the Story - iv

"Transportation- forced exile, in plain english - had undeniable merits. It preserved the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, as the felon was left alive.  At the same time he was removed from the realm as completely, if not as permanently, as any hanged man.  Transportation got rid of the prison as well as the prisoners.  It supplied Britain with a large labour force, consisting entirely of people of who, having forfeited their rights, could be sent to distant colonies of a growing Empire to work at jobs that no free settler would do.  Free-born Englishman had always disliked the idea of labouring bands of convicts engaged in public works at home.  A bill of 1752 introducing public chain-gang labour as punishment for criminals was rejected by the Lords partly because security was too great a problem but mainly because the sight of chain-gangs in public places was felt to be degrading. How could onlookers distinguish such a punishment fro outright slavery? In the New World there was no such problem."

Source: The Fatal Shore - Robert Hughes