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.
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):
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3 comments:
...and probably Australia after the colonies got closed off...
OBH: Absolutely; the next sentence in that book explained that Australia was founded after the American revolution made transportation to Virginia impossible.
I am restraining myself. It's soooo tempting....
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