Hoy! Hoy! Hoy!
You can't hang them all. Not that Britain didn't try. The list of crimes for which you could be hanged in Britain spanned from murder to burglary to receipt of stolen goods to buggery to being a Catholic. That last was treason - Catholics were thought to have sworn allegiance to a foreign prince, the Pope. At times, hanging too good for Papist traitors, they could also be drawn and quartered. You can't possibly hang all offenders, however, that would be draconian.
But neither can you imprison all those you don't hang. Prisons are expensive. Even when you can put your felons to work on the treadmill, it's still costly to feed them their daily gruel and pay the guards.
The best thing you can do with non-capital offenders is send them somewhere else. You get rid of them, they end up doing honest labor in some godforsaken place, and you might even make a profit on them. After all, they're exiles, not prisoners - they have to pay for their own food and clothing.
Fortunately, Britain had a perfect place to send its rebels, religious fanatics, misfits, and malefactors. It was called America. There was plenty of room and plenty of hard labor that needed doing. There were plenty of ships sailing to and fro, and captains didn't turn up their noses at making a few extra shillings transporting human cargo. For decades, Britain's prisons were dumping their petty criminals onto America's shores.
Then those damned revolutionaries had to go and spoil everything. They claimed they were their own country now, and they didn't want the wretched refuse of Britain's teeming shore anymore. The mighty empire had to look elsewhere.
In May of 1787, a fleet of eleven ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip were sent by the Admiralty to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay, the area of New South Wales claimed as British by Lieutenant James Cook seventeen years earlier. The ships were well provisioned and contained a large number of convicts.
They arrived somewhere around January 19th, 1788, but Botany Bay turned out to be unsuitable. Indeed, most of the ships became trapped in the bay by a huge gale. On the 25th, one ship managed to get clear of Botany Bay. The HMS Supply, containing Captain Phillip as well as about 40 convicts, sailed north to Sydney Cove. The next morning, the captain, with some officers and marines, rowed to shore and claimed the land in the name of King George III. The remaining ships of the First Fleet soon caught up, with the last anchoring in Sydney Cove by mid-afternoon.
The 26th of January is now Australia Day, and today is the 225th anniversary of the arrival of that first colony. It's a day Australians celebrate their justifiable pride in being Australian. The day is marked with barbecues, parties, concerts, and fireworks, as well as sporting events and boat races in Sydney Harbor.
Not every Australian participates in the festivities. Some aboriginal groups call it Invasion Day, and mount protests. To their credit, the organizers of Australia Day celebrations are making efforts to being more inclusive and celebrate the country's richly diverse population.
Happy Australia Day!
But neither can you imprison all those you don't hang. Prisons are expensive. Even when you can put your felons to work on the treadmill, it's still costly to feed them their daily gruel and pay the guards.
The best thing you can do with non-capital offenders is send them somewhere else. You get rid of them, they end up doing honest labor in some godforsaken place, and you might even make a profit on them. After all, they're exiles, not prisoners - they have to pay for their own food and clothing.
Fortunately, Britain had a perfect place to send its rebels, religious fanatics, misfits, and malefactors. It was called America. There was plenty of room and plenty of hard labor that needed doing. There were plenty of ships sailing to and fro, and captains didn't turn up their noses at making a few extra shillings transporting human cargo. For decades, Britain's prisons were dumping their petty criminals onto America's shores.
Then those damned revolutionaries had to go and spoil everything. They claimed they were their own country now, and they didn't want the wretched refuse of Britain's teeming shore anymore. The mighty empire had to look elsewhere.
In May of 1787, a fleet of eleven ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip were sent by the Admiralty to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay, the area of New South Wales claimed as British by Lieutenant James Cook seventeen years earlier. The ships were well provisioned and contained a large number of convicts.
They arrived somewhere around January 19th, 1788, but Botany Bay turned out to be unsuitable. Indeed, most of the ships became trapped in the bay by a huge gale. On the 25th, one ship managed to get clear of Botany Bay. The HMS Supply, containing Captain Phillip as well as about 40 convicts, sailed north to Sydney Cove. The next morning, the captain, with some officers and marines, rowed to shore and claimed the land in the name of King George III. The remaining ships of the First Fleet soon caught up, with the last anchoring in Sydney Cove by mid-afternoon.
The 26th of January is now Australia Day, and today is the 225th anniversary of the arrival of that first colony. It's a day Australians celebrate their justifiable pride in being Australian. The day is marked with barbecues, parties, concerts, and fireworks, as well as sporting events and boat races in Sydney Harbor.
Not every Australian participates in the festivities. Some aboriginal groups call it Invasion Day, and mount protests. To their credit, the organizers of Australia Day celebrations are making efforts to being more inclusive and celebrate the country's richly diverse population.
Happy Australia Day!
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