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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of Tasmania , Volume II (of 2),
+by John West
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The History of Tasmania , Volume II (of 2)
+
+
+Author: John West
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 2, 2007  [eBook #22849]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF TASMANIA , VOLUME
+II (OF 2)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Jane Hyland, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+THE
+
+HISTORY OF TASMANIA:
+
+by
+
+JOHN WEST,
+
+Minister of St. John Square Chapel, Launceston.
+
+VOLUME II,
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Tasmania:
+Henry Dowling, Launceston.
+1852.
+
+Tasmania:
+Printed By J. S. Waddell, Launceston
+
+Facsimile edition 1966
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.--VOL. II.
+
+
+
+THE ABORIGINES.
+
+SECTION I. p. 1.
+
+Tasman's account of the natives--Cook's--Labillardiere's--Flinders'.
+
+SECTION II. p. 6.
+
+Conflict at Risdon--cruelty to natives--tribe visits Hobart
+Town--child-stealing.
+
+SECTION III. p. 12.
+
+Causes of conflict--Musquito--execution of blacks--unavailing attempts
+to civilise--ill-treatment by bushrangers--cruelty to the women--effects
+of civilization--the food destroyed--abduction of the women--natives not
+naturally cruel.
+
+SECTION IV. p. 26.
+
+Proclamation against them--forbidden to enter the colony--martial
+law proclaimed--captures--escape--efforts of Mr. Batman--commandoes.
+
+SECTION V. p. 32.
+
+Murders committed by natives--instances of female courage--odd
+expedients--difficulty of capture--humane efforts of Arthur--list
+of atrocities.
+
+SECTION VI. p. 44.
+
+Conciliation proposed by Mr. Robinson--project to drive them into
+Tasman's Peninsula--forces assembled--line of posts fixed--great
+preparations--martial law proclaimed--advance--line crossed by
+natives--Walpole's party--white man traced--plan unsuccessful.
+
+SECTION VII. p. 55.
+
+Mr. Robinson's efforts--his plan reasonable--well-timed--opinions of the
+press--aborigines' committee--proposal to destroy the natives--Robinson
+goes round the island--Sydney natives--captures--instances of
+intrepidity--murder of Captain Thomas--Robinson takes the
+murderers--rewards given to Mr. Robinson--further success.
+
+SECTION VIII. p. 67.
+
+Disposal of the natives--removal to Flinders' Island--opinions of Sir
+John Pedder--Backhouse's visit--Robinson's management--removal to New
+Holland--some executed.
+
+SECTION IX. p. 71.
+
+Rapid extinction--original number--cause of decline--clothing--change of
+habits--restraint--bad water--sight of Van Diemen's Land--notion of
+Strzelecki--brought back to Van Diemen's Land--Arthur's opinion of the
+natives.
+
+SECTION X. p. 76.
+
+Origin of the natives--consanguinity--stature--general
+appearance--families--infanticide--half-caste--tribes--huts--food--dress
+and ornaments--arms and implements--corrobories and
+dances--language--disposition--religious ideas--the
+sick--funeral--conclusion--right of occupation--native rights--exposure
+to robbers--necessity for protecting the whites--lamentable results of
+colonization--inevitable.
+
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION.
+
+SECTION I. p. 101.
+
+Exile--Roman custom--abjuring the realm--Spaniards the first who
+transported--practice in the time of Elizabeth--James--Charles the
+second--James the second--George the first--America--kidnapping--America
+resists--numbers transported.
+
+SECTION II. p. 106.
+
+State of English gaols--Howard--labor bill.
+
+SECTION III. p. 108.
+
+Bentham's project--New South Wales occupied.
+
+SECTION IV. p. 111.
+
+Voyage--surgeon-superintendents--convict ship--treatment of
+women--abuses--systems of management--Dr.
+Reid--Cunningham--Browning--general safety of convict vessels--loss of
+the _George the Third_--the _Neva_--the _Governor Phillip_.
+
+SECTION V. p. 123.
+
+Early difficulties of convict management--assignment established--disposal
+of the prisoners.
+
+SECTION VI. p. 129.
+
+Origin of bushranging--Howe--his career.
+
+SECTION VII. p. 138.
+
+Habits of convict population--1824.
+
+SECTION VIII. p. 143.
+
+The colonies re-act on each other--N. S. Wales--state of
+Parramatta--rocks--allurements of transportation--Macquarie's
+views--wealth and claims of emancipists--Biggs's
+views--pardons--emancipists form associations--petition
+parliament--their alleged reformation--Bigge's commission--Macquarie's
+recall--character--Rev. S. Marsden.
+
+SECTION IX. p. 172.
+
+Bigge's recommendations--his reports--Macquarie Harbor--emigration
+proposed--demand for labor.
+
+SECTION X. p. 186.
+
+Land granted to settlers employing convicts--large immigration
+of capitalists.
+
+SECTION XI. p. 188.
+
+Assignment established in America--debarkation of prisoners--their
+identification--curious practice--law of assignment--transfer of
+servants.
+
+SECTION XII. p. 194.
+
+Escapes from Macquarie Harbor--Brady--executions--state of
+colony--causes of bushranging.
+
+SECTION XIII. p. 214.
+
+Macquarie Harbor--visit of Backhouse and Walker--seizure of the
+_Cyprus_--_Frederic_--_Badger_.
+
+SECTION XIV. p. 222.
+
+Escape of prisoners--seek for China--curious narrative--the
+_Young Lachlan_ seized--penalty of escape.
+
+SECTION XV. p. 228.
+
+Arthur's principles of penal government--number reclaimable--Arthur's
+system--view of the real state of prisoners--representation of
+society--of transportation--idea of New South Wales at home--writings of
+Archbishop Whately--Mr. Secretary Stanley's "certain and severe"
+system--tickets-of-leave.
+
+SECTION XVI. p. 240.
+
+Disposal of mechanics and specials--convict clerks--wives of
+prisoners--Savary--Port Arthur--Boothe's system--Point Puer--young
+convicts.
+
+SECTION XVII. p. 248.
+
+Views of ministers--certain severe system--conduct of
+overseers--retaliation--executions--effects of immigration--colonial
+protests--curious contrast.
+
+SECTION XVIII. p. 255.
+
+Convict system of New South Wales--Governor Bourke--corporal
+punishment--Major Mudie--Watt--abuses--Burton's charge--its
+effect--Molesworth's motion.
+
+SECTION XIX. p. 263.
+
+Franklin's appointment--Maconochie's commission--his reports--his
+opinions--his system--board refute him--different sources of his
+system--Dr. Henderson's scheme.
+
+SECTION XX. p. 274.
+
+Remarks on Maconochie's system--partly erroneous--useful results of
+assignment--Franklin's opinions.
+
+SECTION XXI. p. 278.
+
+Sir Wm. Molesworth's committee--stoppage of transportation to New South
+Wales--Archbishop Wheately's opinions--Bourke's
+views--exaggerations--Captain Wood--remonstrance--new plan for Norfolk
+Island--Maconochie appointed commandant--his mark system--the
+birthday--the _Governor Phillip_ seized--failure of his system--opinions
+of Sir G. Gipps--of Captain Forster.
+
+SECTION XXII. p. 291.
+
+Lord John Russell's plan--Sir Wm. Molesworth's proposal to anticipate
+the land fund--Mr. Innes's pamphlet--resolutions of the Commons--Captain
+Montagu's visit to England--assignment stopped--gangs
+formed--evils--Franklin's representations.
+
+SECTION XXIII. p. 294.
+
+Lord Stanley's probation system--effects at Norfolk
+Island--insurrection--murders--Major Childs--cruelties--Earl Grey's
+orders.
+
+SECTION XXIV. p. 305.
+
+System in Van Diemen's Land--large arrivals--incompetent
+officers--errors on which the system-was founded--Lord Stanley's
+defiance of the settlers--re-emigration--hiring depots--representations
+of Forster--Hampton--Boyd--Fry--crimes increase--laxity of
+discipline--Mr. Bishton's views--North Australia--Mr. Latrobe--his
+representations--ticket system.
+
+SECTION XXV. p. 318.
+
+Treatment of female prisoners--their transportation a great
+evil--numbers--Sir G. Murray's scheme.
+
+SECTION XXVI. p. 321.
+
+Lord Stanley's directions for the disposal of women--Mrs.
+Bowden--married female prisoners.
+
+SECTION XXVII. p. 323.
+
+Views of transportation often governed by interest--old
+system--incompatible objects sought--frequent changes--every theory
+contradicted by results--Arthur's opinion--progress from 1830--capital
+expended--value of convict labor--sacrifices of the settlers--effects of
+transportation--public works--numbers transported--character of
+convicts--repetition of crimes--views of statesmen--moral effects of
+transportation--cause of opposition to transportation.
+
+ 
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+p. 339.
+
+History of Tasmania a type of the Australasian world--early despotism
+unavoidable--American and Australian colonists--the despotism moderated
+by home associations--by the press--the union of the colonists--advances
+of liberty at home--changes required--advantages of the connection with
+Great Britain--its dangers--federal government--importance of political
+influence--social state--wonderful prospects--resources--position--exports
+--gold discovery--the happiness of the people in their own power.
+
+ 
+
+ALPHABETICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CHIEF PLACES IN TASMANIA.
+
+p. 355.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF TASMANIA.
+
+  
+
+THE ABORIGINES.
+
+
+
+
+THE ABORIGINES.
+
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+[1643.] At the era of discovery by Tasman, Van Diemen's Land was
+inhabited. He heard, or thought he heard, the voices of people and the
+sound of a trumpet: he noticed the recently cut notches, five feet
+asunder, on the bark of the trees, and he saw the smoke of fires. He
+inferred that they possessed some unusual method of climbing, or that
+their stature was gigantic. In the sound, the colonist recognises the
+vocal _cooey_ of the aborigines, and learns from the steps "to the
+_birds' nests_," that they then hunted the opossum, and employed that
+method of ascent, which, for agility and daring has never been
+surpassed. Thus, during more than 150 years, this country was forgotten;
+and such were the limits of European knowledge, when the expedition of
+Cook was dispatched by Great Britain to explore this hemisphere. No
+navigator brought larger views, and a temper more benevolent, to the
+task of discovery. To some nations he opened the path of civilisation
+and religion: to this race he was the harbinger of death.
+
+[1773.] Furneaux, Captain Cook's second in command, first visited this
+country. He saw the fires of the natives, ten miles off. They had left
+their huts, formed but for a day, in which were fragments of fish,
+baskets, and spears. The British deposited gun-flints, barrels, and
+nails, in payment for the relics they removed; and they left Adventure
+Bay, concluding that a most miserable race of mortals inhabited a
+country capable of producing all the necessaries of life, "and the
+finest climate in the world."
+
+One year before, Captain Marian, a Frenchman, according to the authors
+of his country, visited this island. The intercourse was hostile and
+left traces of blood; and to this may be attributed the absence of the
+natives when Furneaux appeared on the coast.
+
+[1777.] The descriptions of Cook are founded on his own observations,
+and are, on the whole, favorable to the natives. The English, while
+wooding and watering, were surprised by the visit of eight men and a
+boy. They were unarmed, except that one of them carried a stick, pointed
+at the end. They were of middling stature, slender, and naked. On
+different parts of their bodies were ridges, both straight and curved,
+raised in the skin: the hair of the head and beard was smeared with red
+ointment. They were indifferent to presents; they rejected bread, and
+the flesh of the sea elephant, but accepted some birds, which they
+signified their intention to eat. Cook prevailed on a native to throw
+the stick at a mark thirty yards distant, but he failed after repeated
+trial. The Otaheitian, Omai,[1] to exhibit his skill, fired off a
+musket: at the report they fled, and so great was their fear, that they
+dropped the axe and knives they had received.
+
+A dead calm retarded the departure of the vessels next day, and the
+parties sent ashore, were accompanied by Cook. About twenty natives soon
+joined them: one, who was conspicuously deformed, amused them by the
+drollery of his gestures, and the seeming humour of his speeches. Some,
+wore three or four folds round the neck, made of fur; and round the
+ancles a slip of the skin of kangaroo. Captain Cook returned to the
+vessel, leaving Lieutenant King in charge: soon after, the women and
+children arrived: they were introduced by the men to the English. The
+children were thought pretty; of the beauty of the women the account was
+not equally favorable. They rejected with disdain the presents and
+freedoms of the officers, and were ordered by an elderly man to
+retire--a command, to which they submitted with reluctance.
+
+Dr. Anderson, the surgeon of the _Resolution_, describes the natives as
+a mild, cheerful race, with an appearance less wild than is common to
+savages. He considered them devoid of activity, genius, and
+intelligence; their countenance, he delineates as plump and pleasing.
+
+[1792.] But though later on the spot, assisted by the remarks of
+previous observers, Labillardiere, of all, was the most assiduous and
+exact. The naturalist of D'Entrecasteaux's expedition, he saw mankind
+with the eye of a philosopher. He was pleased to examine the passions of
+a race, least of all indebted to art; yet the prevailing notions of
+Citizen Frenchmen, perhaps, gave him a bias, when estimating an
+uncivilised people. He left Europe when the dreams of Rousseau were the
+toys of the speculative, and before they became the phantoms of the
+populace. His observations were, doubtlessly, correct; but his grouping
+is artistic, and not without illusion. In his work, the Tasmanian blacks
+appear in the most charming simplicity, harmless and content; an
+extraordinary remnant of primitive innocence. At first they fled from
+the French: an old woman they chased, took a leap which, if credible,
+was terrific; she dashed over a precipice forty feet high, and was lost
+among the rocks!
+
+Labillardiere having landed, with several companions, proceeded towards
+a lake; hearing human voices, they followed the direction of the sound;
+the sudden cry of the natives induced them to return for their arms.
+Then proceeding towards the woods, they met the tribe--the men and boys
+in a semicircle, with the women and children behind. Labillardiere
+offered a piece of biscuit, and held out his hand, which a savage chief
+accepted, and smiling drew back one foot, and bowed with admirable
+grace. He gave to the French a necklace, which he called _cantaride_,
+formed of wilk shells, in exchange for articles of dress, a poll-axe,
+and knives.
+
+The proportions are worth remarking: in a party of forty, there were
+eight men and seven women; of forty-eight, there were ten men and
+fourteen women. Thus the females were most numerous, and the rising
+generation nearly one-third more than the adults. They were generally
+healthy; one only suffered from cutaneous disease, one from a defect of
+vision, and several from slight wounds. It will be told, that a sad
+reverse was afterwards their fate. The French, supposing they subsisted
+on fish, expected to find leprosy, and concluded, not that other food
+was procured, but that the doctors were mistaken. The women and girls
+were the fishers: they plunged amidst sea weed, and raised the shell
+fish from rocks by the spatula. They killed the cray fish before
+landing. They could endure the water twice as long as Europeans. In the
+intervals of diving they roasted their spoil, and warmed themselves
+between two fires; sometimes feeding their children, or themselves. Thus
+they continued alternately fishing and cooking, until all were
+satisfied.
+
+The men seemed indolent; nothing could persuade them to dive: they
+sauntered about, with the right hand passed behind, and holding the left
+fore-arm in its grasp. As the elders moved with gravity on the beach,
+the girls romped and raced with the seamen--repelling, without
+resenting, their rudeness. They were sprightly and voluble, and chatted
+on without intermission. On one occasion they were missed, when, turning
+to a tree, they were seen perched naked in the branches, about nine feet
+from the ground: an interesting group, remarks the naturalist.
+
+In the incidents of their social life, he saw their character. The
+children cried! their mothers soothed them with those maternal caresses,
+which art has not improved. They held them to be decorated by the
+French, and placed them in their arms. A father corrected a little boy
+for the ancient diversion of throwing stones at another, and the culprit
+wept! A lad concealed a basket from a seaman, to amuse by his perplexity
+and its dexterous replacement! The clothes given by the French they hung
+on the bushes, but they valued the tin ware, the axes and saws. The
+liberality of their visitors induced them to take more than was given;
+but they seemed unconscious of offence, and whatever was required they
+restored without reluctance. A girl, refusing the French a skin they
+desired to possess, retreated to the woods: her friends were distressed
+at her ill-nature. She, at last, complied. A pair of trousers were given
+in exchange; she stood between two Frenchmen, leaning on the shoulder of
+each, while they guided her errant legs into these novelties of Europe.
+
+Their refusal of food, for themselves and children, was from distaste
+rather than distrust; and they only discovered suspicion, when the
+French penetrated the country. They posted a guard, to give notice of
+any movement, and when an attempt was made, it was interrupted by the
+loud screams of the women, and the entreaties of the men. They resisted
+the intrusion with displeasure, and even menace.
+
+On other occasions, they tended on the French with great kindness,
+removing fallen branches from their path; and when the ground was
+sloping and slippery, they walked beside them, and held them up.[2] They
+rested every half mile, saying _medi_, "sit down;" then rising again,
+after a few minutes' rest.
+
+They themselves first saw the French: who, having travelled several
+miles, lay down for the night near a brook: their fires betrayed them. A
+native, next morning, pointed to their resting place: laid his head on
+his hand, and closed his eyes. The good-nature of these people never
+languished: twice, when the French lost their way, they directed them to
+their ships. They welcomed their visits by raising their hands over
+their heads, shouting and stamping on the ground. They greeted them as
+often as their wanderings brought them in sight of the vessels, and with
+the same friendly sounds bade them adieu.
+
+[1798.] We owe to Captain Flinders and Dr. Bass the next description of
+the natives. They were saluted by voices from the hills which border the
+Derwent; one of these they ascended and saw a man, and two women, who,
+catching up their baskets, scampered away. The man met them with
+confidence: they tried, in vain, to converse with him in the dialects of
+New Holland. They desired him to lead them to his hut; but he hesitated,
+and moved slowly in the direction to which he had pointed. Consulting
+his apparent feelings they desisted, and parted in friendship. This was
+the first man they had seen in the island. His countenance, they
+describe as unusually benignant; his features less negro-like than
+common, and his manners frank and open. He exhibited neither curiosity
+nor fear, nor did he seem attracted by any part of their dress, except
+their cravats!
+
+Mr. Bass made several expeditions into the country, attended only by his
+dogs, and meeting no inhabitants he concluded that their numbers were
+inconsiderable.
+
+The accounts descriptive of native customs, by these authorities, are
+full of errors; but they are the errors of inference, not of
+observation: it is useless to repeat, in order to correct them. The
+colonists have possessed better opportunities, and their acquaintance
+with aboriginal habits supplies more accurate information, than could be
+expected in the volumes of navigators.
+
+Such as we have given, is their testimony to the social aspect of the
+native character: nothing unfavorable is omitted. In a people so gentle
+and affable, it is difficult to recognise the race afterwards covered
+with sores, wasted by want and vice, or animated with revenge; and who
+filled the colony with disgust and terror.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: This Otaheitian was returning from England to his native
+country. In London, he was the lion of the day: he was introduced to the
+first circles, and saw whatever in a great city could elevate his ideas:
+his manners acquired the polish of society. Grenville Sharpe (he who
+secured the decision that the soil of Britain gives freedom to the slave
+that touches it) endeavoured to improve his moral sentiments. He pointed
+out the practical injustice of polygamy. Omai replied, "one wife,
+good--two wife, very good--three wife, very very good;" but he had not
+misunderstood the argument. Taking three knives, he put two of them side
+by side, and the other at a distance, and referring to a nobleman who
+had left his wife for a mistress, said--"there Lord A., and there
+Miss ----; and there Lady A. lie down and cry." (Life of G. Sharpe.)
+
+But the moment he landed, he resumed all the customs of his countrymen,
+and employed his knowledge of arms to destroy them. This was the only
+trace of his civilisation which survived the voyage: he had seen regal
+grandeur and mercantile power, but he retained his preference for the
+habits of his then heathen race.]
+
+[Footnote 2: "But these good savages took hold of our arms, and
+supported us."]
+
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+The party dispatched from Sydney, to take possession of the island, and
+who landed in August, on their arrival at Risdon saw nothing of the
+natives. A solitary savage, armed with a spear, afterwards entered the
+camp, and was cordially greeted. He accepted the trinkets which they
+offered, but he looked on the novelties scattered about without
+betraying surprise. By his gestures they inferred that he discharged
+them from their trespass. He then turned towards the woods, and when
+they attempted to follow, he placed himself in the attitude of menace,
+and poised his spear.
+
+On the 3rd of May, 1804, during the absence of Lieutenant Bowen, the
+officer in command, the first severe collision occurred. Five hundred
+blacks, supposed to belong to the Oyster Bay tribe, gathered on the
+hills which overlooked the camp: their presence occasioned alarm, and
+the convicts and soldiers were drawn up to oppose them. A discharge of
+fire-arms threw them into momentary panic, but they soon re-united. A
+second, of ball cartridge, brought down many; the rest fled in terror,
+and were pursued: it is conjectured that fifty fell.
+
+The accounts of this affair differ greatly. By one party they are said
+to have assailed a man and woman living in advance of the camp, and to
+have burned their hut. William White, who saw them earliest, and gave
+notice of their approach, declared they then exhibited no hostility, and
+were not near the hut before the collision. They came down in a
+semicircle, carrying waddies but not spears; a flock of kangaroo hemmed
+in between them. The women and children attended them. They came
+singing, and bearing branches of trees.
+
+This curvilinear mode of marching was noticed by Labillardiere: they
+probably assembled for a corrobory. "They looked at me," said the
+witness, "with all their eye;" but they did not attempt to molest him.
+
+For the British, it may be alleged that customs, afterwards understood,
+were then less known. They were ignorant of the language and temper of
+the blacks, and the preservation of the settlement was the first
+military duty of Lieutenant Moore, who directed the fire. The action was
+sudden, and perhaps no statement is exact. The natives were provoked, by
+the occupation of their common place of resort, and it is no discredit
+to their character, if even they attempted to expel the intruders.
+
+A current report, respecting a conflict on the site of the hospital at
+Hobart Town, received a curious exposition from the Rev. Mr. Knopwood.
+It was a tradition, that a party of blacks assembled there, were
+dispersed by a volley of grape shot, and that several fell. Human bones
+and grape shot were found; but the reverend gentleman stated that the
+bones were the remains of persons who came from India, and who were
+buried there; and that the shot were accidentally dropped when the
+stores, once kept there, were removed.
+
+The consequences of these events were lamentable. The losses of the
+natives, in their ordinary warfare, rarely extended beyond two or three;
+but the havock of their new enemy awakened irremediable distrust. The
+sorrows of a savage are transient: not so, his resentment. Every wrong
+is new, until it is revenged; and there is no reason to suppose these
+terrible sacrifices were ever forgotten.
+
+In these collisions, no British subject had fallen; but in the
+succeeding year (1805) a prisoner of the crown was speared, while
+following a kangaroo; and two years after (1807) another, named Mundy,
+met with a similar fate. The black had received presents from his hands,
+and approaching him in pretended amity, trailed between his toes the
+fatal spear. These facts are given to illustrate the cruelty of the
+natives; and it may be presumed that, from the slaughter of Risdon, not
+many could be added to the number. These were, however, the acts of
+individuals, and without concert or much premeditation. It is
+conjectured that the first European who perished was Mange, the surgeon
+of the _Geographe_, in 1802. The attack was unprovoked, and it is said
+unavenged.
+
+The scarcity of food compelled the British to adopt a mode of life
+somewhat resembling that of the aborigines. Germain, a marine, was
+employed, from 1805 to 1810, in procuring kangaroo, which he hunted
+with dogs: he but rarely carried a gun, slept on the ground in the
+summer, and in the winter on the branches of trees. During his
+wanderings, he often encountered the natives, but they offered no
+violence; and he stated, as the result of his experience, that until
+bushrangers excited them by cruelties, "there was no harm in them." The
+daughter of a settler of 1804, was left sometimes in their care; their
+kindness was among the recollections of her childhood.
+
+The prisoners were dispersed. The government, unable to supply the
+common necessaries of life, gave them license to forage: labor could not
+be exacted, nor discipline enforced; and when circumstances altered, it
+was difficult to recall the wanderers, or to recover authority so long
+relaxed. In their intercourse with the natives, licentious and cruel
+outlaws committed every species of atrocity which could be suffered by
+the weak in contact with the wicked.
+
+Lord Hobart, under whose auspices the colony was planted, directed the
+Lieutenant-Governor to conciliate the natives: to preserve them from
+oppression, and to encourage them to resort for protection to his
+authority. Their natural rights were recognised, but unhappily no
+provision was made to define their interest in the soil of their
+country. Their migratory habits were unfavorable to official
+supervision, and the success of humane suggestions depended on the
+doubtful concurrence of ignorant cotters and wandering shepherds.
+
+In 1810, an order was issued by Governor Collins, forcibly describing
+the wrongs of the natives, and the revenge to which they were prompted.
+They had pursued an officer, residing at Herdsman's Cove, and failing to
+capture him they fired his premises. Two persons, George Getley and
+William Russell, had disappeared: it was supposed, the victims of
+resentment, awakened by the "abominable cruelties and murders" (such is
+the language of Collins) perpetrated by the white people. This Russell
+was himself notorious for skill in their torture--the subject of his
+boast. The government declared that persons who wantonly fired on the
+natives, or murdered them "in cold blood," should suffer the last
+penalties of the law.[3]
+
+The official treatment of the aborigines was not always judicious, or
+calculated to impress the whites with the notion of civil equality. A
+native, whom it was deemed desirable to detain, was fettered by Colonel
+Collins. Notwithstanding, he escaped, and was seen long after with the
+iron on his leg; nor can the punishments inflicted for crimes committed
+against the blacks, unusual as those punishments were, be given in proof
+that both races were valued alike. It is not, however, true, that
+cruelty was always unpunished. A man was severely flogged for exposing
+the ears of a boy he had mutilated; and another for cutting off the
+little finger of a native, and using it as a tobacco stopper.[4]
+
+The natives continued to shun the settlement for many years, but their
+confidence was easily renewed by gentle treatment; it was, however,
+capricious, or more probably it was soon shaken by insult, unknown to
+all but themselves. It was desired by Colonel Davey to establish a
+friendly intercourse, and he instructed the men to invite the tribes
+they might encounter. A servant of this governor, employed at South Arm,
+suddenly came on a tribe of thirty-six persons. A native woman, living
+with a white, willingly went forth to communicate the wishes of the
+Governor. They consented to visit Hobart Town, to which they were
+transferred by water. Davey endeavoured to win their confidence, and
+they remained about town for weeks. Having received some offence from
+worthless Europeans, they retreated to their woods, and never returned.
+This party attempted to reach Brune Island, and all were drowned, except
+one woman.
+
+Mr. Knopwood remembered that, in 1813 and 1814, the natives were fed at
+his door. A number of children were forcibly taken from them, and they
+disappeared from the camp.
+
+Colonel Davey bears witness to the continuance of cruelty, which he
+censured in the strongest language of indignation. Certain settlers
+established a species of juvenile slavery: they followed up the mother,
+retarded by the encumbrance of her children, until she was compelled in
+her terror to leave them. Well might the Governor declare, that crime so
+enormous had fixed a lasting stigma on the British name. These
+provocations produced their usual consequences: by spearing cattle, and
+other acts of hostility, a tribe at the Coal River revenged the robbery
+of their children; surely, a slight retaliation for such incredible
+wickedness.
+
+An expedition to Macquarie Harbour, in 1817, discovered a tribe hitherto
+unknown. They received the first visit with the usual friendliness--a
+feeling which was, however, of short duration.
+
+The Oyster Bay tribe are mentioned. They had begun to exhibit that
+spirit of hostility which made them a terror to the colony, and armed
+the entire community against them. They had speared one man, and killed
+another; but the origin of this feeling is distinctly stated: a native
+had been shot in an expedition to capture some aboriginal children.
+
+Sorell prolongs the testimony that tells so mournfully in behalf of the
+natives. He speaks of firing on the blacks as a _habit_; that
+child-stealing was practised in the remoter districts; that settlers had
+adopted groundless prejudices against the unfortunate people, as alike
+incapable and unworthy of conciliation; that they offered no serious
+discountenance to the cruelty of their servants. Thus several whites had
+perished, and cattle had been speared, in revenge.[5] He reminded the
+colonists that, as their flocks increased and the shepherds extended
+their range, this obvious method of retaliation, then rarely adopted,
+would multiply the loss both of property and human life. The danger was
+proved by examples:--In 1819, a collision occurred; a man on each side
+killed, and cattle and sheep were speared; but, the account continues,
+the stock-keepers detained and maltreated the wife of a chief. Either on
+this, or some such occasion, they were pursued by a party of the 48th
+regiment, and seventeen were slain. He maintains very strenuously the
+opinion of his predecessors, that the aborigines were not often the
+aggressors, and that the injuries they inflicted were committed under
+the impulse of recent provocation.
+
+Sorell provided for the native children, except those committed to
+private hands by their parents, or retained with the express sanction
+of himself. There is no reason to doubt, that several of these were
+orphans, and adopted and reared with the utmost humanity. Among the
+expenses of the times, it is gratifying to observe one item, in the
+rental of a house for the entertainment of the aborigines. The
+sentiments of Governor Sorell are honorable to his character, and cannot
+be doubted; but we are startled to find, that when charges, so solemnly
+imputed, must have been founded upon particular facts, no equal
+punishment seems to have overtaken the crimes proclaimed. The government
+disapproved of oppression, but it was either too weak, or too indolent,
+to visit the guilty.
+
+Mr. Commissioner Bigge, who came to the colony 1820, in his voluminous
+reports, rarely alludes to the natives of these seas. Those of Van
+Diemen's Land engaged a very small share of his attention, and in two
+brief paragraphs he describes their character, and disposes of their
+claims. He remarks, that an act of unjustifiable hostility had awakened
+their resentment, passes over an interval of sixteen years, and
+expresses his conviction that no obstacle they could oppose to
+colonisation, need excite alarm. It is probable, that his instructions
+would but briefly touch on questions relating to these children of the
+soil; but considering that the notices and orders of government must
+have apprised him of their sufferings, he dismisses their case with
+astonishing indifference.[6]
+
+Several Wesleyan missionaries visited this island during the years 1821
+and 1822. The natives attracted their notice: they described, with
+brevity, their moral and social state; but they did not intimate the
+smallest apprehension of their malice.
+
+For several years reference to the aborigines is of rare occurrence. The
+year preceding the first series of outrages, furnished no incident worth
+contemporary record. We are reminded, however, that they survived, by an
+act of equestrian audacity. Mr. Risely, looking down Allan Vale, saw a
+naked girl dashing off at full speed, on a valuable horse, which she
+bridled by the tether--the first of her race ever known to gallop.
+Horsemen pursued her for two days, without overtaking her.
+
+In those numerous publications, which precede 1824, the
+aborigines are always represented as originally friendly, and only
+dangerous when excited by cruelty. It was the boast of the times, that
+the whole island could be crossed in safety by two persons armed with
+muskets; and Curr, who wrote latest, does not even mention their
+existence. It is difficult to imagine more decided proof, that at this
+time the depredations of the blacks were neither numerous nor
+sanguinary.
+
+It is the general opinion, however, that the remonstrances of Sorell had
+been attended with some success, and that the settlers and stock-keepers
+were not unimpressed with his predictions of a more concerted and
+continuous revenge; nor can we doubt that many persons of humanity even
+exaggerated this peril, to restrain those brutal natures which are
+sensible only of personal risk.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 3: "The natives, who have been rendered desperate by the
+cruelties they have experienced from our people, have now begun to
+distress us by attacking our cattle. Two were lately wounded by them at
+Collins-vale; and three, it is reported, belonging to George Guest, have
+been killed at Blackman's Bay. As this tribe of natives have hitherto
+been considered friendly, the change in their conduct must be occasioned
+by some outrage on our part, No account having been received up to this
+time of William Russell and George Getley, there can be no doubt of the
+miserable death they have been put to. This unfortunate man, Russell, is
+a striking instance of divine agency, which has overtaken him at last,
+and punished him by the hands of those very people who have suffered so
+much from him; he being well known to have exercised his barbarous
+disposition in murdering or torturing any who unfortunately came within
+his reach."--_The Derwent Star, January 29th, 1810._]
+
+[Footnote 4: Eye-witness.]
+
+[Footnote 5: "ORDER.--From the conduct of the native people, when free
+from any feeling of injury towards those who have held intercourse with
+them, there is strong reason to hope, that they might be conciliated. On
+the north-eastern coast, where boats occasionally touch, and at
+Macquarie Harbour, where the natives have been lately seen, they have
+been found inoffensive and peaceable, _and they are known to be equally
+inoffensive, where the stock-keepers treat them with mildness_."--March
+19, 1819.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Dual, mentioned by Bigge, was transported from Sydney, for
+chopping off the right arm of his wife: he said she should "make no more
+_dough-boy_." The whites persuaded the natives, that the lighter hue of
+their half-caste children resulted from the too free use of flour.]
+
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+It would be useful to mankind, to trace the causes which led to that
+long and disastrous conflict, in which so many lives were sacrificed,
+and a people, all but a fading fragment, became extinct. Among those
+mentioned by the government, was the admission into the colony of Sydney
+blacks, and the ascendancy which one of them acquired.
+
+The emigrants of 1822 remember a number of natives, who roamed about the
+district, and were known as the "tame mob;" they were absconders from
+different tribes, and separated from their chiefs. They often entered
+the town and obtained bread, tobacco, and even rum from the inhabitants.
+Their importunity was troublesome, and their appearance offensive: the
+eruptive disease which covered their skin, especially on the legs, most
+exposed to the heat of their fires, added to their squalor and
+wretchedness. They are thus described by the Rev. Mr. Horton: he saw
+them at Pittwater, crouching round their fires, and entirely naked--a
+company of demoralised savages.
+
+Musquito became their head. He was transported from Sydney to this
+colony for the murder of a woman. For some time he acted as a
+stock-keeper; he was then employed as a guide, in tracking the
+bushrangers, having the keenness of vision, and almost canine instinct,
+by which in the slightest traces he discovered a certain clue. For this
+service, it is said, he was promised restoration to his country--a
+promise, unhappily, forgotten. He was odious to the prisoners, who
+taunted him as a _nose_ for the hangman; his resentful nature could not
+brook the insult, and he struck down a convict who thus reviled him. He
+was then taken into custody; in alarm, he escaped to the bush. The
+muscular strength and superior skill of this man were supposed to have
+recommended him to the natives as their chief. He was seen, by
+Robertson, to cut off the head of a pigeon with a stick, while flying.
+Musquito answered Mr. Horton with intelligence, when that gentleman
+represented the misery of a vagrant life; he said that he should prefer
+to live like the white man, tilling the ground, but that none of his
+companions would join him. Before he united with the natives, he was
+accustomed to pursue them with all the virulence of a savage. In company
+with a convict servant he would face the darkness, and go out "to storm
+the huts" he had seen in the day. On one such occasion, in spite of
+prohibitions, he set out at night; but the natives had observed him, and
+decamped, leaving behind them large fires to deceive their enemy.
+Returning at midnight, he was mistaken for a Tasmanian black; and, but
+for discovery at the moment, would have suffered the fate he deserved.
+
+It was said by Mr. G. Robertson, that the first murders of Musquito were
+committed in self defence. He associated with the Oyster Bay tribe, and
+his power over them was great: he even prevailed on them to perform some
+rude agricultural labor. He had high notions of his own worth: he would
+stalk into the cottages of the settlers, seat himself with great
+dignity: his followers, to the number of one or two hundred, patiently
+awaiting his signal to approach.
+
+As the influence of Musquito enlarged, it became more pernicious. He not
+only misled his immediate followers, but propagated his spirit. Deeds of
+great enormity were committed at his direction; several by his own hand.
+He drew a man from his house at Pittwater, by the _cooey_, and then
+speared him to death. A servant of Mr. Cassidy, and another of Mr.
+Evans, met a similar fate. In concert with Tom, a Tasmanian black, he
+became a terror to the colony. Their parties moved in large bodies, and
+acted under a common impulse. In carrying on their depredations, their
+tactics aimed at military unity and skill. A party of sixty appeared
+before the premises of Mr. Hobbs, at the Eastern Marshes (1824): they
+watched the servants deliver their fire, and before they could reload
+their muskets, they rushed upon them, and by weight of numbers drove
+them off the ground. A few days after, the natives again appeared: a
+small party came forward first, and reconnoitred; then returning to a
+hill, they made signals to a body of a hundred and fifty, in an opposite
+direction. Both divisions bore down on the establishment. The English
+were now well armed, and maintained the post for five hours; but escaped
+when they saw the natives prepare to surround the dwelling with fire.
+Overcome with terror, for several days they refused to return, and the
+property was left to its fate. Mr. Hobbs was specially unfortunate: his
+house lay in the track, both of the natives and bushrangers, and thrice
+in one season his premises were pillaged.
+
+The arrest of Musquito became an object of importance, and Colonel
+Arthur, then Governor, offered a reward for his capture. Teague, an
+aboriginal boy, brought up by Dr. Luttrel, was dispatched with two
+constables. They overtook Musquito at Oyster Bay: he resisted, but was
+shot in the groin, and being unarmed was captured, with two women, and
+conveyed to Hobart town.
+
+It was resolved to bring him to justice. By the care of Dr. Scott he was
+cured, and transferred from the hospital to gaol. Black Tom was
+subsequently taken, and both were tried for the murder of William
+Holyhoak and Patrick M'Arthur. Of the last of these offences the
+Tasmanian was found guilty, but Musquito was convicted of both.
+
+Marmoa, an Otaheitian, was killed with Holyhoak: Musquito had lingered
+in their neighbourhood, and watched their movements for days; he had
+visited their hut, and received provisions from their hands; but on the
+morning of the murder he purloined the guns and removed the dogs. Mamoa
+fell instantly; but the Englishman endured the misery of long pursuit
+and several wounds, and dropped at last, pierced through and through
+with spears.
+
+A murder, ascribed to black Tom, for which he was not put on trial,
+displayed extraordinary perfidy. This black went to the residence of Mr.
+Osborne, of Jericho, demanding bread. His appearance excited great
+alarm: Mrs. Osborne was there alone; he, however, left her uninjured.
+Next morning her husband ran into the house, exclaiming, "the hill is
+covered with savages." He stood at the door on guard, and endeavoured to
+soothe them. "What do you want--are you hungry?" "Yes, white man," said
+Tom. Mrs. Osborne requested them to put down their spears. Tom
+consented, if the gun were laid aside: this was done. On returning the
+second time with food, Osborne missed his musket, and then said, "I am a
+dead man." Two blacks came forward, and, as if in friendship, each took
+him by the hand. At that moment, a savage behind him thrust a spear
+through his back; he uttered a loud shriek, sprang convulsively forward,
+and fell dead!
+
+Such were the men who, in February, 1825, suffered death with six
+European criminals. They were unassisted by counsel, and perhaps the
+evidence was not fully understood by them. It is useless, however, to
+extenuate their treachery: and their execution, whether politic or not,
+can scarcely be accounted unjust. But, unhappily, these deeds of
+barbarity were not left to the vengeance of the law. The colonists, of
+higher grades, preserved the distinction between the guilty and the
+innocent, which it is the object of public trials to establish; but the
+lower orders, and especially the dissolute and the worthless, justified
+hatred to the race, and finally, systematic massacre by the individual
+acts of such men as Musquito.
+
+It is instructive, if not amusing, to observe how nicely the theory of
+some philosophers and the sentiments of the lowest European robbers,
+meet together; how, what one predicts, the other executes. The supposed
+eternal laws of nature are accomplished by the wild license of an
+English savage. It became the serious conviction of stockmen, that
+blacks are brutes, only of a more cunning and dangerous order--an
+impression which has long ceased in this colony, but which still
+flourishes in Australia Felix.
+
+Bent, the proprietor of the only newspaper published at that time,
+referring to the outrages of the hostile blacks, seemed to dread these
+doctrines. With great consideration he detaches Musquito's guilt from
+the tribes in general: a distinction by no means trite or universally
+recognised. "Until corrupted by the Sydney natives they were," he
+asserts, "the most peaceable race in existence." These suggestions
+deserve more praise than the highest literary skill.
+
+The disposition to conciliate the blacks eventually contributed to the
+same disastrous consequences. A tribe, of sixty, appeared in Hobart
+Town, November, 1824: they came in a peaceable manner, their visit was
+unexpected, and its cause unknown. On the first notice of their
+approach, the Governor went forth to meet them: he assigned three places
+for their fires, supplied them with food and blankets, and appointed
+constables to protect them. They departed suddenly, and on their journey
+attempted to spear a white man. Whether the abrupt retreat resulted
+from caprice or distrust, it did not prevent a similar visit to
+Launceston in the following December. There were 200 in this party. When
+crossing Patterson's Plains they were wantonly fired on by the whites,
+and in their return some of their women were treated with indescribable
+brutality.[7] When they reached the Lake River, two sawyers, who had
+never before suffered molestation, were wounded by their spears. The
+recent cruelty they had experienced fully accounted for their rage.
+
+It was the anxious desire of the Governor to establish a native
+institution, deriving its funds partly from the public purse and partly
+from private benevolence. A code was prepared by the Rev. Messrs.
+Bedford and Mansfield; and a public meeting held in the church of St.
+David, the Governor presiding, approved the regulations; but at that
+time the colony was distracted by the ravages of robbers, and its
+financial resources were depressed: and the prevailing opinion that
+civilisation was impossible, still further embarrassed the project, and
+confined the hopes of the most sanguine to the rising generation. Mr.
+Mansfield rested his expectation rather on the power of God than upon
+human probabilities.
+
+The civilisation of a barbarous people is, perhaps, impossible, in the
+presence of organised communities of white men. The contrast is too
+great, and the points of contact too numerous and irritating. Never have
+colonists civilised aborigines; but the failure is easily explained,
+without recourse to egotistical superstition, that the white man's
+shadow is, to men of every other hue, by law of Heaven, the shadow of
+death.
+
+The children of aborigines, adopted by the whites, when they grew to
+maturity, were drawn to the woods, and resumed the habits of their
+kindred. A black girl, trained in Launceston, thus allured, laid aside
+her clothing, which she had worn nearly from infancy. It was thus with
+many: a sense of inferiority to the youth about them, united with the
+mysterious interest which every heart feels in kindred sympathies, is
+sufficient to account for these relapses. Examples will crowd upon the
+memory of the reader, in which the polish and caresses of the British
+capital did not disqualify the savage to re-enter with zest on the
+barbarous pursuits of his forefathers.
+
+The desire for sugar, bread, and blankets, could only be regularly
+gratified by an abandonment of migratory habits.
+
+When remote from the government stores, the natives still coveted what
+they could not obtain, but as spoil. They had learned to prefer articles
+of steel to the crystal, and they acquired an imperfect mastery of
+fire-arms. Some were, however, exceedingly expert; a chief, conciliated
+by Robinson, brought down an eagle hawk, with all the airs of a
+practised sportsman. Thus their untutored nature could not resist the
+temptation created by new wants: they watched the hut of the
+stock-keeper, which they stripped during his absence; till, growing more
+daring, they disregarded his presence; and even the populous districts,
+and establishments of considerable force, were not safe from their
+depredations.
+
+At the time when they first became formidable, armed bushrangers scoured
+the colony; sometimes the allies of the natives, much oftener their
+oppressors.[8] Outlaws themselves, they inculcated the arts of violence.
+The improved caution and cunning of the natives, so often noticed by the
+government, were ascribed, in no small degree, to the treacherous
+lessons of degraded Europeans. But when the bushranger did not employ
+these people as the instrument of his designs, by fear or cruelty, often
+he destroyed them: thus Lemon and Brown set up the natives as marks to
+fire at. The irritated savage confounded the armed, though unoffending
+stock-keeper, with his marauding countrymen, and missing the object of
+his premeditated vengeance, speared the first substitute he encountered.
+This conclusion is amply supported by facts. The common principles which
+affect the minds of nations towards each other; the reprisals, which are
+vindicated in civilised war, only differ in circumstance. A thousand
+injuries, never recorded, if stated in a connexion with these results,
+would enable us to see how often the harmless settler was sacrificed to
+passions, provoked by his robber countrymen.
+
+In 1826, a remarkable instance was brought under the notice of
+government. Dunne, who at length met the punishment he deserved, seized
+a woman, and forced her to the hut of Mr. Thompson, on the Shannon,
+where he detained her with violence; she, however, escaped to her
+people, and roused them to avenge her. Dunne, next morning, suddenly
+found himself in their midst: his musket protected him, and after hours
+of such torture as his conscience and fears might inflict, he managed to
+get off. On the following day, the woman led her tribe, vociferating
+threats, to the hut in which she had been maltreated, where they
+massacred James Scott, a man with whom they had lived in friendship for
+many years, and who, when warned a few days before to be on his guard,
+smiled at the notion of danger.
+
+The treatment of some of these women was such, as no one can be expected
+to credit, until prepared by extensive acquaintance with human
+depravation. A monster boasted that, having captured a native woman,
+whose husband he had killed, he strung the bleeding head to her neck,
+and drove her before him as his prize. Had not this fact been guaranteed
+by formal enquiry, it could only have been admitted as a specimen of
+brutal gasconade, and in proof of how much a cruel fancy could exceed
+the actual guilt of mankind. It sometimes happened, that an unfortunate
+servant would receive the spear intended for his predecessor in the same
+employ, to whom it was justly due. Among the whites, there were men
+distinguished for the malicious vigour with which they tracked and
+murdered the native people. A lad, on his arrival from England, was sent
+into the interior, and warned never to wander from his dwelling; but he
+forgot the danger he did not see, and straying a short distance, he was
+murdered. He had never injured his destroyers; but then he lived on the
+lands just before in charge of a villain, and who, like a Roman warrior,
+took his name of "Abyssinian Tom," from the locality of his exploits.
+
+The infliction of judicial punishments, interrupted the friendly
+intercourse of the tribe that visited Hobart Town, and who were
+encouraged to resort to Kangaroo Point, where huts were erected for
+their use. The arrest of two of their number filled them with
+apprehension. The aborigines, Jack and Dick, were executed on the 16th
+September, 1826, an event which terminated all present hope of amicable
+relations. The murder of a shepherd at Oyster Bay, Great Swan Port, was
+proved against them by the evidence of convict stock-keepers; a topic of
+contemporary complaint: but the courts regularly relied on the same
+class of witnesses, and in this case there is no special reason for
+suspicion. The fact was not questioned: the culprits had been treated
+with kindness by the government, and efforts had been made by Colonel
+Arthur to acquaint them with the obligations of British subjects. He
+asserts that, by personal interviews, he was fully convinced that they
+understood the benevolent views of the crown. One of these blacks was so
+far civilised, as to be admitted to the sacrament of the English church.
+His companion was a youth, and denied his guilt. The old black was
+carried to the scaffold, and resisted the execution: the younger,
+disentangled his arms, and struggled for his life. It was, indeed, a
+melancholy spectacle. Successive Governors had witnessed crimes against
+their race, atrocious and unpunished: hundreds had fallen unavenged by
+that public justice which treated them as murderers.
+
+On the day of their execution, the Governor addressed the colony. He
+vindicated this act of severity, as requisite to intimidate the blacks;
+but he solemnly pledged his government to equal justice, and that the
+law should take its course on individuals of either race, who might
+violate "the common law of mankind."
+
+The discussions which followed, proved the division of public opinion on
+the propriety of this measure. It was not clear, to many, that the
+natives were legally accountable, or that their punishment was just.
+Grotius and Vattel were quoted; writers, who have discoursed upon the
+relations of man, and distinguished the felon from the enemy. It was,
+however, simply a question between judicial and private vengeance: the
+interference of the court could alone prevent a general proscription. In
+the heat of anger, no provocation would be weighed--no palliative
+admitted; and the innocent would perish with the guilty.[9]
+
+The impression on the aborigines was unfavorable: they saw only the
+death of an unfortunate countryman, and, perhaps, the last act of the
+white man's warfare. Its moral influence was not great on either race:
+it neither softened the resentment of the British, nor intimidated the
+blacks: it was a mere variety in the forms of destruction. The brother
+of one of these men led the Oyster Bay tribe, and prompted the murders
+which, in 1830, filled the colony with wailing.
+
+The rapid colonisation of the island from 1821 to 1824, and the
+diffusion of settlers and servants through districts hitherto
+unlocated, added to the irritation of the natives, and multiplied the
+agents of destruction. Land unfenced, and flocks and herds moving on
+hill and dale, left the motions of the native hunters free; but hedges
+and homesteads were signals which even the least rationality could not
+fail to understand, and on every re-appearance the natives found some
+favorite spot surrounded by new enclosures, and no longer theirs.
+
+The proclamations of the government assumed the fixed relations of the
+different tribes to particular districts. Oyster Bay and the Big River
+were deemed sufficiently precise definitions of those tribes, exposed to
+public jealousy and prosecution. It is true, they had no permanent
+villages, and accordingly no individual property in land; but the
+boundaries of each horde were known, and trespass was a declaration of
+war.
+
+The English, of modern times, will not comprehend joint ownership,
+notwithstanding the once "common" property of the nation has been only
+lately distributed by law. The rights of the aborigines were never
+recognised by the crown; yet it is not less certain that they saw with
+intelligence the progress of occupation, and felt that the gradual
+alienation of their hunting grounds implied their expulsion and
+extinction.
