[Footnote 39: _Discourse, by the Right Hon. Wm. Eden, on Banishment._]
[Footnote 40: _Robertson's History of America._]
[Footnote 41: See _Blackstone's Commentaries_, vol. iv. c. 31.]
[Footnote 42: _Rastall's Statutes_, p. 419.]
[Footnote 45: _Sir Joshua Child's Discourses on Trade_, 1670.]
[Footnote 46: _Letter from James II._, in the colonial-office: quoted by Chalmers.]
[Footnote 47: Introduction to _Phillip's Voyages_.]
[Footnote 48: See _Bentham's Letter to Lord Pelham_.]
[Footnote 50: Dr. Lang, on whose quotation (from the _Memoirs of Jefferson_, vol. i. p. 406) the above is given, would make the total number to be 50,000--a vast difference!]
During and subsequent to the American war, the prisons of Great Britain were crowded. A distemper, generated in the damp and foetid atmosphere of gaols, carried off thousands: to be charged with an offence, was to be exposed to the risk of a malady generally fatal. Sometimes, it passed beyond the precincts of prisons: at Taunton, the judges and other officers of the court, and hundreds of the inhabitants, perished.
Howard, after spending a large portion of his life in retirement and devotion, was chosen sheriff of Bedfordshire. He exposed the sufferings which he witnessed; and accelerated transportation, by revealing the secrets of the prison house. It is needless to describe his labors--they belong to all nations: he reproved kings, and received the blessings of thousands ready to perish; and he lost his life in the service of mankind.[52]
The attention awakened by Howard, the philanthropist, led to the general improvement of prisons (1779). A variety of projects were suggested for the disposal of prisoners: some it was proposed to confine in dock-yards, salt works, mines, or where concentrated labour might be possible. Mr. Eden, at first, suggested that enormous offenders should be sent to the Mahomedan ports, and sold for the redemption of Christian slaves, or be employed on the coasts of Africa, on small islands, for the benefit of navigation.[53] It was recommended by a committee of the House of Commons to transport criminals to the coast of Africa and the East Indies. These plans were effectually resisted, or failed of their design.