itfclf for giving the 
 rcqjiiite continuance to the above terms, and 
 doing what elfe is neceflary (for I fufpetS that 
 more may be ncccflary) to prevent the unintended 
 confcquences of fuch a repeal ; and then in ano- 
 ther fedlion, to repeal the aft fnnply and abfo- 
 lutely. 
 
 Some hundred years hence, when concifenefs 
 ftiall be deemed preferable to prolixity, and the 
 parliamentary ftile fhall have been diverted of all 
 thofe peculiarities which diftinguifh it, to its dif- 
 advantage, from that of common converfation, the 
 formulary for that purpofe may be as follows : 
 
 The aSl 16 George III. c. 43. Jfauds repealed. 
 
 The adl 16 George III. may be repealed : but 
 the memory of the propofcr of it will survive. 
 
 ;^UPPLE. 
 
loi 
 
 A View of the Hard-Labour Bill. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTAL HINTS 
 AND OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Further 
 advanta- 
 ges of 
 hard-la- 
 bour over 
 tranfpor- 
 tation : 
 111, in 
 point of 
 diviiibili- 
 
 TH E following obfervations, though they 
 connedl with the fubjeit of fedtion i. could 
 not well have been introduced previoully tofedtions 
 30, 43, and 52. 
 
 Befides thofe ftated under fedlion i. a farther 
 advantage, which the punifhment propofed to be 
 eftablifhed in the Labour-houfes has over Tranf- 
 portation, is that of fuperior divifihU'ity \ by which 
 means the quantity of it is capable of being pro- 
 portioned with greater nicety to the different de- 
 grees of malignity in different offences. The 
 punifhment of Hard-labour is divifible in point of 
 inte?ifity as well as of duration ; and a divifion of it 
 in the former of thefe ways, is ^(Stually directed to 
 be made in feftion 43. That of Tranfportation is 
 divifible no otherwife than in point of duration. 
 In this point it is, in its own nature, indeed, 
 incapable of being divided to as great a degree of 
 nicety as Hard-labour is. Very little advantage, 
 however, of this property of it has been made 
 in practice. I am not certain whether there may 
 not have been a few inflances in which convidls 
 have been tranfported for as fhort a time as three 
 years j but in general, the only terms in ufe have 
 8 been 
 
Supplemental Hints and Ohfevjations. 109 
 
 been for fevcn years, for fourteen years, and for 
 life. In the duration of the confinement in the 
 Hard-labour houfes, as many different periods are 
 allowed on one occafion or another, as may be 
 marked out between one year and fevcn years. 
 I cannot fee, however, why even a greater lati- 
 tude than this fliould not be admitted of, cfpecially 
 on the fide of diminution ; in other words, why a 
 fhorter time than a year fhould in no cafe be al- 
 lowed. One fhould think, that for many of the 
 offences that are punifhable by tranfportation, a 
 Icfs term than one year, and for petty larceny, a 
 lefs term than two years (the terms refpe<5lively 
 allowed of) might fufficc. But on this head I fhall 
 infift no farther, as it would lead me from the par- 
 ticular objed: of the propofed Bill, to difcuflions 
 that belong to a general furvey of criminal jurif- 
 prudence. 
 
 Another point in which the puniflimcnt propofed — 2dly, 
 by the Bill, has the advantage of Tranfportation, is rL-[-^"/^" 
 that of being in the way of being rcmit::d at any 
 time on the ground of merits difplayed fubfcquently 
 to the offence. Provifion, we may remember, is 
 made for that purpofe in fedtion 52. But a con- 
 vict who is tranfported, though he be not out of 
 the reach of pardon, is out of all hope of pardon 
 on that ground, fince he lies out of the reach of 
 all obfervation. which could di6tate the expediency 
 of fuch indulgence. 
 
 The following hints connedt, in fome meafure, Motto 
 
 with the fubjeit of fetSlion 13. and with a prin- ^^d de- 
 
 ciple adopted in fedlion 40, ]''bo - 
 
 A fui table houfe*. 
 
no A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill, 
 
 A fuitable motto over the doors of thefe houfes 
 might have many good effects. It might contri- 
 bute to inculcate the juftice, to augment the 
 terror, and to fpread the notoriety of this plan 
 of punifhment. 
 
 The follov/ing fentence might, perhaps, anfwer 
 the purpofe . 
 
 Had they been indiijirious when free, they need not 
 have drudged here like flaves. 
 
 Or this, 
 
 Violence and knavery 
 . Are the roads to Jlavery. 
 
 The latter is that w^hich I fhould prefer on 
 many accounts. It is more expreflive ) indicating 
 more particularly the kind of mifbehaviour that 
 was the caufe of their punifliment ; and the pro- 
 verbial turn of it, together u^ith the jingle, will 
 render it more apt to be circulated and remember- 
 ed by the people. Violence refpefts thofe who may 
 be committed upon a pardon for robbery, or thofe 
 who may have been committed in any way for 
 malicious mifchief; knavery.^ the common run of 
 thieves and fharpers. Fraudulent znA forcible, is a 
 divifion that runs in a manner through the whole 
 catalogue of offences againft the police. 
 
 The efficacy of this motto might be ftiU 
 farther affifted by a device. Over the door there 
 might likewife be a bas-relief, or a painting, ex- 
 l^iblting a wolf and a fox yoked together to 
 
 a heavy 
 
Supplemental Hints and Obfervations. 1 1 t 
 
 a heavy cart, and a driver whipping them. The 
 wolf as an emblem of violence and mifchief; 
 the fox of knavery. In the back ground might 
 be a troop of wolves ravaging a flock of fheep, 
 and a fox watching a hcn-rooft. 
 