+
+Native topography is, indeed, limited; but it is exact. Every mountain,
+valley, and river, is distinguished and named. The English have often
+been indebted to these primitive surveyors, for guidance through the
+forests which they came to divide. The tribes took up their periodical
+stations, and moved with intervals so regular, that their migrations
+were anticipated, as well as the season of their return. The person
+employed in their pursuit, by the aid of his native allies, was able to
+predict at what period and place he should find a tribe, the object of
+his mission; and though months intervened, he found them in the valley,
+and at the time he had foretold. Expectations of this sort could only be
+justified by the regularity of their movements, and the exact knowledge
+of the guides.[10] Nor were they indifferent to the charms of a native
+land. A visitor enquired of a native woman at Flinders, whether she
+preferred that place to several others mentioned, where she had lived at
+times, and she answered with indifference; but when, to test her
+attachment to her early haunts, the querist said, "and not Ringarooma?"
+she exclaimed, with touching animation, "Oh yes! Ringarooma!
+Ringarooma!"
+
+A chief accompanied the commandant to Launceston in 1847. At his own
+earnest request, he was taken to see the Cataract Basin of the South
+Esk, a river which foams and dashes through a narrow channel of
+precipitous rocks, until a wider space affords it tranquillity. It was a
+station of his people; precisely the kind of spot which gypsies, on the
+"business of Egypt," would choose for their tents. As he drew nigh, his
+excitement was intense: he leaped from rock to rock, with the gestures
+and exclamations of delight. So powerful were his emotions, that the lad
+with him became alarmed, lest the associations of the scene should
+destroy the discipline of twelve years exile: but the woods were silent:
+he heard no voice save his own, and he returned pensively with his young
+companion. These examples shew, that the native was not an indifferent
+spectator of that rapid occupation, which must have appeared prodigious
+to scattered tribes.
+
+A further cause of exasperation, consequent on the preceding, was the
+destruction of game. The extent to which it was carried was enormous.
+The skin of the kangaroo sold for a few pence, was the perquisite of the
+stock-keepers, and long the chief object of their daily enterprise.
+Their rugs, their clothing, were composed often of these spoils, and the
+pursuit did not slacken until the persecuted animal retired. Jeffery,
+describing the field sports of his day (1810), tells us that flocks of
+emu and kangaroo were found at short intervals, and that a cart might be
+loaded with their flesh by the sport of a morning; but he remained long
+enough, to observe a sensible diminution, and proposed limitations by
+law to the havoc of the whites; an idea, subsequently entertained by the
+_Aborigines' Committee_, which sat in 1830. The dogs, trained to hunt
+the kangaroo, were at first serviceable to the natives, but they often
+increased the destruction by their spontaneous ravening. It is observed
+by a writer of 1827, that forty or fifty would be found within short
+distances, run down by the dogs, and left to rot.
+
+Thus the food, on which the people depended for subsistence, was
+diminished, and the temptation to rob the settlers was regularly
+augmented at every return. Sir George Arthur, in his letter to the
+Secretary of State in 1828, notices this topic as a complaint of the
+natives against the intrusion of the whites, and seems to admit its
+truth; but three years after, he affirms that game was still abundant in
+the districts appointed for the tribes. It is, however, to be observed,
+that he wrote when the blacks, as a people, were dead; and when the high
+value of labor had withdrawn many from the chase; and that he implies a
+local, rather than a pervading abundance. As the natives passed through
+the settled districts to the sea shore, if numerous, their requirements
+would be great; but, by scattering themselves abroad, to obtain a
+sufficiency, their dangers would increase, and every evening they would
+muster fewer than in the morning.[11]
+
+Among the causes of enmity, referred to by writers of every period, the
+abduction of the women by sealers and others, is noticed the earliest,
+and continued to the last. The sealers were, chiefly, either convicts
+whose sentences had expired, or such as contrived to escape. In the
+islands of the Straits, they indulged the boundless license of their
+passions, blending the professions of the petty pirate and the
+fisherman. A chain of rocks enabled them to rove to a considerable
+distance, picking up the refuse of the sea, and feeding on the aquatic
+birds which frequented the islets in great abundance. Many, however,
+perished, with the frail boats to which they committed their lives.
+Their first stage was known as "Clarke's Island;" from thence they made
+"Preservation Island:" a succession of rocks formed land marks in their
+course to New Holland, from which many found their way to Kangaroo
+Island, the Ultima Thule of their geography. In these places, they
+engaged in sealing; the produce of which they sold to the small craft
+trading among them, for guns, spirits, and tobacco. When the season was
+over, they retired to the interior, and passed their days in alternate
+slumber and intoxication.
+
+So secure were some of these retreats, that they justified the
+apprehension, that formidable pirates would be trained up in their
+lawless and licentious communities. They were perpetually disturbed by
+violence. One old man spent thirteen years on an island, alone. He
+cultivated a plot of ground, and sold the produce to the boats which
+floated about. Several times robbed of his crops and clothing, by these
+contemptible spoilers, he, at last, was compelled to renounce his rude
+independence. In King's Island, families sat down; but Colonel Arthur,
+sensible of the great danger of these associations, sent the harbour
+master to the Straits, who arrested absconders, and released native
+women from slavery.
+
+By these men, the black women and female children were captured in
+excursions to this island, and were liable to the ill-treatment, which
+might be expected from men who regarded them with passion and contempt.
+They were employed as slaves on some islands, to strip the mutton bird,
+and in whatever irksome labor was within their capacity. It is said that
+one man (Harrison), had fourteen women in his service, whom he flogged
+with military severity, and some of whom he put to death.
+
+Boatswain, an aged woman, stolen in her youth, related the manner of her
+abduction. She was induced to enter a boat, without suspicion of the
+design, when her captors rowed away, and confined her on an island in
+the Straits. She told her treatment, in broken English and expressive
+pantomime; first spreading forth her hands, as if fastened to the wall;
+then, with loud cries, gradually becoming fainter, she fell down into a
+pretended swoon: thus describing the mode and severity of her torture.
+
+These men acquired an extraordinary dominion over the fears of the
+women, sufficient to induce them to dissemble in the presence of
+strangers. Backhouse relates, that two girls, Jumbo and Jackey,
+pretended, while in the company of their masters, either by silence, or
+feigned anger, to resent the proposal to take them away; but when they
+were assured that their liberty would be protected, they embraced it
+with joy.
+
+Jeffreys, whose narrative is tinged with romance, depicts the fondness
+and contentment of the women in lively colors. Glad to escape the
+tyranny of their countrymen, they displayed to these amiable white men,
+warm, though jealous, affection;--whose occasional absence they
+regretted, and for whose speedy return they invoked some imaginary deity
+in plaintive melodies! It is not improbable, that they were sensible of
+kindness, but it is very certain that this was not their ordinary lot.
+Unanimous testimony permits no doubt that they experienced the severity,
+which men of low intellect, and of fierce and capricious passions,
+inflict on women of an inferior race.
+
+The sealers, when they came to the main land, rarely brought their
+captives: they were in danger of losing them. Their fickleness or
+revenge, was sometimes fatal: in 1824, a party, engaged in an expedition
+to entice the girls of a tribe, took with them one who had a half-caste
+infant, and sent her on shore as a decoy. She returned, bringing
+promises from her countrywomen to appear the following day; but at that
+time the blacks descended in great force, and all the adventurers,
+except one, were slain.
+
+The sealers, by the names they gave the women, which were rarely
+feminine, and were sometimes ludicrously absurd, indicated the notions
+which prevailed. However slight their apparent importance, it has been
+justly observed, they betray the low civilisation of the persons who
+invented, and the degraded condition of those who bore them.
+
+The intercourse of the stockmen was generally confined to the periods of
+migration: sometimes with the connivance, at others, the express consent
+of the men; but the detention was often compulsory. Dr. Ross found a
+stock-keeper seated on a fallen tree, exhausted with hunger. He had
+chained a woman to a log, "to tame her;" but she escaped, with his only
+shirt, which he had bestowed in his fondness. For five hours he had
+pursued her, catching glimpses of his shirt through the breaks of the
+forest: at last, this signal disappeared; and having lost his way for
+two days, he was in danger of starvation.
+
+Such were the various causes, which combined first to alarm, and then to
+goad into madness, this unhappy people. They were troublesome, and were
+repelled. Wantonly wounded and shot down, they retaliated. Fresh wrongs
+produced their kind: at length, every white man was a _guerilla_, and
+every black an assassin. The original temper of both parties was
+changed. Dread detestation and treachery embittered every mind: even the
+humane yielded to the general sentiment. It became a question, which
+race should perish, and every man's verdict was in favor of his own.
+
+From this, however, it is not to be inferred, that the natives were
+originally treacherous and cruel. It was stated by the Aborigines'
+Committee, in the middle of the conflict, that such dispositions were
+the substratum of their character, which, though disguised, only waited
+for time and opportunity. The colonists in general, at last, believed
+them to delight in blood, by an innate cruelty of temper--to find
+pleasure in the terrors they excited, and the convulsive agonies of the
+dying; but the records of mankind are full of such moral
+transformations. The Indians of America, we are informed by Dr. Dwight,
+became corrupt, to a degree "enormous and dreadful: full of malice,
+cruelty, and murders." But he himself, elsewhere remarks, that within
+his observation white men, commonly sober, moral, and orderly, on
+joining a mob, lost every one of these qualities; and, in a few hours of
+excitement, exhibited more vice than he had witnessed for years. The
+causes of degeneracy are not examined, when its mischief is suffered.
+Sir George Arthur, in his despatches, asserted that the natives were,
+and had been, "a most treacherous race,"--a view, which the Committee
+adopted: these opinions were afterwards greatly modified; nor would it
+be just to admit their truth, without stronger evidence than history
+affords. Among the aborigines, some were distinguished for ferocity:
+such was a woman who led on the Big River tribe, and who was called by
+Mr. Robinson, the "Amazon." A few were guilty of the crimes imputed to
+the race: and who were often their oppressors, rather than their
+avengers.
+
+Though individuals, undoubtedly, displayed the vices imputed, who will
+condemn the natural disposition of a people for actions committed at
+lone intervals, by solitary assassins and marauders? The English alone
+could preserve a record of the past, and after a careful examination no
+other conclusion is possible, than that whoever continued acts of
+ferocity and cruelty, the impulse and the example were European.
+
+Dr. Ross, arriving in 1822, passed into the interior, and settled on a
+farm. He was soon visited by the natives, whom he entertained with the
+consideration due to their ignorance and their rights. They had kindled
+their fires in perilous contiguity, and the flames threatened to destroy
+his crops. He pointed out his danger, and they instantly combined to
+extinguish the flame, and transferred their temporary resting place to a
+spot, from which no harm could be communicated. Dr. Ross stood by, and
+watched their cookery, and they offered him a part of their food: he
+suffered himself to be amused with their loud merriment, and their
+evolutions in the water. They often renewed their visits, and rather
+contributed to his safety, by assisting in the pursuit of white robbers:
+and even when they inflicted dreadful outrages on many others, provoked
+by extraordinary mal-treatment, they still preserved their kindness for
+this amiable man, until they were finally removed to Flinders' Island.
+
+These incidents were not uncommon:--the cross lights, which seem to
+exhibit variously the character of a race, but in reality identify the
+family of man. To judge of a people, during a season of extraordinary
+excitement, must tend to erroneous conclusions: thus, when we turn to
+contemporary writings, we are amazed at the ferocity of expression--the
+sweeping and sanguinary appeals, by which they are disfigured; but this
+astonishment is corrected, when we examine the incidents they record,
+and recollect how little qualified men are to reason, when they are
+doomed to suffer. So with the native: the delirium of rage, and the
+taste for blood, had been produced by causes of long operation; and he
+appeared to be a fiend full of mischief and spite, marked out by his
+crimes for utter extinction.[12]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 7: The ruffians who maltreated them were, indeed, punished
+with 25 lashes!]
+
+[Footnote 8: Whether from policy or humanity, Michael Howe formed an
+exception. He did not allow them to be molested, except "in battle;" and
+he flogged with the _cat_ one of his comrades, who had broken "the
+articles," by wantonly wounding a native.--Stated by a companion.]
+
+[Footnote 9: In sentencing Rodger, at Port Phillip, 1842, Judge Willis
+told him that he had been tried by an intelligent jury; that he could
+have challenged any of them; that to say he had never been in a court of
+justice before, was a common plea with white malefactors, and that he
+knew as much on the subject as many immigrants. When he was sentenced,
+the Rev. Mr. Hurst explained to him, that he would be hanged! This was
+requisite, as the judge's address was utterly unintelligible.]
+
+[Footnote 10: "The natives are tenacious of their hunting grounds, as
+the settlers are of their farms, and are displeased when they find
+houses upon them. This caused the attack of live stock and huts."--_R.
+O'Connor, Esq._
+
+"When a chart of Tasmania is presented to them, it seems only to embody
+the form and dimensions, which their own fancy enabled them to
+sketch."--_Tasmanian Journal--Rev. T. Dove._
+
+"It was a great oversight, that a treaty was not made with the natives;
+_that_ _feeling of injustice, which I am persuaded they have always
+entertained_, would have then had no existence."--_Sir George Arthur's
+Despatch to Lord Glenelg_, 1835.]
+
+[Footnote 11: "The extension of the settled districts upon their usual
+hunting grounds, has either driven them entirely from them, or removed
+the kangaroo. They are quite disappointed of their usual supplies. We
+have never known them to eat the flesh of either sheep or
+cattle."--_Courier_, 1830.
+
+The extent of their consumption, might be inferred from the increase
+after their exit. To preserve their crops, some settlers were obliged to
+employ hunters. In 1831, from Bothwell only, 100,000 skins were sent to
+Hobart Town, bearing a value of L2,000.]
+
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+The violence of the natives seemed to require some extraordinary means
+for its repression, and (in November, 1826) it was resolved to capture
+the leaders, by the usual methods of arrest. The magistrates were
+authorised, by the Governor, when danger was feared, to drive them to a
+safe distance by force: to repress their attempts at disturbance, by
+treating them as rioters; to seize those charged with felonies, whether
+known by marks or by names, or by the denomination of their tribe; and
+any person was authorised to raise the neighbourhood, on witnessing the
+commission of a crime. This notice was renewed the following year, and
+the military stationed in the interior, were instructed to render such
+assistance as might be necessary, for its practical application.
+
+But these measures were not attended with much success, and in April,
+1828, the natives were forbidden to enter the settled districts of the
+colony. They were permitted to pass through them, when on their passage
+to the shore, provided their chiefs guaranteed their quietness, and
+possessed a pass under the hand and seal of the Governor. A line, drawn
+from Piper's River to St. Patrick's Head, separated the regions allotted
+to them on that side; another, included Tasman's Peninsula; a third,
+southward of Mount Wellington to the ocean; and the fourth, from the
+Huon, by Western Bluff, south-west to the sea. Thus the proclamation cut
+out the centre of the island: a square at the north-west,
+belonged to the Van Diemen's Land Company, and others; southward, from
+Ben Lomond, including most of the rivers, plains, and lagoons. Into
+these, they were forbidden to intrude. There remained, the forests
+of the south-west; the western coasts, where the skies for ever weep;
+and the barren shores of the north-east. To drive them on these regions
+ was the duty of the forces, and their employment for years. The natives
+ returned regularly with the season, like birds of passage--avenging
+the losses of their last retreat: they retired at the usual
+time--diminished, but unsubdued.
+
+In looking at these orders and proclamations, it is impossible to regard
+them in any other light than as plans of military operation. That the
+natives would surrender to a warrant or a challenge; that they would
+remain in remote regions, from which they had always been accustomed to
+come forth; that their chiefs had power to enforce the mandates of the
+Governor, or that they would preserve an official document, they could
+neither read nor understand--these were contingencies which, though
+desirable, were certainly not probable. The precise and legal language
+of the instruments, provoked much ridicule, and might justify a smile.
+They were chiefly dictated by a gentleman, whose mental aberration led
+to his removal from office. It is, however, difficult to suggest more
+explicit forms, and the announcement of the plans of government was a
+proper preliminary to their execution.
+
+It was the desire of the Governor, earnestly expressed, to protect the
+settlers, and yet to mitigate their resentment. The use of arms was
+forbidden, while other means were untried, and rewards were offered to
+any person who might venture into communication with the natives, to
+explain the objects of the government. They were invited to seek redress
+of their grievances; and pictures were suspended in the wood, in which
+the white man was represented shooting the native, and the Governor
+hanging the white.
+
+These remedies were, however, ineffectual; and in November, 1828, the
+settled districts were placed under the protection of martial law. Nine
+parties, under Messrs. G. Robertson, Batman, and Jorgenson, consisting
+of seven persons each, and assisted by the military when requisite, were
+employed to enforce the proclamation. Mr. Anstey, the magistrate,
+directed the operations in the centre of the island, and volunteers not
+unfrequently joined in the repulsion or pursuit of this unhappy people.
+
+The celebrated chief, Eumarrah, was captured by Mr. Gilbert Robertson,
+in the Eastern Marshes, in 1828. This euphonius name, which so interests
+the ear, it is said, was a corruption or improvement of the name of a
+colonist, Hugh Murray, and adopted by the savage. A strong party,
+consisting of military and constables, surrounded the hut, in which this
+chief and others were sheltered. Five furious dogs rush towards Mr.
+Robertson, the foremost of the party: having fired off his piece, and
+seized a lad scrambling away, by him he was directed to a sheet of bark,
+under which Eumarrah was concealed. While prostrate, a shot was fired at
+him, which inflicted a flesh wound, and the musket of a soldier was
+broken by beating him. Such is Robertson's indignant account of his
+capture. With the chief, three others, Jack, Dolly, and Jemmy, were
+taken: the portrait of the last has rather an innocent expression, and
+has been honored with publication. This party, removed first to
+Richmond, and then to Hobart Town, soon appeared reconciled to their
+captivity: all, but Eumarrah. He was pensive and reserved, and, for a
+time, resented his bondage. It is said, the outrages he had committed,
+would have forfeited his life, had not his captor earnestly maintained
+that he was a prisoner of war; and that to put him to death, would be to
+equal his crimes.
+
+The expeditions were attended with the same general incidents, and it
+would be tedious to multiply examples. The number of prisoners was
+lamentably disproportioned to the many that perished. To identify a
+particular offender was impossible, nor was it of much importance, since
+the natives now were animated by one spirit. The amazing agility with
+which they moved; their magical powers of self concealment; their
+destitution of dress, the greasing of their skin, and the vigilance of
+their watch-dogs, rendered it nearly impossible to seize them in open
+day.
+
+An alarm would be given, that the blacks were approaching, and a party,
+commissioned to repress them, would immediately advance; often
+blundering and incautious, shouting, smoking, and straggling about;
+carelessly firing their pieces, and affording abundant information of
+their approach. Thus, after a fatiguing march, the natives, whom they
+were sent out to meet, would be observed in their rear, having already
+committed the premeditated depredation. Not that it was easy to elude
+their observation, if they were conscious of pursuit, and it was nearly
+impossible to overtake them.
+
+Mr. Gilbert Robertson, after capturing Eumarrah, was twelve months
+without success. One tribe he followed with pertinacity, were not far
+off through the whole chase. Their fires were visible: they were, for
+several days, on the hills, not more than four miles from the British;
+but they "beat round and round, like a hare." A tribe, after a hot
+pursuit, concealed their tracks, and suddenly vanished. They regularly
+posted sentinels: passed over the most dangerous ground, and, on the
+margin of fearful precipices: they would lie down beside a log--stone
+dead, and could not be distinguished from the charred fragments of the
+forest. Those who imagined that their eyes had never been averted, would
+yet lose sight of the subtle enemy. They could not catch them, except by
+stratagem; or, when they were caught, they could not hold them.[13] The
+few captives that were obtained, when they thought proper, easily made
+their escape. They confined them in a room: next morning, they had
+passed through the flue into the open air, and freedom.
+
+The extreme difficulty connected with their arrest by day, led to their
+rapid destruction. The pursuers would watch, as the evening gathered in,
+the thin smoke of the distant fires: they would cautiously advance, and
+conceal themselves till midnight. The superstitious terror of the black,
+prevented his wandering from the camp, lest the evil spirit that
+haunted the darkness should carry him away. Thus, stretched around the
+fire, the natives were easily seen, and musketry told with terrible
+effect. Their dogs, instead of promoting their safety, sometimes led to
+their sacrifice. A party, preparing to surround and capture them without
+bloodshed, would move with quiet steps, without giving notice to the
+aborigines; but just when all was prepared for the last movement, some
+cur of ill omen would start up, and rouse them. They would seize their
+spears and attempt to flee; and the whites, now disappointed of a
+bloodless capture, would commence the slaughter.
+
+In 1828, a tribe of natives threw stones at the constables, from a hill.
+They returned a volley of shot; then charged with the bayonet: the whole
+were slain. The excuse for the massacre was, that having no more
+ammunition, the constables had no other means of defence, and that to
+retreat was dangerous. An exploit, claimed by a corporal and party of
+the 40th regiment, is disputed. They professed to have discovered a
+tribe lodged on the shelf of a rock, inclosed by wall-like heights. They
+poured in their fire, and dragged the women and children from their
+shelter: all perished. This was stated to be a mere tale of pretended
+success, and devised to satisfy the neighbourhood, that the men had done
+their duty. It proves, at least, that such achievements were in request.
+How fearful a condition for the government to tolerate, or for a colony
+to approve.
+
+In these expeditions, natives were often the guides, and were enabled to
+follow up the track of their countrymen, when the English were
+confounded. In those troublesome times, individuals of the tribes were
+often left behind. It was the custom to fix small pieces of stick at
+short distances, to assist the stragglers in rejoining their main body.
+For a time, these signals being understood by the black guides, brought
+them quickly on the route of the fugitives; but the guides soon betrayed
+or exhausted this device, and though they continued to leave direction
+sticks, they reversed their meaning, and distracted their pursuers.
+
+The Tasmanian allies themselves, were exceedingly uncertain, and prone
+to escape. They disclosed to their countrymen the plans adopted for
+their capture, related the expeditions they had witnessed, and added new
+excitements to rage. Sydney natives were obtained, to assist in the
+capture: Pigeon and John Crook, under the care of Mr. Batman, promoted
+the success of the undertaking. Pigeon narrowly escaped being shot: he
+wandered from his party, and was seen by a stockman in a tree, who
+fired, in spite of his endeavours to explain. Pigeon then slipped down,
+and reached his friends, only in time to avoid the second charge of his
+pertinacious antagonist. The story is worth relating, not on account of
+the actors, but because it displays how cheap, at that hour, was the
+life of a native, although peaceably living in the forests of his
+country.
+
+Among those distinguished for the knowledge of the bush, compassion for
+the natives, and skill in pursuing them, Mr. Batman was the subject of
+frequent and approving mention. It is said by Backhouse, that his
+parties killed thirty, and captured five. Occasionally, natives were
+found in the neighbourhood of Ben Lomond. In one instance, it is
+recorded, that ten fell, and that two were taken; and in another, that
+forty received the fire, and left behind them trails of blood, but no
+captives. On another, fifteen or sixteen were said to fall, out of a
+party of seventy: three hundred buck shot were poured into an
+encampment, at twenty yards distance. It would be endless to recite
+conflicts of this kind: they probably were but a multiplication of a
+short bulletin, referring to an expedition--"_five shot, and one
+taken_." Looked at alone, even in the mildest form, these measures are
+revolting; but to Mr. Batman belongs the praise of mingling humanity
+with severity: of perceiving human affections in the creatures he was
+commissioned to resist. His mission cannot be compared with that of his
+successor, but he certainly began in the midst of conflict and
+bloodshed, to try the softer influences of conciliation and charity. He
+received a party into his house, endeavoured to win their regard; fed,
+clothed, and soothed them; and when some of them disappointed his hopes,
+by throwing off their garments and retiring into the bush, he still
+persevered in attempting their reclamation.
+
+But if the authorised system was attended with a sad sacrifice of native
+life, no one will question the atrocities committed by _commandoes_,
+first formed by stock-keepers, and some settlers, under the influence of
+anger, and then continued from habit. The smoke of a fire was the signal
+for a black hunt. The sportsmen having taken up their positions, perhaps
+on a precipitous hill, would first discharge their guns, then rush
+towards the fires, and sweep away the whole party. The wounded were
+brained; the infant cast into the flames; the musket was driven into the
+quivering flesh; and the social fire, around which the natives gathered
+to slumber, became, before morning, their funeral pile.[14]
+
+A detail of such facts, is in the hand of the writer, the recital of
+which would disgrace, without improving mankind; and it is rather in
+deference to a general principle than personal considerations, that the
+crimes of amateur assassins are left to oblivion.[15]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 12: "Unless the blacks are exterminated, or removed,
+conciliation is in vain. Shall the sons of a country give way before the
+aborigines, _after having repulsed the arms of France_? They are now
+shot, with as little remorse as so many crows!!"--_Col. Advocate_,
+1828.]
+
+[Footnote 13: A party, under Major Grey, went out in pursuit: overtook a
+few blacks; one was seized; but he was so smeared with grease, that he
+slipped through the hands of his captors. A paper of the day recommends,
+that the arms of the pursuer be thrust under the arms of the black; and,
+the hands being raised, to be firmly clasped over the back of the
+fugitive's neck--an expedient, that reminds us of the salt specific for
+catching birds, with which most children have been delighted and
+disappointed.]
+
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+However just these representations of individual conduct, and with
+whatever severity the measures of government bore upon the aborigines,
+that unhappy people afforded ample reason for apprehension, and even
+abhorrence. Their crimes were fearful, and the effect of their outrage
+on the colonial mind can only be imagined. The fierce robbers, of
+European origin, who had infested the land, were not half so terrible:
+these were at least restrained by early associations and national
+sympathies; often by conscience, and even by each other. But the natives
+now united the antipathy of a national foe, and the rapacity of a
+banditti, with the spite of individual revenge: they were at once a
+people in arms, and a distributed band of assassins.
+
+The correspondence between the local and imperial authorities exhibits
+the feelings of the Governor, and his full consciousness, that however
+necessary his proceedings might seem on the spot, surveyed from the
+distance, they would wear the aspect of cruelty. In 1828, he apprised
+Lord Goderich, that the proposal to remove the natives from the island,
+had not met his concurrence; and that the commissioners for lands had
+pointed out the north-east coast as adapted to their wants, well
+sheltered and warm, abounding with game, accessible by water, and easy
+to guard. It was stated by Colonel Arthur that harsh measures were
+demanded by the colonists; but that he could not dismiss from his
+recollection, that the whites were the aggressors, and that every plan
+should be tried before treating the natives as accredited enemies. Three
+months after, he forwarded another communication, which referred to the
+murders recently committed, and justified the proclamation which he had
+issued for their expulsion. So exasperated were the settlers, that the
+safety of the blacks themselves seemed to demand this precaution. He
+had, however, found it impossible to assign one district, owing to the
+animosities of the tribes against each other, and therefore he resolved
+to expel them to the remoter portions of their several territories. In
+two other communications of the same year, the Governor reported the
+temporary retirement of the natives, in search of marine subsistence,
+and their return from their winter quarters in the November following,
+when their animosity had not abated: a dark catalogue of murders,
+including every age, condition, and sex, attested their subtlety and
+sanguinary spirit. He still declared that no means were neglected to
+conciliate and reclaim them, consistent with the interests of the colony
+at large; but their indiscriminate attacks were equally directed against
+their benefactors and their enemies. Communication had become difficult,
+a risk of life, and almost impossible.
+
+These statements are, unhappily, sustained by ample proof. It would be a
+waste of time even to condense, in the most succinct relation, all the
+incidents that occurred. Narrative is tedious by the monotony of detail,
+and the events themselves were recorded by those who witnessed them,
+with ominous brevity. Such crimes were of daily occurrence; perhaps
+sometimes multiplied by rumour, but often unheard of and unrecorded. The
+perils of the stockmen were constant: many of them were repeatedly
+wounded; and one, named Cubit, was nine times speared, and yet survived.
+Death assumed new forms daily: the poet of the Iliad did not describe
+more numerous varieties, in the slaughter of his heroes.
+
+The shepherd went from home in the morning, attended by his dog, and
+armed with a gun, now unavailing for his defence: he never returned. Had
+he escaped to the bush? Such a step was improbable. His employers are
+soon informed that the blacks have been near; that the sheep have been
+wounded, or beaten to death. The search now becomes diligent: at length,
+the melancholy reality is clear; they find a mutilated form, which still
+preserves sufficient proof that the lost shepherd lies there. The sad
+catastrophe excites the compassion of the master; but it provokes the
+fellow servants to rage, and they devote themselves to the destruction
+of the murderous race.
+
+The little child strays outside the cottage of her parent--fresh as the
+morning, and warmed with the hilarity of young life: a shriek is heard
+to succeed quickly the loud laugh of pleasure. The mother rushes
+forward; sees a black boy fleeing in the distance, and then beholds the
+victim of his malice: she draws forth the spear, and her child is dead.
+
+The settler, now grown rich by his flocks and tillage, looks forward to
+the enjoyment of his opulence in domestic happiness. The companion of
+his early labors and privations forms the chief object in the picture;
+but while he was dreaming of future bliss, the envious eye of a savage,
+which had recognised in that prosperous homestead a station of his
+fathers, had glanced over and blighted all.
+
+Those who were compelled to travel from home, left their families the
+prey to inexpressible anxiety. Every moment of delay awakened new
+forebodings. Often would the settler see his wife and children, on some
+prominent spot, the subjects of fears which required no interpreter,
+shading the eyes in the attitude of earnest attention; and when they
+caught the first glimpse of his approach, the rushing together, and
+marks of gratulation, indicated the gladness of watchers, whose painful
+task is done. To appear in safety, was a new though daily deliverance.
+
+But if such were the fears at home, the traveller himself was not free
+from perturbation. He would neglect the common dangers of a rocky
+descent, and "sidling" way, to guard against perils far more dreaded: he
+would often pause, to listen; the moving of the leaf, would terrify him.
+He would hear a rush--it was but the cattle: he would gaze steadfastly
+at some black substance far off, until convinced that it was the stock
+of a tree; then reproaching his fears, he would gallop on rapidly--then
+moving round some overhanging rock, he would see savage faces and poised
+spears! Retreat is now impossible: he spurs his horse, which seems
+almost to be conscious of danger, and perhaps reaches his home exhausted
+with fatigue and dread; happy, however, to have been once more
+preserved.
+
+Nor is it possible to describe the emotions which were wrought up, by
+the consciousness that a feeble woman and helpless children were exposed
+to the clubs and spears of the savage. Men know, when they pass their
+threshold, that the ties of life are uncertain, and that desolation may
+blast whatever they leave tranquil and beloved; but there was an intense
+realisation of this hazard, in those parts of the colony where
+protection was least accessible.
+
+Death, by the hands of a savage, is indeed invested with the darkest
+terrors: it was rarely instantaneous--it was often the effect of
+protracted torment, and of repeated blows: often, after a long pursuit,
+in which hope might occasionally gleam for a moment, to render death to
+the exhausted fugitive more distinct and terrible; or, perhaps, at once
+wounded mortally and prostrate, when the rush of early affections and
+long forgotten truth and brief supplication would come with that swoon,
+by which nature sometimes ushers in the fatal moment; the dying man
+would be roused by infernal shouts, and there would swim before him
+brandished clubs, and horrid visages distorted with demoniac rage. Such
+were the recollections of some who recovered; and such, we may be
+assured, were the emotions of many that died.
+
+Comparatively, the natives did not frequently injure women and children;
+partly, perhaps, that they were less exposed, and partly from natural
+compassion. Thus, when the house of Clarke was destroyed by the Big
+River tribe, and its owner perished in the flames, the woman with him
+escaped with her clothes ignited--ran to the savages, and fell down upon
+her knees, imploring their pity. One of their number extinguished the
+flames, and bade her be gone. It may be doubted, if this instance of
+compassion always found a parallel in the conduct of the white. About
+the same time, a wretch boasted to Mr. O'Connor, that he had thrown a
+native woman on the fire, and burnt her to death. The equity of
+Providence seems vindicated by the fact, that he perished by the spears
+of the race, who watched him continually, until he fell into their
+power.
+
+Long after the pacific mission of Robinson, it was found necessary to
+restrain the wanderings of the women, to prevent their sacrifice to
+white vengeance. But, on the part of the natives, there were not wanting
+fearful examples of implacable and treacherous violence. Such was the
+murder of Mrs. Gough and her children. In 1828, about twenty men,
+unattended by their families, had re-appeared in the centre of the
+island, and approached the neighbourhood of Oatlands: they attacked the
+cottage of one Moor, as a feint, and thus drew off the husband of the
+unfortunate woman, to the assistance of his neighbour. On returning, he
+met his daughter, with the sad intelligence, that children and wife were
+murdered, and that she only had escaped. He found the mother leaning
+against a fence, covered with blood: "Dear Gough," she said, "it is all
+over with me; the blacks have killed me!" He endeavoured to staunch her
+wounds; then hastened to his children, and found them, not dead, but
+dying. The blacks had inflicted reiterated blows, and answered
+entreaties with threats of murder. Mrs. Gough was shortly afterwards
+laid beside her children. The attack was more fierce, and yet
+deliberate, than common: but not long before, some stockmen at the Lakes
+requested two women to ascend the trees: while there, they shot them. It
+is necessary to add, that the women sometimes approached the huts, as
+spies, or such actions would be incredible.
+
+The government and the press complained repeatedly, that no regular
+resistance was offered to the depredators; that the settlers did not
+instantly pursue, and, by combined efforts, intimidate or destroy them.
+It was said, that they easily forgot the danger, so soon as the blacks
+had withdrawn, and abated even the ordinary vigilance, which such
+formidable enemies might inspire. Thus, the slaughter of a shepherd had
+become too frequent to produce much sensation, and was set down as a
+common risk of colonial life. When they heard that a servant was
+speared, they would exclaim, "Ah! is he killed? poor fellow!"--and
+having brought in a verdict of wilful murder, they left him to the
+forgetfulness of the grave.
+
+It was said, that as the passenger approached the towns, he found the
+anxiety of the people diminished, and their feeling revolutionised. In
+the interior, the blacks were spoken of with intense fear, and
+detestation: in the capital, even their depredations were questioned,
+and the subjects of conversation, were rather their sufferings than
+their crimes.
+
+Governor Arthur strongly censured the negligence of farmers; but this
+was rather to arouse them, than to decide finally the fact, or
+culpability of their inaction. In truth, the pursuit of a party of
+aborigines, was a very hopeless affair: it required a minute
+preparation; and to a well fleshed, and not perhaps youthful yeoman, was
+attended with vast fatigue, and almost certain failure. An organised
+enemy may be found: not so, naked and scattered blacks,
+undistinguishable from the trees of the wood; who could crouch in a
+gulley--creep almost as rapidly as a dog. The appearance of apathy, in
+reality resulted from the uselessness or danger of action; nor can it be
+a matter of surprise, that men expelled from their minds an evil merely
+possible, which they hoped to escape, and which no forethought would
+avoid. Whether these imputations were just, or not, they were revived in
+various forms, by the Governor's private and public addresses. They
+constitute a large portion of his correspondence with the Home
+Government; but they drew forth from the Secretary of State what,
+perhaps, was chiefly desired--an approbation of his measures of
+protection; for, however apathetic individuals, it was admitted, that
+the repression of outrage, from whatever cause, and at whatever cost,
+was an obligation on government. There were, nevertheless, several
+instances of courageous defence: large numbers were successfully
+resisted by a single musket; and it was stated by Governor Arthur, that
+two armed men would strike a whole mob with panic--a contempt of their
+valour, which was often provoked by the subtlety of their escape. Such
+is commonly the case: savages, even when courageous, are unwilling to
+face the deadly weapon of the white man. They, however, lost much of
+their alarm; and, at length, would pause for the report, and rush on
+with shouts of defiance, when the English had discharged their guns.
+
+The most courageous instances of defence, were furnished by females:
+they were sometimes surprised by a visit, when escape was hopeless, and
+relief unattainable. Mrs. Maclanachan maintained a post, purely by her
+resolution. Mrs. Dalrymple Brigge, a half-caste woman, was rewarded
+with twenty acres of land, for her heroism. She drew inside her house
+her wounded child, barricaded her door, and fired through a crevice. The
+blacks attempted, first to pull down her cottage, and then to destroy it
+by fire. The conflict lasted more than an hour, when relief came.
+Another: Mrs. Connel defended her house with the musket; a little child,
+of four years, bringing one to her as she fired off another: she was
+within a few days of her confinement. The fortitude displayed, on these
+occasions, was very justly admired: we cannot, however, but be sensible,
+that few possessed either the physical strength, or the knowledge of
+arms, equal to a task so hard.
+
+In this colony, 1830 will be ever memorable, as the year of the Black
+War--that campaign, which formed the first military lesson given to the
+colonists. In the ferment of the public mind, innumerable plans were
+propounded for their capture: some merit remembrance from their oddity,
+and some for their kindness. It was suggested, that those natives in
+custody should be driven forward, secured by a tether, and thus
+compelled to guide the pursuit. It was also proposed, that depots of
+flour, sugar, and other tempting articles of food should be placed in
+the tracks, and when natives were engaged in seizing the prize, the
+Philistines would be upon them. A third plan recommended, that four or
+five persons should be placed in the vicinity of huts, to be erected for
+the purpose: they were to stand outside, and allure the natives; and
+when seen by them, to feign alarm, and run. The natives, it was
+expected, would make for the seemingly abandoned dwellings, to be
+surprised by the English, lying in ambush. Their dogs often gave them
+notice of approach: a scheme was propounded, to turn this advantage
+against them. The English were to be furnished with two sets of dogs:
+one leash, swift and fierce, to pursue the dogs of the natives; but as
+both would soon vanish from the sight of the pursuers, the second
+species were to be retained, to scent their course. Thus, the native
+would run first,--his dogs after him; then would come the large dogs of
+the English--then their little dogs; and, finally, the captors! An old
+mariner, who had witnessed the effect of music in taming savage tribes,
+proposed to try the persuasion of sweet sounds. He was not aware, that
+the expedient had been in vain tested under happier auspices; even had
+it been possible for a military band to career along with the requisite
+speed. The musician of the _Recherche_ carried his instrument on shore,
+and played his sweetest melodies: the natives took no notice. Unwilling
+to doubt the efficacy of his art, on his next visit he used sharper
+tones and quicker measures: the aborigines put their fingers to their
+ears, and the Frenchman dropped his fiddle in despair.
+
+It will be proper briefly to notice the state of the public mind at the
+moment. The natives were now a mere handful: an irregular contest of
+several years duration, now and then slackened, was ever adding some new
+victim to the slain. The constables occasionally fell in with the
+temporary huts, which told the mournful tale of rapid depopulation. In
+tracks, where thirty or forty huts had, in former years, indicated a
+considerable clan, four or five only were reared; but while the natives
+diminished, they seemed to increase their activity, moving to various
+places with almost incredible swiftness. It is said, that they would
+travel fifty miles in a day. Their superior knowledge of the country
+enabled them to reach stations more remote in appearance than reality. A
+colonist, of the present time, by better acquaintance with the road, can
+pass in a few hours to places, once several days journey distant. Such
+rapid progress may perhaps be doubted, but it was sufficient to give
+them the appearance of ubiquity; and since they now were no longer
+casual but habitual robbers, the havoc and alarm they created had rather
+augmented, as their numbers declined. The colony, then prosperous in its
+general affairs, was deeply depressed by their continued outrages:
+shepherds would no longer tend their flocks, unless accompanied by armed
+companions. On the slightest signal of the approaching foe, they would
+flee with precipitation: ten times a day the quiet of domestic life
+would be broken by the fears, feigned or real, of the workmen. If they
+idled on the road, it was the blacks that retarded them: if they lost
+provisions, the hut had been robbed by the blacks. Often, too, these
+vexations were tinged with the ludicrous: the rumour would reach the
+township that an unfortunate had been speared, who, when more closely
+examined, was found dead drunk. Some imaginative settler would return,
+with the sure information that the blacks were lurking in the woods: the
+cautious whites, well armed and skilfully disposed, would march round
+the hiding place, and stealthily approach a stump of more than usual
+likeness to animated nature.
+
+An officer, newly arrived, when the depredations were most alarming and
+frequent, looked from the window of his cottage, in the twilight, and
+discerned many blacks crouching among the stubble of a corn field
+lately reaped. He hastened and ordered out his men: they cautiously
+crept round the inclosure, and were gratified as they drew nigh to
+discover that the enemy had not moved. Another small party of soldiers
+observed a body of fifty or sixty, on the borders of a creek, flowing
+into Oyster Bay: as they were approached by the British, they made for a
+point of land. It was, apparently, a certain capture: the soldiers and
+constables rushed on, when the foe took the water. In these adversaries
+the colonist will recognise the black stumps, left by imperfect farming,
+and the black swans which adorn our waters. Notice was brought, that
+some one in the far interior was killed: the coroner's jury was
+summoned; the verdict was, of necessity, "_not yet dead_."[16]
+
+The disquietude occasioned by an enemy, so insignificant; the constant
+vigilance imposed, and the not infrequent heavy calamities inflicted,
+are events justly exhibited by the _Aborigines' Committee_, as a lesson
+to mankind. The long oppression of a race, not prone to violence, was
+now productive of its fruit, and exacted from the colonists a fearful
+retribution.
+
+The most alarming movement of the natives was, the systematic
+destruction of premises by fire. This was revenge within their reach, at
+any hour; and its previous infrequency is a matter of astonishment. In
+three months, the huts of Messrs. Howel, Sherwin, and Clarke, had been
+destroyed. The property of Mr. Sherwin, lying between hills, was easily
+watched, and spies were posted on the heights. The mode of firing the
+premises was deliberate: they kindled the flames at twenty yards apart,
+so that the whole was simultaneously burned; this done, they went off,
+shouting and crying out to the English to go away. The extent of the
+mischief was not so alarming as its forebodings. That element, which
+nature has placed at man's disposal, and can be turned, by a moment's
+effort to the destruction of a fortune, might long have proved an
+effectual scourge, and made colonisation hopeless. The retention of
+properties, as well as the security of dependents, required decided and
+unanimous measures.
+
+No part of Governor Arthur's character conciliates greater esteem, than
+his promptitude to encourage humanity in the whites, and to win the
+confidence of the natives. At the commencement of this year, he offered
+a liberal reward to any one who should open a pacific communication, or
+if a convict free pardon. He promised five pounds for every adult, and
+two pounds for every child, taken alive. He entreated the colonists to
+enjoin the utmost tenderness on their servants, and invariably to spare
+the women and children. These merciful intentions were but little
+successful: the rewards were rarely claimed. But no effort, in a right
+direction, is ever lost: the conduct of John Benfield, a convict, was
+distinguished for intrepidity and coolness in a capture, and Colonel
+Arthur bestowed warm praise. Observing a fire, at a short distance, he
+approached three aborigines, to whom he offered bread: one of them
+promised to accompany him, if he would put aside his gun; this risk he
+incurred. He led the black to his hut, and gave him food and blankets
+for his companions; and soon succeeded in completely conciliating them
+all. They joined him in hunting the opossum: thus he drew them on to the
+military party stationed at Captain Moriarty's. This man certainly
+deserved the reward he obtained, and the government notice of an action
+so courageous and humane, must have mitigated the fierce spirit of his
+class.
+
+The orders and notices issued by the Governor during this year,
+represent the powerful agitation of the public mind, and from which he
+himself was by no means free. Sometimes, the hope of reconciliation
+seemed strong; thus, August 19th, he states that Captain Welch and Mr.
+G. A. Robinson had obtained a friendly parley with a hostile tribe. It
+was ordered, that no attempt should be made to capture or restrain such
+aborigines as might approach the settlement; but that, after supplying
+them with food, they should be suffered to depart.
+
+He found it necessary to explain the conditions on which rewards were
+offered for capture, which had been abused, by the violent detention of
+inoffensive natives: those who, in attempting to arrest them, were
+guilty of wanton mischief, were threatened with the penalties of the
+law. These orders were followed by outrages, which threw doubt on the
+propriety of distinctions: the ally of to-day, was the robber of
+yesterday, and the assassin of the morrow. The natives of the south-west
+districts of the colony, and of the islands, were still exempted from
+proscription; but an explanatory notice, authorised the settlers, by
+whatever necessary means, to anticipate, or repel, the barbarous
+attacks, now renewed with terrible frequency and atrocity.
+
+These public instructions indicate the alternate feelings which
+prevailed: they were natural to men who, reflecting on the origin of the
+warfare, felt that measures, now indispensable, were not wholly
+guiltless.
+
+                   *     *     *     *     *
+
+     OFFICIAL LIST OF ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY THE NATIVES.
+
+     1830.--January 1. William Smith, in the employ of ---- Triffet,
+     jun., killed near the river Ouse. Piper's hut, at Bark Hut Plains,
+     broken open and plundered of a musket, blankets, sugar, &c. Captain
+     Clark's hut, at Bark Hut Plains, robbed, and his house entered by
+     the natives.
+
+     February 1st. Mr. Brodie's hut, near the Clyde, was attacked while
+     he was in it; he was speared in several parts of his body, but not
+     mortally; they stole blankets, tea, sugar, &c. 9th. Mr. Mazetti's
+     hut robbed; Lawrence Dering, servant to Mr. Bell, killed. 11th. Mr.
+     Bell's house and servants attacked on Great Jordan Lagoon; the
+     natives kept at bay from the house, but one man received a spear
+     through the thigh. Mr. Hopley murdered about a mile from Mr.
+     Betts'; James M'Carthy desperately wounded. 12th. Mr. Howell's
+     dwelling hut burned. Mrs. Howell and her children narrowly escaping
+     the flames. Twenty of Mr. Espie's sheep killed and maimed. Mr.
+     Thomson's hut attacked by forty or fifty. Mr. Paterson's shepherd
+     pursued by the natives. 17th. John Bluchaby and Philip Norboy
+     killed at Dysart parish, Oatlands, at noon day. Lawrence Murray,
+     servant to Mr. Bell, killed. A child killed at Bagdad, near the
+     road side. 20th. Mr. M'Rae's house, near Bothwell, plundered of
+     flour, and within a mile of the military station, at Bothwell. Mr.
+     Sherwin's house burned to the ground, with the greater part of his
+     property; his servants' hut and fences also consumed. The Weazle
+     Plains Hut burned down; a black man wounded, in the act of setting
+     fire to it. 22nd. Captain Clark's barn and corn stacks consumed,
+     containing 1,200 bushels of grain.
+
+     March 2nd. A hut, near Captain Clark's, fired. A hut, at Davis'
+     Marsh, plundered. 9th. A mob of natives appeared at Captain Smith's
+     hut, at his run; a part of them killed 100 of his sheep. 10th.
+     Piper's hut fired, and partly destroyed, 11th. Captain Wood's hut,
+     at Poole's Marsh, robbed. Mr. Jones' hut, Side Line Marsh,
+     threatened. Mr. Bisdee's hut attacked; also Mr. Thomson's stock
+     hut, and Mr. Brodribb's, at the Black Marsh. Mr. Denholme's hut, at
+     the same place, attacked, and his servant speared. 13th. M'Gennis'
+     hut, Richmond district, plundered of muskets, powder, and ball, and
+     every thing of value in the house. 15th. A hut, near the mouth of
+     the Carlton River, attacked, a man and woman dangerously wounded;
+     four spear wounds, and a cut on the head, supposed mortal. Another
+     woman speared through the arm. 19th. About forty natives attacked
+     the house of Mr. Brodribb, Black Marsh: they were divided into
+     small parties, and made their attacks simultaneously: one man
+     speared. On their being driven back, they proceeded to the hut of
+     Mr. Thomson, which they robbed of every thing in it. On the same
+     day, a man was speared in bed, at E. Danoven's, Black Marsh.
+
+     April 1st. John Rayner speared in several places, and dreadfully
+     beaten by natives, at Spring Bay.
+
+     May 18th. Mr. Lord's hut, at Eastern Marshes, attacked; of two men
+     in it, one was dangerously speared, and the other dreadfully
+     beaten. The natives then plundered the hut, and retired.
+
+     June 1st. Mr. Sherwin's hut, Weazel Plains, plundered by the
+     natives. 15th. The aborigines plundered the Den hut on the Lake
+     River, of every thing in it, and murdered Mary Daniels, and her two
+     infants, in cold blood.
+
+     August 7th. S. Stockman's hut, Green Pounds, plundered by natives.
+     9th. The death of Mr. Sharland (surveyor), and his men robbed of
+     muskets, powder, and shot, by the natives; on the same day, government
+     hut, between Bothwell and Blue-hill, robbed by natives, as well as the
+     houses of Mr. Wood and Mr. Pitcairn. A man servant of Mr. Barrs,
+     wounded. About forty natives met by Mr. Howell's party: a woman
+     wounded. 23rd. The huts of J. Connell and Mr. Robertson attacked; the
+     latter plundered. Mr. Sutherland's shepherds attacked, and their arms
+     taken; one of them speared: arms taken from Mr. Taylor's hut. 24th.
