Friday, November 19, 2010

QOTD

From N.A.M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649­-1815, at 366 (2004):
The fourth strand of imperial policy derived from an aspect of the British judicial system, which had a large number of capital crimes, and sentenced many criminals to death, but executed only a small minority of them. Most death sentences were commuted to transportation to a remote and unpleasant part of the world, namely Virginia.

3 comments:

O Bloody Hell said...

...and probably Australia after the colonies got closed off...

@nooil4pacifists said...

OBH: Absolutely; the next sentence in that book explained that Australia was founded after the American revolution made transportation to Virginia impossible.

MaxedOutMama said...

I am restraining myself. It's soooo tempting....