| Docility of Irish Convicts.— Mr. CUNNINGHAM1, a Scotish Surgeon, in his work on New South Wales, makes a comparison between the manners of the English amd Irish convicts, very much to the advantage of the latter. He says tha Irish convicts possess an anxiety to oblige, and have a light hearted civility about them, of which the English are totally destitute. I have been at times most bitterly provoked by the conduct of some of those saturine-faced English knaves; the very man I was stedfastly looking at, while desiring him to do some petty thing for me, would stare with a sort of wondering look, as if to make it appear he did not concieve I was addressing him. This arose from a general maxim among English theieves to consider every thing in the shape of work as a degradation; but with Irish convicts, if you merely looked round as if you wanted something, half a dozen would start up as if anxious to anticipate youe wishes.— Out of one hundred and eighty Irish convicts only five were Protestants, which I was not a little pleased to observe as a convincing proof of the superior morality of the Protestant population. An Irish Protestant, Sergeant of the guard threw a new light on the subject by expressing his surprise and sorrow that there should be any Protestants. "What a change," said he, "has taken place in Ireland since I left it; for it then went hard against a Jury's conscience to find a Protestant guilty of any thing". The only real signs or religion I ever saw among convicts was amongst the Irish Catholics, whom I frequently observed counting their beads, crossing themselves, and repeating passages from the book. They were in general, poor simple peasantry, transported for trumpery offences. |
The National Library Catalogue has an number of entries including: Cunningham, P. (Peter), 1789-1864. Two years in New South Wales / ed. by David S. Macmillan.; Angus & Robertson in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society; Sydney 1966. [a reproduction]