+     James Hooper killed, and his hut plundered of everything in it. The
+     huts of Lieutenant Bell and Watts attacked by natives, who were
+     repulsed from both.
+
+     September 8th. Captain Clark's shepherd attacked, but escaped.
+     13th. One man killed, and one man wounded, by the natives, on the
+     banks of the Tamar. 14th. A man, employed by government at the lime
+     kilns, near Bothwell, chased by natives, but escaped. 18th. A
+     private, of the 63rd regiment, killed by natives: two sawyers
+     speared, one of whom died of his wounds. 27th. Francis Broken
+     speared and killed. 28th. Three men, at Major Grey's, wounded by
+     natives, and one dangerously wounded with stones. 30th. Mr. G.
+     Scott's house attacked by a mob of natives; they speared one man,
+     and killed another--the body of whom they threw into the river.
+     They ransacked the house of every thing they could find, and even
+     went up stairs, and broke the doors open--a proceeding to which
+     they had never before resorted. They took away blankets, shirts,
+     sheets, knives, 600 or 700 lbs. of flour (which they tied up), half
+     a basket of tobacco, 100 lbs. of sugar, a bag of tea, and a
+     considerable quantity of slop clothing: so great ingenuity was
+     displayed in the attack, that for some time it was supposed that
+     Europeans had conducted it. On the same day, the natives plundered
+     a hut, opposite to Mr. Scott's, of all the tea, sugar, flour, and
+     bedding, that were in it.
+
+     October 16th. The settlement at Sorell attacked by natives: one
+     severely wounded; four houses plundered of blankets, flour, tea and
+     sugar, and clothes of every description. 18th. Captain Stewart's
+     shepherd wounded by spears, and Mr. Guildas, a settler, killed by
+     two spear wounds. 19th, Natives showed themselves on the farms of
+     Messrs. Gatehouse and Gordon, and attacked the house of Mr. Gough,
+     whom they wounded severely.
+
+     November 16th. Two huts robbed on the Ouse. 18th. Captain Wight's
+     shepherd killed by natives; dreadfully mangled twenty-seven sheep.
+     A hut on the South Esk attacked by natives: every thing portable
+     sent off.
+
+     February 3rd, 1831. The natives attacked Mr. Bursby's house, on the
+     Tamar; speared Mr. Wallace in several parts of the body, and
+     inflicted several severe and dangerous wounds on his head: they
+     likewise wounded a child. The hut of Allright attacked by them;
+     plundered of every thing it had in it. The hut of Mr. Sutherland,
+     Nork Esk, robbed: three horses speared, three others wounded. A
+     woman, named M'Haskell, killed at Retreat, near Westbury: house
+     robbed of 300 lbs. of flour, knives and forks, blankets, chest of
+     tea, 100 lbs. of sugar, tobacco, two casks of butter, three
+     muskets, and powder. 7th. Stewart's house attacked by natives, who
+     were beaten off.
+
+     March 8th. Two sawyers attacked by natives; severely wounded. Two
+     huts, near New Norfolk, plundered. 12th. Mrs. Cunningham's hut, at
+     East Arm, robbed by natives: she and the child wounded, very
+     dangerously. 21st. Mr. Lawrence's servant murdered, and three men
+     dangerously wounded by the natives, on Norfolk Plains.
+
+     April 5th. J. Ralton speared through the body, whilst at work
+     splitting wood. 6th. N. Fitzgerald speared twice through the body,
+     whilst sitting reading at the door of his cottage; the house
+     plundered by the natives of guns, blankets, and other things. 7th.
+     The same house again attacked.
+
+     May 10th. Hut on Patrick's Plains, containing government stores,
+     burnt to the ground, by natives. Mr. Kemp's establishment, at Lake
+     Sorell, attacked by a considerable mob of natives: the fire arms
+     carried away, buildings totally consumed by fire; two men murdered,
+     and one wounded.
+
+      June 6th. Several huts attacked, near Hunter's Hill; J. Triffits
+     speared. Mr. Baretti's hut robbed, likewise Mrs. Bell's, of every
+     thing in it, and the wife of N. Long murdered. Mr. Clark's hut
+     plundered.
+
+     September 5th. Thomas Smith, hut-keeper, at Tapsly, murdered: hut
+     plundered. John Hignston speared, and hut robbed; four sawyers'
+     huts robbed. 7th. B. B. Thomas, Esq., and his overseer, Mr. Parker,
+     murdered near Port Sorell, by a mob of natives, whilst, actuated by
+     the most humane views, they were endeavouring to carry the
+     conciliatory measures of government into effect. Mr. Thomas had
+     received ten spear wounds, and Mr. Parker eleven. Stocker's hut
+     desperately attacked; a child wounded; a man, named Cubit, speared.
+     22nd. Mr. Dawson's hut, on Brushy Plains, attacked, and his servant
+     severely beaten with waddies. 23rd. Mr. Dawson's servant, Hughes,
+     severely beaten by natives, nearly losing his life.
+
+     October 3rd. The natives, having possession of fire-arms, attacked
+     and robbed the premises of constable Bird, and plundered the house
+     of Mr. Amos, jun.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 14: In the western districts, the stockmen were usually
+mounted. When they saw the natives, these armed murderers galloped after
+them, and delivered their fire without danger to themselves.
+
+An estate is called "_Quambys_:" the name is a cry of distress and
+entreaty, and signifies, _spare me!_. It was uttered by a black, who was
+found there, when imploring compassion; as the supplication is
+remembered, perhaps not then in vain: but mercy was rarely shown. A
+volunteer party discovered a tribe in a valley, surrounded by steep
+mountains; from the heights they poured down a volley of musketry, and
+then heaped the slain on the ashes of their fires. Another party
+overtook a tribe who had displayed a hostile spirit: they were on the
+banks of a lagoon, and all around were plains; escape was hopeless. They
+rushed into the water; as their heads rose above the surface, they were
+shot. These are specimens which rest on authority not to be disputed.
+
+The slaughter of thirty aborigines, in 1838, at a remote station in New
+Holland, instanced the cool deliberation with which they were too often
+sacrificed. The deed was planned several days before, and the leisure of
+the sabbath was employed for its perpetration. The seven murderers had
+been all prisoners of the crown: a subscription was made for their
+defence; but in spite of strong sympathy in their behalf, they were
+sentenced to death, and ultimately executed. There had been no
+provocation: being on horseback, they surrounded the natives, who were
+reposing beside their evening fires. These ran to the hut of one of the
+assassins, with whom they had lived on terms of amity. There they were
+bound, and, amidst their groans, cries, and tears--men, and women with
+children at the breast--they were led off to a spot selected for the
+immolation. Great pains were taken to conceal the crime; but through a
+fall of rain the day preceding, their tracks were visible, and birds of
+prey attracted attention to the slaughter! The strongest suspicion
+existed, that the murderers were the miserable agents of persons still
+more guilty.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The Aborigines' Committee observed, "that an opinion was
+gaining ground in the colony, that small parties should be formed by the
+settlers, for the extirpation of the blacks; an idea, which they
+contemplated with horror." It was more than an opinion--it was a
+terrible reality.]
+
+[Footnote 16: _Hobart Town Courier._]
+
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+Efforts of conciliation, were made through the medium of three women,
+captured by the police; and who, after being treated with kindness, were
+permitted to return to their tribe, and to invite their submission. One
+of these was seen in the journey, and slain, in error! After the absence
+of a few weeks, the survivors prevailed on the chief, and nine other men
+of the tribe, to accompany them to the residence of Mr. Batman: this
+gentleman, and his family, assiduously cultivated their good will, being
+one of the few who entertained a strong confidence in the power of
+kindness; notwithstanding, after remaining nine days, they eloped, it is
+said laden with plunder--displaying, in their progress, unmitigated
+hostility. Two natives, who delivered themselves up to a shepherd, and
+were lodged in the penitentiary at Launceston, after being supplied with
+abundance of food and clothing, within a month effected their escape,
+and were traced by their outrages. The celebrated chief, Eumarrah,
+captured by Robertson, after two years detention, when his artless
+manner and apparent reconciliation to his lot, threw his keepers off
+their guard, contrived to abscond. Justice is, however, due to the
+reputation of a savage. Eumarrah, afterwards complained, that when
+employed on the LINE, he was beaten by a constable: Jemmy, who escaped
+at the same time, had been chained to a bench all night, by a similar
+functionary. The newspapers of the day complain, that in gaol food
+sufficient for their appetites had not been always supplied them. The
+women were declining in health, when allowed their liberty. This last,
+was the great cause of their restlessness; they felt the oppression of
+civilisation; they were weary of clothing; the skin was irritated. The
+instinct which prompts a bird to seek some way of exit, also moves a
+savage: it was not so much indifference to kindness, as the passion for
+roaming--the habit of the race. Nor were they managed always with
+prudence: they were left to the mischievous influence of low white men,
+who delighted to terrify, even when they did not positively injure them.
+It was not until thirty had escaped, nearly equal to the whole number
+taken, that it was discovered, that to retain them, even their
+prejudices required tenderness, and that they were deeply sensible of
+contempt.
+
+These retreats tended to extinguish the hopes cherished by the friends
+of the natives, and rooted the conviction more firmly in the colonial
+mind, that all efforts to tame them were unavailing. All the plans laid
+down for their expulsion, had been tried, and had proved to be
+impracticable. They still recurred to their usual haunts, and made up
+for their diminished numbers by their improved method, cunning, and
+audacity. Having committed depredations, they retired, with their
+plunder, to the districts reserved for their occupation, and whither it
+was unlawful to follow them, except for sworn offences. The Governor
+determined to try a movement, _en masse_, and by the united force of the
+entire population, to drive the Austral tribes within Tasman's
+Peninsula--a territory, joined to the main land by a neck, about one
+quarter of a mile in breadth. The success of this plan could never have
+been considered very promising. The Governor expressed his doubt
+respecting the result, while it was in progress; and there is no reason
+to question that, in putting it to the test, he was moved by the earnest
+entreaties of the colonists, and a conviction that nothing should be
+left untried, to preserve the people committed to his charge.
+
+On the 7th September, 1830, the intention of the Governor was officially
+announced. Referring to the outrages of the natives, he asserted that
+their expulsion was impossible, but by a simultaneous effort. He called
+on every settler, whether residing in the town or country, to place
+himself under the direction of a magistrate, whoever he might prefer;
+that the whole military and police strength, combined with such
+assistance, might capture the hostile tribes, or permanently expel them.
+The solemnity of the engagement, no less than the preservation of the
+lives and property of the whole community, would require a serious and
+resolute co-operation. On former occasions, he observed such campaigns
+had been greatly perverted, and transformed into amusement and
+recreation. The Governor gave no promise of recompense, and insisted
+that the effort, however meritorious, was simply the duty of all; but
+with his accustomed tact, he chose this moment to reward, with large
+grants of land, those persons already distinguished for enterprise and
+success, and to distribute indulgences to prisoners who had been
+actively employed in the service. Mr. Batman, who had devoted twelve
+months to the pursuit of the blacks, obtained 2,000 acres of land. Mr.
+Howel, of the Clyde, whose losses had been great, but who was
+represented as displaying an untiring spirit of humanity, was consoled
+with 1,000 acres. The aboriginal Sydney guides, and Black Bill, a
+Tasmanian, received each 100 acres.
+
+The volunteer parties from Hobart Town, were to join the force at New
+Norfolk, the Clyde, or Richmond: those from Launceston, were to patrol
+the westward and Norfolk Plains, the west bank of the Tamar, or the
+country extending from Ben Lomond to George Town. Enterprising young
+men, inured to the bush, were requested to attach themselves to the
+small military parties at the out stations, and, under military
+officers, to scour the northern country.
+
+Men, holding tickets-of-leave, were required to enrol under the
+magistrate of their district, and settlers were enjoined to equip and
+detach whatever servants they could spare, reserving only sufficient
+strength for the protection of their families. The inhabitants of Hobart
+Town, in public meeting assembled, tendered their service to the
+government, for the furtherance of the object. The peace-loving Joseph
+Hone, Esq., was chairman of this warlike meeting: most of the leading
+speakers belonged to the profession of the gown. Mr. Kemp, one of the
+elder colonists, once an officer of the 102nd regiment, who had seen the
+process of extermination throughout, declared that the English were
+chiefly the agressors. Dr. Turnbull contrasted the effects of a vigorous
+resistance by government and the conflict of individuals: united effort
+might be followed by bloodshed, but would tend to repress the habits of
+violence, and, at least, save a remnant from destruction. A tribe, one
+hundred and sixty strong four years before, that frequented the
+Elizabeth River, was reduced to sixty by daily skirmishes with the
+stock-keepers. A question, however, arose, whether it were lawful to
+shoot aborigines refusing to surrender on challenge. Against this
+construction of law, Mr. Gellibrand earnestly protested; and
+maintained, in warm terms, their claims to sympathy and
+compassion--himself, alas! destined to die by the hands of the race. It
+seemed, however, generally understood, that capture should be attempted
+by the most merciful methods, but accomplished at all events.
+Colonisation by the French, was exhibited by Mr. Hackett, the distiller,
+in contrast with English; but Dr. Ross rose in reply, and stated that
+there was a rock which bore the name of _The Leap_, from which the last
+sixty natives of Grenada were precipitated. Mr. R. L. Murray treated the
+prevailing notion of danger with derision: three women, he said, would
+put a whole tribe to flight; but Mr. Home reminded the meeting, that the
+grass had not yet covered the graves of a mother and her children,
+recently slain. Thus, like the warriors of the heroic age, they debated
+before they armed; but it is difficult to reconcile the civic temper
+with military subordination: the committee nominated by the meeting to
+enrol the town guard, suggested that volunteers should be allowed to
+choose each their own company, as well as their own officers. One party
+of twenty-four, required the choice of their post, and the right to act
+as an independent division.
+
+On the 22nd September, the plan of the campaign was minutely described
+in a government order, and operations were fixed for the 7th of October.
+Its main features may be briefly stated:--The Oyster Bay and Big River
+tribes, as the most sanguinary, were first marked out for pursuit. They
+were to be driven within the county of Buckingham; the utmost care being
+employed to prevent escape through the lines, while chasing them to
+Tasman's Peninsula.
+
+A chain of posts was occupied, under Captain Welman, from St. Patrick's
+Head on the east coast; including the source of St. Paul's River, and
+stretching to Campbell Town. A second chain, under Major Douglas,
+extending from Campbell Town, passed south of the Macquarie, to its
+junction with the Lake River. Both divisions, marching in a southerly
+direction, formed a line from Oyster Bay tier to Lackey's Mills. During
+these manoeuvres, a party were sent to examine the tier, extending
+from Swan River to Spring Bay; carefully, however, concealing the
+movement from the natives, lest they should be deterred from passing the
+subjacent isthmus. Other parties were employed, under Captain Wentworth,
+to force the aborigines from the neighbourhood of the lakes in the west,
+towards the same centre, advancing due east to the Jordan. The lines
+being compressed and thickened, and joined by the settlers on their
+march, were then moved forward, followed by scouring parties, to guard
+against their escape, should the natives cross the line. Fires were kept
+burning to direct the troops, who were expected to march in unbroken
+order.
+
+Captain Donaldson, who directed the operations in the north of the
+island, swept over the vast extent of country from Norfolk Plains to the
+Ouse--from Sorell Lake to Lake Echo. There he remained, closing the
+avenues of escape, while Douglass and Wentworth advanced to their last
+position: he then joined the main body. Twenty-two parties, under Major
+Douglas, and fifteen under Captain Wentworth, were then sent within the
+lines, to catch the natives, or drive them toward Tasman's Peninsula.
+
+The distribution of provisions to this force, was entrusted to Messrs.
+Scott, Wedge, and Sharland, surveyors. The rations were delivered to the
+leader of each party weekly, and consisted of sugar, tea, flour, and
+meat, in considerable proportions. The principle depot was at Oatlands:
+where 1,000 muskets were provided, 30,000 rounds blank cartridges, 300
+pairs of handcuffs, and whatever might contribute to the success of the
+assailants. Many thousands of rations were stored, and the settlers saw,
+with pleasure, their produce rise in the neighbourhood of this
+formidable band, to twice its recent value. L2,000 was paid to one
+merchant for the tobacco. The officers, to avoid its destruction,
+inevitable on so long a march, mostly threw off their military clothing,
+and assumed an uniform of Maria Island cloth, thus reserving their full
+dress to celebrate the coming triumph. The enthusiasm was universal: a
+blacksmith, at Sorell, unable to follow the army, offered to repair all
+the guns belonging to the volunteers of his district. His example was
+followed by another, who, having but one leg, contributed the same
+service to the common cause. Nor was supplication forgotten: a form of
+prayer was composed for those who used formulas, and extempore petitions
+were offered by other denominations. The colony, at large, cheerfully
+responded to the call of government: the military character of the plan
+excited the young, without much alarming the mature. The inhabitants of
+the towns readily enrolled, and the discussions every where exhibited a
+curious mixture of martial ardour and civil pertinacity.
+
+There were many old soldiers in the colony, who were amused, without
+being repelled by this mimicry of war. More busy civilians, were
+anxious for the formality of incorporation, and the gradations of
+command. The townspeople were allowed their choice, between more active
+service and garrison duties. "Gentlemen," said an old soldier, "you may
+call yourselves marshals, generals, and colonels, but the duties
+assigned you are usually performed by a corporal's guard." It is
+gratifying to observe, that the last injunction of the Governor, and the
+last lesson of the press, suggested humanity. Under the excitement of
+losses and bereavement, the destruction of the natives had been invoked;
+but now, softened by the belief that the whites were about to complete a
+work which had been twenty-six years in progress, and to expatriate the
+race, with one voice all said, "spare them!"
+
+The forces, including the military and constabulary, amounted to nearly
+five thousand; of these, 1,500 were contributed by Hobart Town, and 500
+by Launceston. No army ever departed from their homes less agitated by
+the uncertainties of the future; and notwithstanding the dreary picture
+of the service, drawn by the colonel commanding, there was no danger
+that a bridge of Lodi, or a plain of Waterloo, would be found in the
+campaign. Some went out with the keenness of sportsmen who might at
+least catch a kangaroo: others were contented to live moderately well at
+government charge. The clerks, released from their offices, gladly
+embraced a holiday: the poor prisoner acted and felt as a free man, and
+rejoiced in the interval of his servitude; and keen and canny volunteers
+embraced the opportunity to range the unknown territory, for the
+discovery of some neglected spot, which might offer a future home.
+
+On the 1st of October, the whole country was declared under martial law;
+excepting, however, from its operation, not only the British, but such
+of the aborigines as were pacific. This measure was of no great moment,
+except that it authorised the pursuit of all natives in every quarter.
+
+The journals not favorable to the scheme, predicted its failure. There
+were vast probabilities against it: the nature of the force--the seat of
+war--the foe--the discipline--even the orders not to kill, were all
+peculiar and discouraging. Townsmen, little accustomed to fatigue, and
+sportsmen not disposed to be silent, were to move sometimes in a regular
+and quiet line. A shot carelessly fired, the momentary slumber of an
+undisciplined sentinel, or the lazy evasion of a scout, might disconcert
+the whole campaign. No Englishman could follow up the native: the array,
+the number and the glancing of muskets, gave warning from afar. An
+European, encumbered with his dress, could only move slowly, and when
+passing the bush must pause every moment, or be tortured at every step;
+but the native could swing from bough to bough, mount to the topmast
+branch like an opossum, move past the people seeking him diligently, or
+lie down until they were gone. To many of the colonists, the campaign
+was no child's play. The pursuit of solitary white or black rangers of
+the wood, was exhilarating to men of great animal courage, and who could
+enjoy long intervals of rest; but a regular march, through such a
+country, soon wore out the patience of many, and they were glad to
+resign the glorious undertaking to more ardent warriors.
+
+As the campaign advanced, the weather was unpropitious: crossing the
+rivers became dangerous; trees had to be cut down to form temporary
+bridges. These obstacles cooled the spirit of volunteers, who passed
+rapidly from discontent to criticism, and from criticism to despair.
+"Many crawled home:" such was the indignant description of their
+retreat, given by their comrades; and whilst the drenched, but
+decreasing forces lay along the line, young men, it was said, crowded
+the streets of the capital, ignobly forgetful of the common cause.
+
+Parties were divided into threes, each forming a night watch: fires were
+lighted for the night, and illumined the whole distance of thirty miles,
+from Prosser's River to Sorell; and sentinels paced within hail of each
+other. The police magistrates visited the several posts on horseback,
+and the Governor rode rapidly along the line, from the Clyde to Spring
+Bay. Dr. Ross recording his Excellency's exertions, states, that to
+allow them a full description, would leave no room for any other topic!
+His labours and perils were the theme of admiration and sympathy: it was
+reported, that he was lost three days in Paradise--a place renowned for
+its miserable vegetation, and the dreariness of its scenery. The warlike
+tone of the day may excite a smile, but the fatigue was indisputable;
+and although the slipperiness of the foe gave the air of mock heroism to
+the service, the watchers of the line were reminded, by frequent tidings
+from homeward, that their enemy was strong enough to deal death to the
+aged and the innocent. Four blacks, who crossed the line, and hung upon
+its rear, inflicted terrible vengeance. One attacked a settler, who
+returned a mortal wound with a pitchfork. The survivors hovered about
+the place to avenge his death: they at length found a victim in an
+amiable young lady, Miss Peters; who was speared in the breast. She
+felt, from the first, that the wound was mortal, and calmly resigned
+herself to her destiny. Others, left by their friends and dependants,
+were liable to the same perils: of this, Mr. Gildas, a settler on the
+Tamar, was a remarkable instance: he had sent his men to the line, and
+was thus alone. He left his house to seek for fire-wood, and was
+speared. The savages plundered his house, and defaced the pictures on
+the walls. A pilot, calling at his dwelling, found it pillaged and
+desolate. This man was at the battle of Trafalgar, and present when
+Nelson fell--himself reserved to perish in Tasmania, by savage hands.
+
+The division under Captain Donaldson, which followed up the main body of
+the forces, arrived on the 31st of October. Colonel Arthur issued from
+the camp (Sorell Rivulet), a statement that the final decisive movement
+was at hand, and that those who had been exposed to great privations,
+would soon be released to their homes. Having been compelled to await
+reinforcements, the campaign had been unavoidably prolonged: to have
+moved without them, would have risked the success of the enterprise; the
+two dangerous tribes would attempt to escape, and the forces in charge
+were exhorted to redouble their vigilance, to prevent their breaking
+through the position.
+
+These notices indicate a confidence of success, doomed to
+disappointment. To the precipitation of Mr. Walpole's party, Colonel
+Arthur attributed the failure of the expedition. They were instructed
+not to attempt a capture, unless a considerable number could be taken;
+but the sight of the slumbering enemy probably suspended the
+recollection of this order, and was one of those casualties which could
+hardly be avoided, in such a wide distribution of command. It was on the
+22nd of October this misfortune happened: the natives were discovered
+hunting, and were watched, until their evening fires were formed for the
+night. No noise being heard, Mr. Walpole supposed they had taken an
+alarm, and advanced at twilight towards the first hut, where he saw five
+blacks, with their dogs, fast asleep. He seized one man by the feet, and
+after a severe struggle detained him: a boy, ornamented with figures on
+his body, about fifteen years of age, shared the same lot; but two
+others were shot: the remainder fled. The quantity of spears and baskets
+left behind, proved that their flight was sudden, and their numbers
+considerable.
+
+An attempt was made by the natives to cross the line on the 27th
+October. The sentry had set down his piece, and was putting some wood
+on the fire, when a spear was thrown at him: he threw the billet in his
+hand, and was reaching his musket when he received another spear; an
+alarm being given to an adjoining party, the blacks were driven back, of
+whom, however, six only were seen.
+
+A circumstance occurred, which strongly confirmed the impression, that
+some treacherous whites had directed the natives. In pursuing them as
+far as the isthmus, they discovered in their tracks the impression of
+shoe-nails, and other evidence of the presence of white men. The reports
+were soon spread, that the Oyster Bay and Big River tribes were in the
+rear. The hopes of the colony rapidly gave way, and the Governor,
+writing to the Secretary of State, on the 21st of November, intimated
+his suspicion that the movement would be in vain.
+
+These reports were, indeed, constantly circulated, and tended to damp
+the ardour and diminish the vigilance of the line. Some scouring parties
+from Norfolk Plains fell in with a tribe of forty, whom they pursued
+beyond the Shannon. They followed them for three days, but were
+compelled to return: the blacks, in their progress, had surprised a
+settler, and murdered him. The rumours of escape were aggravated by
+imagination: a party of the whites were seen by some sawyers, who ran
+away and reported them as natives; and it was several days before they
+could be persuaded of their error.
+
+The settlers, worn out with fatigue and longing for their homes, were
+impatient to advance, and afforded ample opportunities for concealment
+and escape. Among the rest a place is noticed, which enabled the natives
+to defy intrusion or discovery, near the "Three Thumbs' Mountain,"--an
+almost impenetrable forest, of seven miles extent: the spreading
+branches obscure the sky, and lofty plants grow entwined, and conceal an
+object at the distance of a few feet. The attempt of the blacks to cross
+the line discovered their retreat. It was resolved to assemble forces
+sufficient to surround, break through, and storm this thicket: it was
+penetrated by about 300 men, who kept up a constant fire of musketry. A
+party, hearing the rustling of leaves like the noise of cattle, followed
+the sound: they came up to an encampment, where the fires were
+unextinguished, and where half-formed weapons indicated a hasty
+dispersion. Here they found the impression of nails, and what were
+deemed sure proofs of a superior directing intelligence. The
+presumption, that some convicts were incorporated with the blacks, was
+certainly strong, but it was probably but a temporary or casual
+intercourse, of not much utility to the natives. The Governor had,
+however, a full conviction that to this circumstance the failure might
+be partly ascribed. In the middle of the march, he ordered the
+publication of a report, which appeared decisive of the fact. Savage, a
+servant of Mr. Bisdee, was met half naked by the Governor, near Mills'
+Lagoon, to whom he stated he had been surrounded by a tribe, and rescued
+from violence by a man named Brown, who was with them. This person he
+had known in gaol. Savage advised Brown to bring in the natives, but he
+refused: he said that he had been frequently at Hobart Town, where he
+had bought clothes for the women: he had a double-barrelled gun, and
+seemed to have complete control over them. They carried Savage with them
+as far as Mills' Lagoon, when he was told he might go. The Governor and
+his party instantly set off in the pursuit, but they discovered no
+traces of the natives. The truth of this narrative has been questioned,
+yet from the number of points in which a correct memory, or
+extraordinary powers of invention would be requisite, the Governor might
+have easily detected imposition. The man stated that fright cured him of
+rheumatism; his rags were consistent with his story. It is, however, the
+only clear testimony to the presence of white men with the blacks at
+that period.
+
+On the 26th of November, it was announced by the Governor, that the
+first series of operations was brought to a close; and except a few,
+requisite to protect the country, the colonists and their servants were
+released, and the town guards replaced.[17]
+
+Those who had condemned the plan, now censured its precipitate
+abandonment: they said that hundreds of blacks were enclosed when the
+troops were withdrawn. It is not likely, however, that the Governor was
+deceived on this point. It is certain that many blacks were in the rear,
+and the dispersion of the force was equal to a confession, that the
+object was impracticable--that it had failed.
+
+Thus closed the Black War. This campaign of a month, supplied many
+adventures, and many an amusing tale; and, notwithstanding the gravity
+of his Excellency, much fun and folly. The settler soldiers returned
+to their homes, their shoes worn out, their garments tattered, their
+hair long and shaggy, with beards unshaven, their arms tarnished;
+but neither blood-stained nor disgraced. They had seen much and dreaded
+more; but, in general, they met no other enemies than scrub and thorns,
+and they sat down on their own hearths, happy in having escaped the
+ramrods of their friends. The odd tactics, awkward movements--the
+skulking and the foraging, and all the various small accomplishments of
+a bivouac, were long topics of conversation and laughter. The accidents
+were few, though of these some were fatal: two aborigines only were
+captured, and one soldier was wounded. Yet though not very glorious,
+perhaps no evening in the year passes, but some settler's fireside is
+enlivened by a story of the fatigues and frolics of the Black War.
+
+When the last movement was completing, the _Science_ sailed for England
+with despatches from Colonel Arthur: they indicate his expectation of a
+failure, and scarcely conceal his mortification. Either the original
+impossibility of the plan, or the indolence or incaution of those who
+carried it out, had exposed the government to more than ridicule. Five
+thousand men had taken the field, beside the town guard. Nearly L30,000
+had been expended, and probably not much less value in time and outlay
+by the settlers, and two persons only were captured! Those who
+prophecied the result, of course exulted in their sagacity: for the
+rest, they either praised the motive or the details. An impartial
+retrospect will not permit a commendation of the plan. The arrangements
+were ably made, and the parties, though they encountered difficulties
+unusual, reached the appointed places with considerable precision.
+
+A public meeting was called to thank the Governor for his exertions in
+the field. This assembly was summoned, says the chronicler of the times,
+by the largest placard ever published in the colony! The resolutions and
+addresses were nearly unanimous; Mr. Gregson being almost singly opposed
+to this tribute of gratitude. It was objected by this gentleman, that
+while the activity of the Governor was not to be disputed, exertions
+wisely directed were alone worthy of praise; and he compared the project
+for netting the aborigines, with an attempt to harpoon a whale from the
+heights of Mount Wellington. The ardour of the people would not,
+however, admit a comparison which it required at that moment some
+political resentment to perceive. Nor is it precisely just to estimate
+the merits of a plan, by the success of its application. A colonist at a
+glance sees, in the names which were attached to the addresses, that the
+war was popular: all parties, of every shade, contributed something to
+that warmth of commendation, which had been hitherto paid by one alone.
+In every district of the colony, the applauses of Hobart Town were
+re-echoed, and the Governor's replies gave back an exchange of praise.
+
+To suppose that Colonel Arthur expected military renown from such an
+enterprise, is certainly to under-estimate his ambition: to imagine that
+he valued a military spectacle, is not consistent with a mind much too
+practical for chivalry. His avowed and real object was to stop the
+murder of his countrymen, and to arrest the extinction of the natives;
+and it was not unworthy the public gratitude.[18] The Governor was
+delighted, however, by those proofs of the discipline of the prisoners,
+which were afforded through the campaign: many hundreds were in arms:
+they performed their duty with exemplary diligence and sobriety, and
+thus afforded the only spectacle which Colonel Arthur valued. It was
+certainly unprecedented. Slaves have been armed by their masters--their
+wives and children were hostages--but convicts, never. Robberies were
+less frequent than usual, and the journals singularly free from the
+details of crime. The animating influence of confidence reposed,
+elevates the least romantic natures: since they were trusted, they were
+faithful: all returned home to their servitude.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 17: The sheriff, Mr. Dudley Fereday, had before dismissed that
+portion which guarded the gaol: he affected to believe that the
+prisoners were not safe. There was small chance of escaping, so observed
+the newspapers, while the civilians were on guard--the prisoners
+themselves had given up all hope! But the sheriff thought otherwise, or
+more probably availed himself of his office, to cast into the dirt the
+honors of the civic guard; who had observed the forms of military
+discipline, and who merited a more distinguished termination to their
+service.]
+
+
+
+SECTION VII.
+
+While the hostile proceeding was in progress, the future preserver of
+the natives, Mr. Robinson, had already given his thoughts to their
+conciliation. In 1829, he was appointed to take charge of Brune Island,
+where twelve natives, captured, were located, and mixed with others who
+had attained a partial civilisation. Mr. Robinson attempted to acquire
+their language, and was soon able to understand them. The pecuniary
+advantages of his office were not very alluring: L50 a-year, and
+rations, were thought equal to obtain a person of good character to
+manage the infant establishment, and to effect the proposed intercourse
+with this unfortunate race. Mr. Robinson described his plan, _as the
+employment of persuasion only_, and requiring the withdrawment of
+intimidation. He first laboured to acquire the language--a task of some
+difficulty: the English were scarcely less ignorant on this subject,
+than when they first landed, and the dialects of the tribes differed
+considerably. The aborigines were supposed to understand the English
+tongue much more extensively; but the words with which they were most
+familiar, were the imprecations so often addressed to them--they were
+able to retort common terms of menace. Their intercourse with
+bushrangers and stock-keepers on remote stations, was the chief source
+of their knowledge. To learn the language as an instrument of
+civilisation, would be the first idea of a Christian missionary; but it
+was a conception, too lofty for the colonial mind. It was forgotten that
+by no other means can savages be softened, or permanently conciliated.
+The effect, when adopted, was electric: they learned to address Mr.
+Robinson as their _marmanake_, or father, and thus to distinguish him
+from other white men. The stupidity attributed to barbarians, and the
+vacant laughter, with which they receive the announcement of new ideas
+in a foreign tongue, would be ascribed, by experienced teachers, to the
+absurdity of such a medium of communication.[19]
+
+The plan adopted by Mr. Robinson, was not only humane--it was
+reasonable. The natives were proud of freedom: their restraint was
+disguised, and by unvarying kindness he taught them to regard him as
+their friend; and thus they were prepared, not only to submit to his
+authority, but to rely upon his promises. White men had thought it a
+merit to deceive, and it required some skill to convince them. Having
+explained the proposals of the government, he took with him several of
+their number, and went on his errand of mercy. The aborigines were
+evidently prepared for his mission. Most of the tribes had occasionally
+direct intercourse with Europeans--true, the more frequent, the more
+hostile; but while they regarded the whites with hatred, this commerce
+enabled them to appreciate the presents provided to entice them, and
+facilitated friendly communication. All on the east side of the island
+were confederated; and when any were gained, they became agents in each
+other's pacification. The late pursuit, though it had not subdued their
+enmity, or even their courage, had convinced many that there was no
+security but by peace. Others, however, long resolved to confide in
+their own strength, and to take refuge in the fastnesses of the island.
+Such was the answer they gave to the messages of Robinson; but the late
+events had separated them from each other--it had scattered their
+tribes: members of the same family were part in captivity, and the
+knowledge of their condition moved the sympathies of relations still at
+large. Of this, an affecting instance transpired in 1831. Some, who gave
+themselves up, stated that they had been very unhappy: they had gone
+over the country, searching for their lost friends, of whom they could
+gain no tidings. We realise a softening scene, in contemplating these
+fragmentary tribes, traversing their ancient haunts, and uttering the
+unanswered, and then melancholy call which distinguishes their race.
+When this party were told that their relations were living under the
+protection of Robinson, they expressed an anxious wish to join them, and
+met them with exclamations of joy.
+
+The numerous islands that surround the coast, greatly facilitated the
+detention of captives: few of the male natives could swim; few
+understood the structure of a catamaran. The means of escape were not
+easily obtained, and for a time the novelty and repose of their bondage
+mitigated their dislike to its restrictions: these natural fortresses
+kept them in safety, without the aspect of a prison; and one or other
+island was accessible from most points of the Tasmanian shore.
+
+Colonel Arthur implied, by his closing proclamation, when he dismissed
+the forces, that their labors formed the first series of a connected
+plan, only partially developed. The war was, in the estimation of the
+Governor and his friends, a preparation for a mission of peace. It was
+fortunate that Robinson's early progress imparted to the warlike
+expedition the _eclat_ of reflected success. It is not necessary to
+scrutinise the notion, or to teach what this history will not
+warrant--that measures of conciliation are more successful, when pursued
+under the forms of hostility. Had the milder method been tested at an
+earlier period, the expenses of the campaign might have been spared.
+Colonel Arthur, however, warmly approved, and strenuously supported the
+pacific mission: not only was he convinced that nothing further could be
+expected from arms, but he felt a real compassion for the unfortunate
+race. In this course, he found considerable opposition. "_We strongly
+raise_ our voice," one editor remarks, "against _their civilisation_.
+The natives are not to be trusted; and the lives of all engaged in the
+mistaken policy of conciliation, are never safe for one moment."
+
+The conduct of this mission, the Governor entrusted to the Aborigines'
+Committee, originally consisting of Archdeacon Broughton, Rev. Messrs.
+Bedford and Norman; P. A. Mulgrave, J. Thomas, S. Hill, and Charles
+Arthur, Esquires. Their authenticated statements are embodied in these
+pages: their sentiments accorded with their character, but were slightly
+tinged by the feelings of the day.
+
+To devise the means of capture, and superintend their application, was
+their most important function. It was proposed by one gentleman,
+exasperated by injuries, or perhaps unconscious of the details of his
+plan, to pursue the natives with bloodhounds. Another suggested the
+employment of a man, "who would soon put an end to the eastern mob; and
+who had already killed half that tribe, by creeping upon them and firing
+among them." He thought that "the worst men were the best to engage" in
+this work. Another proposed to employ the sealers--men who had waged a
+war of extermination with great success. It is but just to observe, that
+proposals like these, though received, were not favored by the Governor.
+They are in the records of Office, connected with the names of their
+authors, and they admit no other excuse than a reference to recent acts
+of aboriginal violence, which had shaken the common principles of
+British humanity.
+
+The Governor had already announced the re-capture of the natives who
+escaped from Mr. Batman's, while he was absent at the war. They
+re-commenced depredations: he finally re-took them without bloodshed.
+But the most pleasing intelligence, and that which chiefly inspired
+hope, came from the south-east extremity of the island: Mr. Robinson
+went round the coast; touched at Macquarie Harbour, visited Circular
+Head, and Portland: there he took Lemina Beginna, a chief, and
+twenty-two others, including thirteen conciliated at George's River.
+These were brought round to Gun Carriage Island; a temporary abode,
+ill-suited for their entertainment, and where several soon concluded
+their troubled career.
+
+Lemina complained that, many years ago, his wife had been taken away by
+sealers, and entreated the Governor to procure her restoration; another
+petitioned, that his sister and his mother might be recovered from the
+same vile oppressors. The sister was known as Black Jock, and seems to
+have been greatly in request: she was in alliance with the leader of one
+of the parties--less modest than familiar. A sealer, from whom she had
+eloped, when she came back to the coast demanded her, with some
+vehemence, as his wife! So much beloved was this Tasmanian belle. The
+arbitration of these disputes was no easy task: though sufficiently
+ridiculous, they often seriously endangered the mission. The Governor
+issued an order against the interference of the sealers, and declared
+Mr. Robinson under the special protection of government.
+
+In reference to these captures, the Governor publicly expressed his
+great gratification, and requested the colonists to promote pacific
+intercourse, by all available means. The discretion displayed by
+Robinson, not less than his courage, excited much admiration, and hopes
+were entertained that the true means of safety were at last discovered.
+Mr. Robinson now requested that the armed parties should be recalled,
+depots established to afford an asylum to the captives, and additional
+agents employed. Mr. Cotterell, and others were engaged to act in
+subordination to the movements of Robinson. The Sydney blacks, ten of
+whom had been brought down by Mr. Batman, for the mission, had been
+found less useful: they were rewarded, and sent home. The aborigines of
+New Holland despised the Tasmanian blacks--a race, ignorant of the
+_womera_![20]
+
+In the following September, 1831, Mr. Robinson obtained another
+considerable accession, assisted by Lemina Beginna: they travelled,
+backwards and forwards, for four hundred miles, and found old
+acquaintances. Eumarrah, the chief of the Stony Creek tribe, when he saw
+Mr. Robinson, ran to him and shook hands, and with five men and one
+woman, gave himself up: three only of his tribe remained! The captives
+were described as remarkably athletic: they talked incessantly, and
+complained bitterly that their women had been stolen. The inequality of
+numbers confirmed this charge. While Robinson was with them, a boat's
+crew came in sight; and it required all his influence to prevent the
+natives from retreating with precipitation. Thus the evil they suffered
+in their first intercourse, pursued them to the last moment of their
+freedom.
+
+M'Kay, who had been employed under Mr. Robinson, added to these
+captures. Two friendly native women accompanied him, and they followed
+the track for a week. At last, they found the natives encamped in a
+plain: in the dead of night the party dashed in among them, and took two
+men, one woman, and a boy. Surrage, also assisted by two native females,
+captured eight men and two women. Their method was curious: the tame
+women were sent up the hill, where the fires were seen: they returned;
+four men followed them down to the boat, and six others, men and women,
+were speedily seen in the footsteps of their companions.
+
+While these captures were proceeding, Mr. Robinson started for the
+Surrey Hills and Circular Head. He left the party lately conciliated in
+Launceston: they were cheerful, and expected their proposed voyage to
+the islands with great glee. They spoke of their past outrages without
+reluctance, which they justified by relating the cruelties they had
+suffered.
+
+The Governor was anxious to notice every instance of intrepidity and
+kindness: it is the coward that is ferocious. The indulgences of the
+crown were freely given to persons, of whatever class, who exemplified
+courage and humanity. Mr. Anstey, a young gentleman of the interior, was
+rewarded with five hundred acres. He had surprised and taken several,
+and the skill of his arrangements prevented the effusion of blood. In a
+few instances, the natives voluntarily surrendered. Mr. Charles Headlam
+saw two approaching, holding up their hands--thus indicating the absence
+of their spears: he was standing on the threshold when he remarked the
+signal, and immediately lowered his gun. These unfortunate beings were
+admitted into the house, and supplied with food; and finally conducted
+to a place of safety.
+
+These feelings were occasionally damped by acts of atrocity, committed
+by the blacks. It is not to be supposed, however, that provocation
+ceased, or that the impulse given by four years conflict, could be
+simultaneously paralysed. The tribes frequenting the Tamar and the
+Forth, were represented as becoming increasingly mischievous. The fate
+of Mrs. M'Alister was deeply affecting: when wounded, she ran bleeding
+from her dwelling: her servants carried off the children to a place of
+safety. The unhappy mother concealed herself, for a time, in a field of
+corn: unable longer to suppress her anxiety, she rushed from her hiding
+place, crying out for her children. She was seen by the blacks, and
+slain! The relater of this catastrophe concludes--"Let the sentence of
+extermination in their hearts, be firmly sent forth on our parts." If we
+shudder at such sentiments, they scarcely awaken surprise, when closing
+a narrative like this.
+
+The murder of Captain Thomas and Mr. Parker, by the Big River tribe,
+renewed the exasperation. His servants, who had landed some provisions,
+gave a small portion to the natives. He was told by three of the blacks,
+that many were in the woods, and he resolved to follow them. Parker, who
+accompanied him, advised him to take his gun. As they were walking, a
+native snatched it away: they became alarmed and ran, and were pierced
+with spears. This case seemed to indicate a hopeless spirit of innate
+malice: Captain Thomas was known to be humane, and his object was to
+conciliate. The natives had, however, experienced great cruelties from
+the servants and others. A coroner's jury brought in a verdict of wilful
+murder: those charged were arrested, and committed to gaol; afterwards,
+they were removed to Flinders. As the vessel rounded the coast, the
+scene of the murder was visible, and they became extremely agitated; but
+the opinion of the colony was no longer favorable to executions, and the
+government had discovered a more excellent way.
+
+Mr. Robinson now landed at Circular Head, and assisted by his native
+companions, he followed up the Big River tribe: he fell in with the
+party at Lake Echo; they had moved with haste, and left behind several
+stand of arms, a looking glass, and the gun of Captain Thomas. Other
+encampments were passed, but when Robinson approached them, they
+invariably fled. They had been to a spot twenty miles south-east of the
+Van Diemen's Land Company's establishment, whither they were accustomed
+to resort for a mineral, which is found in a decomposed bed of felspar.
+From this place they were followed by Robinson, who overtook them thirty
+miles north-west of the Peak of Teneriffe. He saw them first to the east
+of the Barn Bluff Mountain, and was not more than two miles distant. He
+hailed his people, and selected a few of his friendly natives, who,
+together with the woman present at the murder of Captain Thomas, were
+sent to meet them. The party of Robinson were concealed by a scrub. In
+less than half an hour he heard the war-whoop, and perceived that they
+were advancing, by the rattling of their spears. This was an awful
+moment to their pacificator. On their approach, the chief, Manalanga,
+leaped on his feet in great alarm, saying that the natives were coming
+to spear them: he urged Mr. Robinson to run, and finding he would not,
+took up his rug and spears and went away. The rest of the allies
+prepared to follow him; but were prevailed on by Robinson to remain.
+They inferred, that the natives sent on the embassy of peace, were
+either killed, or that they had joined the hostile tribe. As these
+advanced, the friendly emissaries were unseen, being hidden by the
+larger number of the strangers, who still raised their cry, and
+approached in warlike array. At length Robinson saw his own people: he
+then went up to the chiefs and shook hands with them. He explained the
+object of his visit; distributed trinkets among them, and sat down and
+partook refreshment with them. From that time they placed themselves
+under his control, and as they advanced towards Hobart Town, he
+encouraged them to make excursions, which left their own actions free,
+and prevented suspicion and distrust. With their wives and children,
+this party consisted of thirty-six, and at length they were safely
+lodged on Swan Island. They were fine muscular men, and excited great
+interest and sympathy.
+
+This incident suggested to the venerable artist, Mr. Duterreau, the idea
+of a national picture: he depicts the interview, and delineates the
+various countenances, drawn from the life, with great energy and effect.
+Robinson is seen in expostulation with a listening chief; a woman,
+behind him, is endeavouring to pour distrust into his ear. Others are
+looking on in expectation or in doubt. The grouping is skilful and
+expressive; and this picture, which has the great merit of minutely
+representing the attitudes and customs of the natives, will be an
+interesting memorial, in another age, of the most honorable passage in
+Tasmanian history.
+
+The results of his enterprise produced a strong impression in favor of
+Mr. Robinson: he had been thought rash, and even fanatical; his death
+had been predicted a hundred times--his success was attributed, half in
+jest and half in earnest, to some species of animal enchantment. The
+government, at the suggestion of the Committee, acknowledged his
+exertions, not only with warm eulogy but substantial rewards. He
+received a maximum grant, in the title of which his service to the
+public was recorded, and was paid a salary more suited to the office he
+filled. Others were also liberally recompensed for their contributions
+to his success, of which the merit was more in its conception than in
+its detail.
+
+Having shewn the possibility of conciliation, Mr. Robinson declined the
+further risk of his life, except on terms which would place his family
+beyond the reach of want. The Governor fully met his just claims,
+providing pensions for his wife and children, in case of his death, and
+promising L1,000,--L300 in hand, and the rest when all should be brought
+in. It was understood, that the future government of the aborigines
+should be entrusted to his charge, when the mission had realised its
+intention. The Governor granted all his requests, and spared no expense
+to ensure his success. The task was not accomplished for several years,
+but from this time the natives at large rarely appeared, and the
+colonists enjoyed that repose to which they so long had been strangers.
+His labours were attended with various and unusual perils. It was the
+custom of the men belonging to the Circular Head establishment, to
+approach the native fires, and destroy all they could not capture. One
+night, Robinson, with his black attendants, were on a point of land six
+miles from the establishment: the people were attracted by the smoke,
+when turning accidentally, he saw seven men cautiously creeping round:
+they had levelled their muskets: but for an instant recognition of his
+voice, his labours and his life would probably have ended.
+
+Mr. Robinson had learned, that a large party were approaching Arthur
+River, on their way to their own country, and returning from a warlike
+expedition against those recently captured. He resolved to send four
+friendly blacks, and three recent converts, to open a communication with
+this tribe: they were to make signals, if successful. Two days after,
+the sign was given. On reaching the farther bank, he saw the wild
+natives coming towards him with their waddies and spears. He proposed
+that they should re-cross with him: they, however, desired him to
+remain, promising to hunt for his entertainment. He consented, and made
+them presents; but he left his son, and a small party, in the rear. He
+was alarmed at night by a friendly native, who being acquainted with one
+of the hostile tribe, had learned that it was intended to murder him and
+his people. Robinson concealed his knowledge from his companions, lest
+their fears should be too powerful to suffer their remaining with him.
+The assassins extinguished their own fires, but did not lie down to
+sleep: Robinson kept his burning brightly, that he might watch their
+movement. They were earnestly chattering, and were trimming their
+weapons, while one of their number insisted upon the cruelty of killing
+the white man! On Robinson's rising, the whole seized their spears--one
+grasped in their right hand, and a bundle in their left. The dogs of
+Robinson's party had been secured, and their spears removed; they,
+however, escaped, and he was left alone. In a moment, he darted into the
+scrub: at this retreat, they seemed struck with astonishment; and
+quickly covered by the thicket, their spears did not reach him. On
+clearing the scrub, he hastened to Arthur River, and crossed on a
+floating tree. At this instant, the natives reached the bank: he was
+soon joined by his own friends, and confronted the hostile party, who
+stood on the opposite bank flourishing their spears. Robinson cried out,
+that he forgave their conduct, and offered them his protection. This
+induced a girl and two men to join him; but his situation was perilous,
+and having made fires, as if for signals, he hastened away, to deposit
+the proselytes in safety.
+
+This tribe continued at large until 1834. They had determined never to
+be taken--to subsist upon the _quoib_ (badger), and to perish rather
+than yield. Finding Mr. Robinson in pursuit, they endeavoured to elude
+his search by false direction sticks. The blacks in his company dreaded
+an ambush, and declared that they should all be slain, if they proceeded
+further, now that their pursuit was known to the hostile tribe. Mr.
