The Machine Breakers. –A convict ship at Portsmouth is on the point of sailing for Van Diemen’s Land, with between two and three hundred convicts on board, who have been lately convicted for machinebreaking, extorting money, and other offences committed in the disturbed counties. Another ship, with convicts of the same description, will be dispatched for New South Wales, in about a fortnight. These convicts have been kept entirely separate from all other prisoners, and an accurate report will be made to the Governors of the Colonies, as to their former character, their trades and employments, and the recommendations which have been made in their favour subsequently to their trials. The capital convicts whose lives have been spared, are to be transported for life; and the convicts, sentenced and recommended by the Judges for transportation, are to be transported according to their respective sentences.


Citation: Scotsman (Edinburgh, United Kingdom), 05 February 1831, available at the Scissors and Paste Database, http://www.scissorsandpaste.net/223.