 Bas-reliefs, if made in artificial ftonc, might be 
 caft, a number of them in the fame mold, and be 
 the fame for all the Labour-houfes. 
 
 Should it be thought an improvement, a monkey, 
 as being more peculiarly the emblem of wanton mif- 
 chief, might be added to the above train. Among 
 the offences which it is propofed fliould be punifh- 
 able in this manner, are many that come under the 
 denomination of malicious mifchief. In this cafe, 
 the infcription, inftead of " Violence and knavery^** 
 had need to be, *' mifchief, rapine, knavery.''^ 
 The danger is, left the addition of an animal, 
 whofe manners are calculated more conftantly to 
 excite merriment by their drollery, than difplea- 
 fure by their mifchieveoufnefs, fhould give fuch a 
 caft of ridicule to the whole contrivance, as fhould 
 coiinteradl the defign of it. 
 
 The device adopted in the houfc of correftion 
 at Mentz, and other foreign prifons, according to 
 the account given of it by Mr. Howard *, does 
 not feem fo well im.agined as it might be. It 
 confifts of a waggon drawn by two ftags, two 
 lions, and two wild boars ; and the purport of the 
 JHfcription is, that " if wild beafts can be tamed 
 
 • P. io8. 
 
 " to 
 
112 A View of the Hard-Lahour Bill. 
 
 " to the 3'oke, we fhould not defpair of reclaim- 
 irregular men." The equipage here reprefented, 
 has nothing in it that is very chara6teriltic of the 
 perfons whofe conditions it is meant to alle- 
 gorize; and there feems to be fomething awkward 
 in making the hopes of fucceeding, with regard to 
 men, reft, as it were, upon no better footing than 
 the fuccv-is of the contrivance there imagined re- 
 fpedling brutes. I have read of hogs being now 
 and then employed in fome parts of France to 
 help draw a plough. We have read of gods 
 and goddefies, and now and then, perhaps, a Ro- 
 man general in his triumph, who have been 
 drawn by lions ; but I never heard yet of a ftag's 
 being yoked to a waggon, either as a truth or in 
 the way of fable ; much lefs appearaijce is there 
 of its being acknowledged for a known truth that 
 waggons may be made to draw with a team com- 
 pofed of ftags, and boars, and lions. 
 
 Let me not be accufed of trifling : thofe who 
 
 know mankind, know to what a degree the ima- 
 
 ffination of the multitude is liable to be influenced 
 
 by circumftances as trivial as thefe. 
 
 Site of With regard to the fite of the building *, might 
 
 the la- it not be a proper diredlion to give, that care 
 
 ^°'^'j' fhould be taken to have fuch a quantity of 
 
 ground all around the building included in the 
 
 purchafe, as might prevent any houfes from being 
 
 • See Sea. ii. 
 
 built 
 
SupplemejUal Hints an J Ohfervations. ii^ 
 
 ft 
 
 built within fuch a number of yards diftance ? 
 An eftabliflimcnt of this fort might, in fome way 
 or other, afford inducements to people of the low- 
 er clafles to fettle near it. But the near vicinity 
 of any houfe might be produdlive of feveral bad, 
 effe«Sls : it might facilitate cfcapes ; it would take 
 away from the fcqucftered appearance of the fcene ; 
 it would put the convi6ts and their neighbours into 
 the way of engaging in converfations which might 
 be of prejudice to both. 
 
 With regard to fuch convifls as it may be 
 thought expedient to put to works of the fedentary 
 kind, it might be of ufe, on the fcore of occonomy, 
 if fuch of them as have a trade of their own that 
 can be carried on in the houfe fhould be permit- 
 ted to work at that trade in preference to ano- 
 ther. Hatters, ftocking-weavers, taylors, flioe- 
 makers, and many other handicrafts, might carry 
 on their trades in fuch a fituation, nearly as well 
 as any where elfe ; fo it were in the wholefale 
 way, and not for particular employers. The 
 trades that will be fet up in the houfe for the 
 inftrudlion of the convidls will hardly be of the 
 moft lucrative kind ; and if they were, it can hardly 
 be expciEled that a man fhould earn as much at a 
 trade that is new to him, as at one he has been 
 bred up to. The difference would be fo much 
 lofs to the public during the time a convidt con- 
 tinues in the Labour-houfe. But it might, befides 
 that, be a lofs to him, and through him to the 
 public, for the remainder of his life : if his con- 
 finement has been long, he may have loft, by the 
 I time 
 
114 A View of the Hard-Lahoiir Bill, 
 
 m 
 time it is over, a great part of his (kill. In the 
 compafs of a few years, a courfe of Hard-labour 
 may have irrecoverably deprived a man of that 
 pliancy of mufcle and nicety of touch, that is 
 neceflary in fome trades. 
 
 The convi(Sls ' who come within the view of 
 this inftitution, may be diftinguiflied into two 
 clafles : the one confifting of malefadlors by pro- 
 feffion, who polTefs no honeft talent ; the other of 
 perfons of different trades and employments, who 
 have fubjefted themfelves to the cenfure of the 
 laws by an occafional deviation from integrity. 
 The firft cannot but be benefited by the inftitution 
 in point of talent, as well as in other refpecSts ; the 
 pthers, howfoever benefited in other refpedts, 
 may, in many cafes, be fufFerers in point of talent, 
 if their induftry be forced out of its old channels. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
4 
 
m 
 
P?lT^«(Ww 
 
 % 
 V 
 
.9*i