+Robinson, however, resolved to persevere, and soothed their fears. The
+march was long and harassing, the natives having divided into three
+parties, the better to escape. They were captured: eight in February,
+three in March, and in April, nine; and were embarked at Circular Head
+for Launceston, and thence to Flinders' Island.
+
+The Governor warmly congratulated the colony on its deliverance, but the
+numbers that remained were greater than he imagined. The abolition of
+martial law was deemed by some to be premature. Twenty were captured in
+1834, and seventeen in 1835. Mr. Robinson, after nine months pursuit,
+came up with the small relics which were known to be still at large, in
+Middlesex Plains, and found one man, four women, and two children: they
+had travelled as far as the head of the Derwent. Two men, sent by
+Robinson with despatches from the place of their capture, were lost in
+the bush, and perished. It was now announced, that no more aborigines
+were at large: in this, both Mr. Robinson and the government were
+mistaken. Rumours, for several years, were continually stirring, of
+blacks fleeing in the distance; of the thin smoke, the native cry, and
+other indications of their presence. At length it was proved, that these
+were not the ghosts of the departed tribes. In December, 1842, at
+Circular Head, seven persons were captured, and rejoined their long
+banished countrymen. This remnant consisted of a single family: the
+parents about fifty years; the rest of ages from childhood to thirty
+years. They were taken by a sealer, whose boat they had pilfered, and
+conveyed to Flinders'. They were more than usually intelligent in their
+appearance: they did not understand one word of English, and they had
+probably retained to the last the primitive manners of their race.
+
+Mr. Robinson was a builder at Hobart Town, his family was large, and
+depended on his trade. It detracts nothing from his merit, while it is
+honorable to the government, that he was a gainer by successful
+humanity. The munificence of the crown, alone prevented a larger
+subscription by the people; he had, however, the warm and unanimous
+expression of public gratitude.
+
+The character of his mission was supported by his conduct. He went
+unarmed, and if the natives approached him at all, they were devoid of
+fear and therefore of ferocity. He plunged into the heart of the forest,
+assumed the habits of a wanderer, and continued his absence for months
+together. He shared the danger of his allies, and confided in their
+affection: he encouraged their sports, and so far as could a white man,
+without debasement, he became one among them. Hitherto the English had
+dealt treacherously, and rarely approached their camps, but to oppress,
+to mock, or to destroy them. They now discovered, that all were not
+enemies, and kindness was felt more powerfully by contrast. It is said
+by Backhouse, that Robinson acted under a sense of religious duty; by
+Mann, that he was a fatalist or predestinarian: he was calumniated by
+the base and the envious: the ascendancy he acquired over the natives,
+the Christian philosopher can easily comprehend. The effect of "good
+will to men," is peace on earth. Moral courage, united with generosity,
+often overpowers the suspicion and hostility, of even the most
+barbarous. The coward dies, while the man of bold spirit dissipates the
+clouds of distrust, and wakens in others the confidence he himself
+cherishes. Nor is it necessary for the writer to observe, that Divine
+Providence gives back often, the "hazard of their lives," to the
+resolute in right, or that an omnipotent protector attends the footsteps
+of the merciful.
+
+Thus, in their harassing life, parents and children had been divided,
+and families had been broken up in melancholy confusion: indeed, they
+had ceased to be tribes, and became what they were called--mobs of
+natives, composed often of hereditary enemies. Infanticide and distress,
+rapid flight, and all the casualties of a protracted conflict,
+threatened them with speedy destruction. Had not Robinson appeared, the
+last savage, hopeless of peace or safety, would have perished with his
+weapon in his hand. It was a great deliverance to this colony, as well
+as to the native. From the Windmill-hill at Launceston, whence a wide
+and beautiful country is visible, the spectator could discern the site
+of twenty aboriginal murders--settlers, servants, and infants; the aged
+and the kind had fallen, as well as the base hearted and cruel. It was
+something to know, that the fatal hand, which no precaution could
+resist, would be raised no more.
+
+It was, indeed, a mournful spectacle: the last Tasmanian quitting the
+shores of his ancestors: forty years before, the first settler had
+erected his encampment! A change so rapid in the relations of a people
+to the soil, will scarcely find a parallel in this world's history; but
+that banishment which, if originally contrived, had been an atrocious
+crime, was at last an act of mercy--the tardy humanity of Englishmen,
+which rescued a remnant, extenuated the dishonor of their cruelty to the
+race. As for Mr. Robinson, he enjoyed, not only the bounty of the
+government, but the affection of the natives--and the applause of all
+good men. His name will be had in everlasting remembrance: happier
+still, if numbered by the judge of all among his followers, who came
+"not to destroy men's lives, but to save them."[21]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 18: "Gentlemen," said Mr. Kemp, of Mount Vernon at the mess at
+the Macquarie Hotel, "you see a sample before you, of what this colony
+can produce, which we are now, one and all, making an unanimous effort
+to insure the enjoyment of in peace and comfort: if, when not only the
+necessaries, but many of the luxuries of life are thus bountifully
+supplied us, we are not loyal, we shall never be loyal. Fill your
+glasses, gentlemen--the health of his Excellency; and success to the
+volunteers. Hip, hip, hip,--hurrah!"--_Courier._]
+
+[Footnote 19: Thus, while at some stations in New Holland clergymen
+explained in English the principles of Christianity, the thoughts of the
+natives strayed to subjects more familiar, and cries of "bacca" and
+"sugar," disturbed the gravity of devotion.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Throwing stick.]
+
+[Footnote 21: It would be difficult, however, to believe Mr. Robinson
+was not satirical, when he wrote as follows;--
+
+"The system adopted toward the aborigines of this territory is quite
+original. History does not furnish an instance, where _a whole nation
+has been removed by so _MILD AND HUMANE A POLICY!"_--Report H.
+Commons_--_Aborigines_, 1835.]
+
+
+
+SECTION VIII.
+
+During the progress of these captures, the question of future disposal
+was slowly determined. Those lodged on Gun Carriage Island, through
+injudicious restraint or want of pure water, or melancholy, rapidly
+decreased. The government was bound to seek for them a more salubrious
+prison, or to restore them to the main land: an event, which would have
+ensured their immediate destruction. Maria Island, recommended both by
+Mr. Robinson and Mr. Bedford, was desirable, as contiguous; but nothing
+could prevent an escape to the colony. Kent's Group, on the coast of New
+Holland, was next proposed; but the passage is difficult, and between
+the islands, said the sailor witness, "the sea pours like a sluice, and
+the winds drive through like a funnel." Then came King's Island,
+situated 140 miles north of Van Diemen's Land; but it was said to be
+infested with badgers and bandicoots, and that the natives would retire
+into the woods, and be no more found. Such was the extent of official
+knowledge, in reference to these dependencies, that to select a spot it
+was necessary to appoint a special survey; but although the natives were
+fast dying, the vessel destined to this service was first sent for a
+cargo of timber!
+
+Captain Jackson having visited the Straits, recommended Flinders',
+sometimes called Great Island. The aborigines who joined in this visit,
+were delighted with the country: they returned to their companions with
+the spoils of hunting, and celebrated their good fortune in songs. A
+soldier, who accompanied the party, wholly differed from this report: he
+said the climate was bleak, the soil sterile, and destitute of springs;
+and his objections, though attributed to malice, have been confirmed by
+experience. After much deliberation, Flinders' Island was preferred.
+
+The Chief Justice, Sir John Pedder, opposed the removal altogether: too
+truly he judged, it would be followed by rapid extinction. In denying to
+the aboriginal remnant an asylum within the country of their
+forefathers, we inflicted the last penalty which can fall on a race,
+whose lives the victors condescend to spare. It was too late, however,
+to repent; and pioneers were forwarded to the place of exile. The usual
+fatality attended the first choice of a township, but in 1832 Mr.
+Backhouse, at Colonel Arthur's request, proceeded to Flinders', where
+the station was finally chosen; it was called, _Wybalenna_,--the "Black
+Man's Village." The natives were under disguised military control, but
+were exceedingly docile and submissive. Cottages were erected for their
+use. The women found some amusement in sweeping their houses, and
+depositing or replacing the articles of their furniture--their beds,
+bedsteads, tables, and stools: they washed the garments of their
+husbands; who, when they had occasion to complain, threatened to work
+for themselves. They had seen the wives of the soldiers washing, and
+inferred that this exercise was the special privilege of women.
+
+The acting commandant, in 1832, reported them as in the highest health
+and spirits, full of intelligence, advancing step by step towards
+civilisation: so they were described, and such was their aspect. They
+were furnished with every article of domestic use, far more numerous
+than usually fall to the lot of the English cottager, and which, to an
+Irish peasant, would suggest the idea of shopkeeping: the men, dressed
+in duck clothing and Scotch caps, voluntarily appeared with the
+soldiers, and presented their necessaries for inspection.
+
+A large group watched the landing of Mr. Backhouse in silence; but when
+invited, they rose up and shook hands; and when told that provisions had
+arrived, they set up shouts of joy: they wore clothing, except in their
+dances, which they held thrice a-week, after sun set; they exhibited
+much cheerfulness, affability, and mutual kindness, and no great
+deficiency of either physical or intellectual power.
+
+The system pursued by Mr. Robinson at Flinders', is minutely described
+in papers published by the House of Commons. The establishment of--
+
+1. An aboriginal fund. 2. A circulating medium. 3. An aboriginal police.
+4. A weekly market: and 5. A weekly periodical.
+
+The first four of these measures succeeded: the periodical _was not_
+successful! but Mr. Robinson established a respectable currency: he made
+the natives purchase all articles except food; and once, when the supply
+of tobacco was scanty, it rose to the price of 32s. per lb.! They were
+too prone to dilapidate and destroy their dwellings; they were therefore
+required to pay for the locks, cupboards, and doors. They were
+instructed in the Christian religion, and displayed considerable
+aptitude; but of some, it is remarked, that they were inattentive to
+learning, and fond of the chase!
+
+The civil and religious administration of Flinders' Island has been
+often changed, and subject to factions and disputes. The stories which
+float in the colony, respecting the little empire of _Wybalenna_, are
+grotesque and humorous. No modern author will venture to look into the
+abyss of despatches, which develop its policy. To arrive at the truth
+would require an amount of labour, perhaps not beyond its intrinsic
+worth, but involving large discussions and questions not without peril.
+Mr. Backhouse, before leaving the colony, renewed his visit as the envoy
+of the government, to heal divisions which had broken out with virulence
+between the ecclesiastical and civil powers. He observes, that they
+principally resulted from misunderstandings, and with this caution we
+resign them to the curious of some other age. It may, however, be
+satisfactory to know, that in the order of succession, Messrs. Darling,
+Robinson, Drs. Jeannerett and Milligan, have been commandants, and that
+Mr. Wilkinson, Rev. Mr. Dove, and Mr. Clark, have filled the office of
+chaplain.
+
+The religious manifestations of the aborigines are differently estimated
+by different minds: by some, considered purely mechanical and imitative;
+by others, as the simple expressions of a genuine piety. The evidence of
+their worth, would depend greatly on accompanying moral developments.
+The piety of a proselyted heathen is like that of a child, more in
+sensibility than concatenated dogmata: they repeated a creed, only
+partially understood; but they also became conscious of a Superior
+Power, and a nobler destiny. The highly intelligent appreciation of
+religious knowledge, attributed by their guardians, did not appear to
+the casual visitor; and was probably, unconsciously, coloured. It does
+not pertain to this work to examine the evidence of their personal
+religion, which, however, sometimes had a conservative influence in
+life, and to several yielded consolation in their last hours.
+
+In 1835, Mr. Robinson entered on his office as commandant: believing
+that his mission was accomplished, he gathered the people together, and
+made a feast, in which they were to forget the animosities of their
+tribes, and join as one family. Scarcely was this union effected, when
+the occupation of Port Phillip drew attention to the aborigines of New
+Holland. Mr. Wedge, who visited that country, made known to the
+government the barbarity of the monstrous whites; who, so soon as they
+touched those shores, wantonly stained their hands with native blood. To
+that gentleman we owe our ability to trace to its origin, an
+extermination which has kept pace with the colonisation of that region.
+
+Mr. Robinson proposed to remove the natives of Tasmania, then eighty-two
+persons, to Port Phillip. It was expected that their presence would
+excite the curiosity, and stimulate the civilisation of the New
+Hollanders; that possession of a flock, then 1,300 in number, would give
+useful ideas of the bounty of their benefactors. It had been thought
+desirable to reward the aboriginal guides, and one hundred ewes and
+three rams were forwarded to the establishment, to be distributed among
+them: a large addition was made by private benevolence. The increase of
+their flock, became a source of temporary profit to the natives: the
+wool was brought to Launceston, and exchanged for haberdashery, and
+other articles of domestic use.
+
+The British government, after much hesitation, fearful of its
+consequences to the Tasmanians, consented to their removal. In 1838, Mr.
+Robinson received the appointment of Chief Protector to the Aborigines
+of New Holland: the nature or the utility of that office, does not
+belong to this work to discuss. By treaty with Sir George Gipps, the
+government of Van Diemen's Land agreed to pay a sum annually for each
+ten who might survive. The deportation was sanctioned by the blacks
+themselves: the certificate, which bears their signatures, might be
+supposed to represent a congress of heroes, or the pack of a
+huntsman--names, which are chiefly borne by dogs and princes.[22] They
+were anxious for the change, but quite incapable of estimating its
+results. A party of twenty-two therefore accompanied Mr. Robinson, but
+the issue was disastrous: called away by the duties of his office, he
+could not extend to them a proper supervision: they were again exposed,
+in another land, to their old adversaries and seducers, the
+stock-keepers: they were too few to form a village, and death thinned
+their numbers: two returned to Van Diemen's Land, and afterwards to
+Flinders'. Of the rest, two were executed for murder. Mr. Batman had in
+his house at Port Phillip, a native woman and two boys; but the New
+Hollanders were rather the objects of aversion than sympathy: and,
+fearful of their violence, the Tasmanians avoided their company, and
+showed no disposition to forsake their protector.
+
+During the whole period of their residence at Flinders' Island, it does
+not appear that any white man on the station, or even of their own
+colour, had preferred a criminal charge against one of them. The
+commandant, as magistrate, possessed a summary jurisdiction; and the
+restrictions in his court he could supplement with the forms and
+ensignia of power. A late commandant, when he sentenced to small
+penalties for petty offences, sat at night; and to impress their
+imaginations, the hall of justice was guarded with drawn swords.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 22: Achilles, Ajax, Buonaparte, King George, Hannibal, Peter
+Pindar, Neptune, Tippoo Saib, Washington. A few only bore the names of
+ordinary mortals.]
+
+
+
+SECTION IX.
+
+The advances towards the final extinction of the natives, have been more
+rapid than was expected; but the certainty of that event was never the
+subject of doubt. Sir George Murray, on the 5th November, 1830,
+anticipated, and wrote down their fate; and inferred, from their
+decrease, that at no distant period the whole race would become extinct:
+but he declared that the adoption of any course of conduct, with this
+design, either avowed or secret, would leave an indelible stain upon the
+government of Great Britain! It will be seen, however, that the progress
+of decay was never arrested for a moment. The mortality at Brune and
+Swan Islands was not less than at Flinders'; but from 1832, a regular
+account has been preserved.[23]
+
+Of the forty-five landed at Oyster Cove, in 1847, thirteen
+were men, twenty-two women, and ten children. Such has been the progress
+of their decline, and with numbers so inconsiderable, the problem of
+their fate is solved.
+
+The original amount of the natives has been a question much debated:
+like a procession in a circle, a population in motion, when not
+personally distinguished, will appear more numerous than the actual
+census. Mr. Kelly, who often had passed the coasts, calculated them at,
+originally, 7,000, but he guessed their number to be 5,000 in 1830: the
+obvious error of the last estimate, would naturally suggest a doubt with
+reference to the former. Several hundreds were, however, seen in one
+assembly, within the last thirty years. At Hobart Town and Launceston,
+from one to two hundred have appeared together. It was their custom to
+distribute themselves in parties, of from forty to fifty each. Their
+fires, kindled on the sea shore, were often left burning, when they had
+moved on to the next stage; and those who saw the flames from
+ship-board, concluded that aborigines were lying around them, and thus
+telling their numbers by the fires, they were often greatly deceived.
+The rapidity of their movements led to the same mistake: they appeared
+at places sufficient to establish an _alibi_, according to the current
+measures of distance. They had innumerable paths which shorten a
+journey, then unknown to the English: it was thus, that they were twice
+reckoned, even when carefully counted. No reliance, however, will be
+placed by persons of experience on the rumour of numbers. Nearly all who
+report an assembly, judge by imagination rather than minute inspection;
+thus, mobs are spoken of as tens or hundreds of thousands, without any
+intention to mislead. It will be the hope of the humane, that the lowest
+estimate is the true one: it can hardly be doubted, however, that they
+were originally from 4,000 to 5,000: they were estimated by Mr. Robinson
+at 700, when he commenced his mission; 203 were captured--many, in the
+mean time, fell by unknown violence and perpetual persecution: a
+thousand muskets were charged for their destruction.
+
+The causes of their diminution in Tasmania have been already stated; but
+some of these continued their operation even after the capture: their
+natural consequences followed. Towards the last days of their savage
+life, the sexes were disproportionate, although the balance was partly
+restored by associating the women who had been longer in captivity, with
+the men whose wives had died; but many of these women had become
+licentious, and by an extraordinary oversight the government permitted
+unmarried convicts and others to have them in charge, or to assist in
+the preliminary labor of their establishment: the result need not be
+told. The infant children had perished, by the misery or contrivance of
+their parents: thus in 1838, of eighty-two there were only fourteen
+children, and of the remainder, eight had attained the usual term of
+human life: many who surrendered, were exhausted by sickness, fatigue,
+and decripitude. They were the worn out relics of their nation, and they
+came in to lie down and die.
+
+The assumption of clothing occasioned many deaths: they were sometimes
+drenched with rain--perspiration was repressed, and inflammatory
+diseases followed: the licentiousness, and occasional want of the few
+last years, generated disorders, which a cold brought to a crisis. Among
+savages, the blanket has sometimes slain more than the sword: it
+destroyed the Indian of North America, and even threatened the New
+Zealander with a similar fate.[24] The abundant supply of food, and
+which followed destitution, tended to the same result: it was a
+different diet. The habits of the chase were superseded, and perhaps
+discouraged: the violent action to which they had been accustomed; the
+dancing, shouting, hurling the waddy and the spear--climbing for the
+opossum--diving, and leaping from rock to rock--assisted the animal
+functions, and developed muscular power. To continue them required the
+occasion, as well as the permission; but the stimulus was gone.
+
+It is said, by writers not favorable to the establishment at Flinders',
+that attempts to force the customs and habits of a civilised people were
+unreasonably, and even ridiculously severe. However docile the blacks,
+and generous the intention of their teachers, the physical effects of a
+total change in the habits of a race are not to be disputed, or that
+what may be harmless when the result of choice, and founded on new
+mental and physical stimulants, is dangerous when the mind is vacant,
+and the objects of civilised exertion unappreciated. Perhaps, no one is
+blameable. In their social circumstances, we may indeed trace the
+occasion of decay, but they were no longer produced by cruelty.
+
+There were, other causes. The site of the settlement was unhealthy: they
+were often destitute of good water; the tanks preserved an insufficient
+supply. It is admitted that they frequently suffered this lack; but it
+is stated, that they had sufficient allowed them when sick!
+
+It is, however, clear, that many perished by that strange disease, so
+often fatal to the soldiers and peasants of Switzerland, who die in
+foreign lands from regret of their native country. They were within
+sight of Tasmania, and as they beheld its not distant but forbidden
+shore, they were often deeply melancholy: to this point the testimony of
+Mr. Robinson is decisive, though not solitary.[25] They suffered much
+from mental irritation: when taken with disease, they often refused
+sustenance, and died in delirium. The wife, or the husband in perfect
+health, when bereaved, would immediately sicken, and rapidly pine
+away.[26]
+
+Count Strzelecki has propounded a curious notion of the laws of
+extinction, in reference to this race. He states that the mother of a
+half-caste can never produce a black child, and thus the race dies. His
+statement would need the most positive and uniform testimony; but it may
+be added to the curiosities of literature. The decrease of population
+among the inferior race, when harassed or licentious, is certain; but
+surely there is nothing occult in this, or requiring further explanation
+than is afforded by human cruelty and vice.
+
+Among those who survive, is the wife of the native Walter George
+Arthur, the half-caste daughter of Sarah an aboriginal woman. [Looking
+lately at a picture of Don Quixote, she pointed him out as the man who
+fought with the windmill.] Her mother has a younger son, now or lately
+at the Queen's School, and of pure aboriginal blood. A natural law, by
+which the extinction of a race is predicted, will not admit of such
+serious deviations.
+
+In 1844, a Finance Committee of the Legislative Council proposed the
+restoration of the natives to this colony. The frequent reference to
+head-quarters by the officers in charge, perplexed the government; who
+alleged that the distance permitted the oppression of the natives, and
+exposed them to the caprice of their guardians. The measure was delayed
+for four years; but in 1847, the dismissal of the commandant revived the
+project, and in October of that year they were landed in Van Diemen's
+Land, and located at Oyster Bay, once a great station of their people.
+The removal was unacceptable to the colonists; the outrages of former
+years were remembered by many, as scenes of domestic mourning. No murmur
+had ever been heard at the cost of their safety: it was deemed a small
+atonement for a national wrong: nor will it be possible to state an
+expenditure which the colonial public would be unwilling to sustain--to
+smooth the last hours of this unfortunate race. The transfer of a part
+to Port Phillip, had been attended with fatal consequences to several,
+and had ended in murder and executions: it was feared that the vicinity
+of their former haunts might revive their habits of wandering, and once
+more expose them to those gangs of felons who set no value on aboriginal
+life. These sentiments led to a spirited remonstrance, in which many
+respectable settlers concurred: the government had not anticipated
+opposition, or it may be presumed that a statement of the actual
+condition of the natives, and the provision intended for their safety,
+would have preceded this change in their abode. The dark shadows of
+former years threw doubt on their present character: happily, however,
+these impressions were erroneous.
+
+The few who remain, are not likely to forsake the comforts of their
+home: belonging to various tribes and different dialects, particular
+districts do not present equal attractions to all. They have learned
+also to rear vegetables, and the greater number are said to be familiar
+with English customs. By the census, they are assigned to the Church of
+England; but the distinctions of theology are beyond their
+comprehension, and therefore their choice; and it is perhaps to be
+lamented, that from the period of their capture, they have not been
+placed entirely under the parental care of some religious communion.
+Those who think lightly of missionary institutions, will find here no
+ground for exultation in the disastrous surveillance of the civil
+government.
+
+Englishmen, of whatever rank, cannot fail to survey the aboriginal
+youth, less in number than many a colonial household, with deep
+solicitude; or when estimating their claims, to remember the fortunes of
+their fathers. Or should their helplessness and dependence ever tempt a
+ruler to expose them to the corrupting influence of the lowest examples,
+and to assign them the meanest education, he may be recovered to some
+sense of justice by the following confession of a distinguished
+predecessor:--
+
+"Undoubtedly, the being reduced to the necessity of driving a _simple
+but warlike, and, as_ IT NOW APPEARS, NOBLE MINDED RACE, from their
+native hunting grounds, is a measure in itself so distressing, that I am
+willing to make almost any prudent sacrifice that may tend to compensate
+for the injuries that government is unwillingly and unavoidably the
+instrument of inflicting."--GEORGE ARTHUR.[27]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 23:
+
++-----+---------+-----+--------+
+|Date.|Captured.|Died.|Escaped.|
++-----+---------+-----+--------+
+|1831 |    54   | --  |   --   |
+|1832 |    68   |  5  |   --   |
+|1833 |    42   | 40  |    3   |
+|1834 |    20   | 14  |   --   |
+|1835 |    17   | 14  |   --   |
+|     |---------+-----+--------+
+|     |   201   | 73  |    3   |
++-----+---------+-----+--------+
+
+The numbers were-- In 1836  In 1838  In 1847
+                      ----    ----      ----
+                       123      82        45]
+
+[Footnote 24: The Bishop of New Zealand has wisely protested against the
+blanketing process of depopulation. The ignorant natives, accustomed to
+lie down in their damp huts, were steamed into consumptions.]
+
+[Footnote 25: "They pine away: more than one half have died, not from
+any positive disease, but from a disease they (physicians) call _home
+sickness_;'--a disease which is common to some Europeans, particularly
+the Swiss soldiers. They die from a disease of the stomach, which comes
+on entirely from a desire to return to their own country."--_Evidence of
+Col. Surgeon Barnes: Par. Papers._]
+
+[Footnote 26: The subjoined abbreviated list may give an idea of the
+rapid decline:--
+
+_Commandant's Office, Flinders' Island._
+
+1836--          DEATHS:
+
+December 24.--The native youth, George.
+         30.--The native man, Nimrod.
+1837--
+January 28.--The native man, Columbus.
+        29.--The native woman, Pupedar.
+February 5.--Of acute pneumonia, the native man Samuel.
+        20.--Of chronic visceral inflammation, the native man, Algernon.
+        25.--Of the same, the native man, Matthew.
+        26.--Of the same, native man, Omega.
+        29.--Of the same, native woman, Truedeberrie.
+March 16.--The native woman, Tyree.
+      21.--The native woman, Queen Charlotte.
+      30.--The native woman, Manoon, ditto Maria, and an infant.
+
+J. ALLEN, _Surgeon_.
+
+June 3.--Of extreme debility, Daniel.
+    20.--Of inflammation in the intestines, the aboriginal native, King
+         William.
+
+A. AUSTIN, _Medical Attendant_.
+
+--_Parliamentary Papers_.]
+
+
+
+SECTION X.
+
+_Origin._--The traditions of the natives afford no clue to their origin.
+They are, perhaps, a branch of the Australasian family settled in New
+Holland(?). _Mocha_, is the name for water among the western tribe of
+this island: it is known by the same sound at Cape Leeuwin, on the
+continent. Though boats were not employed, they constructed a catamaran
+of bark, or decayed wood, of the specific gravity of cork: these
+materials, tied together, enabled them to pass to the islands of the
+Straits.
+
+Lieutenant Gunn found at Maria Island, and preserved for several months,
+a catamaran, sufficiently tight and strong to drift for sixteen or
+twenty miles: each would convey from four to seven persons. The
+catamaran described by the French naturalist, found in Adventure Bay,
+was made of pieces of bark, and held together by cords made of grass,
+and assumed the appearance of meshes worked in the form of a _pentagon_.
+Mr. Taw, the pilot of Macquarie Harbour, saw the natives cross the
+river: on this occasion, a man swam on either side of the raft--formed
+of the bark of the "swamp tree." The distance between the islets is not
+sufficient to shut us up to the notion of a local creation.[28] A New
+Holland woman, taken to Flinders', remembered a tradition, that her
+ancestors had driven out the original inhabitants--the fathers, it is
+_conjectured_, of the Tasmanian race. History carries us back to the
+year 1642, and it is in vain to seek authentic information from a people
+destitute of records, and perpetually wandering. The time between the
+first visit and colonisation, was quite sufficient to obliterate the
+traces of earlier migrations.
+
+_Consanguinity._--A comparison of the Tasmanian with the European, would
+discredit a common root; but the wide spread family of man exhibits all
+the shades and varieties, by which the extremes are connected.
+Strzelecki observes, that to account for this connection, is not less
+vainly attempted than an explanation of the existence of marsupials: but
+the cases are not comparable. The difficulty, in reference to the human
+race, is resolved by its intermixture: nature mingles none but kindred
+blood.
+
+_Stature._--The man of Tasmania, is from four and a-half to five and
+a-half feet high. The skin is blueish black; less glossy than the native
+of the continent. The facial angle is from 73 deg. to 85 deg.. The features of
+the women are masculine: the mammae become pyriform, and elongate in
+nursing. The hair is black, and woolly; sometimes luxuriant,
+occasionally long and glossy. The eyes are full: the eyelid dropping:
+the iris dark brown: the pupil large, and jet black. The forehead is
+high, narrow, and running to a peak: the malar bones are prominent, the
+cheeks hollow, the breast arched and full: the limbs round, lean, and
+muscular: the hands small; the feet flat, and turned inwards. The frame
+does not differ from the common structure of man, and by science is not
+pronounced inferior, according to the rules of phrenologists.[29]
+
+_General Appearance._--The impression made upon spectators by the
+Tasmanian race, has been curiously various. By some, they are said to be
+the lowest in their physical organisation, their mental capacity, and
+their social condition. Those who saw them at the same period, and
+compared them with the inhabitants of Port Jackson, differed entirely in
+their estimate. In the aged women, there was little to admire: of them,
+even Mr. Backhouse speaks with unwonted emotion: they reminded him of
+the ourang outang; they were hideous! but he thought the younger women
+more agreeable. Another visitor in 1830 describes them as having small
+hollow eyes, broad noses, nostrils widely distended; jaws like the
+ourang outang; thin limbs; shapeless bodies; and a hideous expression of
+countenance! Cook described them as having lips not remarkably thick;
+their noses moderately flat. Labillardiere noticed a peculiar projection
+in the upper jaw of children, which recedes in adult age. They certainly
+do not correspond with our notions of beauty, but they are not inferior
+to millions of the human race. Among the captives, were some whose
+stature and port strongly impressed the spectator. Backhouse observed
+one especially, whose features had a Jewish cast, and reminded him of
+the popular pictures of Abraham! Their thin and wretched appearance,
+occasioned by their diet, and diseases, cannot be properly attributed to
+their constitution. Half starved human beings, unclothed, are ever
+unpleasing. Those acquainted with populous cities in Europe, have often
+been compelled to recognise, in the squalor and emaciation of classes,
+the germs of a new race. The captive blacks, when partially clothed,
+relieved from anxiety, and supplied with food, soon presented a new
+aspect; and their countenances were lighted up with cheerfulness and
+intelligence.
+
+_Families._--Polygamy was tolerated: women were, latterly, bigamists.
+Labillardiere observed that one man had two wives: this philosopher was
+held in suspense, on the comparative happiness of their condition; true,
+the affections of the husband were divided--but they jointly catered for
+one man instead of two! It is said that they courted with flowers: an
+authenticated fact, proves that the female occasionally possessed a
+negative. _Roomata_ (Bet) rejected the addresses of _Trigoonipoonata_
+(Jack); but she learned the worth of his affection. She was crossing a
+river, and became ill: he sprung to her relief, and carried her safely
+to land; and she became his wife.[30] They daily brought game to the
+residence of the superintendent, during his temporary absence--lest,
+said they, he should want on his return. The woman having been left
+behind, on recovery followed the tribe with the new born infant. The
+toil of the journey, and of the encampment, chiefly fell to her lot: she
+carried utensils of all kinds, except the spears. The infant was slung
+on the back, and suckled over the shoulder: a draftsman, in the company
+of Cook, drew the portrait of a young female, so burdened. The position
+of the child has been pronounced, without much reason, a proof of low
+maternal sensibility. Those who have carried children through a journey,
+can only imagine the amount of affection requisite to convey, often more
+than one, after a tribe in its rapid migrations.
+
+_Infanticide._--Infanticide was not common; although, in the latter
+days, when harassed by daily conflict, the practice, was not unknown. It
+is stated by Leigh, that they were careful not to increase in number,
+and that they sold their female children. At a later period, it is said,
+that to suckle puppies they abandoned their offspring. Such facts are
+not incredible, when they relate to individuals, but are scarcely
+characteristic of a race: all nations have perpetrated infanticide, from
+necessity, or pride, or barbarism. Infant life is little valued among
+savages, and female children least: they run the gauntlet of a thousand
+perils. Fewer were born than among settled people, and more died in
+infancy.
+
+Uncivilised man is ever harsh in his treatment of woman. The natives of
+this country were less imperious than those of Port Jackson, where the
+blows of the waddy solemnised matrimony. Beside the burden of travel,
+they chiefly hunted the opossum, and mounted the lofty trees of the
+Tasmanian forest. When the man condescended to give part of his spoil,
+he handed over his shoulder the least delectable pieces to his wife, who
+sat at his back. Often, however, this indulgence was refused. Mr. Horton
+records an instance of unkindness, perhaps not general, nor very
+uncommon: it was noon; the mother, her infant, and little boy, had been
+without food all day: the father refused any part of that he had
+provided. Another of the tribe, however, was more generous: when he
+handed the woman a portion, at Mr. Horton's request, before she tasted
+any herself, she fed her child.
+
+They were often misunderstood; but they were sensible of domestic
+affections: the tribes were scattered by the last war--some were
+captives, others fugitives: eleven were already lodged at Richmond, when
+Mr. Gilbert Robertson brought up two others, a man and woman: they were
+recognised from afar by the party first taken; these raised the cry of
+welcome; it was a family meeting, and deeply moved the spectators. The
+parents embraced their children with rapture, and many tears.
+
+Under an engraving of a Van Diemen's Land woman and child, from a
+painting by J. Webber, the _Journal of Civilisation_ ventures the
+following:--"Contemplate the appalling picture! see her, in fact,
+without maternal affection! To such a mother, it would matter little to
+see her babe fall from her back and perish!" The woman of Van Diemen's
+Land, by the French artist, is most lively and maternal: her child is
+leaning over her head, its feet resting on her shoulders: she looks up
+towards it, with a strong expression of affection. Labillardiere
+repeatedly remarks the tenderness of the women to their children, as
+"very engaging." He also had a theory: but why suppose a black woman
+below a tigress, in the scale of maternity. The law of nature, deadened
+by circumstances, but which is even strong in the brute, was not
+inactive in their hearts. In every country, it is individually variable.
+
+There is a grave in a garden at Ben Lomond: Mr. Batman, the morning
+after its little tenant was deposited, walked up to the spot; but
+although he went at sunrise, one person was earlier: a Tasmanian woman;
+who sat by the grave, and wept. It was the mother.
+
+_Half-caste._--The half-caste children were oftener destroyed. A woman,
+who had immolated an infant of mixed origin, excused herself by saying
+it was not a _pretty_ baby; this was, however, far from universal, and
+more commonly the act of the tribe than of the mother. A native woman,
+who had an infant of this class, fell accidentally into the hands of her
+tribe: they tore the child from her arms, and threw it into the flames.
+The mother instantly snatched it from death, and quick as lightning
+dashed into the bush; where she concealed herself, until she made her
+escape. The injuries she received were, however, fatal. An elder
+daughter, called Miss Dalrymple, was the first half-caste child born in
+the colony: she was remarkably prepossessing: her eyes black, her skin
+copper-colored, her cheeks rosy, and her limbs admirably modelled: she
+was adopted by a settler.
+
+A considerable number of such children grew up in the island; but they
+were neglected by their parents, and often inherited the vices or
+barbarism of both. The females were early debased, and presented
+spectacles of nakedness and misery. When the Orphan School was formed, a
+few children were admitted at the government charge; of these, a
+fragment survive.
+
+A half-caste couple were married recently at Launceston: the expression
+of their countenances was extremely pleasing. They had been sent up from
+the Straits to obtain a legal sanction to their union, and they went
+through the ceremony with much sensibility. There is a register in St.
+John's Church, Launceston, of the marriage of an aboriginal pair in
+1829; the first ever celebrated in the face of the church.
+
+_Tribes._--Their tribes were distinct: they were known as the Oyster
+Bay, the Big River, the Stony Creek, and the Western. There were smaller
+sub-divisions; but those enumerated were divided by dialects, and
+well-established boundaries. Their chiefs were merely heads of families,
+and distinguished by their strength or cunning: they were thought to
+possess very trifling and uncertain control. It is said, that a
+notorious bushranger (Howe) fell in with a tribe: he assisted his
+companions in lifting a boat, but as he appeared in command, the chief
+checked him for lowering his dignity--a sovereign instinct, which shews
+the heart of a true prince. When the chiefs accompanied white men in
+their sports, and were requested to carry their spoil, they often
+manifested disdain and reluctance. Little is known of their policy, and
+probably there was but little to be known. The natives lived in harmony
+with each other, or when they quarrelled they decided by the weight of
+their waddies, and the thickness of their skulls. The aggressions of
+other tribes were punished by reprisals, but they rarely pursued a foe.
+Offences among themselves were treated according to their supposed
+enormity: the culprit had to stand while a certain number of spears were
+thrown at him. By this ordeal he was cleared, and the keenness of his
+eye and the agility of his motions, usually enabled him to escape a
+fatal wound. Faults, of slighter consequence, were punished without
+damage: the transgressor was set on the branch of a tree, and had to
+endure the mockery of the by-standers. It may be gratifying to discover
+such an example, in favor of the pillory!
+
+_Huts._--Their locomotion was predetermined, and their encampments
+regularly chosen; generally on the banks of a river or a lagoon. Each
+family had its fire; hunted separately, and erected a hut for its own
+accommodation. On the mountains, and beside the sea shore, they lodged
+in caverns; or where these were not found, as in the open country, they
+reared huts, or rather screens: these were of bark, half-circular,
+gathered at the top, and supported by stakes: in the front they kindled
+a fire. These huts formed rude villages, and were seen from seventeen to
+forty together. The former number being raised by a tribe of seventy,
+from four to five must have lodged under one shelter. Some, found at the
+westward, were permanent: they were like bee-hives, and thatched:
+several such were seen by Jorgenson, on the western shore--strong, and
+apparently erected for long use. They drew water for the sick in shells:
+the robust threw themselves on the bank, and drank as they lay. Boiled
+water was not used in their primitive state; it is said to have been
+unknown. This is scarcely credible: a heated shell or stone, filled by
+rain water, might have discovered the secret. They preserved their fire,
+usually by carrying a brand; if this was extinguished, they replaced it
+by going back to their last encampment, where the fuel still smouldered.
+It is said, that they were not ignorant of producing fire by friction.
+
+_Food._--Their appetite was voracious: a woman was watched one day,
+during which, beside a double ration of bread, she devoured more than
+fifty eggs, as large as those of a duck. Mr. O'Connor saw a child, eight
+years old, eat a kangaroo rat, and attack a cray-fish. The game they
+cast into the fire, and when singed drew it out and extracted the
+entrails; it was then returned to the embers, and when thoroughly
+warmed, the process was completed. They were acquainted with the common
+expedient of savage nations, who pass from repletion to hunger: they
+tightened a girdle of kangaroo skin, which they wore when otherwise
+naked. Fat they detested; some tribes also rejected the male, and others
+the female wallaby, as food: the cause is unknown. A few vegetable
+productions, as the native potato, and a fungus, which forces up the
+ground, called native bread, and which tastes like cold boiled rice; the
+fern and grass-tree, also yielded them food. White caterpillars and ant
+eggs, and several other productions, supplemented their ordinary diet.
+The animals on which they subsisted chiefly, were the emu, kangaroo,
+wallaby, and the opossum: the latter living in trees. They obtained a
+liquor from the cyder tree (_eucalyptus_), which grows on the Shannon,
+and elsewhere: it is tapped like the maple; its juice, of the taste of
+molasses, trickled down into a hole at the foot of the tree, and was
+covered with a stone. By a natural fermentation, it became slightly
+intoxicating; and in early days was liked by the stockmen.
+
+During the winter, the natives visited the sea shore: they disappeared
+from the settled districts about June, and returned in October. The
+women were accustomed to dive for shell fish, which they placed in a
+rude basket, tied round the waist. On these marine stations (as at
+Pieman's River on the west coast), their huts were constructed with more
+care. Heaps of oyster shells, which seem to be the accumulation of ages,
+still attest their dependence on the abundance of the sea.
+
+_Dress and Ornaments._--In summer, they were entirely naked: in the
+winter, they protected the shoulders and the waist by a dried skin of
+kangaroo. The women wore the same, with the addition of ruffles. The
+dress of Europeans greatly distressed them: they endured it no longer
+than their visit; yet they were sensible of cold, and could bear less
+exposure to the weather than Englishmen. They sat close to their fires;
+and, during days of rain, continued under shelter. The men wore, on the
+head, grease mixed with ochre--a sort of plumbago, found at the
+Hampshire Hills: it was used partly for ornament, and partly as a
+substitute for cleanliness. Bits of wood, feathers, flowers, and
+kangaroo teeth, were inserted in the hair, which was separated into
+tufts, rolled and matted together. This decoration was denied the women:
+their hair was cropped close, with sharp crystal; some on the one side
+of the head only, in others like the tonsure of the priest. They were
+accustomed to ornament the body by several methods, differing perhaps
+with different tribes. Patches of ochre and grease formed a considerable
+portion of their adornment. With a shining mineral they drew symmetrical
+lines on the neck, shoulders and face, and various parts of the body; in
+some cases they resembled epaulettes, in others they imitated the eye:
+they also made incisions, which they kept open by grease, till the skin
+was raised, and the process complete: the torment they endured with
+great fortitude, and affected indifference. _Penderome_, the brother of
+a western chief, underwent this operation, which was performed by a
+woman with broken glass. The flesh of his shoulder opened like crimped
+fish; but he interrupted the process by antics and laughter. They wore a
+necklace called _merrina_; it was principally composed of pearly blue
+shells, bored by the eye tooth, and strung on the sinews of kangaroo.
+These shells were cleansed by the acid of wood steam, and received a
+high polish.
+
+_Arms and Implements._--Their utensils and weapons were simple: the
+baskets, formed of grass, described by Furneaux, were not afterwards
+improved, but they answered the end. The waddy was a short piece of
+wood, reduced and notched towards the grasp, and slightly rounded at the
+point. The spear, nine or ten feet long, was pointed at the larger end,
+straightened by the teeth, and balanced with great nicety. The spearman,
+while poising the weapon, held others in his left hand, prepared for
+instant use: the spear, thus poised, seemed for a few seconds to spin,
+and it would strike at sixty yards, with an unerring aim. Labillardiere
+describes it well: the warrior grasped it in the middle; raised it as
+high as his head; drew it towards himself with a jerk, that gave a
+tremulous motion at the extremities, which accelerated its progress, and
+tended to support it longer on the column of air; it was darted at 100
+paces, and remained in a horizontal position for three-fourths of the
+distance. The children were early trained to the exercise: Lieutenant
+Breton saw a child, five years old, throw a stick through the ring
+affixed to the wall of the gaol, with great precision.
+
+A chief, confined in Hobart Town gaol, taken on the Shannon, exhibited
+these feats of quickness and strength. He would spring up into the air
+five feet, and reel round and round, with uncommon rapidity. He threw a
+broomstick, at twelve yards distance, through a hole in the sentry box,
+of but little larger diameter; and a lath, cast at thirty yards, pierced
+a hat through and through. They used no throwing stick, or sling.
+
+In the estimation of Europeans, their practice in war was savage and
+cowardly: "they do not, like an Englishman," complained a colonial
+writer, "give notice before they strike." The perfection of war, in
+their esteem, was ambush and surprise; but an intelligent observer
+sometimes saw considerable cleverness in their tactics. Mr. Franks was
+on horseback, driving cattle homeward: he saw eight blacks forming a
+line behind him, to prevent his retreat; each with an uplifted spear,
+besides a bundle in the left hand. They then dropped on one knee, still
+holding the weapon in menace; then they rose and ran towards him in
+exact order: while they distracted his attention by their evolutions,
+other blacks gathered from all quarters, and within thirty yards a
+savage stood with his spear quivering in the air. This weapon, ten feet
+long, penetrated the flap of the saddle, and the flesh of the horse four
+inches, which dropped on his hind quarters. The rider was in despair;
+but the spear fell, and the animal recovered his feet and fled. The
+servant, less fortunate than his master, was found some days after,
+slain. The attack was well planned, and exhibited all the elements of
+military science!
+
+A tribe, who attacked the premises of Mr. Jones, in 1819, at the
+Macquarie, were led by a chief six feet high: he carried _one_ spear, of
+a peculiar form, and no other kind of weapon: this he did not use, but
+stood aloof from the rest, and issued his orders with great calmness,
+which were implicitly obeyed. They formed themselves in a "_half moon
+ring_," and attacked the English with great vigour. The chief was shot:
+they were struck with dismay, and endeavoured to make him stand; "they
+made a frightful noise, looked up to heaven, and smote their
+breasts!"[31]
+
+The wars among them latterly, provoked by driving one tribe on the
+boundaries of another, were not infrequent; as everywhere, women were
+the cause and object of strife. The tribes to the westward were the
+finer race: those from South Cape to Cape Grim, had better huts, and
+they wore mocassins on travel. Those on the east of the Launceston road
+were confederate: towards the last, the Oyster Bay tribe committed their
+children to the care of the Big River tribe, many of whom had been slain
+by the western tribes, as well as by the English. It was this which
+increased the difficulties of their conciliation: they had not only to
+be reconciled to the English, but to each other. They were bold and
+warlike in their carriage, and when exhibiting spear exercise, commanded
+the admiration of the spectator.
+
+_Agility and Dexterity._--Their skill was chiefly exerted in obtaining
+their food: they were agile and dextrous. The opossum was hunted by the
+women, who by a glance discovered if the animal were to be found in the
+tree. They ascended trees of a tremendous height: they first threw
+round the trunk a rope, twice its girth, which they held in the centre,
+and by the left end, in one hand: having cut the first notch for the
+toe, they raised themselves up by the rope, in an attitude sufficiently
+perpendicular to carry the hatchet or stone on the head. They then cut a
+second, and by a jerk of the bight of the rope, raised it up: thus, step
+by step, they reached the branch, over which the loose end of the rope
+being cast, they were enabled to draw themselves round. It is stated by
+Backhouse, that they only required these notches at the bottom of the
+tree; and they dispensed with them as the bark became smooth, and the
+diameter diminished. They ascended almost as rapidly as with a ladder,
+and came down more quickly. When the ropes were of skin, or more
+perishable materials, the accidents must have been many and terrible.
+This feat required considerable muscular strength, and in the weak
+produced great physical exhaustion. They were swift of foot: when they
+possessed dogs, they ran nearly abreast of them; stimulated them by
+imitating the cry of the kangaroo, and were generally in at the death.
+Their former practice was to fire the brush-wood, in which the game had
+sought shelter, and which they speared when driven out by the flames.
+This practice was wasteful; besides exposing them to the charge of
+arson, when they were only following the customs of the chase.
+
+Their ability to conceal themselves, assisted by their color, proved the
+quickness of their eye, and the agility of their limbs. A shooting party
+approached a native camp near the Clyde, and found they had just
+abandoned their half-cooked opossums and their spears: excepting a small
+group of wattle bushes, at the distance of ten yards, the ground was
+free of all but the lofty trees: the travellers immediately scoured this
+thicket, but on turning round they, in great astonishment, discovered
+that opossums and spears were all gone. It was the work of a moment, but
+traces of aborigines were unseen.[32]
+
+_Corrobories and Dances._--Their general assemblies were attended by
+great numbers: at these meetings they raised large fires, and continued
+dancing till midnight. They first began their movement round the pyre,
+with slow steps and soft tunes: as they advanced more quickly, their
+voices became more sharp and loud: they closed in upon the fire, and
+leaping close to the flame appeared in considerable peril. These
+movements they continued; shrieking and whooping until thoroughly
+exhausted. It is hardly possible for the imagination to picture a scene
+more infernal.
+
+A gentleman, on guard during the black war, watched a small group in the
+gaol yard round their night fires. One of them raised his hands, and
+moved them slowly in a horizontal direction; and spreading, as if
+forming an imaginary fan or quarter-circle: he turned his head from side
+to side, raising one eye to the sky, where an eagle hawk was soaring.
+The action was accompanied by words, repeated with unusual emotion: at
+length they all rose up together, and uttered loud cries. The whole
+action had the appearance of an incantation.
+
+The dances were various. The emu dance, was intended to represent the
+motions of that bird: the horse dance, necessarily modern, was performed
+by their trotting after each other, in a stooping posture, and holding
+the foremost by the loins: the thunder-and-lightning dance was merely
+stamping the ground. Their amusements were childish, and boisterous; but
+they applauded themselves with the invariable phrase, "_narracoopa_"--very
+good.
+
+They felt the incumbrance of clothing, when exhibiting their feats: the
+permission to strip was embraced with great gladness. They gradually
+wrought themselves into the most extravagant excitement: their pleasure
+was in activity.
