Dumas, However, Was A Law Unto Himself
In Such Matters.) Never, Perhaps, Was There A More Shining Example Of The
Powerful Influence Of Laws And Institutions Upon The Character Of
Individuals And Peoples.
To transform the most redoubtable highwaymen,
the most abandoned thieves of England, into honest and peaceable
citizens; to make
Laborious husbandmen of them; to effect the same
revolution in the characters of the vilest women; to force them, by
infallible methods, to become honest wives and excellent mothers of
families; to take the young and preserve them, by the most assiduous
care, from the contagion of their reprobate parents, and so to prepare a
generation more virtuous than that which it succeeds: such is the
touching spectacle that these new English colonies present."
The passage may be compared with Peron's own observations on the same
subject, given in Chapter 9. A more erroneous view of the effects of
convict colonisation could hardly have been conveyed; but the paragraph
may have been written to catch the eye of Napoleon, who was a strong
believer in transportation as a remedial punishment for serious crime,
and had spoken in favour of it in the Council of State during the
discussions on the Civil Code.* (* See Thibaudeau, Memoires sur le
Consulat, English edition, translated by G.K. Fortescue, LL.D., London
1908 page 180. Transportation, said Napoleon, "is in accord with public
opinion, and is prescribed by humane considerations. The need for it is
so obvious that we should provide for it at once in the Civil Code. We
have now in our prisons six thousand persons who are doing nothing, who
cost a great deal of money, and who are always escaping. There are thirty
to forty highwaymen in the south who are ready to surrender to justice on
condition that they are transported. Certainly we ought to settle the
question now, while we have it in our minds. Transportation is
imprisonment, certainly, but in a cell more than thirty feet square." The
highwaymen mentioned by Bonaparte must have been remarkable persons. It
was so like highwaymen to wish to be arrested! Perhaps there were also
birds in the south who were willing to be caught on condition that salt
was put on their tails.)
In addition to these representations, Peron was accorded an interview
with the Minister of Marine, Decres, when, supported by Fleurieu and
other members of the Institute, he explained what the expedition had
done, and exhibited specimens of his collections and of Lesueur's
drawings. Champagny, the Minister of the Interior, was also induced to
listen to the eloquent pleading of the naturalist. As a result, the
Government resolved to publish; and in 1807 appeared the first volume of
the text, together with a thin folio atlas containing a number of
beautiful drawings and two charts. The books were issued under the
superscription, "par ordre de S.M. L'Empereur et Roi." On Sunday, January
12, 1808 - "apres la messe" - Peron, who was accompanied by Lesueur, one of
the artists, had the honour of being admitted to the presence of the
Emperor, and presented him with a copy of the work.* (* Moniteur, January
13, 1808.) The naturalist became somewhat of a favourite with the Empress
Josephine, who on several occasions sent a carriage to his lodgings to
take him to Malmaison; and she treated him "as a good mother would have
treated a dear son."* (* Girard, F. Peron page 50.) He gave to her a pair
of black swans from Australia, and the Empress generously discharged
debts which he had incurred in acquiring part of his collection.
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