on that agenda, and in particular the issue that had been clear for two gener-
ations at least: the weaknesses in the array of available punishments, especially
the absence of an effective punishment for minor offences and of an alternative
to execution for pardoned offenders.
The whig governments after 1714 showed themselves willing to confront
those problems directly, and to seek more lasting solutions than the short-term
and rather desperate remedies snatched at since the Revolution—perhaps be-
cause ministerial involvement in the pardon process for London brought those
problems home to the men at the centre of government. Solving the problems
that had enfeebled transportation in the past required political will and the
commitment of resources. The government formed by George I had the one
and acquired the other, and its determination to tackle the crime problem set
the administration of the English criminal law on a new course. A century after
the first convicts had been sent to America, and at a point at which it seemed un-
likely ever to be a workable element in English penal practice, the punishment
of transportation to the American colonies was suddenly put on a new footing
and the administration of the criminal law was entirely transformed as a
consequence.
The Revolution, Crime, and Punishment in London 369