+
+_Language._--Their language varied: the four principal tribes had
+different dialects. When they met at Flinders', communication was
+difficult, yet their songs were the same. The language has never been
+reduced to rules, though vocabularies have been collected by Jorgenson,
+and others. The Rev. Mr. Dove furnished some additional information; but
+though the specimens establish an affinity in these dialects, the
+results are otherwise unimportant. The vowels greatly predominate: the
+_r_ is sounded rough, and lingering. The words are frequently liquid and
+melodious. At Flinders' Island, the language was a mixture of several;
+broken English, New Holland, and Tasmanian words formed the currency of
+the island. In English, they dropped the _d_ and _s_; thus sugar is
+tugar, and doctor is togata. As with other barbarians, who have enjoyed
+the benefit of our instructions, the epithets of licentiousness and
+insult were most current, and most aptly applied. Strangers to abstract
+ideas, their words expressed the most common objects, sensations, and
+wants. Their songs, which reminded Labillardiere of the music of the
+Arabs of Asia Minor, were exceedingly soft and plaintive; their voices
+not wanting in melody. They repeated the same note in soft and liquid
+syllables; descended to the second bar, and finished with a third above
+the key note. They sometimes varied, by suddenly running into the
+octave. Their strains were considered, by a Scotchman, a close
+resemblance to the Highland bagpipe. The stanzas they repeated again and
+again: none have been translated, for which, it is said, they are
+unfit.[33]
+
+_Intellect._--Their intellectual character is low; yet not so inferior
+as often described. They appeared stupid, when addressed on subjects
+which had no relation to their mode of life; but they were quick and
+cunning within their own sphere. A country not producing any animal
+capable of service; where nothing is sharper than stone; destitute of
+grain, and of fruits of any value, could be inhabited only by a
+wandering race. Their locomotion sharpened their powers of observation,
+without much increasing their ideas. In such circumstances, mind may
+degenerate, but it cannot advance. Some colonists were recently
+startled, by the appearance of a white family from the remote interior:
+they were found by a surveyor, who at first took them for savages; they
+had the animal expression of the eye, which is so common to uncivilised
+people.
+
+The inferiority of the aboriginal mind is not to be denied. Intellectual
+power is both hereditary and improvable: the exaltation of a generation
+of men gives the infancy of the next a more forward starting point--what
+was individual is diffused, until it becomes characteristic of the race.
+
+They were fond of imitation, and humour: they had their drolls and
+mountebanks: they were able to seize the peculiarities of individuals,
+and exhibit them with considerable force.[34]
+
+In several parts of the colony rude drawings have been discovered.
+Cattle, kangaroo, and dogs, were traced in charcoal. These attempts were
+exceedingly rude, and sometimes the artist was wholly unintelligible. At
+Belvoir Vale, the natives saw the Company's two carts, drawn by six
+oxen: they drew on bark the wheels, and the drivers with their whips.
+They were the first that ever passed that region.
+
+_Disposition._--They were cruel in their resentment; but not prone to
+violence: that they did not shorten the sufferings of animals taken for
+food, will hardly be considered by sportsmen decisive evidence against
+them. They were not ungrateful; especially for medical relief, which
+appeared a favor more unequivocal than presents of food.
+
+A little boy, captured by a surveyor in 1828, when seen, sprang into the
+water, where he remained for a long time: at first, he was greatly
+alarmed, but soon became contented. He pointed to the lady of the house
+as a lubra. Entering a room, where a young lady was seated, he was told
+to kiss her: after long hesitation, he went up to her; laid his fingers
+gently on her cheek, then kissed them, and ran out!
+
+Some captives, taken by Mr. Batman, were lodged in the gaol: they became
+strongly attached to the javelin man: they were treated by the gaoler
+with studious compassion, and they _left the prison with tears_!
+
+The English were seen by some friendly natives to draught the toad fish,
+which is poison, and by which several have perished: the natives
+perceiving its preparation for food, endeavoured to shew, by gestures,
+that it was not to be eaten, and exhibited its effects by the semblance
+of death. Not very long after, a native was shewn a pistol, which a
+white man snapped at his own ear; and who, giving the unfortunate black
+one shotted, encouraged him to perform the same manoeuvre; he was thus
+murdered by his own hands. The natives were variable, from ignorance and
+distrust; probably from mental puerility: thus, their war whoop and
+defiance were soon succeeded by shouts of laughter.
+
+_Religious Ideas._--Their religious ideas were exceedingly meagre and
+uncertain. To Mr. Horton's enquiries, in 1821, they answered, "don't
+know," with broad grins: he was probably not understood. They appear to
+have had no religious rites, and few congenial ideas: they dreaded
+darkness, and feared to wander from their fires: they recognised a
+malignant spirit, and attributed strong emotions to the devil. The feats
+imputed to his agency, do not much differ from the sensations of
+night-mare: they believed him to be _white_--a notion supported by very
+substantial reasons, and suggested by their national experience: this
+idea must have been modern. They ascribed extraordinary convulsions to
+this malignant power, and to his influence they traced madness. Lord
+Monboddo might have contrived their account of the creation: they were
+formed with tails, and without knee-joints, by a benevolent being:
+another descended from heaven, and compassionating the sufferers, cut
+off the tail; and with grease softened the knees.
+
+As to a future state, they expected to re-appear on an island in the
+Straits, and "to jump up white men." They anticipated in another life
+the full enjoyment of what they coveted in this. These scraps of
+theology, when not clearly European, are of doubtful origin: nothing
+seems certain, except that they dreaded mischief, from demons of
+darkness. Though they had no idols, they possessed some notions of
+statuary: it was sufficiently rude. They selected stones, about ten
+inches high, to represent absent friends; one of greater dimensions than
+common, Backhouse observed that they called Mother Brown.
+
+Persons of sanguine minds are apt to attribute to them religious ideas,
+which they never possessed in their original state. The notion of a
+spirit, however, exists on the continent: in this, the Tasmanian black
+participated. Their ideas were extremely indefinite, and will not
+refute, or much support the belief, that the recognition of a Divinity
+is an universal tradition.
+
+_The Sick._--They suffered from several diseases, which were often
+fatal. Rheumatism and inflammations were cured by incisions: the
+loathsome eruption, called the native leprosy, they relieved by
+wallowing in ashes: the catarrh was very destructive, in certain
+seasons; a whole tribe on the Huon perished, except one woman. The
+native doctor said, that it was the _devil_ that killed them: the woman
+described the process by feigned coughing. Their surgery was simple:
+they cut gashes with crystal. They treated a snake bite by boring the
+wound with a charred peg; stuffed it with fur, and then singed off the
+surplus to the level of the skin. They had faith in charms: thigh bones
+were especially useful, and were fastened on the head in a triangle:
+these relics were found very effectual. There were some who practised
+more than others, and therefore called doctors by the English: one of
+these feigned inspiration, and brandished his club. The sick were often
+deserted: their tribes could neither convey them, nor wait for their
+recovery. Food and a lenitive were left within their reach, and when
+able they followed their kinsmen; the alternative is the terrible risk
+of a wandering life. This custom was modified by circumstances, and
+sometimes by the relatives of the sufferer.
+
+Like the natives of New South Wales, they called to each other, from a
+great distance, by the _cooey_; a word meaning "come to me." The Sydney
+blacks modulated this cry, with successive inflexions; the Tasmanian
+uttered it with less art. It is a sound of great compass. The English,
+in the bush, adopt it: the first syllable is prolonged; the second is
+raised to a higher key, and is sharp and abrupt.[35]
+
+_Funereal._--When they felt the approach of death, they were anxious to
+expire in the open air, and requested to be carried forth, even from the
+houses erected for their use. They believed that the spirit lingers in
+the body until sun-down. The French naturalist, Labillardiere, first
+noticed the burning of the dead. His account was ridiculed by the
+Quarterly Reviewers, who suspected cannibalism; but there are proofs
+innumerable, that this was a practice of affection. A group of blacks
+was watched, in 1829, while engaged in a funeral. A fire was made at the
+foot of a tree: a naked infant was carried in procession, with loud
+cries and lamentations; when the body was decomposed in the flames, the
+skull was taken up by a female,--probably the mother. The skull was long
+worn wrapt in kangaroo skin: Backhouse observed a couple who carried,
+alternately, this ghastly memento of their child: it is said, that they
+deposited several together, in final resting places.
+
+They were jealous of spectators, and took offence if they approached
+their dead. Bodies not consumed, were placed in hollow trees, and closed
+in by underwood: decomposition being completed in these natural tombs,
+the survivors carried away the bones. Backhouse saw a striking funeral:
+a woman died; they built a pile of logs; laid the body thereon, and
+watched all night. At daybreak they applied the brand; then covering
+their faces with the ashes, which became furrowed with their tears, they
+sat down and lamented!
+
+Just after the capture, an aborigine told his tribe that his
+death was at hand. He requested them to prepare the wood for his
+obsequies, while he leaned against a tree, directing their sad labors:
+he died that night! This is touching. A savage preparing for his
+funeral, with a calm consciousness of his fate--midst the ruins of his
+fading race!
+
+             *     *     *     *     *
+
+In closing this mournful record, the reader is conscious that the
+history of the Tasmanian is but the experience of myriads. As an
+exhibition of Providence, it fills us with astonishment;--of human
+passions, with humiliation and sadness. The current of immigration will
+not be diverted by abstract questions of human rights, nor will states
+model their policy to preserve the barbarian; but the path of history is
+clear, and even self love, which may carefully _sift evidence_, must not
+turn from the lessons it offers.
+
+The original occupation of this country necessarily involved most of the
+consequences which followed: was that occupation, then, just? The right
+of wandering hordes to engross vast regions--for ever to retain
+exclusive property in the soil, and which would feed millions where
+hundreds are scattered--can never be maintained. The laws of increase
+seem to suggest the right of migration: neither nations nor individuals
+are bound to tarry on one spot, and die. The assumption of sovereignty
+over a savage people is justified by necessity--that law, which gives to
+strength the control of weakness. It prevails everywhere: it may be
+either malignant or benevolent, but it is irresistible. The barbarian
+that cannot comprehend laws or treaties, must be governed by bribes, or
+by force. Thus, that the royal standard was planted, need occasion no
+remorse; but though the native had not exclusive natural rights, he
+possessed the attributes of man, and the government was bound to
+ascertain his wants, and protect his interest in the country. England,
+however, forgot the aborigina: she secured him no refuge--provided no
+interpreter to his feelings; his language was unknown, and his testimony
+inadmissable.
+
+The legal recognition of rights in the soil, pertaining to the native
+inhabitants of colonised regions, is attended with some difficulty, and
+nowhere greater than among hunting tribes: their actual possession is
+only definable, by admitting the wide boundaries of the chase. The
+Parliamentary Committee, in a review of the whole question, did not
+recommend treaties with savages: the terms would be liable to disputes,
+and a difference of interpretation would occasion distrust and
+animosity. A middle course might, however, be open. The natives have an
+equitable lien on the land, for which rulers who transfer its occupation
+are bound to provide effectively and for ever. Instead of making the
+death of the native the release of private incumbrance; instead of
+making it the constant interest, and daily effort of the settler, to
+drive him away, it ought to have been the object of the crown to
+identify the life of the native with the welfare of the intruder. In
+granting possession of lands, the terms might have given the settler a
+claim for remission of price--or a pecuniary reward, payable out of the
+proceeds of land--for every native child he might rear, and every family
+he might induce to choose him as their protector. Thus the shepherd
+princes would have felt that their interests harmonised with the
+existence of a race, now regarded with dislike and jealousy. The native
+police at Port Phillip, suggested originally by Captain Maconochie, is
+an adoption of this principle: they are useful, and therefore pains have
+been taken to attach them. It is in vain to make laws, and to issue
+proclamations to shield the aborigines, unless they are identified with
+some local interest; and for this, no sacrifice of the land revenue
+could be considered too great.
+
+A youth, called Van Diemen, was nine years old when found in the wood,
+and adopted by Col. Davey; he was subsequently taken to England by Mr.
+Kermode. He had been taught to read, and could repeat several chapters
+of the Bible. He was remarkably keen and intelligent. [On his return to
+this colony, he was cut off by consumption: at the _post mortem_ it was
+found that his lungs were nearly gone.] Mr. Kermode endeavoured to
+prevail with Lord Bathurst, to authorise a grant of land; but Mr. Wilmot
+Horton, then Under Secretary, objected that there were millions of
+British subjects, whose claims were of the same kind, and that the
+precedent would be inconvenient. At the same time, men in chains were
+receiving grants of land, and emancipists as a matter of course; but the
+minister was opposed to admit a claim founded on birth, orphanage, and
+civilisation, lest it should multiply applicants. As if anything could
+have been more desirable to the philanthropist and politician: who can
+wonder that convicts despised that which the ministers of the crown
+repudiated? Excepting the often pernicious donatives, occasionally
+conferred, the aborigina was treated only as a foreigner, a slave, and
+an enemy. Thus the order of Lord Hobart stood alone: it was a record of
+intention, not a development of government. The ministry washed their
+hands, and averted their eyes; and threw upon the colony the
+responsibility of inevitable crime.[36]
+
+But the government of England, not only left undefined the obligations
+it seemed to confess: it did more; it let loose on the shores of
+Tasmania its outcasts, its robbers, and its homicides; it released their
+bonds, and sent them forth to contest with the native for the animals of
+chase--to cross his path unwatched--to destroy him unpunished. Crimes of
+every kind were visited, save this. For a word, or a look, the felon was
+brought to the triangle; but when he shot down the native, and acquired
+distinction by his butcheries, justice became scrupulous: the laws were
+silent--religion and humanity were silent; and the fallen black, like
+the uprooted forest, was thought of as an encumbrance removed!
+
+The state of the census was equally reprehensible: England not only
+forgot the prescriptions of nature, and formed communities of _men_, but
+the inevitable consequence to the natives was utterly neglected. It
+would be impossible even to hint the series of facts, which are
+authenticated to the writer, and which strangely blended ferocity and
+lust. The sealer, or stockman, who periled his life to accomplish the
+abduction of a native female, thought that danger but fairly avenged by
+the destruction of her relatives! Thus far the government was remiss and
+culpable. The crimes of individuals, without diminishing _their_ guilt,
+must be traced to those general causes, which are subject to the
+disposal of statesmen and legislators.
+
+But when the colony was planted, and the people spread abroad, it was
+the duty of the crown to protect its subjects of every class: it was the
+duty of its officers to arrest the arm of the black man, however great
+the provocation that raised it. They could not stand by to investigate
+causes; to divide between the two races the proportions of crime, while
+the innocent family was exposed to violence. It was better that the
+blacks should die, than that they should stain the settler's hearth
+with the blood of his children. In this view Colonel Arthur was right:
+his estimate of the native character was not impartial, for he beheld it
+when it only appeared detestable. He had no choice; he resolved to
+protect his countrymen.
+
+It is common to speak of the guilt of this community; sometimes in
+variance with reason and truth. That guilt belongs only to the _guilty_;
+it cannot contaminate those who were helpless spectators, or involuntary
+agents. The doctrine of common responsibility, can only be applicable
+where all are actors, or one is the representative of all. The colonist
+may say, "I owe no reparation, for I have done the native no wrong; I
+never contemplated aiding in his destruction: I have seen it with
+horror." May the lesson of his sufferings become the shield of his race!
+Those who impute guilt to this colony, forget that its worst members are
+not stationary, and that many have borne away their guilt with their
+persons. That Being, who makes requisition for blood, will find it in
+the skirts of the murderer, and not on the land he disdained.
+
+No man can witness the triumph of colonisation, when cities rise in the
+desert, and the wilderness blossoms as the rose, without being gladdened
+by the change; but the question which includes the fate of the
+aborigines,--What will become of them?--must check exultation. The black
+will invade rights he does not comprehend; seize on stragglers from
+those flocks, which have driven off his game; and wound the heel which
+yet ultimately treads him to the dust. Such is the process--it is
+carelessly remarked, that the native is seen less often; that it is long
+since he ventured to cross the last line, where death set up landmarks
+in the slain. At length the secret comes out: the tribe which welcomed
+the first settler with shouts and dancing, or at worst looked on with
+indifference, has ceased to live.
+
+If the accounts of discoverers have been too flattering to the native
+character, they are explained rather than contradicted by the early
+colonists. These describe, with exultation, their new acquaintance, when
+writing to their friends: how peaceful, light-hearted, and obliging.
+They are charmed by their simplicity; they sleep among them without
+fear: but these notes soon change; and passing from censure to
+hatred, they speak of them as improvident, importunate, and
+instrusive; as rapacious and mischievous; then as treacherous and
+blood-thirsty--finally, as _devils_, and beasts of prey. Their
+appearance is offensive, their proximity obstructive: their presence
+renders everything insecure. Thus the muskets of the soldier, and of the
+bandit, are equally useful; they clear the land of a detested incubus.
+
+It is not in the nature of civilisation to exalt the savage. Chilled by
+the immensity of the distance, he cannot be an equal: his relation to
+the white can only be that of an alien, or a slave. By the time
+astonishment subsides, the power of civilised men is understood, and
+their encroachment is felt. Fine houses garrison his country, enclosures
+restrict his chase, and alternately fill him with rage and sadness. He
+steals across the land he once held in sovereignty, and sighs for the
+freedom and fearlessness of his ancestors: he flies the track of his
+invaders, or surprises them with his vengeance;--a savage he was found,
+and a savage he perishes!
+
+
+
+
+REMARKS ON THE CAUSES OF THE BURNING OF THE DEAD BY THE VAN DIEMENESE.
+
+[From Peron's Voyage, 1802.]
+
+
+"On a wide swarth of verdure (at Maria Island), beneath some antique
+casuarinae, rose a cone, formed coarsely of the bark of trees inserted at
+bottom in the ground, and terminated at top by a large band of similar
+materials. Four long poles stuck in the earth, sustained and served for
+all the pieces of bark to lean against; these four poles seemed also
+calculated to ornament the building; for, instead of uniting all their
+upper extremity like the bark, and so forming a simple cone, they
+crossed each other about the middle, and then extended without the roof
+of the ornament. From this disposition resulted a sort of inverted
+tetracdic pyramid in the upper part opposed to the cone below. This
+contrast of form in the two parts of the building had a somewhat
+graceful effect, which was increased by the following additions:--With
+each of the four sides of the pyramid corresponded a wide strip of bark,
+the two bent extremities of which were at the bottom bound together by
+the large band, which, as I before noticed, united all the pieces of
+bark at the top of the cone: it follows that each of these four strips
+formed a sort of oval, least rounded at its inferior extremity, and
+widest and most rounded above; and as each of these ovals corresponded
+with one of the sides of the inverted pyramid, it is not difficult to
+conceive the elegance and picturesque effect of the plan.
+
+"After looking some time at this monument, the use of which I vainly
+strove to fathom, I soon resolved to push my examination to a greater
+length: I removed several thick pieces of bark, and readily penetrated
+to the interior of the building. The whole of the upper part was vacant:
+at the bottom was a large flattened cone formed of a fine light grass,
+laid with much care in conuntric and very deep strata. With my doubt
+respecting the purpose of this, my curiosity increased. Eight small bent
+sticks crossing each other at the summit of this cone of verdure, served
+to preserve its form; each of these sticks had its two extremities
+fastened in the earth, and kept firm in their position by a large piece
+of flattened granite. So much care led me to expect some important
+discovery; nor was I mistaken. Scarcely had I raised the upper layers
+of turf, ere I perceived a large heap of white ashes, apparently
+collected together with nicety: thrusting my hand into the midst of
+these, I felt something hard, withdrawing which, I found it to be the
+jaw-bone of a man, and shreds of flesh still adhering to it. I shuddered
+with horror. Still, reflecting a little on all I had observed in the
+composition of the monument, I soon experienced sensations widely
+different from those I felt at first: the verdure, the flowers, the
+protecting trees, the deep bed of herbage which covered the ashes, all
+united to convince me that I had here discovered a tomb.... Succeeding
+ideas caused new reflections: I asked myself, 'What can have originated
+this custom of burning the dead? Separated from the rest of the world,
+and at its farthest extremity, these people cannot have adopted it from
+communication with others; it must irrefutably therefore be an idea of
+their own. But, in that case, wherefore prefer this mode of disposing of
+the dead? Can the preference be the effect of chance? Or does there
+exist some physical reason for it, dependent on the nature of things, or
+the particular social organization of these men?' ...
+
+"This last measure is to burn it. Every thing concurs to facilitate this
+expedient; every thing in this is accordant with the mode of life of the
+inhabitant of these shores, as well as the circumstances in which he is
+placed. Fire, that powerful and terrible agent, their recourse on so
+many and such valuable occasions, cannot fail of exciting among these
+people some of those sentiments of veneration, consecrated with the
+majority of ancient nations by such numerous institutions and religious
+monuments. Without being deified, perhaps, as formerly it was, fire in
+these countries is regarded as something superior to the other works of
+nature; and these first ideas will probably have contributed not in a
+trivial degree to the determination of burning their dead. The requisite
+materials for the purpose were at hand: neither calculation nor labor
+were required for putting the plan in execution; no instrument was
+necessary; and it prevented taint and the consequent infection. But a
+few remains of bones would be here after the operation, to cover which
+the ashes of the fire would be sufficient. The whole ceremony required
+only a few hours; and prejudices tended to render it reputable and
+sacred. Thus then this practice of burning the dead does not appear to
+be the effect of mere chance: accordant with physical and local
+circumstances, these evidently were the origin of the custom."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 27: Despatch to Lord Goderich, 6th April, 1833.]
+
+[Footnote 28: The following is worth remembering, as a caution to
+reviewers, as well as philosophers:--"At Port Dalrymple, in Van Diemen's
+Land, there was every reason to believe, the natives were unacquainted
+with the use of canoes; a fact, extremely embarrassing to those who
+indulge themselves in speculating on the genealogy of natives: because
+it reduces them to the necessity of supposing, that this isolated people
+swam over from the main land, or that they were _aboriginal_."--_Rev.
+Sidney Smith, Edin. Rev._, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 29: "In many instances (it is remarked by Count Strzelecki, p.
+355) the facial angle is more acute in the white man: the superciliary
+ridge, the centres of ossification of the frontal bones, and the ridge
+of the occipital one, more developed; and the maxilliary more widely
+expanded, than in the skulls of aborigines."]
+
+[Footnote 30: Veteran novel readers will be delighted to find, that
+these black lovers were united by an event, which constitutes the most
+touching artifice of fashionable fiction.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Report of Mr. Jones to Governor Arthur.]
+
+[Footnote 32: "I remember a fellow of the 'Grimaldi' breed: he
+undertook, on a fine summer's evening, to place himself among the tree
+stumps of a field, so that not two of a large party should agree as to
+his identity. He reclined like a Roman on his elbow, projected his arm
+as if a small branch, and drew down his head. No one could tell which
+was the living stump, and were obliged to call him to come out and shew
+himself."--_Dr. Ross's "Fourteen years ago."_]
+
+[Footnote 33: Song of Ben Lomond:--
+
+    "Ne popula raina pogana
+    Thu me gunnea
+    Naina kaipa raina pogana
+    Naara paara powella paara.
+          Ballahoo,
+          Hoo hoo,
+          War whoop (very gutteral)."
+
+--_Tas. Journal._]
+
+
+[Footnote 34: This is common to the race: there is one now at Geelong,
+whose imitations enabled the spectator at once to guess the person
+intended.]
+
+[Footnote 35: A female, born on this division of the globe, once stood
+at the foot of London bridge, and _cooeyed_ for her husband, of whom she
+had lost sight, and stopped the passengers by the novelty of the sound;
+which, however, is not unknown in certain neighbourhoods of the
+metropolis. Some gentlemen, on a visit to a London theatre, to draw the
+attention of their friends in an opposite box, called out _cooey_; a
+voice, in the gallery, answered--"Botany Bay!"]
+
+[Footnote 36: "You are to endeavour, by every means in your power, to
+open an intercourse with the natives, and to conciliate their good
+will--enjoining all persons under your government to live in amity and
+kindness with them; and if any person shall exercise any acts of
+violence against them, or shall wantonly give them any interruption in
+the exercise of their several occupations, you are to cause such
+offender to be brought to punishment, according to the degree of the
+offence."--_Lord Hobart's instructions to Lieutenant-Governor Collins._]
+
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF TASMANIA.
+
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+Transportation, considered not as a question of national policy but as a
+fact, demands a place in this record. It will be our object to ascertain
+those incidents which illustrate its local operation--to trace events
+that have attended the repeated changes in its colonial spirit. It
+belongs to the British statesman to scan its effects on the population
+of the empire; but fairly to exhibit its Australasian aspect, will not
+be without utility to the colonies themselves.
+
+Although a separate relation will derange the thread of Tasmanian
+history, the reader may be compensated by a view more perspicuous and
+useful.
+
+Thousands of British offenders, who by their exile and sufferings have
+expiated their crimes, trod almost alone the first stages of Austral
+colonisation, and amidst toils and privations, initiated a progress now
+beheld by nations with curiosity and admiration. Economists still weigh
+in uncertain balances the loss and the gain, and the legislator longs
+for facts which may decide the perpetual conflict between them who
+denounce and those who approve this expedient of penal legislation. It
+is not the intention of this narrative to anticipate conclusions: its
+design will be accomplished when the story of the past is truly told.
+
+Exile, the penalty denounced by the Almighty against the first homicide,
+was among the earliest affixed by man to lesser crimes, or whenever the
+presence of the offender endangered the public repose. The Roman law
+permitted the accused to withdraw from impending judgment by a voluntary
+exile. Such was the practice in the time of Cicero. When men sought to
+avoid bondage or death, adjudged by the laws, they had recourse to exile
+as to an altar; nor did they forfeit their civic standing, except with
+their lives.[37]
+
+At a later period, under the imperial government, the islands of the
+Mediterranean became places of exile: several thousand Jews were
+banished from Rome to the Island of Sardinia.[38]
+
+Transportation was unknown to the common law of England, but abjuration
+of the realm, which resembled the Roman practice, was not infrequent:
+"it was permitted," said Sir Edward Coke, "when the felon chose rather
+to _perdere patriam quam vitam_,"--to lose his country rather than his
+life. The culprit having found sanctuary within the precincts of a
+church, took oath to abjure the realm: assuming the character of a
+pilgrim, he received a cross to protect him on his journey. By the Act
+of James I. the privilege of sanctuary was taken away,[39] and thus the
+abjuration, founded upon it, virtually abolished.
+
+The Spanish was the first Christian nation which to banishment united
+penal labor. Columbus found it difficult to allure adventurers: to work
+the mines, was necessary to gratify his patrons, and he prevailed on
+Ferdinand to furnish colonists by clearing the galleys. These recruits
+attended the great discoverer on his third expedition (1498): they
+largely contributed to the disorders which vexed the infant settlement,
+and aroused the resentment of the unfortunate Indians.[40]
+
+Banishment was first formally recognised by English law in the reign of
+Elizabeth (39 Eliz. cap. 4).[41] It was enacted, that "dangerous rogues,
+and such as will not be reformed of their roguish course of life, may
+lawfully by the justices in their quarter sessions be banished out of
+the realm, and all the dominions thereof, and to such parts beyond the
+seas as shall for that purpose be assigned by the privy council." Return
+was made felony without benefit of clergy. A brand was affixed upon the
+shoulder, of the breadth of an English shilling, with a great Roman R
+upon the iron: "for a perpetual mark upon such rogue, during his or her
+life."[42]
+
+Until commerce had extended the knowledge of distant parts, and the
+constant publication of correspondence with colonies made their affairs
+familiar, imagination depicted them as desolate and frightful. The
+London apprentice and the plough boy, thought of exile as a severe
+calamity. The love of home was rendered more intense, by the universal
+wilderness imagined beyond it: thus, loss of country was deemed a
+penalty fully equal to ordinary offences, and more severe than any
+domestic form of punishment short of the scaffold.
+
+"_Duri est non desiderare patriam. Cari sunt parentes; cari liberi,
+propinqui, familiares; sed omnes omnium caritates patria una complexa
+est: pro qua quis bonus dubitet mortem oppetere?_"
+
+It is to James I. that the British nation and the colonists owe the
+policy, whether salutary or baneful, of sending convicts to the
+plantations: "the good sense of those days justly considered that their
+labor would be more beneficial to an infant settlement, than their vices
+could be pernicious."[43] James directed the sheriff to deliver, and the
+governor and court of Virginia to receive one hundred prisoners,
+included in the definition of rogues and dangerous persons, and
+compelled the proprietors of that colony to become agents in their
+deportation.
+
+The Lord Chief Justice Kelyng stated, that about the time of the
+restoration it became customary for a prisoner within benefit of clergy
+to procure from the king "a conditional pardon," and to send him beyond
+the seas to serve five years in some of the king's plantations; there
+_to have land assigned him, according to the usage_ of those plantations
+for servants after their time expired.[44] A needless delay of
+departure, or a return within the period appointed, made the instrument
+of pardon void.
+
+In the reign of Charles II. an act passed (Car. ii. 13, 14. cap. 2. s.
+1), "for preventing dangers that may arise from certain persons called
+quakers," which authorised their transportation beyond the seas. Thus,
+the practice was not new: after the battle of Worcester, the parliament
+transported the royalists, and in the mutations of power all parties in
+their turn transported each other.
+
+It had not been unusual for persons to sell themselves for a term of
+years. After the dissolution of the army of the commonwealth, many, to
+escape danger and poverty, sold their liberty to others, who carried
+them to the plantations.[45]
+
+After the defeat of Monmouth, a letter was addressed by James II. to the
+governor of Virginia, which after reciting that the royal clemency had
+been extended to many rebellious subjects by ordering their
+transportation, required the governor to propose a bill to the assembly
+to prevent their redemption, by money or otherwise, until the expiration
+of ten years. The assembly declined to carry out the royal vengeance,
+and received the exiles with kindness.[46]
+
+In 1717, transportation assumed a prominent place in English
+jurisprudence. An act of parliament (4 Geo. i.) recited that the
+customary punishments were inefficient, and that the "labor of criminals
+in the colonies would benefit the nation;" and mentioned the "frequent
+failure of those who undertook to transport themselves." Under this law,
+they were committed to the charge of ship-masters, who gave bonds for
+their transit; and who were obliged to produce certificates that they
+had disposed of their cargo according to law. It is said that L40,000
+per annum were raised by the contractors, carrying annually two thousand
+prisoners, whom they sold for L20 each.[47] For a long time these
+importations were highly acceptable; the demand for labor reconciling
+the colonists to the attendant evils. The object of the law was to exile
+offenders from the mother country, and bondage in America was simply
+intended to indemnify its cost. It was in the power of the captains to
+set them free, or a friendly agent by appearing as a purchaser might
+release them.[48] When landed, they were sold by auction to the
+colonists, for the term of their sentence; and even the royal pardon did
+not cancel an obligation to serve--except by the repayment of the
+purchase money to the planter.
+
+This course had many inconveniencies, and led to atrocious crimes. The
+treatment of the convict depended on the individual who bought his
+service: the state imposed but slight responsibilities, and the colonial
+control was regulated by local laws.
+
+Many notices in annals of those times indicate that the practice of
+kidnapping, especially of youth, was not uncommon. Johnson, in his
+immortal memoir of the poet, Savage, numbers in the catalogue of his
+mother's cruelties, an attempt to send him captive to the plantations,
+and to sell him for a slave.
+
+Goldsmith refers to establishments devoted to this species of
+slavery:--"I regarded myself as one of those evil things that nature
+designed should be thrown into her lumber room, there to perish in
+obscurity. It happened that Mr. Crispe's office seemed invitingly open
+to give me a welcome reception. In this office Mr. Crispe kindly offers
+to sell his Majesty's subjects a generous promise of L30 a year; for
+which promise, all they give in return is their liberty for life, and
+permission to let him transport them to America as slaves."[49]
+
+Before the era of separation, the American planters had begun to resent
+the influx of felons. Free labor grew plentiful, and the colonial
+reputation was compromised: nor were these the sole reasons for
+opposition; the management of negro slaves became a capital branch of
+domestic industry; the _prestige_ of color was endangered by the
+subjection of white men to the discipline of slavery.
+
+The practice of transportation did not terminate until the era of
+independence. The Canadas remained loyal; but the ministers of the day
+did not deem it prudent to reward their submission with the stigma of
+transportation.
+
+Franklin, when the colonists were about to cast off the imperial rule of
+Great Britain, complained of this system: he compared it to pouring
+"cargoes of rattlesnakes on the shores of England." He, however,
+maintained that this description of exiles formed but a small proportion
+of the American people; that of one million, eighty thousand only had
+been brought over the ocean, and of these one-eighth only were convicts.
+In reference to the number transported to America, the accounts of the
+British and American writers considerably differ. None were sent to the
+New England colonies. Jefferson, during his diplomatic residence in
+France, furnished a statement for the _Encyclopedie Methodique_, in
+which he asserted that the convict element of the American population
+was too small to deserve enumeration. He estimated the total number at
+2,000, and their descendants at 4,000, in 1785, or something more than
+one-thousandth part of the entire people. This calculation has been,
+perhaps justly, charged with partiality; but it is useless to meet error
+by conjecture.[50] This obvious topic of sarcasm was early adopted.
+Party writers poisoned the shafts of political warfare, by references to
+the convict element of the trans-atlantic population: "their Adam and
+Eve emigrated from Newgate,"[51]--"their national propensities to
+fraud, they inherited from their convict ancestors,"--"they are the
+offspring of convicts, and they have retained the disposition of their
+felon progenitors." Such were the sayings of critics, lords, and
+statesmen: it was thus they described a people, who among their
+forefathers can enumerate heroes and saints; who, flying from the
+scourge of bigotry and despotism, laid the foundation of an empire. Can
+we expect more complacency?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 37: _Oration, pro A. Coesin._]
+
+[Footnote 38: _Tacitus_, ann. 285.]
+
+[Footnote 39: _Discourse, by the Right Hon. Wm. Eden, on Banishment._]
+
+[Footnote 40: _Robertson's History of America._]
+
+[Footnote 41: See _Blackstone's Commentaries_, vol. iv. c. 31.]
+
+[Footnote 42: _Rastall's Statutes_, p. 419.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Chalmers.]
+
+[Footnote 44: _Eden's Discourse._]
+
+[Footnote 45: _Sir Joshua Child's Discourses on Trade_, 1670.]
+
+[Footnote 46: _Letter from James II._, in the colonial-office: quoted by
+Chalmers.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Introduction to _Phillip's Voyages_.]
+
+[Footnote 48: See _Bentham's Letter to Lord Pelham_.]
+
+[Footnote 49: _Vicar of Wakefield._]
+
+[Footnote 50: Dr. Lang, on whose quotation (from the _Memoirs of
+Jefferson_, vol. i. p. 406) the above is given, would make the total
+number to be 50,000--a vast difference!]
+
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+During and subsequent to the American war, the prisons of Great Britain
+were crowded. A distemper, generated in the damp and foetid atmosphere
+of gaols, carried off thousands: to be charged with an offence, was to
+be exposed to the risk of a malady generally fatal. Sometimes, it passed
+beyond the precincts of prisons: at Taunton, the judges and other
+officers of the court, and hundreds of the inhabitants, perished.
+
+Howard, after spending a large portion of his life in retirement and
+devotion, was chosen sheriff of Bedfordshire. He exposed the sufferings
+which he witnessed; and accelerated transportation, by revealing the
+secrets of the prison house. It is needless to describe his labors--they
+belong to all nations: he reproved kings, and received the blessings of
+thousands ready to perish; and he lost his life in the service of
+mankind.[52]
+
+The attention awakened by Howard, the philanthropist, led to the general
+improvement of prisons (1779). A variety of projects were suggested for
+the disposal of prisoners: some it was proposed to confine in
+dock-yards, salt works, mines, or where concentrated labour might be
+possible. Mr. Eden, at first, suggested that enormous offenders should
+be sent to the Mahomedan ports, and sold for the redemption of
+Christian slaves, or be employed on the coasts of Africa, on small
+islands, for the benefit of navigation.[53] It was recommended by a
+committee of the House of Commons to transport criminals to the coast of
+Africa and the East Indies. These plans were effectually resisted, or
+failed of their design.
+
+Judge Blackstone and Mr. Eden contrived a scheme, in concert with
+Howard, which they embodied in the "Hard Labor Bill." Its object was
+twofold: to establish labor houses all over England, and to regulate the
+employment of convicts on board the hulks. This measure was published
+preparatory to its being submitted to parliament, and fell into the
+hands of Bentham. Hailing the movement as fraught with important
+improvements, he produced his Panopticon, which he described as
+applicable to all houses of industry, and wherever inspection is
+constantly required. The plan exhibits remarkable ingenuity: the
+separation being made consistent with continual oversight, and an
+economy of space with health and exercise. The design of the building
+itself is circular: the external area cut up into angles, and separated
+by walls running to a common centre. The interior is formed of a
+succession of circles, not inaptly compared by the satirical opponents
+of the scheme to a spider's web.[54] He afterwards accompanied his plans
+with minute definitions of the objects and methods of penal coercion.
+
+Sir John Parnell, chancellor of the Irish exchequer, Mr. Pitt and Lord
+Melville of the English ministry, were anxious to establish the
+panopticon system in their respective countries. The design was not
+formally abandoned until 1813, when the erection of the Millbank
+Penitentiary, extinguished the scheme of Bentham. He had written
+political articles offensive to the court: George III. had attempted to
+refute his opinions, and cherished towards him the antipathy of a rival.
+A contract was formed with Bentham, to erect and conduct his panopticon:
+he had received possession of a spot of land assigned for the purpose,
+and nothing was wanting but the royal signature to his official
+appointment. His hopes were finally crushed by the obstinacy of the
+inexorable king.[55]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 51: _Quarterly Review_, vol. ii. p. 322.]
+
+[Footnote 52: As a congregational dissenter, he was liable to a fine of
+L500, for not taking the sacramental test. It is some credit to human
+nature, that he was not interrupted or punished in his career of
+charity.]
+
+[Footnote 53: _Eden's Discourse on Banishment._]
+
+[Footnote 54: _Quarterly Review_, 1822.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Dr. Bowring's account, received from Bentham in 1824. In
+1813, Jeremy Bentham, on account of penitentiary, L23,578.--_Par. Pap._]
+
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+Whatever advantages were supposed to pertain to a system of domestic
+punishment, it was opposed by formidable difficulties. To Bentham's
+system it was objected, that it required a supervision practically
+unattainable. The enthusiasm, ability, and integrity of the projector,
+it was alleged, would be probably confined to himself; and although the
+better plan, while under his eye, it would prove of all the most
+dangerous and inefficient, when directed by the unskilful and
+corrupt.[56] Nor did it prevent the return of the offender to society,
+and thus a relapse into crime.
+
+The large preliminary outlay required to test the scheme of Bentham,
+which exceeded his first calculations, was urged against its trial, and
+its complicated details wearied the attention of the county magistrates.
+They preferred transportation, and cheerfully resigned the offender to
+the good or ill-fortune of his colonial career.
+
+These views were strengthened by the increasing aversion to capital
+punishments. To detain a criminal for life seemed cruel to himself, and
+to release him would be perilous to the community. His treatment while
+in bonds, would vary with the temper of individuals entrusted with his
+punishment. This, Bentham himself confessed: he observed--"different
+tempers prescribe different measures of security and indulgence. Some
+forget that a convict in prison is a sensitive being; others that he is
+put in there for punishment. Some grudge him every gleam of comfort or
+alleviation of misery, to which his situation is susceptible; to others
+every little privation, every little unpleasant feeling, every
+unaccustomed circumstance, every necessary point of coercive discipline,
+presents matter for a charge of inhumanity."[57]
+
+To American transportation, the following is a summary of his
+objections. 1. It was unequal: a man who had money might buy off the
+servitude. Again, with regard to banishment, it was unequal: some would
+have been glad to go by choice, others would rather die. 2. It was
+unexemplary: what the convict suffered, be it much or little, was
+unknown. 3. It was unfrugal: it occasioned great waste of life in the
+mode, and of money in the expenses of conveyance. 4. It did answer in
+some degree, in disabling the offender from doing further mischief: yet
+it has always been easier for a man to return from transportation than
+to escape from prison. 5. It answered, every now and then, the purposes
+of reformation pretty well; but not so well upon the whole, under the
+variable and uncertain direction of a private master, whose object was
+his own profit, as it might be expected to answer under regulations
+concerted by the united wisdom of the nation.[58] In these objections to
+American transportation the colonists will recognise familiar
+sounds--the chief elements of the arguments, in times both remote and
+recent, against the practice of transportation.
+
+The worst class of criminals were often found in London, before their
+first sentence had expired. Many suffered capitally for this offence.
+Before the practice of contracting with shippers, political offenders
+preferred the continent of Europe to the hardships of America. It was
+made felony, without benefit of clergy (20 Geo. ii.), for rebels under
+sentence of transportation to reside either in France or Spain; and the
+inhuman penalty was denounced against their friends who might correspond
+with them in any form. When the crown carried out the sentence, the
+offender's return was still capital, and though unpopular, the guilty
+rarely escaped the penalty on conviction.
+
+When this colony was established, the chief towns of Great Britain were
+haunted by innumerable thieves, who were organised for the purposes of
+robbery. In London armed men assailed passengers by night, and even by
+day. The arrest of robbers was accompanied with considerable danger, and
+it was not until towards the close of the eighteenth century that the
+military guard ceased to attend executions. A vast multitude of persons
+had degenerated into a robber caste. They lodged under the arches of
+bridges, or nestled in nooks or corners, wherever they could burrow. The
+districts of the city occupied by the better class of society, seemed
+but a small portion of the metropolis--like islands in a sea of vice and
+destitution. There were numerous places of savage amusement and small
+gambling houses; and young men of family, hanging loose on the world,
+not unfrequently became amateur adventurers in crime. The populace felt
+no aversion to a highwayman of spirit. The pursuit of criminals became a
+voluntary and profitable calling, and offenders against the laws were
+encouraged and sheltered, until they were ripe for the executioner.
+
+Every part of London was the scene of executions: malefactors were hung
+in chains on every common and way-side. The populace treated the culprit
+with cheers or hisses, according to their view of his crime. Many wore a
+white cockade in their hats, in token of their innocence, when they were
+carried in procession to the scaffold.[59]
+
+To compensate for the feebleness of the police, and the popular sympathy
+with crime, the crown paid L40 for each capital conviction. In 1796, a
+conspiracy was developed, which led to the legal slaughter of seventy
+persons, at a profit to the conspirators of L2,800. In 1818, the
+legislature reluctantly terminated this traffic in blood.[60]
+
+Thus, after much discussion, the plan of a new penal settlement was
+finally preferred: denominated, in the official correspondence, "the
+improved Colony of New South Wales."[61] In dedicating his work to
+Thomas Townsend, Viscount Sydney, Collins ascribes the establishment of
+the colony to that nobleman. "To your patriotism" he writes, "the plan
+presented a prospect of political and commercial advantages." The facts
+recorded he alleges evinced with how much wisdom the measure was
+suggested and conducted; with what beneficial effects its progress had
+been attended, and what future benefits the parent country might with
+confidence anticipate. It was expected by Collins, that the colony would
+prove a valuable nursery for soldiers and seamen.
+
+The territorial seal provided by the crown, stamped on the instruments
+of government the primary design: on the obverse, the royal arms and
+title; but on the reverse, convicts were represented landing, received
+by Industry, who, surrounded by her attributes--a bale of merchandise, a
+pick-axe and shovel--released them from their fetters, and pointed them
+to oxen ploughing. The legend was appropriate: "_Sic fortis Etruria
+crevit_."[62]
+
+"He who lives among a civilised people, may estimate the labor by which
+society has been brought into such a state, by reading in the annals of
+Botany Bay, the account of a whole nation exerting itself to floor the
+government-house. Yet time shall come, when some Botany Bay Tacitus
+shall record the crimes of an emperor lineally descended from a London
+pickpocket."[63]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 56: Introduction to _Phillip's Voyages_.]
+
+[Footnote 57: _Bentham's Works_, part iii. p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 58: _Bentham's Works_, part iii. p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 59: _London, in the Eighteenth Century, by Charles Knight._]
+
+[Footnote 60: A bill was brought into parliament by Mr. Bennet: it was,
+however, maintained that the total abolition of such rewards would be
+pernicious. The heir at law of a person killed in pursuit of a
+highwayman, was still entitled to L40 and a Tyburn ticket, which
+exempted the holder from serving on a jury, and other civil
+liabilities.]
+
+[Footnote 61: _Par. Papers_: quoted by Bentham, p. 174.]
+
+[Footnote 62: _Collins_, vol. i. p. 179.]
+
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+The convicts first sent to New Holland, entered on the voyage with
+dread. The letters they addressed to their friends, while the fleet lay
+at anchor, were examined by the officers: they were filled with
+lamentations. They deeply deplored, that the distance of their exile cut
+off the hope of return; the perils of so long a voyage alone seemed
+frightful: should they reach the shores of New Holland, they expected to
+be destroyed by savages, or to pine away in want. The females seemed
+least to fear their banishment; and while several of the men were deeply
+moved, a spectator, who curiously remarked the mental influence of their
+prospects, saw only one woman weep.[64]
+
+When the ocean had often been traversed by convict ships, these vague
+terrors declined; but the order, comfort, and security which now
+prevail, were little known. The freight was of such importance, that the
+masters were tempted to defraud the prisoners of water, and even of
+food; confiding in their means to silence or compensate the sufferers,
+when in sight of port, or to satisfy the government. So slightly
+considered was this species of fraud, or so useful to colonial traders,
+that the magistrates held the payment of a gratuity to be a bar to
+further inquiry.[65] The convicts were thus exposed to severe, and even
+dangerous privations. Scurvy, a malady often in those days fatal to half
+a ship's crew, broke down the strength of men emaciated, dispirited, and
+diseased: many perished by the way, and a much larger number arrived
+unfit for labor, and a public burden.
+
+The management of a convict ship legally vested in the captain: his duty
+contemplating nothing more than a safe arrival. The personal government
+of the prisoners was confided to the surgeon, subject however to the
+discipline of the ship, of which the captain was exclusive judge. The
+health of the company was often sacrificed to the security of the
+vessel: the prisoners suspected of piratical intentions, were battened
+down and forbidden exercise, lest they should rise upon the crew. From
+the first, the officers in charge claimed a right to inflict corporal
+punishment; but, up to 1823, without the sanction of law. By the act
+then passed, power to order punishment was confided to the
+surgeon-superintendent, with the concurrence of the captain; who was
+intrusted with a veto, and was bound to enter his assent in the
+log-book, with the nature of the offence and extent of the
+infliction.[66]
+
+Apprehensions of mutiny were much more common, when transportation to
+New Holland was recent, than experience has justified. On the slightest
+alarm, the prisoners were loaded with chains, fastened to ring-bolts
+attached to the ship's sides. Perhaps, no vessel ever crossed the Line
+without some plot, rumoured or real; but the most ordinary precautions
+have been found usually sufficient to detect and explode them: their
+inventors have often been their discoverers. The prisoners, commonly
+distrustful of each other, shrank from the confidence required to plan
+and execute a revolt. But when timid officers were in charge, they
+sometimes adopted restrictions severely oppressive; and which men of
+more courage and experience perceive to be needless.
+
+During the war, the deportation of prisoners was attended with special
+difficulties: no ship's company were less likely to support the flag of
+their country. They were often delayed until a convoy could attend them.
+These hindrances were frequent, when this colony was founded. Both male
+and female prisoners were commonly forwarded together: the officers and
+soldiers selected companions for the voyage, and a sentence of
+transportation included prostitution. It is not incredible that modest
+women rejected life on such terms, or preferred a public execution to
+the ignominy of a floating brothel. These practices were first
+tolerated as inevitable, and afterwards justified as politic. No
+conspiracy could be concealed, while the women were paramours and spies;
+and, when long detained, the population of the ship considerably
+augmented before she dropped anchor. The government of the vessel was
+not less severe than its aspect was licentious.[67]
+
+Thus the abuses which, during the war, penetrated every branch of public
+business, rioted in the convict ship; whilst the contractors, who
+engaged to convey the prisoners at a price, snatched a profit from the
+subsistence stipulated by the crown. Malignant fevers, brought from the
+hulks or prisons, propagated in the stagnant atmosphere, and, when
+combined with low and crude diet, more than decimated the list. These
+effects of official negligence were early apparent. The second fleet
+lost nearly one-fifth of the whole, either on the voyage, or shortly
+after the arrival. Of the previous expedition, the loss was
+trifling.[68] It was fitted out with integrity, surpassing the custom of
+the times, or the pioneers of the colony might have perished on a barren
+shore.
+
+Captain Parker, of H. M. S. _Gordon_, detected this peculation: he
+traced the unusual mortality to the frauds of the officers, whose
+subduction from the standard allowance had "starved the prisoners to
+death;" but it was not till many years after, that the humanity of
+ministers interposed effectual regulations. The numbers who perished on
+board the _General Hewitt_, the _Surry_, and the _Three Bees_ in 1814,
+forced the attention of the local government to the subject; and on the
+report of Surgeon Redfern, great improvements were adopted.[69] The
+dispatch of vessels without regard to the season, brought the prisoners
+within the cold latitudes, and exposed them to the southern winds in the
+winter; and thinly clad, and enervated by the heat of the tropics, they
+were crowded below, or shivering on the deck. A supply of warm clothing,
+and the choice of the proper period of sailing, greatly mitigated the
+voyage; and the constant examination of the diet, samples of which were
+preserved, checked the avarice which cost so many lives, and had thus
+led to atrocious crimes. It is humiliating to find, at every step, the
+traces of wrong: the comforts supplied the prisoners by their friends,
+were often stolen by the seamen: the pledges lodged in their hands were
+not restored: boxes were pillaged, and the trifles furnished by the
+self-sacrifice of a broken-hearted parent, became the spoil of the
+assignees of public vengeance. These evils were aggravated by the delay
+of the voyage, to subserve the commercial speculations of the surgeons,
+who, beyond the general gains of merchandise, were allowed a large
+remission of the customs.
