inevitable fate which attends the crime of biishraiigiDg, his Excfcilleiicy trusts the settlers generally will embrace the present opportunity to unpress upon the minds of prisonfirB camniitted to their care the Jreadfid coiisetjueoceB of crime, and to inculcate as far as possible the duties of moral Ufo." That Arthur's measure8 effecte<l their object was not denied by hi^ opponents. It was recorded in a leading article in TJn' TasmiUiian (Nov. 1827): '* A person may now walk at all hours of the night in perfect safety.'* In I] is own district John Batman was useful, and Arthur publicly commended and rewarded him. PoY convenient control of convicts withdrawn from l>ad masters, Arthur enlarged a Penitentiary in 1827. He elassiiied the prisoners. Stricter disciphne could control the weaker but not the more determined. They still risked their lives for temporary freedom. In 182i) a vessel, the Cifprm, conveying prisoners to Macquarie Harbour (called
- the Hell" by the convicts), was seized by them. Their
military guard, and some of the convicts who declined to take part in the seizure, were landed, and the captors found their way to Jai)an^ where seven of them deserted their comrades. There the command devolved upon a daring sailor, one Swallow, under whom the Cyprus reached China. With a boat which he had picked up, and a sextant engraved with a name which he claimed as his own, Swallow and his companions abandoned the vessel and represented themselves as shipwrecked. Aided by contri- butions tlioy reached London, but suspicions had been aroused, and two were tried an<l executed as escaped con- victs. Others, including Swallow, were sent back to Van Diemen's Land, where another man was hanged, and Swallow^ sm*vived only to die in ini]U'isonment. These events harassed all governors, but found Arthur ever inflexible. He systematized. Criminals must, he said, bo tauglit that government was strong; '*the main hotly of convicts were under mental delirium." **As from long experience the Lt.-Gov. is coniident that a iirm and deter- mined but mild and constant supervision is the very best to be followed in order to remove the infirmity under wdiich they labom% it is the treatment he enjoins shall be uni- Ibrmly observed."