+
+Dr. Bromley, who superintended the transit of prisoners on several
+occasions during the first quarter of the century, availed himself
+largely of these trading privileges. Thus he landed, free of duty, at
+the close of one voyage, 150 gallons of spirits, one hogshead of wine,
+and ten baskets of tobacco, beside a shipload of women. This profitable
+form of investment excited no local complaint, and implied no disgrace.
+
+The female convict ships continued under the same system of management,
+until some flagrant instances induced the Board of Admiralty to check
+the grossness of vice. Of vessels remembered for their pollution, the
+_Friendship_ and _Janus_ are distinguished: the keys of the prison were
+accessible during the night: the conspiracy reached from the cabin to
+forecastle: the officers were libertines themselves, or, even when their
+conduct was least equivocal, it was difficult to obstruct
+irregularities: not even bars and bolts resisted the ingress of
+forbidden guests. The wooden barriers, which covered the entrance, were
+displaced by some traitress within, who left no protection to her
+companions but the point of honor.
+
+The first who improved the discipline of the convict ships, were Captain
+Brown and Dr. Reed, of the _Morley_: they endeavoured, by precept and
+example, to inculcate morality. Coercion had been found ineffectual, and
+the women, when restricted, filled the vessel with clamour and
+profaneness; but these gentlemen adopted a system of mental influence,
+and their prisoners, whatever was their subsequent conduct, were far
+superior to their predecessors. The result of this instance led to a
+permanent amelioration, and proved what had hitherto been doubted--that
+even the worst societies can be controlled, by those who unite a sense
+of virtue with official authority.[70]
+
+The safety ascribed to the system of prostitution, was but an apology
+for vice, and the voyage of the _Jane Shore_ dissolved the illusion. The
+persuasion of the women accomplished what the male prisoners rarely
+attempted, and when on their passage to the colonies have never been
+able to effect. The soldiers and sailors, seduced by their caresses,
+seized the vessel, and having shot the captain and the chief officer,
+steered into a South American port. Once only, did a piratical plot
+assume a serious form. The prisoners by the _Chapman_ devised a capture;
+but the report of the design being communicated, the guard was prepared
+for resistance. A deadly fire covered the deck with carnage: several
+were precipitated into the sea. The sanguinary conflict, which might
+have been prevented by timely precautions, obtained for the _Chapman_
+the popular prefix by which it is distinguished.[71] On one occasion, a
+vessel was in imminent danger, through the foolish incaution of the
+guard. It was the custom to discharge the fire-arms at sunrise, and to
+load them at noon: the interval seemed to offer the fairest prospect of
+success, and the prisoners extensively joined in the conspiracy; but
+they were overheard in conversation by a soldier standing at the
+hatchway: the ringleaders were seized, and the plot defeated.
+
+During the shorter voyages, from port to port, such accidents have been
+much more common, although rarely successful. Knatchbull, a relative of
+the eminent Kentish family, and formerly an officer in the navy, enticed
+his fellow prisoners to attempt the capture of the vessel which conveyed
+them: but his device, to poison all but the conspirators with arsenic,
+was denounced.[72]
+
+The prisoners sent down from Sydney to Van Diemen's Land, were conveyed
+in small crafts and small numbers, and without much regard to their
+health; but as an example of wretchedness, nothing could exceed the
+usual passage from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour. The unhappy men,
+often destitute of clothing, were placed in the hold of a vessel,
+without bedding or blankets, and were exposed, sometimes for five or six
+weeks, to the chills of a wintry voyage: on one such, there were
+thirty-five men, who had but four blankets among them; and one was found
+without any other covering than his shirt, in which plight he had been
+forwarded from the gaol.[73]
+
+The surgeon-superintendent enters on his office at the same moment with
+the guard: his duties are multiform--the magistrate, the chaplain, the
+mentor, and the physician. The surgeons are usually popular with the
+prisoners, and the penal administration with which they are entrusted,
+is generally the most disguised. Educated men, they are not commonly
+haughty and capricious: they are able to distinguish moral imbecility
+from perverseness, and both from disease. The habit of scrutinising
+quickens their sagacity, and fits them for a station, where the
+knowledge of the heart is the great secret of control. Accustomed to
+behold human nature, stript of all its external trappings, the grade of
+the prisoner, in their estimation, does not wholly debase the man.
+Witnesses to the wretchedness of humble life, the squalor of its garrets
+and its cellars--observant that want, which sometimes forms the felon,
+much oftener makes the martyr, and crowds the hospital rather than the
+gaol--they are not incapable of pitying either class of victims. The
+horrors which others feel for disease, whether of the body or the mind,
+excite no antipathies in men who have devoted their lives to its relief:
+thus their government of convicts often affords a singular contrast to
+the agency which precedes or follows them. The recollection of their
+conduct is mentioned by the prisoner with respect, and even with
+fondness. No profession can better prepare for practical benevolence:
+what it withdraws from the sensibility it adds to the understanding; and
+those in charge of convict vessels have exhibited, in full average, the
+virtues of their profession.[74]
+
+When physical suffering became infrequent, and the arrangements secured
+both convenience and comfort during the voyage, it was long ere moral
+control, or a reformatory discipline, became objects of concern. A
+surgeon,[75] employed from 1818, amused the public with the details of
+his system of management--not wanting in humanity. He encouraged a
+joyous indifference to the past or the future: the prisoners sang from
+morning to night, and often spent the evenings in dancing. The greatest
+criminals were selected on principle for offices of trust, as far the
+most trusty! The discourse was licentious--the feats of thievery, the
+chosen topics of amusement and conversation. A stage, decked out with
+the remains of former spoil, exhibited "the forty thieves," or a comedy
+of judges, officers, and felons: mock charges were enforced by
+barristers, arrayed in blankets; the bench was filled with an actor
+decorated with a quilt, while a swab covered his head, and descended to
+his shoulders. In the female prison ships, dancing and concerts, at
+which the cabin passengers were spectators, whiled away the voyage. The
+gross immoralities of a former period had subsided when he wrote: he
+mentioned the change with regret. A free intercourse, he thought, more
+conducive to reformation, as well as to harmony: the attachment formed
+by the women, softened their demeanor, and facilitated their control.
+Such were his views, and they had many partisans: but in connection we
+learn, without astonishment, that he thought contemptuously of
+saintship, considered reformation utopian, and honesty rather the result
+of habit than of principle; the convicts, more unfortunate in their
+detection than peculiar in their crimes: capable of the devotion of
+hypocrites; hardly of repentance. The dash of libertinism which sparkles
+in the pages of this writer, fell in with the humour of the day, and the
+work was popular. It greatly tended, notwithstanding its levity, to
+change the character of penal discipline in the colonies.[76]
+
+The discipline of a convict vessel, as administered by
+Surgeon-superintendent Browning, exhibited a different scene, and was
+carried out in another spirit. The devout character of his mind, his
+confiding disposition, and boundless good-will, are well known in these
+colonies; and his management has been regarded with great admiration,
+or great contempt. His high valuation of human nature contrasted with
+the common official estimate: he not only saw fellow men in the worst
+prisoners, but practicable materials, which knowledge and judgment might
+form into comparative moral excellence. The plan of his government
+recognised a wide distribution of oversight and responsibility: the
+names by which he distinguished those whom he employed were flattering:
+they were not gaolers and turnkeys, but captains of divisions and
+delegates. He delivered lectures upon geography and astronomy: those who
+could play instruments, such as clarionet, fife, and violin, were
+stationed on the deck, while the rest marched in ranks. He instituted a
+court of enquiry, consisting of five persons, of which his clerk was the
+recorder, who examined witnesses, and disposed of trivial offences, by
+exhortation, warning, and reproof; and in more flagrant cases, these
+preliminary inquiries formed the basis of his own adjudication. He
+treated the prisoners as persons sequestered from society for their own
+good. He has shewn, by tables, that those who acquired a knowledge of
+reading under his instruction, often indeed imperfect, formed a large
+proportion of the whole.[77] His addresses exhibit the ardour of his
+character: most critics would discern a tinge of enthusiasm; which,
+however, is common to all, who successfully attempt the reformation of
+mankind. Under such a guardian, it may be imagined, that the physical
+welfare of the prisoners was carefully superintended. Medical comforts
+were distributed with great liberality: flogging was wholly disused.
+Moral influence, assisted by occasional deprivation of food or liberty,
+comprehended the agency he employed. The systems of Browning and
+Cunningham, though contemplating the same general objects, were
+singularly adverse; and in nothing did they differ more pointedly than
+their estimate of the substrata of convict character, the influence of
+religious instruction, and the usefulness of the _cat_. Dr. Browning was
+subject to much imposition--a liability which meets every aspect of
+practical benevolence; but that he preserved order and health,
+discouraged blasphemy, provided for the occupation of time, and
+prevented gambling and peculation--that he sheltered the well-disposed
+from the violence and contamination of the worst--and that he parted
+with his charge, with their ideas increased and their moral sensibility
+awakened--is, with all deductions, a claim to no trifling praise.
+Colonel Arthur, a keen observer, mentioned the general emotion which
+separation occasioned: the prisoners heard his valedictory address with
+tenderness and reverence, and melted into tears.[78] To reproach his
+labors would be a sin against mankind; but an over-estimate of their
+effect, diminished the moral weight of their example. "Dr. Browning's
+pets" became marked men; their conduct was watched with curiosity, often
+with ill-will, and their lapses were reckoned up with exultation.
+
+The ample provision for the accommodation, exercise, and food of the
+prisoners, has been of late years a topic of complaint. They require
+more care, and a diet more nicely chosen, than laborers in health and
+mental tranquillity. Efforts to reduce these comforts have been followed
+by fever and physical prostration; and whatever aspect their treatment
+may wear, those who deprive them of liberty are bound to provide for
+their safety. The law sentences to transportation: no question of public
+policy could justify a minister, when converting that penalty into a
+sentence of death.[79]
+
+Notwithstanding the length of the voyage, the navigation of convict
+vessels has been fortunate: for thirty years no vessel had been lost.
+The merchant ships met with the average of accidents; but the transports
+were supposed, by the curious, to be under a peculiar destiny. They
+attributed their safe passage to the force of the proverb, which implies
+that the trident of Neptune is powerless against the heritage of the
+executioner.
+
+A succession of calamities, in the navigation of convict vessels,
+changed the aspect of their fortune, and filled all classes with
+commiseration: such was the wreck of the _Amphitrite_, in 1833, which
+struck on the coast of Bologne. That vessel was in a position of great
+danger, and the French pilot, Heuret, endeavoured to warn, in time to
+save; but the risk of the usual reward, it is said, the surgeon was
+unwilling to incur; and the captain, not less indisposed to forfeit his
+bond, which included a penalty for every prisoner who might escape.
+Their hesitation was fatal to themselves: the women were not permitted
+to come on deck, or to avail themselves of the opportunity to save their
+lives. These unfortunate females, to the number of 103, with their
+children, were drowned; and their naked corpses, floating to the coast
+of France, exhibited an appalling spectacle. The French and English
+mingled their tears, as they beheld the bodies strewed along the
+beach--some models of feminine beauty, others disfigured by the recent
+concussions; among the rest, a young mother, with her child clasped in
+her arms. Nor does it appear that the instructions of the government had
+ever foreseen or provided for such dangers, or authorised the temporary
+release of prisoners, when the situation of the ship might require their
+liberation.
+
+The wreck of the _George the Third_, in April, 1835, excited the most
+painful sensations. Having fifty-three persons on the sick list,
+occasioned by a deficiency of proper food, Captain Moxley endeavoured to
+reach Hobart Town through D'Entrecasteaux's Channel: while running at an
+easy rate, and in smooth water, the leadsman cried out, "a quarter less
+four:" that instant the vessel struck; at first gently, then heavily,
+and in less than ten minutes she was a perfect wreck. The prisoners were
+below, imploring release: they rushed to the hatchway, where a
+corporal's guard was armed to repress them: they forced through the
+bars, and a few were seen to escape; the soldiers, ordered to resist
+their egress, then fired. The waters rushing into the hold of the vessel
+drowned the sick, and reached the knees of the convicts, who were
+ascending the hatchway; and Major Ryan, and the surgeon-superintendent,
+expected instant death. They succeeded in sending the long-boat on
+shore, amidst the cheers of the prisoners. Assistance was afforded by
+the _Louisa_ schooner; and a party dispatched in the cutter, obtained
+help from Hobart Town: but of two hundred and twenty, one hundred and
+thirty-three perished. The fate of the convicts who fell at the
+hatchway, excited great commiseration and some complaint: the officers
+disclaimed the order to fire--an act which could only be excused by the
+danger to the whole company in a rush to the boat. A board of inquiry
+acquitted all parties of blame.
+
+One man, only, was found on the wreck; an aged prisoner, on his passage
+to the colony under his third sentence of transportation: unable to face
+the surf, he lashed himself to a ring attached to the hull, and there
+closed his career of crime.
+
+A disaster, not less appalling, occurred off King's Island, by the wreck
+of the _Neva_, in May, 1835, at 4 o'clock in the morning: she struck
+upon the rocks, swung on the reef, and admitted the sea. The pinnace was
+lowered, and the prison being broken by the shock, the unfortunate women
+rushed on the deck; they filled the boat, which was instantly swamped,
+and all, except three seamen, perished. The long-boat was then carefully
+laden; but being upset by the surf, all sunk, except the master and
+chief officer: these having regained the ship, she parted; and the
+women, aroused from their beds in the twilight of a wintry morning,
+clung shivering to the fragments. Their cries of suffering and anguish
+were soon hushed, and of two hundred and forty, a few moments before
+slumbering in tranquillity, twenty-two only were borne on broken pieces
+of the ship to land; of these, seven died from exhaustion, and the
+remainder must have perished, but for the intrepid exertions of Mr.
+Charles Friend, who caught sight of their signals when passing the
+coast.
+
+Two women disputed about the position of the vessel: exasperated by
+contradiction, they were tearing each other by the hair, when a wave
+swept them from the deck into eternity.
+
+The wreck of the _Governor Phillip_, in 1848, was the last instance of
+such disasters. The vessel struck on a sand bank off Cape Barren Island;
+but, except four, all the prisoners were saved: six soldiers and five
+seamen perished, with Lieutenant Griffiths, the officer in command--a
+young gentleman of amiable disposition and great promise. He exhibited a
+brilliant example of humanity, calmness, and self devotion. The
+prisoners broke from their quarters, rushed on the deck, and obstructed
+the exertions of the seamen: entreating them to return, he gave them
+_his hand_ and his word, that he would not desert the vessel until they
+were clear of the wreck. While some were conveyed to the shore, he
+remained knocking off the irons of the rest; and then finding the boat
+could not regain the ship, he plunged into the sea, and was last seen
+struggling with the current. The risk of life is common to the military
+profession; but a sacrifice so nobly made, was surely not less glorious
+than when on the field of battle.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 63: Sidney Smith: _Edinburgh Review_, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 64: _Tench's Narrative_, 1789.]
+
+[Footnote 65: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 66: This act (4 Geo. iv.) of 1823, made the punishments
+legally inflicted by the overseers on board the hulks, the rule on board
+the transports; but 5 Will. iv. allows such punishments as may be
+_authorised by the secretary of state_, without specifying their nature.
+The penalty of L20 (previously L50), for not entering the punishment in
+the log-book, is in itself a feeble protection against the abuses which
+such powers might produce. The instructions of the secretary of state to
+the surgeon-superintendent direct--to confine in a dark cell; to lessen
+the ration, even to bread and water; and whipping: first "using mild and
+persuasive means." It is proper to observe, that these powers are very
+rarely abused: punishments are not to be inflicted, except in the
+presence of at least twelve prisoners.]
+
+[Footnote 67: "The captain and each officer enjoy the right of
+selection. Thus they continue the habit of concubinage until the
+convicts arrive at Sydney Town, and some are now educating five or six
+children. Each sailor or soldier is permitted to attach himself to one
+of the females: the permission and the caresses of the artful wanton
+have often lured the temporary parties to marry at Plymouth, more
+frequently to consummate the nuptials at Sydney: such a marriage
+manumits the convict."
+
+"The unhappy male convicts are denied, save occasionally, these
+profligate liberties. Occasionally, however, they range into the quarter
+assigned to the women. The males, accustomed in London to indiscriminate
+license, discover the greatest regret at the restraint of their passions
+in the grossest oaths, and in the grossest language. The females, who
+rather resemble the brutes than rational creatures in their excesses,
+answer their reproaches, and rage with equal effrontery, and unbounded
+impudence. It is a scene like Pandemonium--a second hell, but upon the
+ocean. Sitting in groups, they sing, they shout, they converse in the
+grossest terms, corrupting, and corrupted. The concubine knits, or sews
+for her sailor, near his berth: the rest wash the clothes of the male
+convicts; exercise and cleanliness, conducive to their health and to the
+comforts of the ship. Many are remarkably neat: all are clad in
+different dresses--some have been enabled to purchase caps, more have
+not. The males are clothed in simple uniformity, in blue trousers and a
+jacket. All the convicts are compelled to wash once in the day their
+heads, their feet, and their faces; the men under the superintendence of
+a soldier, the women apart under the eye of a matron. The males are
+marched in a body of six across the deck to the pump: the sailors draw
+up the water, and they are artfully compelled to labor for health at the
+pump, and to rinse away the dirt. By this prudent precaution, in every
+variety of weather, they obtain fresh air and avoid the scurvy, or
+cutaneous diseases. A surgeon daily inspects this _human cargo_, and
+reports its _state_. They are paid per head, a sum for those who survive
+the voyage; hence it is the surgeon's interest to preserve these
+diseased wretches. To inure this assembly, disgorged from brothels, and
+cellars, and gaols, to the _appearance_, or to the idea of decorum, the
+men wash their bodies above decks, and the women between them. The sexes
+are forbid to mingle, even at their meals. So rigorous a discipline is
+only supported by severity of punishments. Chains, tied round the body
+and fettered round the ankles, confine and distress each male convict,
+by the clanking sound, and by annoying the feet. This image of slavery
+is copied from the irons used in the slave-ships in Guinea: as in these,
+bolts and locks are at hand, in the sides and ribs of each _transport_
+(for the vessels _on this service_, with _peculiar_ propriety are so
+named), to prevent the escape, or preclude the movements of a convict.
+If he attempt to pass the sentry, he is liable to be stabbed: for the
+attempt, a convict was lately shot, and his executioner was applauded by
+his officer for a faithful, though severe, discharge of duty. If a felon
+kill his companion, a case very frequent in the quarrels of these
+highwaymen and robbers, the murderer is hung at the yard-arm, and his
+body is slowly carried through the ship, and launched into the deep. For
+the theft of provisions, or of clothes from his neighbour, a case yet
+more common, and more natural to footpads, the convict depredator is
+shot. For inferior crimes, as riot or quarrels, a soldier is commanded
+to whip the offender with martial severity: the first stroke leaves a
+deep impression of the wire, the second causes the blood to trickle, the
+third draws a stream of gore: under several faintings, the debilitated
+and disordered convict receives two dozen of lashes. On the slightest
+appearance of a mutiny, the ring-leader is cast headlong into the sea,
+in his irons and his clothes. We commit this body to the deep, the
+chaplain repeals, but the words of Shakespeare, perhaps, would be more
+applicable:--
+
+'O mutineer! if thou hast any hope of heaven's bliss,
+Lift up thy hand; make signal of that hope.
+He sinks! and makes no sign.'"
+--_Account, by Captain Bertram_, in 1800: Longman.]
+
+[Footnote 68: New South Wales first fleet, 987 convicts; of which 25
+died, or 1 in 35. Second fleet, 1763 convicts: died 327, or 1 in every
+5-1/2.
+
+"I beg leave, however, to say, that the provisions were much superior to
+those usually supplied by contract: they were furnished by Messrs.
+Richards and Thorn, of Tower-street, London."--_Tench's Narrative._
+These honest contractors deserve immortal renown.]
+
+[Footnote 69: _Table of Voyages, from_ 1810 _to_ 1820:
+
+--------+---------------------------+----------+---------+-------+-----+
+Voyages.|       Course pursued.     | Average. |Convicts.|Deaths.|Sick.|
+--------+---------------------------+----------+---------+-------+-----+
+  44    | Direct                    | 127 days |  7,657  |  71   |  94 |
+  38    | Touched at Rio de Janeiro | 156 days |  6,470  | 132   | 123 |
+  11    | Touched Cape of G. Hope   | 146 days |  1,912  |   9   |  57 |
+--------+---------------------------+----------+---------+-------+-----+]
+
+[Footnote 70: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 71: The bloody _Chapman_.]
+
+[Footnote 72: This man, after an extraordinary career, closed his
+miserable life on the scaffold, for the murder of a female, to whom he
+was engaged. His relative conferred upon her surviving children a sum of
+money to ensure their education--an act of uncommon generosity which
+must obliterate the discredit of a relationship to one, who, however,
+perhaps blended insanity and deliberate crime.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Parliamentary Papers.]
+
+[Footnote 74: "What chaplets are woven for men of slaughter! What
+statues to men slaying conquerers! What notes of glory sounded, what
+blaspheming praises to the genius of blood shedding! I have seen much of
+the ceremonies dedicated to these things, and contrasting my late
+feelings with my present, with what new homage do I venerate the race of
+Lintleys; the men who, like minor deities, walk the earth: and in the
+homes of poverty, where sickness falls with doubly heavy hand, fight the
+disease beside the poor man's bed--their only fee, the blessing of the
+poor! Mars may have his planet, but give me--what, in the spirit of the
+old mythology might be made a star in heaven--the night lamp of
+Apothecary Lintley."--_Story of a Feather, by Douglas Jerrold._]
+
+[Footnote 75: Cunningham.]
+
+[Footnote 76: _Two Years in New South Wales_, vol. ii, pp. 260-282.]
+
+[Footnote 77: _Compiled from Dr. Browning's Tables._
+
++-----------------------------------------------+------------------------+
+|             At embarkation.                   |    On debarkation.     |
++--------+-------------+------------------------+------------------------+
+|  Year. |   Ship.     | Neither read nor write.|Unable to read or write.|
++--------+-------------+------------------------+------------------------+
+|  1831  |   Surry     |          118           |           1            |
+|  1834  |   Arab      |          194           |           1            |
+|  1836  | Elphinstone |          158           |          None          |
+|  1840  |  Margaret   |          102           |           6            |
++--------+-------------+------------------------+------------------------+]
+
+[Footnote 78: "After he had examined them, and almost every prisoner had
+repeated a portion of scripture, he addressed them in a most affecting
+manner, and entreated them not to forget the lessons he had imparted;
+and on his withdrawing, I think there was not a dry eye amongst the
+whole of the prisoners."--_Col. Arthur_, 1837. _Par. Papers._]
+
+[Footnote 79: _Browning's England's Exiles_, 1842.]
+
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+Those who delight to distinguish practical wisdom from theory, will
+derive no countenance from the early practice of transportation. To rid
+the parent state of an encumbrance, was alone the immediate object of
+the government: all beyond was surrendered to fate. The absorbing
+agitation of Europe, then filled with wars and revolutions, diverted the
+public gaze from a distant experiment, and left to local discretion the
+details of its working. The difficulties of this extempore system were
+really great: that competition for penal labor, which afterwards made
+its distribution a boon, had no existence; the social influence of a
+strong body of settlers, habituated to industry, and expecting opulence
+as its reward, was an auxiliary unknown. Political economy, as a
+practical science, was lightly esteemed: the choice of instruments to
+effect a royal purpose, rarely determined by their specific
+qualifications. The first rulers of these colonies were, indeed, men of
+literary pretensions; several, of extensive nautical experience: trained
+on the quarter deck in the discipline of war, when royal ships were
+often scenes of great courage, and of equal despotism and
+debasement--when seamen were taken from the dock, impressed from the
+trader, and even stolen on the streets. Taught to govern a crew, they
+were judged by the ministry exactly qualified to coerce and control a
+body of prisoners. There were some advantages in this choice: they were
+men who knew how to subject the will of masses; their fearless temper
+felt no dread of those wild and lawless spirits surrendered to their
+power. They could transfer the system of the navy to the shore: they
+were not intimidated by hardships, and they were accustomed to
+privations: perhaps, no other profession could have furnished
+adventurers, on the whole, so well qualified for their task.
+
+But in planting a colony, tillage is the first element of success; of
+this, they knew nothing: they could destroy a fort, or erect a tent;
+but to subdue the earth to the plough, or to construct a town, required
+another education. They gave, and long preserved, to the site of the
+city, the name of _camp_: thus the first efforts at cultivation were
+unfortunate: they had passed two years in New Holland, scratching up the
+earth with hoes, and ought to have gathered a harvest, when they were on
+the verge of starvation.[80]
+
+Among the thousand persons landed, not one could be found possessing a
+knowledge of agriculture.[81] What they did not know, they could not
+teach. The misapplication of labor was prodigious: they acquired the art
+of cultivation by the slow process of experiment; and thus they came to
+a conclusion, only lately obsolete--that an Australasian husbandman is
+spoiled by the agricultural knowledge of Europe.
+
+The immediate direction of labor, from the beginning, was committed to
+convicts. To stand over the prisoners, was not an agreeable occupation
+for gentlemen: thus the actual working of transportation, as a penal
+system, was entrusted to men, often clever and corrupt, whose brutal
+habits and savage demeanour excited disgust and fear. This error
+perpetuated itself: persons of character rejected a position, so often
+occupied by the worthless: even the distribution of labor was entrusted
+to such hands, or subject to their influence. To the prisoners, in
+reality, they sold indulgences of the crown, or exacted a revenue from
+their vices. The chief superintendent of convicts at Sydney, and who
+long determined what men should be dispatched to this country, was
+himself doubly convicted.[82] This was far from destroying eligibility:
+it became at last an official proverb, that bad men, from the very vices
+of their character, were the fittest for a direct supervision; and,
+finally, that the world is divided between the rogue and the fool. The
+use of power, when entrusted to such hands, is no problem; nor is it
+possible to imagine greater degradation, or punishment more capricious,
+than of the unfortunate person subject to such taskmasters; in whose
+hands, according to the custom of early times, the rod of authority was
+not a metaphor.[83]
+
+That form of service, known as assignment, was established by Governor
+King in 1804. The master was bound by indenture to retain his servant
+for one year, and for every day deficient, a penalty of one shilling was
+imposed: the quantity of the work to be done was prescribed; contingent,
+however, on the nature of the soil, the state of the weather, and the
+strength of the workman: the surplus of his time might be occupied by
+the master, but his earnings were his own. Wages were L10 per annum, and
+for a female L7; but the deficiency of money, induced the employers to
+allot a proportion of time as a compensation, or to supply goods, on
+which an advance was claimed, often extremely oppressive; and when the
+season rendered servants less useful, the masters were tempted to obtain
+relief by false accusations, or to allow their men to quit the
+premises--who sought, by labor or theft, the means of subsistence.
+
+To restrict the habit of change, Macquarie established the rule that no
+convict should be returnable, except for infirmity, sickness, or crime;
+but when the supply exceeded the demand, this condition was evaded, and
+the result--an accumulation in the hands of the government. A large
+proportion were from the manufacturing districts of Great Britain: they
+were utterly ignorant of farming, and when the plough superceded the
+hoe, they required a tedious training before they repaid the expense of
+their support.
+
+The agriculture of this colony was long trifling: the convicts were
+chiefly employed as stockmen and shepherds: from the banks of the
+Derwent to the district of Launceston, the land in general was a
+wilderness, unfenced and untenanted: the men, stationed forty and fifty
+miles from their masters' dwellings, were rarely visited, and were under
+no immediate control. They were armed, to defend themselves from the
+natives, and clad in skins: they lived in turf huts, thatched with long
+grass, and revived the example of savage life.[84]
+
+It was the custom to allot to the superior officers, magistrates, and
+constables, in proportion to their rank, a certain number of men, who
+were subsisted from the king's stores. A skilful mechanic, or pedlar,
+was a valuable acquisition: he hired his own time, and paid from 5s. to
+L1, according to its estimated weekly value, while the master drew, for
+his own use, the rations of the servant. Others rented farms, and paid
+their masters in produce; and when "government men," as assigned
+servants were called, were unable to obtain payment, and thus failed to
+make good an engagement with the master, they were liable to be thrown
+back into their former position.
+
+Tickets-of-leave were freely given to those incapable of much service to
+the government, or its officers: such as were useful, whatever might be
+their conduct, were long detained, and for a period often indefinite.
+Females, who arrived with property, were discharged to enjoy it. If
+followed by the husband, the wife was instantly assigned to his care. To
+enable a prisoner to support his wife when she joined him, or when a
+convict married a convict, if of no special value he was released to
+labor for himself.
+
+No accurate account was preserved of these distributions, and a notice
+appeared during the government of Sorell, which required all women
+living at large to give an account of the grounds on which they
+pretended to freedom, or otherwise to obtain a regular ticket-of-leave.
+
+Under a system so irregular, great practical injustice was occasionally
+inflicted: while advantages were enjoyed by artisans, who could hire
+their time; who obtained large profits from their trade, and indulged in
+every form of vice and licentiousness.[85]
+
+An action in 1821 (Loane _v._ Beamont), for the recovery of a debt
+incurred by a prisoner of the crown assigned to the defendant,
+illustrated the system which then prevailed. The man in question arrived
+in 1813, and in 1816 he was Beamont's government man, who then by verbal
+agreement, and afterwards in writing, engaged to sell him a farm, near
+Herdsman's Cove, for L1,400, including the stock and implements of
+husbandry. He possessed, besides a sum of money, a considerable flock of
+sheep. There was nothing disguised in this transaction: the annual
+rental was intended to cover the purchase. The judge remarked, that the
+memorandum "was as good a sale upon honor as ever he saw." The suit was
+an instance of the strange perversion of prison discipline, which
+however excited no remark, and therefore could not be uncommon.
+
+At the close of Governor Davey's administration in 1817, the population
+of Van Diemen's Land was 3,114, and of these 566 resided in the county
+of Cornwall. The convicts were slowly augmented by deportations from
+Sydney, and they were subject to the absolute will of the officers. It
+is in vain to look for systems in a community so small, and separated by
+so great a distance from public opinion. Management was lax or rigid,
+according to the temper of the moment; and no object was contemplated by
+those who had power, except to render its exercise subservient to their
+private views. Previous character had no marked influence in determining
+the lot: a life of crime was no barrier to indulgence, when its price
+could be paid: the early career of the prisoners was generally unknown.
+The discipline was, indeed, often severe: lashes were administered by
+hundreds, and crimes or offences, were resented or forgiven, not
+according to rule, but circumstances. There were, however, gradations of
+penal banishment: as at Sydney, those separated to special punishment,
+were sent to Hobart Town; such as were still further implicated were
+forwarded to Launceston; but the dregs of all settled at George Town.
+What was the character of the inhabitants of that place, may be inferred
+from the Commissioner's Reports. Prisoners, male and female, living in
+skillings, the commandant disobeying the orders of his chief, inferior
+officers exhibiting flagrant immorality; labor compensated by the
+government in a currency of rum; sold by abandoned women--who were often
+the depositories of stolen goods passed from Hobart Town and Launceston.
+Such was George Town at, and for some time after, this era.
+
+The charges against the prisoners, were such as result from slavery and
+debasement. All crimes, of less magnitude than murder, or burglary under
+aggravated circumstances, were punished in a summary manner. To
+prosecute, was to encounter ruin: the person despoiled, while pursuing
+the robber, lost the remnant of his property; and, returning to his
+dwelling, found it wrecked and pillaged. Mechanics, and others entitled
+to money, were paid in rum, and its prompt consumption was the only
+means to secure its enjoyment. Those who earned considerable sums, were
+rarely richer than their neighbours.
+
+While Governor Collins lived, some order was maintained: it was during
+the rule of his successor that the British standard covered a state of
+society, such as never before possessed the official sanction. Once or
+twice a month, this Governor enjoyed a carouse, to which a sea-port, in
+times of war, might furnish an example. Having selected a station, not
+far from the town, he provided for the feast: the more talented of the
+convicts surrounded the tent, and enlivened the entertainment with
+songs. Rum, in large quantities, loaded the board: first the chiefs, and
+then their retainers, revelled in its overflowing abundance. The gaol
+gang, warned by his Honor's steward of the direction the guests had
+taken, sometimes followed after the jovial ruler; and when the moon
+arose, the Governor and his attendants, of various grades, might be seen
+winding home together. A number of settlers, whom he had offended,
+refused an invitation: when time had obliterated their resentment, he
+invited them again: the table was covered, and the guests were seated;
+but at that moment, the gaol gang, facetiously called the Governor's
+band, and who were posted near the spot for the purpose, burst into the
+chamber, and swept away all the provisions. The Governor pretended to
+regret this termination; but consoled himself by saying, he could "get a
+dinner at _Stocker's_." Such was this trustee of national justice!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 80: At the period above mentioned, the colony was in imminent
+danger of perishing from famine, in consequence of the non-arrival of
+store ships from England. Captain Tench, in his interesting work on New
+South Wales, thus describes the situation and feelings of himself and
+his fellow settlers:--"We had now (that is, in the beginning of 1790)
+been two years in the country, and thirty-two months from England, in
+which long period no supplies, except what had been procured from the
+Cape of Good Hope, had reached us. Famine was approaching with gigantic
+strides, and gloom and dejection overspread every countenance. Still, we
+were on the tiptoe of expectation. If thunder broke at a distance, or a
+fowling piece of louder than ordinary report resounded in the woods, '_A
+gun from a ship!_' was echoed on every side, and nothing but hurry and
+agitation prevailed. As we had removed from Botany Bay to Port Jackson,
+it was judged necessary to fix a party of seamen on a high cliff called
+South Head, at the entrance of the harbour, on which a flag was ordered
+to be hoisted whenever a ship might appear, which should serve as a
+direction to her and as a signal of approach to us. Here, on the summit
+of a hill, did we sweep the horizon every morning from day-light until
+the sun sunk, in the hope of seeing a sail. At every fleeting speck
+which arose from the bosom of the ocean, the heart bounded, and the
+telescope was lifted to the eye. If a ship appeared here, we knew that
+she must be bound to us; for on the shore of this vast ocean, the
+largest in the world, we were the only community which possessed the art
+of navigation, and languished for intercourse with civilised society. In
+March, vigorous measures were become necessary. The _Sirius_ was ordered
+to prepare for a voyage to China, but she was shortly after wrecked. On
+the 27th of this month, the following order was issued:--'Parole--Honor;
+countersign--Example. The expected supply of provisions not having yet
+arrived, makes it necessary to reduce the present ration, to render the
+mentioned allowance to every person in the settlement without
+distinction. Four pounds of flour, two pounds and a half of pork, and
+one pound and a half of rice per week.' The flour was afterwards reduced
+nearly one half, and the other articles in a less proportion. The pork
+had been salted between three and four years, and every grain of rice
+was a moving body. We soon left off boiling the pork, as it had become
+so old and dry, that it shrunk one half. We toasted it before the fire,
+catching the drops which fell on a slice of bread, or in a saucer of
+rice. The distress of the lower classes for clothes was almost equal to
+their other wants. Nothing more ludicrous can be conceived than the
+expedients of substituting, shifting, and patching, which ingenuity
+devised, to eke out wretchedness, and preserve the remains of decency.
+Nor was another part of our domestic economy less whimsical. If a lucky
+man, who had knocked down a dinner with his gun, or caught a fish by
+angling, invited a neighbour to dine with him, the invitation ran,
+'bring your own bread.' Even at the Governor's table this custom was
+constantly observed. Every man who sat down pulled his bread out of his
+pocket. In May, the men became much weakened from want, and they were
+ordered to do only as much work as their strength would permit. Rigorous
+justice was executed on persons detected in robbing or pilfering. A
+convict detected in stealing potatoes was ordered to receive 300 lashes,
+to be chained for six months to two other criminals, and to have his
+allowance of flour stopped for six months. Further, to contribute to the
+detection of villany, a proclamation, offering 60 pounds of flour, more
+tempting than the gold of Peru, was promised to any one who should
+apprehend a robber of garden ground. At length the bonds of misfortune
+began to separate, and on the evening of June 3rd, the joyful cry of
+'_the flag's up!_' resounded in every direction. I was sitting in my
+hut, musing on our fate, when a confused clamour drew my attention. I
+opened my door, and saw women, with children in their arms, running to
+and fro, with distracted looks, congratulating each other, and kissing
+their infants with the most passionate and extravagant marks of
+fondness. I ran to a hill, where, by the assistance of a pocket glass,
+my hopes were realised. A brother officer was with me, but we could not
+speak; we wrang each other by the hand, with eyes and hearts
+overflowing. Finding the Governor intended to go immediately in his boat
+down the harbour, I begged to be of his party. As we proceeded, the
+object of our hopes soon appeared--a large ship, with English colors
+flying, working in between the heads which form the entrance to the
+harbour. The tumultuous state of our minds represented her in danger,
+and we were in agony. The weather was wet and tempestuous, but the body
+is delicate only when the mind is at ease. We pushed through wind and
+rain, the anxiety of our sensations every moment redoubling. At last we
+read the word _London_ on her stern. 'Pull away, my lads! she is from
+old England! A few strokes more, and we shall be aboard--hurrah for a
+belly full, and news from our friends!' Such were our exhortations to
+the boat's crew. A few minutes completed our wishes, and we found
+ourselves on board the _Lady Juliana_ transport, with 235 of our
+countrywomen, whom crime or misfortune had condemned to exile. She had
+been about eleven months on her voyage."--_Tench's Narrative._]
+
+[Footnote 81: _Dr. Lang's History of New South Wales._]
+
+[Footnote 82: _Bigge's Reports._]
+
+[Footnote 83: The decision of a magistrate was not necessary, to inflict
+punishment. The overseer stalked about with a military cane, and was not
+sparing of its use. "He would walk out behind the convict-hoers in a
+morning gown and morocco slippers, with a _Penang Lawyer_ hugged close
+under his right arm, or borne like a royal sceptre before him, plucking
+at every tuft as he paced about, and drumming such a tattoo upon the
+shoulders of the unlucky wight, whose ground was not completely chopped,
+and grass fairly uprooted, as made the whole brush dance with fire-flies
+before him!"--_Cunningham._]
+
+[Footnote 84: "The other inhabitants of the island (Britain) still
+maintained themselves by pasture: they were clothed with skins of
+beasts; they dwelt in huts, which they reared in forests and marshes,
+with which the country was covered."--_Hume's History of England_, chap.
+i.]
+
+[Footnote 85: "A little wicked tailor arrives, of no use to the
+architectural projects of the Governor: he is turned over to a settler,
+who leases this sartorial Borgia his liberty for five shillings a week,
+and allows him to steal and snip what, when, and where he can. The
+nefarious needleman writes home, that he is as comfortable as a finger
+in a thimble: that, though a fraction only of humanity, he has several
+wives, and is filled every day with rum and kangaroo. This, of course,
+is not lost upon a shop-board, and for the saving of fifteen pence a-day
+(to government), the foundation of many criminal tailors is
+laid."--_Edinburgh Review_, 1823.]
+
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+The adventurous habits of a hunting life, favored by the early
+necessities of the settlement, trained the prisoners to
+bushranging.[86] The lawless pioneers of the settlers repeated in
+Tasmania the exploits once common in Great Britain, when the merry green
+wood was the retreat of the outlaw; and always found where the
+population is scanty and the government feeble: the popular names of
+places denote the character or tastes of their early visitors and
+heroes.[87] The bushrangers at first were absentees, who were soon
+allured or driven to theft and violence; but so early as 1808, Lemon and
+Brown, by systematic robbery, had excited feelings of alarm: one of
+these men was surprised asleep, and decapitated, at Lemon Springs, which
+bear his name.
+
+The severity of corporal punishment, which prevailed at that period,
+when no prison more secure than a stockade had been built, induced the
+accused to obtain a respite by retiring to the bush. Some men of milder
+disposition abstained from all active violations of the law, and kept
+aloof from offenders of a different temper. Of a sailor, who deserted to
+the forest, it is said that he not only refrained from robberies, but
+often prevented them: he had carried to his retreat a young woman whom
+he professed to love, and remained for three years in his seclusion. The
+romance of this event was, however, extinguished at the close of their
+exile: the man grew prosperous, abandoned his faithful companion, and
+married another.
+
+Towards the close of 1813, the daring and sanguinary violence of
+bushrangers, reduced the colony to the utmost distress: the settlers,
+generally of the lowest class, received their plunder, and gave them
+notice of pursuit. Their alliance with stock-keepers, who themselves
+passed rapidly, and almost naturally, from the margin of civilised to a
+lawless life, was well understood: nor could they readily refuse their
+friendship: the government, unable to afford them protection, left them
+no other source of safety. The division of the colonists into those who
+had been convicts, and those who controlled them, naturally ranged all
+of loose principles on the side of the outlaws. Nor was their mode of
+life without attractions: they were free: their daring seemed like
+heroism to those in bondage. They not unfrequently professed to punish
+severity to the prisoners, and like Robin Hood of old, to pillage the
+rich, that they might be generous to the poor. The course adopted by
+the government indicated the strength of the robbers: despairing to
+reduce them by force, in 1814 Macquarie tendered pardon, except for the
+crime of murder, to those who, within six months, should return to their
+duty. To give effect to this treaty, time was judged necessary for its
+publication; and to allow for the hesitation of the penitent, a distant
+day was appointed for closing the door.
+
+This singular document was prepared by his Majesty's judge, who was thus
+himself bound in honor to its unexampled conditions; but the legal
+acumen of the robbers soon detected the error: its effect was not only
+pardon for the past, but, with the exception of murder, a license to
+ravage the colony until the date expired. Thus, they gathered the
+harvest of crime, and continued their depredations to the last. Nor was
+another advantage foreseen, although eagerly embraced by the robbers:
+they almost universally submitted, and having cleared with the law, were
+prepared again to abscond, and risk once more the chances of the field;
+but if the document was absurd, the conduct of the local authorities was
+not less impolitic. The removal of men, so well acquainted with the
+colony and its hundred retreats, was an obvious, yet neglected,
+precaution: some were satisfied with their past experience, but others
+lost no time in returning to the bush.
+
+For several years the settlement suffered the utmost mischief from these
+bands of robbers: among those celebrated for daring, for resolute
+resistance, and for frequent escapes, Michael Howe, a seaman, obtained
+the largest share of fame. Formerly in the royal navy, and afterwards
+owning a small coal craft, he had acquired some notion of order and
+command. On his arrival in Van Diemen's Land, in 1812, he was assigned
+to Mr. Ingle, a merchant and stock-holder; but he had declared, that
+having served the king, he would be no man's slave, and to cast off the
+yoke of such subjection was, perhaps, the main object he contemplated.
+Such was his pretence. Having received the benefit of the amnesty, he
+soon joined a gang, of which one Whitehead was the leader; among whom
+was a deserter of the 73rd regiment, and two aboriginal women. The
+settlers of New Norfolk, they deprived of all their portable property,
+their arms and ammunition; and shortly after, thus equipped, they burned
+the wheat stacks and barns of the police magistrate, Mr. Humphrey, and
+those of Reardon, the district constable at Pittwater. The following
+month they appeared again at New Norfolk, and pillaged the residence of
+Mr. Carlisle, who advising his neighbour, Mr. M'Carty, of their
+vicinity, induced him to arm for the protection of a vessel, the
+_Geordy_, which he presumed they would endeavour to capture. M'Carty,
+and those who were with him, coming up with the robbers, demanded their
+arms. They were under the cover of a large hollow tree: the settlers
+were thus exposed to their aim: Carlisle himself received a ball in the
+groin, and three slugs in the breast, and died within an hour. O'Birnie,
+master of the vessel, was wounded by a ball in the cheek, which
+perforated his tongue and lodged in his neck. The banditti now commanded
+instant surrender, which being refused, the firing was renewed. The
+settlers were compelled to abandon one of their number, who was
+preserved by Whitehead from the violence of his comrades. When an
+account of this skirmish was received, armed parties were dispatched
+from Hobart Town, and came closely on their track. They re-appeared at
+the house of Mr. Humphrey, and compelled his servants to tie the hands
+of each other: they then plundered whatever they found useful,
+destroying the rest in revenge: they had discovered handcuffs in the
+house. Hitherto Whitehead had been the leader; but his spite ultimately
+led to his destruction: he conducted his gang to the house of M'Carty,
+into which they wantonly fired a volley of shot: a party of the 46th
+regiment were lying in ambush; a brisk fire commenced, and Whitehead was
+mortally wounded. The darkness of the night prevented pursuit: Whitehead
+ran towards Howe, who, at his request, immediately cut off his head.
+They had bound each other thus to provide against the recognition of a
+fallen companion--to deprive their pursuers of the promised reward. Howe
+then became the leader of the band. A party of soldiers succeeded in the
+capture of two who had separated from the rest: they also recovered
+ammunition and fire-arms, of which the settlers had been pillaged. To
+effect the reduction of such disturbers of the public peace, martial law
+was proclaimed by Lieutenant-Governor Davey--an exertion of power beyond
+his commission, and opposed by his only official adviser, the Deputy
+Judge Advocate. Macquarie promptly disallowed this interference with his
+authority. It was argued, that the right to declare martial law, if
+vested in Davey, might be claimed by any subaltern, whose distance from
+the central authority gave the plea of necessity. To bring the offenders
+to justice at all, it was first necessary to take them: when in bonds,
+they would cease to be dangerous, and might be forwarded to the
+tribunal appointed by the crown. These arguments did not prevail to stay
+process: a court-martial condemned to death Macguire and Burne,
+bushrangers, and Stephens, a perfidious stock-keeper, by whom they had
+been countenanced.
+
+The movements of the robbers were rapid: they plundered the residence of
+Mr. David Rose, near Launceston, and escaping a diligent pursuit, they
+re-appeared at Bagdad, a distance of 100 miles. Their scouts had
+informed them that property to a large amount would be found there:
+their confederacy was extensive, and it was asserted by Howe, that some
+most active in his pursuit, had been sharers in the profits of his
+crimes. The tone assumed by this robber, was that of an independent
+chief, and in the management of his men he attempted the discipline of
+war. They subscribed to articles, which bound them to obedience:
+penalties were inflicted, such as cutting and carrying wood for their
+fires, or even stripes. He professed the piety of a quarter-deck, and
+read to them the scriptures: his style and title was "Governor of the
+Rangers," and he addressed the King's representative as "Governor of the
+Town." His taste for ceremony was once curiously exhibited: having met a
+traveller, he ranged his party, and called on the stranger to witness an
+oath, which was administered on the _Prayer Book_ by one of the gang.
+The purport of their vow might be inferred from their message: they
+said, they could set the whole country on fire with one stick, and
+thrash in one night more than could be gathered in a year.
+
+Happily for mankind, the association of evil men is but transient. Howe,
+often absent from his party, without assigning reasons, awakened a
+suspicion: he retreated with a native girl, Mary, but was shortly after
+followed by soldiers. His companion was taken, and he lost his dogs, his
+knapsack, and arms: it is said, that he fired at the girl, because she
+encumbered his flight; but it was asserted by himself, that he only
+intended to alarm, and not destroy her. She became useful to the
+government, by discovering the resort of the robbers, and a flock of
+sheep they had stolen. At length, weary of his wandering life, Howe
+proposed to surrender to the government. A person, who had formerly
+joined him in an attempt to escape in an American vessel, became the
+channel of communication. Howe affected to dread the violence of the
+settlers, who might kill him for the reward, or to prevent his
+disclosures; but Governor Sorell sent Captain Nairne to the place of
+meeting, with an assurance of present safety, and intercession for his
+forgiveness.
+
+Society must have been at the verge of dissolution, when letters and
+messages passed between the government and an outlaw. To admit its
+prudence, requires a recollection, not only of the power of the robbers,
+but the number of their friends.[88]
+
+The disclosures of Howe were not important, and his companions continued
+still a terror to the public: their losses were frequent, but they
+received continual accessions. They seized the boat, which carried
+provisions between George Town and Launceston; probably with the
+concurrence of the crew, several of whom joined them. They were now
+twenty in number, and it became necessary to unite the colony against
+them. The more opulent settlers were compelled to abandon their
+dwellings, and to take refuge in the towns. Sorell, by a spirited
+appeal, roused their more decided efforts to destroy the marauders:
+sums, subscribed by the inhabitants of Hobart Town, of eighty or one
+hundred guineas, were offered for their apprehension. A party of
+military traced them to the Black Brush, and thence to a settler's house
+at the Tea Tree, where they had dined. They had the advantage of
+position, but Geary, their leader, was slain, and several others
+wounded. The rain had damped the powder of the soldiers, which prevented
+their muskets from telling with full effect; but their success was
+ominous to the robbers.
+
+Notwithstanding the character of Howe, on the plea of ill-health, he was
+permitted to walk abroad in charge of a constable; but whether he
+distrusted the promise of pardon, or preferred the license of the bush,
+he eluded his guard, and escaped--without, however, trusting his safety
+to the fidelity of his former companions. These soon met their fate:
+Hillier resolved to purchase his life by the sacrifice of his comrades.
+At midnight, while two of them slept, he attempted their destruction:
+cutting the throat of one, from ear to ear, and wounding the other with
+his own rifle.
+
+The bushrangers were now reduced to three: Howe, Watts, and Browne. The
+last, surrendered; but Watts conspired with a stock-keeper, named Drewe,
+to seize Howe. This man, when in charge of his master's flock,
+occasionally corresponded with him. They accordingly met him, at a place
+called Longbottom. Within one hundred yards of each other, these old
+companions in crime demanded, and agreed, that both should knock out the
+priming of their guns: they then kindled a fire. Watts threw Howe on the
+ground; Drewe tied his hands, and took his knives from his pocket: they
+then prepared breakfast. After some delay, they proceeded to Hobart
+Town; Watts, with his gun, walking before Howe, and Drewe behind him.
+The captive disengaged his hands, and, with a knife he had concealed,
+stabbed Watts; and in an instant, seizing his gun, he shot Drewe dead.
+Watts then expected a similar fate; he, however, reached Hobart Town,
+and was thence forwarded to Sydney, where he died of his wounds.
+
+The Lieutenant-Governor, anxious to end the career of this desperate
+man, offered, beside the pecuniary reward, freedom and a passage to
+England to any prisoner, who might succeed in his capture. Stratagems
+were continually devised to entrap him; but he retired into the distant
+parts of the wood, only appearing when hunger or lack of ammunition
+compelled his visits. His courage and skill made him a formidable
+antagonist: none would venture to face him; yet so hot was the pursuit,
+that he again left behind his knapsack and ammunition. He continued at
+large until the 21st October, 1818. Warburton, often an accomplice,
+became his betrayer: he enticed him to a hut, where he said that he
+would find supplies necessary for subsistence; and, notwithstanding his
+hesitation, which occasioned long delay, he was caught in the snare:
+having discovered the ambush, he retreated with precipitation; but was
+overtaken, and slain.[89]
+
+Howe was charged with several murders, beside those here recorded. It
+was the fashion of the day, to admit every rumour of his cruelty. It was
+stated, on doubtful authority, that having quarrelled with Edwards, a
+comrade, respecting some plunder, he slew him; that another, Bowles,
+having discharged a pistol in sport near his person, suffered the same
+fate--that he tied the hands and feet of the offender, and shot him
+dead. The death of Davenport, a stockman, without much probability, was
+attributed to Howe: his remains were afterwards discovered, without
+confirming the suspicion. The relations of these men naturally led to
+treachery and revenge, and in the terms of their union retaliation was
+included. Howe kept the secret of his gang, and displayed much sympathy
+when his companions were sick or wounded. He was a bold outlaw, prepared
+to maintain his freedom at whatever cost; nor does it appear that he was
+wanting in those equivocal virtues, which are compatible with a life of
+violence and guilt. His knapsack contained a record of his dreams,
+written on kangaroo skin with blood; he was haunted by visions of his
+old companions who were dead: the subject of one, was his sister. He had
+made a list of seeds, vegetables, fruits, and even flowers, intended to
+adorn the seclusion which he contemplated. Howe's form was athletic, his
+countenance strongly marked; his beard of an extraordinary length, and
+he was dressed in the skin of kangaroo.[90]
+
+Five years after his death, Howe's dwelling was found. The site was
+chosen with taste, in an open undulating country, stretching to the
+western mountains: the spot was secluded from observation, was covered
+with a large honeysuckle, and on a rise sloping to the stream. A
+gigantic tree, prostrate, which he used as a chopping block, was the
+boundary to which he permitted Warburton to approach.[91]
+
+The privation, fatigue, and anxiety endured by the bushrangers, they
+have often depicted with horror. The country, destitute of indigenous
+fruits or herbs, afforded no safe retreat; and they were compelled to
+hover round the inhabited districts to obtain ammunition, even when
+willing to live by the chase. The increase of the settlers has long
+prevented protracted concealment, and multiplied the chances of capture.
+Prompted by passion, or allured by the fascination of liberty, an
+unbroken succession of adventurers have sought shelter in the bush, and
+passed through the miseries of a vagrant life; but their suppression has
+usually been easy, and for years the penalty of their crimes certain.
+
+In the progress of these memorials, allusions to bushrangers must
+occur; but the records of crime are disgusting. The Italian robber
+tinged his adventure with romance; the Spanish bandit was often a
+soldier, and a partisan; but the wandering thieves of Tasmania were not
+less uncouth than violent--hateful for their debasement, as well as
+terrible for their cruelty. They can rarely be objects of interest, save
+when points in their career illustrate principles, or exhibit traits in
+contrast with their ordinary course. It may be proper to notice
+instances of courage, of constancy, or of unusual suffering: they may
+set forth the social state out of which they have arisen, and thus the
+operation of systems; but who would delight to read the dull details of
+wickedness which crowd the annals of this country?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 86: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 87: The following are some that require no key:--Murderers'
+Plains, Killman Point, Hell Corner, Murderers' Tiers, Four Square
+Gallows, Dunne's Look-out, Brady's Look-out, and Lemon's Lagoon.]
+
+[Footnote 88: A more singular instance occurred during the rule of
+Colonel Davey. A reformed bushranger was dispatched to treat with a
+young man who had absconded from the commissariat: he resolved to
+accompany the messenger into the presence of the Governor; but he went
+armed. The kind old man received him with some rough salutation; but
+having discovered his pistol, he asked what was the meaning of that? In
+reply, he stated that he had resolved to shoot the messenger, if he
+found treachery--a precaution, which rather amused than offended the
+gallant commander. This statement, made by a survivor of the scene, is a
+curious relic of government.]
+
+[Footnote 89: "JACK WORRALL.--He was entrapped into the mutiny of the
+Nore, but the only part which he took in the proceedings, was writing
+out in a fair hand several papers for the mutineers; and this he
+declared he did for no other purpose than to indulge his own vanity, in
+displaying his fine writing, upon which he had highly valued himself. He
+was tried after the surrender of the mutineers, and transported for life
+to Van Diemen's Land. 'I was now,' said he, 'determined to make a push
+for the capture of this villain, Mick Howe, for which I was promised a
+passage to England in the next ship that sailed, and the amount of the
+reward laid upon his head. I found out a man of the name of Warburton,
+who was in the habit of hunting kangaroos for their skins, and who had
+frequently met Howe during his excursions, and sometimes furnished him
+with ammunition. He gave me such an account of Howe's habits, that I
+felt convinced we could take him with a little assistance. I therefore
+spoke to a man of the name of Pugh, belonging to the 48th regiment--one
+whom I knew was a most cool and resolute fellow. He immediately entered
+into my views, and having applied to Major Bell, his commanding officer,
+he was recommended by him to the Governor, by whom I was permitted to
+act, and allowed to join us; so he and I went directly to Warburton, who
+heartily entered into the scheme, and all things were arranged for
+putting it into execution. The plan was thus:--Pugh and I were to remain
+in Warburton's hut, while Warburton himself was to fall into Howe's way.
+The hut was on the river Shannon, standing so completely by itself, and
+so out of the track of any body who might be feared by Howe, that there
+was every probability of accomplishing our wishes, and '_scotch the
+snake_'--as they say--if not kill it. Pugh and I accordingly proceeded
+to the appointed hut: we arrived there before day-break, and having made
+a hearty breakfast, Warburton set out to seek Howe. He took no arms with
+him, in order to still more effectually carry his point; but Pugh and I
+were provided with muskets and pistols. The sun had been just an hour
+up, when we saw Warburton and Howe upon the top of a hill, coming
+towards the hut. We expected they would be with us in a quarter of an
+hour, and so we sat down upon the trunk of a tree inside the hut, calmly
+waiting their arrival. An hour passed, but they did not come, so I crept
+to the door cautiously and peeped out--there I saw them standing, within
+a hundred yards of us, in earnest conversation; as I learned afterwards,
+the delay arose from Howe's suspecting that all was not right. I drew
+back from the door to my station, and in about ten minutes after this we
+plainly heard footsteps, and the voice of Warburton; another moment, and
+Howe slowly entered the hut--his gun presented and cocked. The instant
+he espied us, he cried out, '_Is that your game?_'--and immediately
+fired; but Pugh's activity prevented the shot from taking effect, for he
+knocked the gun aside. Howe ran off like a wolf. I fired but missed.
+Pugh then halted and took aim at him, but also missed. I immediately
+flung away the gun and ran after Howe. Pugh also pursued; Warburton was
+a considerable distance away. I ran very fast--so did Howe; and if he
+had not fallen down an unexpected bank, I should not have been fleet
+enough for him. This fall, however, brought me up with him; he was on
+his legs, and preparing to climb a broken bank, which would have given
+him a free run into the wood, when I presented my pistol at him, and
+desired him to stand: he drew forth another, but did not level it at me.
+We were about fifteen yards from each other--the bank he fell from
+between us. He stared at me with astonishment, and to tell you the
+truth, I was a little astonished at him, for he was covered with patches
+of kangaroo skins, and wore a black beard--a haversack and powder horn
+slung across his shoulders. I wore my beard also--as I do now: and a
+curious pair we looked like. After a moment's pause, he cried out,
+'Black beard against grey beard for a million!'--and fired: I slapped at
+him, and I believe hit him, for he staggered; but rallied again, and was
+clearing the bank between him and me, when Pugh ran up, and with the
+butt end of his firelock knocked him down again, jumped after him, and
+battered his brains out, just as he was opening a clasp knife to defend
+himself.'"--_The Military Sketch Book._]
+
+[Footnote 90: This account is taken from the _Sydney Gazettes_, quoted
+by Wentworth; _Commissioner Bigge's Reports_, and _Bent's Life of
+Howe_.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Bent, the government printer, published a pamphlet in
+1818, entitled, "_Michael Howe: the last and worst of the Bushrangers_."
+This pamphlet was reviewed by the _Quarterly_; "it is," observes the
+reviewer, "the greatest literary curiosity that has come before us--the
+first child of the press of a state only fifteen years old. It would, of
+course, be re-printed here; but our copy, _penes nos_, is a genuine
+Caxton. This little book would assuredly be the _Reynarde Foxe_ of
+Australian bibliomaniacs."--1820.]
+
+
+
+SECTION VII.
+
+It was the policy of the local government to relieve the crown from that
+class of prisoners who were incapable of useful labor on the public
+works. The settlers from Norfolk Island, who had acquired their liberty,
+or fulfilled their military service, became the employers of prisoners:
+many of the masters, in their principles and habits, did not differ from
+their men--frequently, their accomplices and sharers of their spoil.
+Those engaged in the interior, in tending the flocks and herds, were
+often paid in proportion to the increase, and beside the property of
+their masters, they had charge of their own. This system, fraught with
+mischief, continued for many years, in spite of the interdicts of the
+government, and the fatal results exhibited in the courts of justice.
+Cattle and sheep stealing were carried to an astonishing extent: the
+owners, ignorant sometimes of the amount of their wealth, confided its
+safety to men incapable of resisting ordinary temptation. The more
+opulent estimated their annual loss at one-fifth of the increase; and in
+unfavorable situations, where many cotters were established, they found
+the preservation of their stock impossible, and relinquished the attempt
+in despair.[92] The brand was obliterated, often with great ingenuity:
+the I became H, C was turned into G, and P into B; the more daring,
+blotted out all brands, by a heated shovel. Stock yards were enclosed
+and hidden by the bush, where cattle were slaughtered, and sheep by
+scores were salted down. Ewes were driven into the interior until their
+lambs were weaned, when they were returned to their owners. In supplying
+the commissariat, it was not unusual to drive a flock of sheep for
+inspection, which were again returned to the fold, and others from a
+stolen stock passed under the certificate thus obtained; and the plunder
+of the royal herds, were slaughtered and sold to the crown.
+
+Such depredations were enormous: large gangs were in combination, and
+the first session held in Van Diemen's Land, brought to light extensive
+robberies, comprehending twelve hundred sheep.[93] These evils were
+encouraged by difficulties in the administration of justice. For five
+years, fifteen charges only were tried by the court of criminal
+jurisdiction in New South Wales: the prosecutor, the witnesses, and the
+prisoners were forwarded together. On one occasion, six were sent up for
+trial: the skins of the stolen beasts were deposited in a cask, and the
+proof was deemed complete; but of the same cooperage, another was
+prepared, an admirable imitation. This last was opened in court, but it
+was found filled with the skins of seals; and, by the ingenious
+transformation, the prosecution was satisfied.
+
+It is just to observe, that the absence of legal redress not only
+prompted, but extenuated these violations of law: crime retaliated
+crime: the lower settlers carried on a system of plunder; but the
+uncertain tenure of property weakened that moral principle which is its
+surest defence. The cattle stealer was himself a loser by the man he
+robbed: a stray beast was branded without question; the owner, when he
+discovered that his property was beyond his reach, except by the
+prosecution of the robber, adopted a shorter course. Reprisals thus lost
+half their guilt: nor is it wonderful that such feelings, as borderers
+were said once to cherish, prevailed among men who found excuses in
+their position, and indemnified their past or possible losses by the
+first spoil which came in their way.
+
+But these combinations led to other crimes. The robbers had their
+accomplices and abettors: the theft complete, they grew suspicious of
+each other, and some who disappeared, were sacrificed by the jealousy of
+their companions. When engaged in these depredations, they usually set a
+watch: a cautious traveller avoided inquiry, and well authenticated
+instances proved how perilous, in those days of violence, was an
+expression of curiosity or suspicion.
+
+To stop these plundering habits, the King's Commissioner Bigge advised a
+periodical sitting of the court in Van Diemen's Land. In 1821, Judge
+Wylde visited this country, and for various crimes, twenty-five persons
+were condemned to death, of whom ten were executed. One hundred and
+sixteen persons were incarcerated prior to his arrival--a large
+proportion, compared with the census (7,372); but two years after, the
+number charged with similar offences proved that crime was not abated.
+Among those who suffered death was George Richardson: his case
+illustrated the process by which such felonies were perpetuated.
+Formerly the confidential servant of Colonel Davey, he was employed by
+Dr. Scott, and had charge of his flock--himself being an owner of stock.
+Having received an order to supply Doctor Spence a quantity of sheep, he
+deliberately separated them from a neighbour's flock, and drove them to
+their destination, with the coolness proper to an ordinary transaction.
+The proof of guilt was too clear to be affected by artifice, though
+calculated to elude suspicion by its very deliberation. Nor is it
+difficult, when examining the criminal records of those times, to
+suppose, that the trepidation natural when violating the law, was
+overcome by the indifference of habit.
+
+Few of the higher classes, it may be presumed, connived at these
+nefarious transactions: one memorable instance, proved that no class is
+absolutely safe in an atmosphere of guilt. A settler, connected with a
+Scottish family of great respectability, thus forfeited his life. It
+was stated that his robberies were incessant, and that he leagued with
+bushrangers; to whom, perhaps constrained by fear, he gave notice of
+danger by signals. A secluded sheep-yard was discovered, and a large
+sheep brand, of a remarkable shape: at a distance, four hundred sheep
+were found, bearing the mark newly made, which was contrived to
+obliterate the brand of Mr. Jones, the owner. The culprit had prepared
+this flock, to transfer to another person, to whom a number were due. It
+was in vain that witnesses testified to his character and to the
+respectability of his house: the jury pronounced him guilty, and he was
+executed. A friend, who accompanied him to the scaffold, heard him say,
+that that moment was the most happy of his life! It doubtless brought
+deliverance. He left behind an infant family, the last of whom was born
+while the father was in prison, and an aged parent in Scotland; who,
+long after he was dead, indulged her maternal tenderness, by preparing
+clothing for his use, and hoping for tidings of his prosperity. His name
+is suppressed, lest even now the record of his fate might meet the eye
+of a mourner.
+
+Society, as it then existed, nourished every species of crime: tattered
+promissory notes, of small amount and doubtful parentage, fluttered
+about the colony: dumps, struck out from dollars, were imitated by a
+coin prepared without requiring much mechanical ingenuity; and plate,
+stolen by bushrangers and burglars, was melted down and disposed of in a
+similar form.
+
+Nothing was neglected: they burnt the implements of husbandry for the
+iron; they robbed the gibbet of the chains: they even wrenched the plate
+from the coffin of an opulent merchant, and stripped him of his
+shroud.[94]
+
+In looking at the origin of the population, and the various inducements
+continually offered to the perpetration of wickedness, the total
+dissolution of manners is no subject of surprise. It was, perhaps, but a
+small aggravation, that prostitution and concubinage were held too
+venial for remark: many of the officers of government made no secret of
+their relation to the women whom they adopted as mistresses, and
+sometimes respected as wives. Among the anomalies of the day, was the
+release of such females from compulsory attendance on divine worship, on
+account of the official preference they enjoyed--a curious immunity from
+a penal obligation: to be taken, perhaps, as a sinister acknowledgment,
+that the government was not insensible to virtue--as the Russian
+courtezan extinguishes the candle of ceremony, and veils her patron
+saint.[95]
+
+Sorell, on his accession to the government, attempted to reform the more
+flagrant abuses by which he was surrounded: he was aided in his task by
+Mr. Humphrey, a man superior, by education and habit, to many charged
+with similar duties. He established an exact register of the conviction,
+arrival, and distribution of the prisoners, and appointed times for the
+muster of such as were assigned. He imposed some restrictions on their
+wandering habits, and required that those who employed them should
+answer for their residence. It was the custom, however, to allow the
+greater part to reside in lodgings provided by themselves; they thus
+spent their leisure time where they were exposed to perpetual
+temptation, and nightly robberies attested their diligence. The traders
+of Hobart Town, for several years, were compelled to sleep on their
+counters, and watch their property with the most scrupulous care: an
+inquiry who had been pillaged, became the ordinary morning salutation.
+The thieves broke through the walls with oriental skill: a stormy night
+afforded them a harvest. During a tempest of extraordinary severity,
+which deluged the streets and carried away fences, they contrived to
+pillage to a great amount; a ladder was discovered at a window,
+constructed for the purpose, by which they ascended to the upper
+chamber, and thus proved that no elevation was safe. Nor did they
+confine their ravages to the towns; they entered the store of a settler,
+and stripped his dwelling of L400 worth of goods, which they conveyed by
+boat to Hobart Town. Many were living without any lawful means of
+subsistence, and as their numbers increased, fraud and robbery were
+perpetrated in every house, and at every hour of the day.
+
+Such was the state of the colony at the close of Sorell's
+administration, who found that without the means of nightly restraint,
+all regulations of police were in vain. On resigning office, he
+predicted the difficulties of his successor, and warned him that he must
+expect to contend with increasing crime.[96] To estimate the merit of
+Arthur's government, it is necessary to remember those evils--with what
+difficulty authority, long relaxed, is recovered--even by the most
+skilful and vigorous hands. When a few years had elapsed, the security
+of the colony was a subject of universal astonishment; and it was
+boasted, that men slept with their doors unlocked, and their windows
+unfastened, and often with property to a large amount strewed around
+their dwellings; notwithstanding, a dangerous temerity. By what means
+these results were, even partially attained, the reader will be curious
+to know.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 92: Curr's account.]
+
+[Footnote 93:
+
+_Session_ (Judge Wylde), 1821.
++--------+--------------------+----------------------+
+| Cases. |  Sheep in question.|      Owner.          |
++--------+--------------------+----------------------+
+|   1    |        300         |   William Watterson. |
+|   2    |        100         |   Ditto.             |
+|   3    |        250         |   Daniel Stansfield. |
+|   4    |        150         |   Robert Gillet.     |
+|   5    |        200         |   Samuel Clements.   |
+|   6    |        100         |   Edward Lord.       |
+|   7    |         60         |   Crown.             |
++--------+--------------------+----------------------+
+
+Some of these robbers suffered death: others are still in the land of
+the living; and their names are suppressed, on the presumption of their
+reform.--_Compiled from Gazettes._]
+
+[Footnote 94: Mr. Birch.]
+
+[Footnote 95: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 96: "I entered upon the government, at a moment which my
+predecessor considered a most eventful one. Circumstances, connected
+with convict population, which it would not be prudent for me to dwell
+upon in this place, co-operated to render it probable, in the opinion of
+Colonel Sorell, that crime would rapidly increase."--_George Arthur_,
+1825.]
+
+
+
+SECTION VIII.
+
+It will be proper, however, first to retrace the penal history of these
+settlements, and to mark the incidents which moulded their form, and
+contributed to their failure or success. The administration of the penal
+laws cannot be understood, except by a broad and continuous survey. The
+developments of one colony re-acted on the other: Van Diemen's Land,
+long the satellite of New South Wales, attended all its motions, and
+with it prospered or suffered. From the fortunes of that colony, the
+history of Tasmania is inseparable.
+
+The evils described, were not of a recent origin; they may be traced
+from the commencement of penal colonisation: the journals of the first
+officers exhibit all sorts of mischief, which only entered into new
+combinations as times advanced, and property was diffused. Collins,
+whose account descended to the close of the century, records a perpetual
+struggle with vice and crime. What could be expected of men who burned
+their gaol at the risk of their lives, and the church to escape
+attendance on worship?
+
+The first expiree, James Rouse, who was established (1790) as a settler,
+was industrious and successful. Phillip, anxious to test the competence
+of the land to sustain a cultivator, cleared two acres for this man,
+erected his hut, and supplied him with food. Fifteen months after, he
+relinquished his claim on the King's stores, and received thirty acres
+of land, in reward for his diligence. It thus became common to afford
+similar facilities to expiree convicts,[97] but generally in vain.
+
+The solicitude of Phillip was displayed in every form of kindness; but
+the proneness of his subjects to intemperance, defeated all his efforts:
+he gave them stock; and had scarcely left the land, when his gifts were
+sold for rum. His successor was not more successful, when he tried the
+same plan. Cargoes of American spirit produced the madness of
+intoxication; and the freed settlers neglected their farms, or
+anticipated their produce to obtain the liquid destruction. Their
+passion for gaming was universal: they sometimes staked not only their
+money and their goods, but even their clothing, and were seen to labor
+in the field, as free from clothing as the savages who surrounded them.
+
+In spite of the dread of famine, they consumed their time and substance
+in intemperance: sold their seed, lent to insure their harvest. In the
+distribution of stores, robberies were daily committed; double rations
+were issued; and Collins ingenuously confesses, that office converted
+the most trusty into thieves; and that peculations were forgiven,
+because a change of agency was useless. All in superior circumstances,
+unprotected by military vigilance, were robbed and robbed again.
+Missionaries, who fled from Tahiti, found their countrymen more savage
+than strangers: one was wounded, and plundered of all his property; and
+another, murdered with an axe, while writing a receipt for a payment,
+which his destroyer thus hoped to evade. The Governor, in an imploring
+tone, enumerated the robberies which every day occurred, and hoped that
+the constables, in whose presence they were committed, did not profit by
+such crimes! Those who obtained their freedom, were a source of infinite
+annoyance: unable to depart from the country, they refused all kinds of
+labor; and, joined with others equally worthless, astonished the
+officers by the vigour and ingenuity of their spoliations.
+
+The account given by Collins, is a valuable delineation of society when
+set free from moral influence, and proves how little simple coercion can
+check a general disposition to crime. So rare was reformation, that a
+single instance is mentioned with triumph: among the few who redeemed
+that settlement from utter dishonor, was George Barrington, celebrated
+for his dexterity as a pickpocket, and for his pathos at the bar; who
+robbed a prince with the grace of a courtier, and was the _beau ideal_
+of swindlers. He was distinguished in New South Wales for his integrity
+in the office of chief constable, and his diligence as a farmer. He died
+regretted, in the year this dependency was colonised.[98]
+
+Governor Hunter authorised the opening of a theatre at Sydney. The
+principal actors were convicts, and in default of a chamberlain, they
+were threatened, for a second offence, with the _penal_ settlement. The
+price of admission, one shilling, was paid in meal or rum, taken at the
+door! Many had performed the part of pickpocket in a London play-house,
+but at Sydney this was more difficult; yet they were not discouraged:
+they saw by a glance at the benches what houses were left unprotected,
+and proceeded to rob them. The motto of the actors was modest:--"We
+cannot command success; but we will endeavour to deserve it." Their
+first play was _The Revenge_: the first prologue, characteristic both of
+the actors and the audience. The aptitude of one of these couplets, has
+transferred it into a proverb; but it is worth seeing in its connexion,
+as a representation of the real sentiments with which violations of the
+law were remembered.[99]
+
+PROLOGUE.
+
+    From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas we come,
+    Though not with much eclat, or beat of drum,
+    True patriots we, for be it understood,
+    We left our country, for our country's good;
+    No private views disgraced our generous zeal,
+    What urged our travels, was our country's weal.
+      But, you inquire, what could our breast inflame,
+    With this new passion for Theatric fame?
+    He, who to midnight ladders is no stranger,
+    You'll own will make an admirable Ranger.
+    To seek Macheath we have not far to roam,
+    And sure in Filch I shall be quite at home.
+    As oft on Gadshill we have ta'en our stand,
+    When 'twas so dark you could not see your hand,
+    From durance vile our precious selves to keep,
+    We often had recourse to th' flying leap;
+    To a black face have sometimes ow'd escape,
+    And Hounslow Heath has proved the worth of crape.
+      But how, you ask, can we e'er hope to soar,
+    Above these scenes, and rise to Tragic lore?
+
+    Too oft, alas, we've forc'd th' unwilling tear,
+    And petrified the heart with real fear.
+    Macbeth, a harvest of applause will reap,
+    For some of us, I fear, have murder'd sleep;
+    His lady, too, with grace will sleep and talk,
+    Our females have been us'd at night to walk.
+      Sometimes, indeed, so various is our art,
+    An actor may improve and mend his part:
+    "Give me a horse," bawls Richard, like a drone,
+    We'll find a man would help himself to one.
+    Grant us your favor, put us to the test,
+    To gain your smiles we'll do our very best;
+    And, without dread of future Turnkey Lockits,
+    Thus, in an honest way, still pick your pockets.[100]
+
+The connection between ardent spirits and the early disorders of our
+penal colonies is patent at every stage of their progress. Then the
+habits of the navy were intemperate; rum was considered the great parent
+of valor. The founders of our colonies never entertained a suspicion
+that society could exist without its aid. Thus the first fleet, in their
+progress, touched at a port to take in a large supply, which proved of
+the most deleterious kind:[101] every vessel was deeply laden with the
+same commodity. The limitation of wholesale dealing to the officers, was
+not to restrain its consumption, but to monopolise its profits. The
+advantage of its distribution, as an incitement to labor, atoned for the
+moral ravages it spread: for this reward alone, would the prisoners
+yield their full strength; and when the taste, inflamed by indulgence,
+drove them to crime, or laid them in the dust, their ruin suggested no
+reflection beyond the general evils of intemperance. Had the light of
+science illuminated the imperial authorities, they perhaps had provided
+some check on this grand incentive to crime.
+
+The deposition of Bligh was occasioned by this fatal appetite: whether
+from sullenness, or conviction, he discouraged the vendors of rum, and
+attempted to obstruct their living on the vices of the prisoners. The
+landing of a still, and its seizure, was followed by a series of
+altercations, which led to the military rebellion, and terminated his
+government. This event roused the public attention for a moment, to the
+state of the colony. In 1811-12 a committee of the House of Commons was
+appointed "to enquire into the manner in which the sentence of
+transportation had been executed, and the effects produced by that mode
+of punishment." The result was remarkable: the committee advised that
+more constitutional tribunals should be established, and distillation
+allowed.[102] The ministers of the day feebly vindicated the royal
+commission violated in the deposition of Bligh; and having once more set
+in motion the machine of legal government by the appointment of
+Macquarie, fell back into long slumber. Thenceforth, and for many years,
+rum was a great agent in the working of government, and the source of
+private opulence. The monopoly escaped official hands, but the expirees
+succeeded to the profitable calling. The large fortunes accumulated by
+many, were rarely derived from any other trade. Their prosperity was
+traced with startling uniformity: they sold their spirits to the
+settlers for produce, which they vended at the royal stores: they
+indulged them with credit, until hopelessly involved, when mortgages
+were executed, and foreclosed with a rapidity and precision which leaves
+modern conveyancing in the shade.[103] Individual powers of consumption
+were incredibly great: the expiree farmer, and his not more intemperate
+prisoner servant, broached the vessel, poured out its contents into
+buckets, and drank until they were insensible, or until, roused to
+frantic vigor, they were swift to shed blood. Such scenes were
+common.[104]
+
+The specious advantage to the revenue, exhibited by our colonial
+statistics, protected a vice so useful. The influence of this interest
+cannot be overstated: to put down spirit drinking would, in equal
+proportion, disturb colonial finance. The demands of the public service
+were always in advance of its means, and no colonial administration was
+found sufficiently enlightened or courageous to add the prevention of
+this poisonous indulgence to the other consequences of banishment.
+
+Macquarie revived the policy of the Stuarts, in regulating this trade:
+to Messrs. Wentworth, Riley, and Blaxland, he granted (1810) the
+exclusive privilege of importation, and by the duty they paid (7s. per
+gallon), erected a hospital. They proved, in defiance of economists, how
+monopoly can, sometimes, enlarge the supply, and thus increase the
+demand. They dispatched their agents to the Mauritius, India, and the
+Cape, and bought at 2s. 6d. per gallon; and arrack and rum deluged the
+colony. The success of their enterprise was great: in less than two
+years they obtained sufficient to raise the edifice, which could not
+want occupants, and cost more than L20,000.
+
+The effects of this measure were flagrant: a letter, addressed by
+Marsden, the chaplain, to Macquarie, depicted the wretched condition of
+the prisoners. The scenes of dissipation which passed before him
+deprived him of repose. Freed women, living at Parramatta,
+unprovided with public shelter, ran headlong into vice, and dropped all
+around him, slain by rum and dissipation. He stood aghast and powerless
+before the devastation: at times he observed, "I envy the situation of
+the most menial servant, who is free from this solemn and sacred
+responsibility."[105] The reply of Macquarie was witty rather than
+relevant. He told Lord Sidmouth, in effect, that the sorrows of Marsden
+were too deep for discovery: noted for the cheerfulness, and even gaiety
+of his temper, his movements were too rapid for grief; and his days,
+divided between the cares of farming, grazing, and trade--to say nothing
+of his clerical occupation--left him no time for sorrow.[106] The evils
+he described are, however, proved by uniform testimony: they must exist
+where dealing in spirits is the sure path to wealth, and wealth the
+title to social distinction.
+
+In the _Rocks_, drunkenness and debauchery were constant and
+undisguised: persons of respectable appearance, in the day time, were
+liable to mal-treatment; but those who, in the night, entered the
+"fortress of iniquity," were usually stripped and plundered. Broils and
+boxing matches were of perpetual occurrence; the public-houses were
+"fences;" and degraded women, in large numbers, crowded these dens of
+thieves.[107]
+
+It is not necessary to give a chronological history of the spirituous
+epoch. The reign of intemperance commenced with the first proclamation:
+it received all the protection of law, and the favour of government: it
+was embodied in our penal administration. Whether it was possible to
+check its mischief, some may doubt; but that it has clenched the
+population fast; that it has formed our gangs--crowded our prisons; that
+it has covered our scaffolds, and filled ten thousand graves--is certain
+as death!
+
+The correspondence maintained between the convicts and their friends,
+informed them of their prosperity. The alluring picture, drawn by those
+whose bondage was past, exhibited a social state, precisely suited to
+the taste of their kindred and acquaintance. The sensual and dissolute
+were tempted by the riotous jollity of the "Rocks;" those fond of
+equivocal commerce with the profits of trade; and others were cheered by
+the assurance that a friend in bonds would find a nominal master in a
+relative or former friend, when the formalities of inspection were
+over.[108] Such as brought out spoil, were besieged with offers of
+investment, and found themselves in a market where money was the
+passport to favor and indulgence; others, less fortunate, were pillaged
+by those who crowded them with welcomes,[109] or drawn into bargains
+which proved that no cozening art was lost.
+
+To illustrate the occasional good fortune of prisoners, one Hazard, may
+be worth remembrance: he had been before transported; in 1815, he
+arrived under a second sentence, for life. While on the voyage out, he
+purchased a quantity of tobacco: he received, on landing, a
+ticket-of-leave; immediately married the daughter of an innkeeper, and
+obtained a license, in the name of his wife, to the same calling: he was
+patronised by the most respectable settlers, and enjoyed prosperity
+until his death, only five years after his arrival.
+
+In this colony, the acting secretary of the Governor secured his ticket
+at his landing, and was long distinguished for the extent of his
+influence, and the elegance of his dwelling.[110] It may be presumed
+that, however explained on the spot, these examples were not lost on the
+republic of thieves; and many were disposed to try that fortune which
+was so often propitious.
+
+The ordinary of Newgate, Mr. Cotton, a well-known name, in his evidence
+before the Commons in 1818, has left nothing to conjecture. The
+prisoners of his day "looked on transportation as a party of pleasure:"
+they departed from the prison with huzzas, and bade glad adieu to their
+less happy companions and keepers, exclaiming, "what a glorious kangaroo
+hunt we will have at the Bay."[111]
+
+    "Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum
+        Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore."
+
+    VIRGIL.
+
+To distinguish bravado from triumph, is sometimes difficult; but there
+must have been little to appall, where there was so much to hope: nor
+did they perceive that, though many were fortunate, not a few, at the
+brightest era, groaned in bondage; that degradation and suffering,
+sometimes, reached their utmost limits, at which death itself stops the
+hand of vengeance.
+
+The opinions that prevailed among the prisoners, in reference to the
+intentions of the British government, were adopted by Macquarie himself;
+he held, like them, that the colony was established for the benefit of
+persons convicted, and that in forming a system of political government,
+their social welfare was the grand design to pursue. The notion was not
+without support. In the nominal list of the first fleet, not more than
+fifty in all were banished for terms exceeding seven years.[112] To
+suppose that these were perpetually excluded from the immunities of
+British subjects, would be to attribute to expatriation a forfeiture
+beyond the operation of English law. The opinion was further fortified
+by the distribution of land, under regulations which were intended to
+encourage their permanent settlement, and limited only to such as, "by
+their good conduct and disposition to industry, should be deserving of
+favor, and receive emancipation and discharge from their
+servitude."[113] This opinion was still further sustained by the
+comparative neglect of emigration, and the selection of officers, for
+situations of authority and trust, from the ranks of the prisoners. A
+comparison of property acquired by the various classes, in 1820,
+explains many anomalies[114] in their social aspect, and vindicates the
+policy of Macquarie himself. It is shown, that the emancipists and their
+children were more than five times in excess of the free; and that their
+property in land, trade, and commerce, exceeded by more than one-half
+the possessions of the voluntary settlers.
+
+To erect the barriers of caste around so small a section, and to exclude
+emancipists from the common intercourse of social life, was a task no
+Governor could then accomplish, without danger. The changes which
+followed Macquarie's administration, especially the growth of a free
+population, enabled his successors to effect what, in 1817 to 1820, had
+been attempted in vain. The opposition encountered by Macquarie, and
+which he resented with the ardour of his character,[115] enabled his
+enemies to represent him as the patron of criminals. He was said to look
+upon their offences in the light of misfortunes, which they were to
+repair in the country of their exile, rather than to atone by the
+severities of toil and privation;[116] and that they were taught to look
+upon no title to property, as so just as that which had been derived by
+passing from crime to conviction; from thence to servitude,
+emancipation, and grant.[117]
+
+The difference of opinion and feeling between the Governor and military,
+led to the combination of emancipists, who did not veil their former
+condition, but ennobled it by raising it to a political interest; who
+adopted a designation, and formed a system of morality, to which it is
+useless to look for a parallel. They returned with bitterness the
+reproaches of the free, and insisted on the benefit of the proverb,
+which ascribes more virtue to the vigor of reformation, than the
+constancy of obedience.[118] Their advocates would ask, with exultation,
+whether any emigrants were found whose life would bear a scrutiny?
+Whether greater crimes are not tolerated by the refinements of vice than
+those which are commonly visited with the vengeance of the law? or,
+exhibiting the doctrines of christianity in their aspect to the
+penitent, they thundered forth denunciations against the proud and the
+self-righteous! The champion of this system, Mr. W. C. Wentworth, turned
+the artillery of his wrath against the exclusionists: "and shall not,"
+he exclaimed, in the ardour of his youth, "shall not the sole
+efficacious remedy be administered (the restoration of the civil rights,
+capacity to become magistrates and legislators), because a set of
+_interlopers_, in nowise connected with the purposes for which this
+colony was founded, wish to monopolise all the respectable offices of
+the government, all the functions of emolument, dignity, and power,
+themselves." "How can they expect pardon of God, if they withhold
+oblivion from their repentant fellow creatures." "Retrospection should
+not be pushed beyond the period of arrival, but then subsequent good
+behaviour should be subject to the severest tests. The re-convicted
+offender, branded with the _lasting_ impressions of infamy, should be
+rendered ever after incapable."[119]
+
+Such was the recognised code of the emancipist: it were, indeed, easy to
+see that the several convictions of some small rogue might not, in their
+aggregation, equal the crime of him who sinks a ship or burns a house,
+or the guilt of an atrocious offence, which escapes the last penalty of
+public vengeance, by some legal error; but to obliterate the first
+stigma of those who constituted the great body of a population, and
+whose self-respect was their chief chance of virtue, was not
+unreasonable.
+
+The evils which rose from this system of oblivion, are to be traced to
+the indiscretion which formed a community of criminal origin. The
+effects produced by their equipages, luxury, and licentiousness, on the
+British population, when set forth in the language of romance, were not
+to be charged on the local government. It is in the nature of commerce
+to collect wealth: the traders were nearly all expirees; they became
+rich, not because they were transported, but because some were
+industrious, others saving, and others fraudulent; and because they were
+in the midst of a system of expenditure, which made the Treasury of
+England their bank.
+
+The acquisitions of men, who had been prisoners, with great absurdity
+and forgetfulness, were attributed to the laxity of the local governors.
+Even now, many who are dextrous, shrewd, and persevering, acquire
+considerable properties: their prosperity awakens no alarm, because they
+are lost amidst a dense population, and are surrounded by emigrants, who
+by similar vices or virtues are not less opulent, but far more numerous.
+
+The first sound that fell on the ear of the prisoner, when he stood
+before Governor Macquarie, tended to animate his confidence: having
+enquired of his treatment through the voyage, he then informed him that
+the past was left to oblivion, and that the future would determine his
+condition,[120] This was often no vain promise: the sentiments he
+expressed were, more or less, recognised by the preceding Governors. The
+Commons, in 1812, gave his policy their sanction, and Earl Bathurst,
+though with more reserve, favored the same opinion. Macquarie never
+disguised this system of mercy.[121] When transportation only
+contemplated the establishment of a colony, this system of oblivion was
+useful; but the passage from the bar of justice to liberty, was
+sometimes not longer than the passage from England: and those who rose
+to wealth, by their character and career, gave to public retribution the
+aspect of grimace.
+
+On the appointment (1814) of H----, as superintendent of convicts, an
+office then of greater _real_ power than any other in the penal
+department of the British empire, Macquarie, says Bigge, gave an
+enumeration of his merits; and continued frequently to publish in the
+_Gazette_ eulogies on his character. This is slily sketched by the
+Commissioner himself, and with more precision by Dr. Reid, who was on
+the spot at the time. Mr. H---- was a convict, and was placed in office
+at Sydney, but breaking into the King's stores, either in person or by
+deputy, and taking away a bale of slops, he was re-transported to
+Norfolk Island, where he won the government notice by his diligence as a
+dealer in pork, and was recommended by the commandant to Macquarie. This
+man exercised his functions in the Turkish style: he rigorously
+depressed all unseasonable attempts at virtue; but nothing was
+impossible to those who were able and willing to pay, for whom he was
+accustomed to act as banker. His manners were coarse to loathsomeness,
+and he addressed the prisoners in language which outstripped their
+own;--"eclipsed them in wickedness, and in revolting filthiness." Nor
+was his domestic position more respectable: his wife was one of two, too
+bad for endurance, who were forced from the colony, and sent to England
+for reformation.[122] Such was the man entrusted with more than
+magisterial power.
+
+While the female prisoners were landed, his clerks became brokers
+for masters, friends, and husbands. When ships arrived, boats
+crowded round them, and the visitors chose, among the female prisoners,
+a wife, or such other relative as might answer to their prior
+engagements.[123] Having _sworn_ to these ties of kin, the
+superintendent assigned them according to the plan of the contracting
+parties, who, within twenty-four hours, had been total strangers. We may
+imagine the _eclat_ with which so clever a device would be appeared to
+the correspondents of the fortunate transport.
+
+Those, whose appearance or dullness excluded them from these resources,
+were taken to the factory. On their arrival, "according to custom," they
+were met by a body of men, who, having satisfied the constables, spread
+before these women the spirits and provisions provided for the feast of
+welcome: what followed need not be told. The connivance of the
+superintendent, with the most of these excesses, might be expected from
+his character; and although he displayed considerable tact in subjecting
+the prisoners to his control, his appointment and prerogatives almost
+justified, and they fully accounted for, the rancour with which his
+patron was opposed and condemned.
+
+Thus Macquarie did not exercise the caution requisite to preserve his
+generous designs from parliamentary censure: imprudent efforts to give
+effect to his conviction, involved him in a contest which hastened his
+recall, and it is said, shortened his life.[124] He raised to the bench,
+and invited to his table, several emancipists of wealth, and made their
+social reception the condition of his favor. When elevating to offices,
+he sometimes violated his own rule of forgetting the past, by basing his
+eulogy on the reformation of the person he delighted to honor. The
+details of their character, furnished by the indignant or malicious,
+cast an air of ridicule on their public reception. The subalterns of the
+army refused to join their superior officers in entertainments, at which
+emancipists were guests. The resentment of Macquarie aggravated the
+quarrel, until the differences divided the colony into factions, and
+finally originated the emancipist party; and by provoking observation,
+tended to increase the severity which fell on their successors.
+
+In those times of despotism, many were transported for political
+offences, which in Great Britain leave no moral stigma, and when
+forgiven by the crown, close no social circle.[125]
+
+The prosperity of New South Wales--founded on the government
+expenditure, so vast as to excite the most serious complaints, but so
+subtle as to elude imperial censure--was but slightly participated by
+Van Diemen's Land. Its later occupation, the low character of the first
+settlers, and the subordinate station of its ruler, afforded no room for
+fashion. Many emancipists in Sydney had become wealthy by the vices of
+the less cunning and thrifty, and created a social state, without a
+precedent. They could command the most expensive luxuries; and, compared
+with them, the highest officers of the government were poor. They looked
+for the honors of opulence, and did not perceive that an emancipist must
+pass through oblivion to honor; and that, in this case, to distinguish
+is to stigmatise.
+
+It was observed by Mr. Bigge, that when Macquarie made some emancipists
+magistrates, and professed by that dignity to restore them to the
+station they had lost, he forgot that they were elevated to a rank they
+had never filled. It was equally true, that a large number of free
+colonists, whose pretensions in early life were equally limited, rose by
+opulence to a superior station, and higher pretensions: to deny the
+usual appendages of their position, would be virtually to degrade them.
+Whether just or not, the formal exclusion of emancipists was a
+supplement to the penalty of the law, and, as such, must have been
+taken. It is not the actual exaltation, but equal eligibility of British
+subjects to the highest station, which constitutes that equality so
+grateful to Englishmen: the son of a sweep may keep the conscience of a
+king.
+
+There were freed men, who were even detestable for their wealth; others,
+whose offences would not have excluded them from any society. Such was
+that of Mr. Redfern, transported when a boy, for dropping a word to the
+mutineers of the Nore. Society will ever make its exceptions, founded on
+the nature of the offence, the proofs of reformation, or the general
+character; but Governor Macquarie resolved to wash out the stain by
+authority, and to treat those as enemies who disputed his policy, or
+refused to share in its promotion.
+
+The determination of the free to make no distinction between those who
+merited the oblivion of their offences, and emancipists atrocious in
+their history and character, rendered the hostility of caste more
+inveterate.
+
+The measures of Macquarie were followed by years of faction: a press,
+representing emancipist interests and emancipist principles, and making
+the Governor the instrument or the object of the most violent hatred;
+still, on their side, the emigrants were often positive, virulent, and
+contemptuous.
+
+From this, Van Diemen's Land was free: there were few whose wealth or
+education could pretend to rank. One gentleman so situated, Mr.
+Gatehouse, by his respectability and intelligence, won the respect of
+all classes: he was admitted to the table of the Governor, and was only
+distinguished by the colonists for his enterprise and probity. When an
+office of trust was in their gift, they chose him to share it with the
+chief merchants of the island; and thus pronounced the judgment which
+good men will adopt, against both an undiscriminating ban and an
+unlimited admission.
+
+The Commissioner, Bigge, joined with the anti-emancipists, in almost
+every prejudice or opinion. Great as were the services he rendered by
+his keen observation and courageous delineation of colonial society, in
+this, and some other instances, he overlooked those facts of its
+history, which gave a disastrous prominence and authority to the
+emancipist settlers; and enabled them to claim consideration which
+offended the free men, not always superior in substantial merit.
+
+But disabilities, far more serious and unexpected, united the
+emancipists, and obtained the sympathy of many who could not be charged
+with indifference to crime. The remission of punishment was in the
+discretion of the Governor-in-chief: the 30 Geo. iii, authorised the
+granting of pardons, and the commission of the Governor, which recited
+this provision, was supposed to convey the power. In 1811, Macquarie
+declared that a long course of good conduct would be an essential
+preliminary; but the rule was more easily stated than enforced: and, in
+1813, one day in the year was fixed for pardons. It was declared that
+conditional pardons could only be granted when ten years, or half
+sentence, had expired; or, for absolute pardons, until fifteen years, or
+three-fourths had been fulfilled.
+
+Fond of dispensing mercy, he appointed a day, when those who thought
+themselves entitled crowded his presence. The petitions, drawn up by
+letter-writers, dwelt on every topic calculated to move to compliance;
+among which were profuse compliments to the Governor's benevolence and
+humanity. The concourse of suppliants was often very great--many
+venturing to ask, who did not hope to obtain; and whose sole claim to
+mercy, was the bad terms on which they lived with the law. The crowd
+pressed on with their (700) petitions, which the Governor read in their
+presence, and by one letter of the alphabet gave liberty to the
+impatient captives, or sent them back to merit freedom, as freedom was
+then merited. The _Court of Clemency_, thronged by suitors, would have
+afforded a fine subject to the artist--a scene unique in the history of
+man.
+
+The dispensation of pardons was not regulated by any uniform principles.
+The interest of superintendents was given, as the reward of task-work
+performed for the crown; more successful, by services rendered to
+themselves. Such was a common condition; but many are mentioned, who
+obtained their pardons on easier terms than personal labor. The loan of
+a horse and cart, driven by his assigned servants, procured the
+liberation of the lender; others hired vehicles to convey his
+Excellency's baggage during his progresses, and thus payed in money the
+price of freedom. The bargain was public, and questions of national
+policy never entered the minds of him who granted, or those procuring
+the royal mercy. The grant of pardons, thus formed an important
+department of Macquarie's government.
+
+A decision of the Court of King's Bench, Bullock _v._ Dodds, where the
+plaintiff was an emancipist, seemed to peril their freedom and property.
+The defendant, when sued in England on a bill, pleaded the attaint of
+the plaintiff, who had received the pardon of Macquarie. The validity of
+these remissions, which affected great numbers, was thus brought to the
+test. The Chief Justice, Abbott, declared that an attainted person was,
+in law, as one _civiliter mortuus_: he might _acquire_, not because he
+was entitled _to hold_ any possession, but because a _donor_ could not
+make _his own act_ void, and reclaim his _own gift_. Thus, a person
+giving or conveying property, could not _recall_ it, but the convict
+attaint could not _hold_ it; and it passed to the hands of the crown, in
+whom the property of the convict vested. This being the law, any
+ticket-of-leave holder, or any person whatever standing on the pardon of
+the Governor, was liable to be deprived by the crown, or obstructed at
+any moment in attempting to recover by suit at law.
+
+The practice of the Sydney Supreme Court had long virtually rejected
+such distinctions. The mixed considerations of convenience and equity
+induced the judges to allow the witnesses and plaintiffs the same
+privilege, whether under attainder or not. Judge Field[126] declared,
+that while the crown did not interfere, the court would not touch the
+property of the convict: nothing but an attested copy of conviction,
+would be admitted as evidence of conviction. Nor would the proof of
+transportation, of itself, as the law then stood, prove the incompetence
+of a witness. His time might have expired; his expatriation might have
+been the condition of his pardon, or his offence might have been a
+misdemeanour, and not involve the corruption of blood;[127] and, except
+for perjury or subornation of perjury, the King's pardon might restore
+his competency to give evidence, or hold property. On these grounds the
+courts of New South Wales were enabled to evade the plea of attainder in
+bar of a just action.
+
+But the decision of the King's Bench discovered a serious omission in
+the forms of pardon issued by Macquarie, and further enquiry even threw
+doubt on his power to grant them at all. The Act of Parliament empowered
+the crown to delegate the _authority to remit_ a sentence of
+transportation, to the Governor of New South Wales; but the commission
+of Macquarie said nothing of this power, except the criminals were
+colonially convicted, when he could grant reprieves and pardons. His
+_instructions_ authorised the pardons to British offenders, and those
+instructions were warranted by _parliamentary enactment_; but the royal
+commission gave _no such power_: and thus all his pardons were legally
+void.
+
+Another essential condition was neglected: to give effect to the pardon
+of the Governor, it was required that he should transmit to the
+Secretary of State the names of the persons whose sentences he remitted,
+to secure their insertion in the next list of general pardons. This
+course had never been taken: no list of remissions had been furnished to
+Downing-street.
+
+Among the extraordinary omissions of the government at home, was in many
+instances the place of trial, and even the sentence of the transports;
+to save the labour of penmanship, "ditto," was sometimes the sentence
+found under another name, in the line of which 7, or 14, was written;
+not at full length, but in numerals. Some "indents" exhibited erasures:
+in one, a sentence of seven years had been converted to "life." More
+strange than all, some were sent without even their names, and others
+without any sort of information of their crime or sentence; and the
+authorities felt justified in gaining by artifice, from the unsuspecting
+prisoners themselves, what the ministers had neglected to furnish.
+
+An Irishman, who could give no information, was suited to a sentence by
+a process of analogy: he was set down, in compliment to his comrade, for
+"life."[128] The regular transmission of this kind of information was
+neglected, chiefly, by the Irish executive; ever slow to perceive the
+obligation of reason and justice. The longevity of abuses is among the
+most instructive lessons of history. The first fleet left their lists
+with the owners of the transports: soon after their arrival, several
+prisoners declared their sentence was completed; this, the government
+was unable to affirm or deny, and therefore did nothing; but one of the
+claimants, having expressed his discontent in a manner disrespectful to
+the Lieutenant-Governor, received 600 lashes, and six months in
+irons![129] Such atrocious neglect of the first principles of equity, is
+a sad set-off against the license of indiscriminate pardons. The Roman
+judge was a far better casuist: "For it seemeth to me unreasonable, to
+send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against
+him."[130]
+
+A quarrel between Mr. Justice Field and Mr. Eagar, an emancipist
+attorney, displayed more forcibly the effect of the decision of the
+English Chief Justice. Judge Field presided at a session of magistrates
+at Parramatta, when Eagar attempted to act as counsel: this was
+prevented by the court; and the judge, as chairman, expressed himself,
+in reference to Eagar, in terms of severe disapprobation and contempt,
+stigmatising him as a common _barrator_, or mover of quarrels, whom the
+Governor might justly prosecute for sedition, or banish from the colony.
+Eagar, not daunted by the philippic of the judge, resolved to sue him in
+a secondary court for slander, and to recover back fees paid in the
+Supreme Court, and which he alleged the judge had levied illegally; but
+Judge Field ordered his solicitor to file an affidavit of his belief
+that Eagar was under attainder, and prayed for time to obtain an office
+copy of his conviction: this course was allowed, and the action
+defeated.
+
+Not long after, Eagar attempted to recover certain penalties imposed by
+the Act of Charles II. on foreign merchants trading in the British
+plantations: the penalties were enormous, and the law was obsolete. The
+particular object of Eagar was, to suppress the competition in the sale
+of tea, which the superior trading connection of Messrs. L. Mestre and
+Co. enabled them to offer. The French merchant very fairly pleaded the
+attaint of the plaintiff, and Judge Field, in giving judgment, insisted
+on the obvious injustice of the suit; that men, whose trading was
+permissive--themselves the creatures of indulgence--and who, by
+connivance, were allowed to become wealthy and prosperous--should
+endeavour to rouse forgotten and restrictive statutes, to put down
+useful commerce, and abuse privileges conceded by the clemency of the
+court; to force the court to become the instrument of oppression: he
+therefore allowed the plea of the merchants to bar the action of the
+plaintiff.
+
+All this, on the face of it, was just; but the emancipists saw that it
+gave to the judge a discretion which laid them helpless at his mercy:
+the same plea might be offered, to cover a fraudulent debtor, or deprive
+a large majority of traders of legal protection. Nor was it a competent
+answer, that the policy of the colony had been of an opposite
+description: to stand on suffrage, was to stand in peril.
+
+Prompted by this feeling, the emancipists formed themselves into
+committees at all the settlements, and obtained the countenance of the
+Governor to a plan for moving the British legislature, to correct the
+anomalies of the law. At a public meeting, Mr. Redfern presiding, the
+administration of Governor Macquarie was the subject of their glowing
+eulogy. They predicted, that his name would be immortalised by the
+gratitude of their descendants, who would remember his policy with
+veneration. Against this meeting the judges protested, and professed to
+foresee great peril to the dignity of their tribunals, and to the public
+safety; but the calm and guarded proceedings of the emancipists avoided
+the scandal, and gained their cause some support. The indignation of the
+judges was unreasonable: in the administration of justice they had
+usually protected the equitable rights of the emancipists; but it was no
+reason for astonishment, that a large trading interest felt uneasy in
+holding by indulgence privileges of so great importance, and were
+anxious to obtain, by a declaratory statute, the remedy of their
+grievances. Mr. Eagar was nominated secretary to their body, and
+instructed to obtain parliamentary support: in this he was successful.
+
+In the discussions of the Commons, the discontent of the emancipists was
+condemned by the tories, and vindicated by the whigs. Peel charged
+Macquarie with culpable neglect, in omitting to forward the lists; but
+he observed, no general pardon had been issued for fifty years: what it
+meant, was unknown! The Act required the Governor to send home the
+names, and the Secretary to insert them in a general pardon; but he
+could not tell in what manner to perform this duty. This was, he said,
+of no practical moment: an individual might sue out a pardon, under the
+great seal, without cost. He strongly opposed vesting by law in the
+Governor, a power to grant absolute pardons--an interference with the
+prerogative royal, and dangerous to public justice. To sustain this
+opinion, he instanced the case of a man who had been transported for
+forging a title to an estate, and who, under such a pardon, had returned
+to Scotland to pursue his claim.
+
+The zeal of Eagar in the cause of the emancipists, provoked the
+animadversion of ministers: they hinted that he was liable to be treated
+as a felon at large, and was indebted to the lenity of the executive for
+his safety; but Sir James Mackintosh, who gave respectability to the
+cause he espoused, vindicated the claims of the emancipist with great
+warmth, and excused the earnestness with which the confirmation of his
+title to liberty had been sought. That great and good man displayed, in
+every debate, the generosity of his temper: always the enemy of
+despotism, every form of oppression called him into action, and the
+emancipists were largely indebted to his eloquence. After long delay,
+this agitating question was settled, but with a reservation of serious
+moment. The new law[131] confirmed all the pardons granted in New South
+Wales, with the rights they included; rendering them of full effect when
+they should be ratified by the crown. It further provided that no future
+pardon should be held valid until allowed by the Secretary of State, and
+then only within the colony of New South Wales and its dependencies--a
+serious drawback from the attractions of the boon, as understood before;
+but which was no barrier to the further extension of the royal clemency.
+
+The opponents of Macquarie argued, that the profusion of mercy had not
+been followed by reformation: the emancipists, they alleged, were
+unchanged in principle, and never abandoned their habits of crime. This
+view was sustained by Mr. Wentworth's representations, which were
+intended to subserve another end. He attempted to prove that financial
+oppression had driven back the expiree on his former course, which the
+anti-emancipists maintained he had never forsaken.[132] It was, however,
+the universal opinion, that atrocious crimes were diminished, and
+misdemeanours increased.
+
+The penal statistics were swollen by the extensive jurisdiction of
+police: by the cognizance of acts which, in other countries, are left to
+opinion. The distribution of public money, annually increasing towards a
+quarter of a million, placed within the reach of all the pleasures they
+were accustomed to obtain, without the risks of crime. A closer
+inspection does not, however, exalt our opinion of their moral worth; of
+4,376 emancipists, reported by the chaplains, 369 were tolerable, but
+296 only were respectable.[133] Nor was the accusation without force,
+that the proof of reform, admitted by Macquarie, was the possession of
+money; that to thrive, by whatever means, within the letter of the
+statute, was to honor the law, and to deserve well of the crown.
+
+The administration of Macquarie was attacked with great vehemence,
+and every detail of his scheme called in question. The British
+government never had a system: the ministers treated every difficulty
+as a thing apart from all others; and thus to arrest one form of
+mischief, they released another. They directed the establishment of
+separate settlements, and thus occasioned the vast expenses of their
+control. They then approved the concentrated labor of Macquarie, and
+when its cost became severe, advocated dispersion. Every parliamentary
+discussion terminated in the abandonment of some principle, or the
+establishment of some novelty. Always affected by the passing aspect of
+transportation, the people of Great Britain never acquire a connected
+view of the causes which alter its results; and have thus condemned or
+applauded the local officers, for events casual or inevitable.
+
+To diminish the pressure of the prisoners on the British treasury,
+Macquarie granted tickets-of-leave: the holders, without employment and
+without capital, became robbers. Then he turned his thoughts to public
+works of permanent utility, and requiring continued labor: these
+projects gradually absorbed his attention, and perhaps perverted his
+judgment. Inspired by an able architect, whom the chances of public
+retribution had thrown in his way, his erections greatly surpassed the
+simple constructions of his predecessors. The settlement assumed the
+aspect of a large building establishment, such as were seen in the
+ancient world, when captives were subject to task-masters, and generals
+were chief masons. The more skilful the mechanic, the greater his value
+to the works, and the smaller his chance of liberty: yet, to reconcile
+him to his lot, he was mostly permitted to choose his own abode, and was
+enabled, by his surplus time, to obtain all the comforts and luxuries of
+the colony. But the expenditure, which added to the opulence of the
+settlers, enabled them to build also: they looked with envy on the
+government which detained so large a proportion of the mechanical power:
+they forgot that the unproductive employment of large numbers created
+the demand for their crops, without which no dollar had been theirs to
+spend. Their outcries rung in the ears of the Commissioner: he blamed
+the improvidence of the Governor, who had rejected their applications,
+and threw some ridicule on his architectural ambition. The Commissioner
+only saw a gaol, but Macquarie believed, that when he erected an edifice
+he was forming a model; and that in aiming at symmetry and refinement,
+he was fixing the taste of a people.
+
+The difficulty of reconciling adverse elements in penal colonisation,
+has been ever visible. The modern principles of colonisation demand
+concentration: the establishment of so many branch settlements was
+considered, from the beginning, a great economical error; and by those
+unaware of its justification, was the subject of strong and pointed
+condemnation. No sooner, it was observed, had the settlers landed their
+boxes, than they started a division for Norfolk Island; and others, in
+rapid succession, broke off into fragmentary colonies. The same bridges,
+schools, and courts, would be sufficient for ten thousand united people,
+but must be multiplied with the separate settlements. It was urged that
+the concentration of labor would decrease the expense of its
+supervision, and extend the resources of the community, by varying its
+industry. Such were the doctrines of political writers,[134] but when
+they were adopted they were found to produce unforeseen practical
+results.
+
+The dispersion of the first era was necessary to safety: in the time of
+Macquarie the public was in no apprehension of rebellion or famine, and
+thus prisoners could be combined; but the aggregation of bad men will
+always exhibit an appalling and disgusting aspect: and the excesses,
+sufferings, and debasement connected with the public works, the
+peculation of the officers and the indolence of the men, brought again
+in view the evils of associated labor; and reinforced the arguments for
+dispersion. The men, when together, became dealers, and indulged in all
+the vices of cities; scattered, they became savage, and filled the
+colonies with crimes.
+
+The secondary settlements have been often the theatres of great iniquity
+and oppression, and the commandants have dared injustice, which no
+supreme authority would venture: to these meaner, and sometimes
+contemptible agents, the prisoners must be subjected, on the principle
+of dispersion. Such practical difficulties start up at every instant,
+and thus expose the policy of the government to perpetual oscillation.
+An instance, of later date, will demonstrate the danger of minute
+sub-divisions, which exclude a public press and a public opinion. A
+commandant resolved the seduction of the daughter of a prisoner: he
+crept into her father's house, and offered violence. The father wrote to
+the Governor (Brisbane); his letter passing, of course, through the
+office of the commandant; who read the complaint, and ordered the aged
+parent to the triangles. The doctor, knowing the nature of the offence,
+refused his sanction, on a plea of health. The tyrant still insisted;
+but the obstinate humanity of the surgeon prevailed. What then? The
+father was sent from the station, and, after a while, the daughter was
+thrown on Sydney, a prostitute. This officer had an accomplished wife:
+she detected improper company in her room, and her exasperated husband
+broke her arm to repress her outcries! It is to such hands that the
+prisoner has been too often entrusted: to men, only known for their
+vices--broken down by debt and dissipation--who have taken refuge, with
+the wrecks of their fortune and reputation, in a military command.
+
+The obligation of this history to the Reports of Mr. Bigge, renders it
+proper to explain the origin, nature, and operation of his commission.
+The representations of several colonists, that the administration of
+Macquarie was subversive of public justice and favorable to crime; that
+his expenditure was lavish, and his projects ridiculous, had reached the
+house of parliament. To these charges the Rev. Samuel Marsden, chaplain
+and magistrate, added the full weight of his authority. This person,
+from his long residence, had assumed a prominent place among the
+magistrates. By his connection with two great societies for the
+propagation of Christianity (the Church, and the London), he commanded
+large influence in the religious world. Nothing can be more opposite
+than the estimates of his character, given by the partisans of the
+emancipists, and those furnished by his ecclesiastical associates.
+Soured by the vices rampant around him, and perhaps deteriorated by the
+administration of justice, when it was hard to distinguish the
+magistrate from the executioner, he does not always appear to have
+merited the unmeasured eulogies of his friends.[135] He was, however,
+celebrated for his attention to the islands of the Pacific, whose
+welfare he promoted with exemplary diligence: his house was the home of
+the missionaries who touched at Port Jackson; whose letters spread
+through Europe the reputation of his benevolence. In reference to his
+ultimate intentions, their apprehension of his character was probably
+just; but the magisterial office is rarely compatible with the duties of
+an ecclesiastic--least of all, when punishments were discretionary, and
+inflicted on the spot. The servant, charged with a misdemeanour, he
+flogged; who then took to the bush, and re-appearing, charged with a
+capital crime, was hanged; and the magisterial divine attended him on
+the scaffold. This was not peculiar; most clergymen were magistrates.
+But Marsden was warm and sensitive--perhaps, resentful. The punishments
+he inflicted were distinguished for their severity: his opposition to
+vice, his unsuccessful struggle to prevent it, and some methods of
+coercion, not then uncommon, but which now look like torture, exposed
+him to the hatred of the prisoners. The differences between Macquarie
+and this resolute clergyman, were frequent--they ended in open rupture;
+and at length became so personally offensive to the Governor, that
+Marsden was dismissed from the commission of the peace.
+
+Mr. Henry Grey Bennet, member of parliament for Shrewsbury, addressed a
+letter to Earl Bathurst, founded on the material furnished by Mr.
+Marsden. This publication delineated a great variety of abuses, and
+charged Macquarie with ignorance, rashness, and oppression. Having thus
+prepared the way, a motion was made in parliament, which led to the
+issue of the Commission of Enquiry, entrusted to John Thomas Bigge,
+Esq., a relative of Mr. Bennet, and by profession a barrister. The
+Commissioner was attended by Mr. Hobbs Scott, formerly a wine-merchant,
+and afterwards Archdeacon of New South Wales; on whom the prosecution of
+the enquiry devolved, in the event of the Commissioner's death. The
+appointment of this commission was extremely painful to Macquarie: it
+expressed distrust in the government, or the ascendancy of his opponents
+in parliament. Nor was it difficult to foresee, that an enquiry
+conducted by one individual, who must depend on the statements of
+factions, and colonial factions, of all the least scrupulous--always
+liable to many serious errors--must become a formidable instrument in
+the hands of one or other of the parties struggling for supremacy.
+
+The Commissioner landed (October, 1819) in New South Wales, with the
+honors due to a gentleman distinguished by the royal confidence. The
+civil and military officers, with a large assemblage of the colonists,
+collected to witness the ceremony of presentation. The oaths of
+allegiance and supremacy were administered by the Judge Advocate, and
+the commission read. This document recited that it was necessary to
+enquire into the laws, regulations, civil, military, and ecclesiastical;
+and to ascertain the revenue, trade, and resources of the colonies. The
+Commissioner was charged to report the information collected, "and his
+opinions thereon."
+
+Macquarie addressed the Commissioner, and congratulated himself and the
+colony on the arrival of a servant of the King so eminent. Nothing could
+inspire him with greater hope for the public weal. The assistance in his
+power, he would cheerfully afford: the prosperity of the colony would
+gratify the first wish of his heart.
+
+The Commissioner then addressed the assembly, stating that though the
+terms of his commission were explicit and comprehensive, he deemed it
+right to embrace the occasion to explain the object of his Majesty's
+government, and to prevent any possible misapprehension of their
+motives. The increase of transportation to these colonies, and the
+doubts entertained of the efficacy of the system of secondary
+punishments, had prompted the enquiry. His arrival had been delayed, but
+the time would give opportunity for minute researches into the state of
+crime, undertaken by Mr. Buxton; and for the revision of the penal code.
+It belonged to himself to examine whether these colonies had answered
+the purposes of their institution, and whether their attainments in
+civilisation had not disqualified them from fulfilling their original
+design; or whether it were yet possible, to render transportation a
+terror at home, and an instrument of punishment and reformation. This,
+though the principal topic, would not exclude others of moment: he
+expected assistance from every class, and felt encouraged from the
+display of candour by the head of the government; from which he augured
+the most beneficial results. He then concluded in the following
+words:--"I will only add, I bring to this investigation the deepest
+conviction of its importance: I approach it without any prejudice that
+can influence my future opinions, either of systems or individuals. I
+feel a determination, from which no earthly consideration shall move me,
+of conducting it to its conclusion, with the strictest impartiality _to
+all_. In the course of the enquiry I mean to pursue, I shall give
+sufficient opportunities to those whose attendance I may require, to
+consider the points submitted to them for their declarations and
+opinions. I wish to impress on every one, that my principal object is
+the attainment of truth; and while I am free to declare, that nothing
+is to be apprehended from a fair and candid disclosure of truth, yet I
+am equally bound to apprise the community, that nothing is to be hoped
+for from the concealment of the truth for private purposes, or from the
+gratification of malignant feelings and personal resentment." He warmly
+acknowledged his honorable reception from Governor Macquarie, who
+assigned him precedence to all but the Lieutenant-Governor.
+
+The Commissioner's arrival in Van Diemen's Land (1820) was attended with
+the same military honors: wherever he went he was received with
+ceremony, and watched with jealousy and apprehension. The habits of Mr.
+Bigge were simple, complacent, and industrious: he labored to draw from
+all classes their feelings and designs--nothing escaped his curiosity.
+His opinions are given on every subject with equal quietness, whether
+they relate to the salting of beef, or the most profound questions of
+government. The Reports he sent to the Secretary of State descended to
+the smallest matters: he noted every rood of land granted, and every
+ration issued. The style of these documents is felt to be prolix, and
+their arrangement perplexing. Their contents excited very general
+interest in England, and in Australasia unbounded indignation.[136]
+Whatever epithet of hatred and contempt could be applied by impotence
+and wrath, for years fell on the imperturbable Commissioner and his
+secretary. He was charged with eaves-dropping, back parlour scandal,
+partisanship, and wilful lying. The particular delineation of individual
+conduct, and which he thought requisite to illustrate systems, excited
+the utmost vexation: it was painful to officers, to find their
+character, their habits, and the profits of their places, laid open to
+national observation. Perhaps, those details were sometimes beyond an
+obvious political necessity; but the plain exhibition of principles in
+old English phrases--giving vice its true name--measuring the results of
+transportation by a standard recognised outside both the mess-room and
+the gaol--was of vast advantage to the colonists themselves. The
+reference made to Bigge's Reports in this work, however, is always
+limited to facts, which could not be distorted or colored. His
+connections, and the spirit of his mission, prejudiced his judgment,
+respecting a system which had been the growth of circumstances; but his
+integrity is transparent, not less than his prepossessions. Time will
+extract the sting of his disclosures; but their moral results will
+remain. They tended to destroy those evils which can only live in a
+congenial atmosphere--and wither, except in the shade.
+
+The Reports of the Commissioner were published by order of the House of
+Commons in 1822: Macquarie closed his official career on the 1st
+December, 1821, having held the government for twelve years. Thus their
+labors and opinions came before the parliament and the world together.
+Macquarie, when he considered himself entitled to reward, for a period
+of service of unusual length, found it was necessary to defend his
+reputation. Betrayed by the warmth of his temper into some irregular
+acts, which ill expressed the ordinary spirit of his government, he was
+vulnerable to his assailants. The flogging of freed men, notwithstanding
+the precedents left by his predecessors; the scandalous neglect of moral
+precautions, in the disposal of the women; and prominent instances of
+unjustifiable lenity; constituted serious deductions from his merit. He
+was, however, exempted from pointed censure, and the crown assigned
+L1,000 per annum, as his retiring pension. This favor was scarcely
+conferred, when he was called before that Tribunal, where conduct and
+motives are seen together: he died at St. James's, London, on the 1st
+January, 1824, and his remains were carried to the Isle of Mull, North
+Britain; where, according to his last wish, they rest in the tomb of his
+fathers.
+
+General Macquarie is entitled to be regarded as the founder of these
+colonies: before his time, they were but hutted camps. To their
+improvement he devoted all his energies: he foresaw and felt the
+inspiration of their destined greatness. His disinterestedness was
+exemplary: throughout his long administration, no sordid project was
+connected with his name. No patriot ever labored more earnestly for his
+country's welfare. Every device, which seemed to promise material
+advancement to the community, was certain of his favor; every
+contribution from the meanest settler, was sure to obtain its reward.
+
+But if he accepted neither gold nor silver, as the recompense of his
+cares, he took pledges of the colonies for the immortality of his name.
+It resounds in every place, and is united in every form with the natural
+objects and history of these regions. The name of his son, of his wife,
+of his native mountains and early haunts--all flourish in this
+hemisphere: of these, many were conferred by the flattery or kindness of
+his friends. Their frequent recurrence confuses geography; they echo
+from hill to dale, and from the river to the sea.[137]
+
+The moral character of Macquarie was not impeached. Happy in his
+domestic relationships, as a husband and father he exhibited an example
+of fidelity and tenderness. The people quickly learned this key to his
+regard, and he felt with all the gratitude of a generous nature, the
+reverence paid to the virtues of his wife, and the interest affected for
+his son. Mrs. Macquarie supported his efforts to reclaim the colonists
+from the habits of concubinage, which disgraced their early history: she
+could not, without utter seclusion, enforce those social rules which are
+proper in more settled society; but her sentiments were unequivocal, and
+hastened many a marriage--and saved many escutcheons from a bar! Mrs.
+Macquarie survived her husband ten years: she expired at Mull, in March,
+1834.
+
+The indifference to moral worth, ascribed to Macquarie, will admit
+another view. He estimated too highly the agency of affluence, in
+raising the moral sentiments; but in promoting external decency, it has
+considerable power. Macquarie was a soldier, and a man of the world:
+those delicate springs, which set in motion the finer affections of the
+soul, are open to the Christian, but are not found on the battle field,
+in the courts of law, or the seat of government. The notions of this
+ruler were material: he believed that another generation would cast off
+the habits of the passing, and abhor and forget the vices of their
+parents: nor was he mistaken.
+
+The admitted political errors of Macquarie's government must be largely
+ascribed to his peculiar position. When we scan the system he
+constructed or modified, justice requires that we should consider, not
+only the materials he possessed, but the condition in which he found
+them. The rebellion of the officers had destroyed their authority, the
+stores were exhausted, discipline relaxed, and those who had exacted the
+most servile homage, were themselves dependant for impunity on the royal
+clemency. He employed the discretion with which he was entrusted, to
+avert the miseries of forfeiture; but he could not restore the relations
+between the bond and the free, which revolt had shaken; or dispense with
+the counterpoise of emancipist support.
+
+Many years elapsed, ere the re-action of his system attracted the
+attention of parliament; until then, it was approved or tolerated by the
+crown. The pressure of a strong and united party, what ministers have
+the courage to withstand? They were willing that the Governor should
+bear the odium of measures, long subject to their cognizance, which they
+had passed by unreproved, and sometimes even applauded. Macquarie
+thought he had gained a triumph, when he raised emancipists to social
+distinction, and detained a mass of transgressors within the rules of
+obedience; and, for a time, so thought the ministers. They desired to
+establish a city, out of the materials of the gaol; but when they saw
+the success of their plans--half civic, half felonious--they were
+terrified at their own creation, and wished the city had remained a
+prison. In this feeling, Macquarie did not participate: he delighted in
+the result of his policy; and wondered at the inexorable cruelty of
+those who grudged an asylum to their unfortunate countrymen--who
+attempted to dash from their lips the liberty and hope they began to
+taste.
+
+Whether it were possible, without a free community, to retain ten
+thousand persons in perpetual vassalage, or to uphold a system of simple
+coercion and social exclusion, in a colony so remote, remains a
+question; but it is none, that the name of Macquarie will become more
+illustrious, as the traditions of faction subside, and classes are
+blended in the unity of a people. It will be said that he found a
+garrison and a gaol, and left the deep and broad foundations of an
+empire!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 97: The instructions to Macquarie (1809) were--grants at 6d.
+quit rent. Thirty acres to an expiree, twenty for a wife, and ten each
+child.]
+
+[Footnote 98: _Collins's New South Wales._]
+
+[Footnote 99: The _Life of George Barrington_, written by himself, a
+respectable volume in size and typography, was published in 1810: nearly
+every paragraph is copied from Collins, the style being first debased;
+and the colored sketches are a mere piracy from other volumes. It was
+thought fair, by the ingenious booksellers to use the name of a popular
+pickpocket, rather than one so little known as a Lieutenant-Governor. Of
+posthumous agency in thus picking the pockets of the prigging race,
+George Barrington's memory must be acquitted.]
+
+[Footnote 100: _Life of Barrington._]
+
+[Footnote 101: Tench.]
+
+[Footnote 102: Heath: _Par. Pap._]
+
+[Footnote 103: Terry kept blank deeds ready at his
+public-house.--_Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 104: "Eighteen years ago (1802), the period when I arrived in
+this colony, it was lamentable to behold the excess to which drunkenness
+was carried. It was no uncommon occurrence for men to sit round a bucket
+of spirits, and drink it with quart pots, until they were unable to stir
+from the spot."--_Dr. Redfern's replies to Macquarie; published by
+Parliament._
+
+This reference to the past was intended to contrast favorably with the
+present (1820), but drunkenness was not greatly diminished: the bucket
+and pannikin still were in request at more remote parts of the colonies,
+and their use was recommended as a "measure of police," to prevent the
+drunkards from robbing each other. Poured into a bucket, none could be
+unfairly abstracted--_all_ shared alike; but had it not been so
+arranged, some rogue of the party would have removed some bottles, when
+the rest were off their guard; and thus reserved for himself the
+pleasures of intoxication, when the others were obliged, for lack of
+spirits, to be sober!]
+
+[Footnote 105: Bigge, however, states, that Marsden himself was a
+trafficker in spirits, and felt naturally opposed to the profuse
+competition he encountered; yet the reader will recollect that this was
+the common article of barter--its use universal, in even the most
+correct society; and that it was rather to the disorderly habits of the
+houses which vended it, than to its consumption, that the most rigid
+moralists of the day would object.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Letter to Lord Sidmouth.]
+
+[Footnote 107: _Surgeon-superintendent Reid's Voyages to New South
+Wales._]
+
+[Footnote 108: Cunningham.
+
+The following is a picture of things as they were:--"The madames on
+board, occupy the few days which elapse before landing in preparing the
+most dazzling effect, on their descent upon the Australian shore." "With
+rich silk dresses, bonnets _a la mode_, ear pendants, brooches long,
+gorgeous shawls and splendid veils, silk stockings, kid gloves, and
+parasols in hand, dispensing sweet odours from their profusely perfumed
+forms--they are assigned as servants. The settler expected a servant,
+but receives a princess."--_Mudie's Felonry._
+
+This is doubtless the language of caricature; but the extravagant
+pretensions of many, could be scarcely exaggerated.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Bigge.]
+
+[Footnote 110: Bigge.]
+
+[Footnote 111: Bennet, p. 77.]
+
+[Footnote 112: _Phillip's Voyages_, 1789.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Macquarie's commission.]
+
+[Footnote 114: _Abstract of the Emigrant and Emancipist Population in
+the year_ 1820, _with a schedule of Property belonging to them_:
+_compiled from the statements of the Emancipists._
+
+--------------------------------+----------------+-------------+
+1820.                           | Emancipists.   |  Emigrants  |
+--------------------------------+----------------+-------------+
+POPULATION--                    |                |             |
+Adults                          |       7,556    |     1158    |
+Children                        |       5,859    |      878    |
+                                |----------------+-------------+
+                                |      13,415    |    2,436    |
+                                |       2,436    |=============|
+                                |----------------+             |
+Excess of Emancipists           |      10,979    |             |
+                                |================|             |
+PROPERTY--                      |                |             |
+Acres in cultivation            |      29,023    |   10,737    |
+Ditto in pasture                |     212,335    |  198,369    |
+Houses in towns                 |       1,200    |      300    |
+Cattle                          |      42,988    |   28,582    |
+Sheep                           |     174,179    |    8,739    |
+Horses                          |       2,415    |    1,553    |
+Swine                           |      18,563    |    6,804    |
+Vessels                         |          15    |        8    |
+Capital in trade                |    L150,000    | L100,000    |
+                                |================|=============|
+Total estimated Property        |  L1,123,600    | L526,136    |
+                                |     526,136    |=============|
+                                +----------------+             |
+Excess in favor of Emancipists: |  L597,464      |             |
+    rather more than as 2 to 1] |================|             |
+                                |                |             |
+--------------------------------+----------------+-------------+
+
+[Footnote 115: "Now, in matters of opinion, man is like a pig: if you
+force him on he retrogrades. If you are really serious in attaining a
+point, make him believe the reverse is your object in view. Governor
+Macquarie, finding a number of demurrers to his opinion, instead of
+coaxing them into his views, looked upon them as his personal enemies,
+and often treated them as such."--_Cunningham_, vol. ii. p. 112.]
+
+[Footnote 116: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 117: Ibid.]
+
+[Footnote 118: Mr. Hall, a free immigrant editor, addressed a meeting of
+emancipists (1822), and regretted he was not one of their number!--his
+sincere regret that he was not an emancipist! This, it must be
+recollected, was after dinner.]
+
+[Footnote 119: _Wentworth_, 2nd edit.]
+
+[Footnote 120: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 121: When addressing the Secretary of State, Macquarie
+observes--"In my opinion (speaking of the voluntary settlers), they
+should consider they are coming to a convict country, and if they are
+too proud or too delicate in their feelings to associate with the
+population of this country, they should consider in time, and bend their
+course to some other country, in which prejudices in this respect would
+meet with no opposition. No country in the world has been so
+advantageous to adventurers as New South Wales: the free settlers,
+coming out as such, have never felt their dignity hurt by trading with
+convicts, even when they were such." Again--"It has been my invariable
+opinion, that a freeman, by pardon or emancipation, should be in all
+respects considered on a footing with every other man in the colony,
+according to his rank in life and character; in short, that no
+retrospect should, in any case, be had to his ever having been
+otherwise."--_Letter to Earl Bathurst_, 1813.]
+
+[Footnote 122: _Reid's Voyage._]
+
+[Footnote 123: This was afterwards prevented.]
+
+[Footnote 124: _Macarthur's Present State._]
+
+[Footnote 125: "Men are governed by words: under the infamous term
+convict, are comprehended offenders of the most different degrees and
+species of guilt. One man is transported for stealing three hams and a
+pot of sausages; in the next berth to him, is a young surgeon engaged in
+mutiny at the Nore; another, was so ill read in history, as to imagine
+that Ireland was ill-treated, and too bad a reasoner to suppose that
+nine catholics ought not to pay tithes to one protestant. Then comes a
+man who set his house on fire; another, the most glaring of all human
+villains, a poacher; driven from Europe, wife and child, by thirty lords
+of the manor, for killing a partridge. Now, all these are crimes, no
+doubt; but surely to which attach different degrees of contempt and
+horror. A warrant granted by a reformed bacon stealer would be absurd;
+but a hot brained young blockhead, who chose to favor the mutiny at the
+Nore, may, when he is forty years of age, and has cast his jacobin
+teeth, make a useful magistrate and loyal subject.
+
+The most inflexible were some of the regiments stationed at Botany
+Bay--men, of course, who had uniformly shunned the society of gamesters,
+prostitutes, and drunkards; who had ruined no tailors, corrupted no
+wives, and had entitled themselves, by a long course of solemnity and
+decorum, to indulge in all the insolence of purity and virtue."--_Rev.
+S. Smith_, 1823.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Doe, on demise of Jenkins, _v._ Pearce and wife.]
+
+[Footnote 127: 1814: 54 Geo. iii, took away the corruption of blood,
+from children born after conviction, except in case of treason and
+murder.--_Sydney Gazette_, 1818.]
+
+[Footnote 128: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 129: _Collins's New South Wales._]
+
+[Footnote 130: Acts.]
+
+[Footnote 131: 4 Geo. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Mr. Wentworth states the trials in the criminal court in
+1806, as 117, in 1817, at 92; but then he asserts, that offences had
+increased, subject to summary jurisdiction, from 300 to 1,000, while the
+population (20,000) had only doubled. He was not, however, ignorant,
+that many of those offences were not such in law or morals, but merely
+violations of local regulations (_Wentworth_, 2nd edit.). The colonial
+convictions were, with few exceptions, of persons who had been
+transported before: of 116 persons for trial at Hobart (1821), 79 were
+then under sentence, and 37 expirees--the entire number.--_Bigge._]
+
+[Footnote 133: "With regard to character and respectability allow me to
+observe briefly, that while some are in general well-conducted persons,
+little that is praiseworthy can be advanced: there is not much religion
+among the best, and the far greater part have not the appearance of
+it."--_Rev. Mr. Cowper, 1820._]
+
+[Footnote 134: _Edinburgh Review_, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 135: "His sentences are not only more severe than those of
+other magistrates, but the general opinion of the colony is, that his
+character, as displayed in the administration of the penal law in New
+South Wales, is stamped with severity."--_Bigge's Report._
+
+Such was the idea of the people on the spot; but Mr. Wilberforce
+observed, in the House of Commons, he was--"a man who acquired the
+admiration of all who knew his merits; a man who shone as a bright
+example to the moral world--who deserved the title of a moral hero: who
+had overcome difficulties for the amelioration of his species, in the
+most unfavorable circumstances; which would always endear his name to
+the friends of humanity."--_Wentworth_, 3rd edit.]
+
+[Footnote 136: "For my part, my only wonder is, that Mr. Redfern did not
+apply some degrading chastisement to the nose or breech of this cowardly
+Commissioner."--_Wentworth_, 3rd edit.]
+
+[Footnote 137: Henderson, 1832.]
+
+
+
+SECTION IX.
+
+The duty of the Commissioner being discharged, it devolved on the home
+government to gather, from the mass of facts he accumulated, those which
+discovered abuses remediable, and to select for adoption the
+recommendations of their chosen councillor. The changes he advised
+amounted to a total revolution in the system, subject to his censorship;
+but so obstinate are evils, fostered by local interest and lengthened
+indulgence, that years elapsed before the effects of his influence were
+powerfully realised. He, however, secured for the exclusionists the
+recognition of their favorite principle, and not only were emancipists
+pronounced ineligible for the future, but those already in the
+commission found it expedient to resign. Mr. Redfern was dismissed.
+
+This determination of the imperial authorities, by whatever reasons
+supported, was a deviation from a practice which covered the entire
+period of Macquarie's government; therefore sanctioned, expressly, or by
+the silence of the crown. The degradation of those on the bench, could
+not have been politically important, and was one of those acts of power,
+which rather gratify the vengeance of caste, than vindicate the purity
+of government. The mortification of the emancipists, at this triumph,
+was intense: they justly felt, that the ministers, and not they, were
+responsible for measures which had recognised their eligibility to the
+usual honors of colonial opulence; and that, even were it expedient to
+abandon the former system, a less violent process might have been
+discovered.
+
+It may not be amiss to describe the career of an emancipist, of whose
+elevation Mr. Bigge remarks, "that it had been most strongly urged
+against Macquarie by his enemies, and most questioned by his friends."
+This case (1810) formed the precedent for appointments from persons of
+his class, and, as selected by Mr. Bigge, may be considered a specimen
+of the most objectionable. The facts of the Commissioner are all here
+embodied; his detracting tone is abated.
+
+Andrew Thomson was a native of Scotland: his relations of that class of
+traders, in their own country called merchants; who carry their goods
+from town to town. He was sixteen years of age on his arrival in the
+colony, and therefore, a boy of fourteen or fifteen when he forfeited
+his liberty. When free, he engaged in business as a retail shopkeeper,
+and traded to Sydney in boats built by himself: the defects of his
+education he partly cured by application, and acquired such knowledge as
+ordinary retail shopkeepers possess. He established a salt manufactory,
+a ship-building establishment, and it was _rumoured_, an illicit
+distillery. He was chief constable: kept a public-house--such was the
+common practice of traders. He acquired great influence among the
+settlers, by his forbearance and liberal credits; his business extended,
+and he became a considerable landholder. He supported the legal
+authority during the rebellion, and suffered for his loyalty; a just
+ground for the esteem of that Governor, who came to restore the
+authority of his sovereign. When an inundation of the Hawkesbury exposed
+the settlers to great suffering, he undertook their relief; supplied
+them with goods, and was happily a gainer by the risk which his humanity
+induced him to incur: so great was the importance of prompt exertions,
+he was permitted to employ both the men and boats, which were under his
+control as superintendent of convicts.
+
+In his neighbourhood, there were but two persons suitable to the office
+of magistrate, and having filled that of chief constable with great
+approbation, the Governor, Macquarie, considering his youth at the time
+of his offence--the merit of his loyalty when few were loyal--his
+industry and opulence, and his reputation for humanity--did not think
+his former condition a bar to a commission of the peace. It is said that
+Lieut. Bell, who conducted the party by whom the government-house was
+surprised, and a Governor made prisoner, objected to his appointment;
+but his opposition was confined to murmurs, or if represented at home
+met with no sympathy from the ministers.
+
+Mr. Thomson was admitted to the company of the Governor, and the parties
+of the military, who yet, it is said, were not pleased with the abrupt
+suppression of the absolute ban. He died within the year of his
+elevation to the bench. Governor Macquarie commanded an epitaph to be
+placed on his tomb, stating that "it was in consequence of his character
+and conduct, that he appointed him to the magistracy; and that, by the
+same act, he restored him to the rank in society he had lost." His death
+was regretted by his neighbours, who in a public address to his
+Excellency described him "as their common friend and patron." It must be
+added, he had participated in some of those immoralities, which, in the
+time of the Prince Regent, dishonored the residence of kings; and he
+escaped that just reproach which could not be expected where the
+selection of mistresses was the prerogative of military command. Such is
+a fair statement of Andrew Thomson's character, as given by Bigge,
+without his reflections.
+
+The disclosures of the Commissioner terminated the indulgences given to
+expirees, with such "unsatisfactory results." The small portion of land
+granted them, without great industry, was incapable of supplying their
+wants, and they were the pests of their neighbours; or, when they
+settled on allotments in town, they obtained materials from the royal
+stores by the assistance of their fellows.[138] Land was still granted,
+but not as the indispensable consequence of transportation.
+
+The plan of recompense to officers in kind, he also condemned: rations
+of food and rum, double and triple; and the assignment of men to earn
+wages, as the salaries of their masters, were gradually substituted by
+payments in money. The small sums formerly allowed, were rather the
+wages of servants who live on their fees: by a casuistry, never long
+wanting to those who earnestly seek it, even men beyond the rank of
+overseers, persuaded themselves that the recognised stipends were never
+intended to be reckoned as payment.[139] The tender of these supplies
+was a source of profit to the officers; like the butlers of noblemen,
+persons of the highest trust were not insensible to presents; and
+merchandise was accepted only when the "regulars" were duly paid. The
+waste of public property, occasioned by the system, was great. The loss
+and sacrifice of clothing and tools; the spoiling of food, and the
+wilful destruction of implements, proved how large may be the outlay of
+the crown, without much advantage to a colony. Years were required to
+reduce these evils; some of which are yet not unknown.
+
+These were, however, small changes, compared with the total revolution
+in the spirit and details of convict management, suggested by the
+Commissioner. All those signs of advancement which he saw in the
+material state of the colonies, in connection with the objects of
+transportation, were anomalies in his eyes. He observed, that the
+prisoners were always anxious to reside in the towns, where they
+obtained, by casual labor, the price and opportunities of dissipation.
+By a peremptory exercise of his authority, Mr. Bigge stopped some of the
+public works, and promoted the dispersion of those multitudes who were
+employed in the improvement of the capital.
+
+The Commissioner, strongly impressed with the mischief incident to the
+congregation of prisoners in the presence of a free community, proposed
+several remedies. Among the most important was the establishment of
+settlements, purely penal, at Port Curtis, Moreton Bay, and Port Bowen.
+These places were explored by Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general of the
+colonies. Moreton Bay is situated 480 miles from Port Jackson: this
+region, watered by the Brisbane, unequalled for climate and soil in any
+part of the globe of the same latitude; adorned with trees of
+magnificent growth,[140] had nothing in its natural features to repel.
+Though the days are warm in summer (80 deg. to 100 deg.), the nights are cool,
+and for several months fires are agreeable. Bananas, plantains, and
+pines--cotton, tobacco, maize, the sugar cane, and all the ordinary
+productions of a tropical climate, are cultivated with success. The
+atmosphere is soft and salubrious: of 1,200 persons, afterwards
+stationed there, sometimes not more than ten were sick at once; and
+during seven years, one soldier only died.[141]
+
+Such was the site chosen by Mr. Bigge; but he endeavoured to render it
+suitable, by suggesting a code of regulations, in which may be
+discovered the outline of several schemes, since claiming originality.
+It was intended for those convicted of serious crimes, or such as
+committed offences in the colonies. The prisoners, two together, were to
+build their own huts; their sole implement the hatchet, and their
+material wood and nails: their only furniture, stools and bedding. Their
+labor graduated; from removing heavy weights, and sawing the hardest
+timber, to the easy occupation of the gardener, according to their
+behaviour or their crimes. They were to raise their own provisions, and
+the produce of their tillage for the crown, was to be sold in the
+colonies, and carried to the public account; except a sixteenth part,
+the moiety of which was to be paid to the commandant, and the rest
+proportionately to the overseers. No vessel, unauthorised, was to touch
+at the port: every precaution was projected to prevent escape, and the
+natives were expected to bring back, for rewards, such as might venture
+to stray. Every crime, short of murder, was to be punished on the spot.
+No spirits were to be sold; no money circulated; no private speculations
+in produce permitted. The wives of prisoners, when suffered to join
+them, were to sacrifice all but the necessaries of life. From the chief
+settlement others were to branch off; fifteen miles distant from each
+other. A church, a school, a library, were to promote the reformation of
+the prisoners--an object to be considered paramount to every other. Such
+were the plans for a _City of Penitence_, projected by Bigge; and by
+which he expected, in several directions, to dispose of 4,000 prisoners.
+
+It was his hope, that their labor would discharge the chief cost of
+their control, and end the mockery, and the inequalities of punishment.
+
+Before the arrival of the Commissioner, penal establishments existed,
+and prisoners were sequestered for violations of local regulations; or
+on extensive farms, where grain was grown for the royal stores. At
+Newcastle, on the Hunter River, were coal mines (1818), where those
+under colonial sentences, or those _guilty_ of experience in mining,
+were subjected to a more rigorous servitude. By an onward progress of
+the settlers, this station was less adapted for its purpose, and (1821)
+a second was provided at Port Macquarie, 175 miles north of Port
+Jackson. The increase of population soon rendered a further movement
+requisite: it was not, however, until 1824, that Surveyor-general Oxley
+completed his report of Moreton Bay: pioneers were forwarded, and at
+length 1,000 prisoners were employed in that remote region. The plan
+thus narrowed, only partially succeeded, and the numbers at last
+dwindled to 300 men: the Commissioner's idea, therefore, was never
+fairly tested. An organisation of several thousands in a city of
+penitence; under a discipline, which, while excluding the worst
+temptations of regular society, might preserve many of its elementary
+forms; managed by permanent officers, in number and gradation,
+sufficient to form and preserve the tone of a profession--is
+unfortunately still a speculation: nor is it yet safe to assume, that
+the failure of stations, exhibiting several features of the
+Commissioner's scheme, but excluding others not less important, is a
+conclusive argument against the original design.[142]
+
+In this colony, a penal station was projected during the residence of
+Bigge. While he approved the object, he did not cordially concur in the
+selected locality: he remarked several of those obstacles to access,
+which were not compensated by the difficulties of escape. The
+punishment of colonial offences, when persons were already in bonds,
+was attended with some difficulty; the law not authorising additions to
+a sentence, except by a court of criminal jurisdiction, regulated by the
+forms, and bounded by the limitations of English statutes. To punish a
+misdemeanour, and sometimes even capital offences, the culprit was
+brought before a justice of the peace, and sent to a penal settlement
+for the remainder of his sentence. Thus a widely different penalty
+attended the different parties to the same crime: one would scarcely
+touch the place of his second exile, before the termination of his
+British sentence restored him to full freedom; another, perhaps a
+prisoner for life, would linger out his wretched existence in the place
+of his seclusion, forgotten.[143]
+
+The name of _Macquarie Harbour_ is associated exclusively with
+remembrance of inexpressible depravity, degradation, and woe. Sacred to
+the genius of torture, nature concurred with the objects of its
+separation from the rest of the world; to exhibit some notion of a
+perfect misery. There, man lost the aspect, and the heart of man!
+
+Macquarie Harbour was explored by Captain Kelly, at the expense of a
+merchant whose name is borne by Birch's River, and that of his wife by
+Sarah Island. It is an inlet of the sea, on the western coast: by water,
+about 200 miles from Hobart Town. It penetrates the country twenty miles
+to its junction with Gordon River, where, diverging to the right, Sarah
+Island becomes visible--once the principal station, now deserted and
+desolate. This region is lashed with tempests; the sky is cloudy, and
+the rain falls more frequently than elsewhere. In its chill and humid
+climate animal life is preserved with difficulty: half the goats died in
+one season, and sheep perish: vegetation, except in its coarsest or most
+massive forms, is stunted and precarious. The torrents, which pour down
+the mountains, mingle with decayed vegetable matter, and impregnated
+with its acids discolour the waters of the harbour; and the fish that
+approach the coast, often rise on the waves, and float poisoned to the
+shores.[144]
+
+The passage to this dreary dwelling place was tedious, and often
+dangerous. The prisoners, confined in a narrow space, were tossed for
+weeks on an agitated sea. As they approached, they beheld a narrow
+opening choked with a bar of sand, and crossed with peril.[145] This
+they called "Hell's gates,"--not less appropriate to the place, than to
+the character and torment of the inhabitants: beyond, they saw
+impenetrable forests, skirted with an impervious thicket; and beyond
+still, enormous mountains covered with snow, which rose to the clouds
+like walls of adamant: every object wore the air of rigour, ferocity,
+and sadness.
+
+The moment the prisoner landed, if the hours of labor had not expired,
+he joined his gang. The chief employment was felling the forest, and
+dragging timber to the shore: these gigantic trees, formed into rafts,
+were floated to the depot. In this service, life was sometimes lost; and
+the miserable workmen, diseased and weakened by hunger, while performing
+their tasks, often passed hours in the water. They were long denied
+vegetables and fresh food: they were exposed to those maladies which
+result from poverty of blood, and many remained victims long after their
+release. On a breakfast of flour and water, they started from their
+island prison to the main land, and pursued their toil, without food,
+till the hour of return: they then received their chief meal, and went
+to rest. Those who were separated to punishment still more severe,
+lodged on a rock: the surf dashed with perpetual violence on its base,
+and the men were compelled to pass through, wet to the waist, and even
+to the neck. They were destitute of bedding, sometimes in chains; their
+fires were extinguished, and they laid down in their clothes, in a cold
+and miserable resting place.[146]
+
+They were subject to a single will; moved often by perjury, and
+sometimes by passion. One man, Alexander Anderson, a convict
+overseer,[147] delighted in human suffering--this was his qualification
+for office; yet seventeen persons have been flogged in one day, at his
+single report. The instrument of torture was special; double twisted and
+knotted cords: 100 lashes were given, and repeated at short intervals.
+Even to repine was criminal: an expression of _anger from the sufferer_,
+was a punishable offence: a second infliction has been known to follow,
+by a sentence on the spot.[148]
+
+The alleviations of religious instruction were unknown. The commandant
+was found, by the earliest clerical visitor, living in profligacy, and
+he returned at once, despairing.[149] Women were, at first, sent there,
+and four were dispatched to gather shells, under the charge of one man,
+in whose hut they lodged. The forms of devotion depended on the surgeon,
+and were detested by the prisoners. They were, mostly, desperate men,
+and required a strong restraint; some were there, however, for offences
+of no deep die, who, while the least spark of humanity remained, felt
+the association more horrible than the place. To escape this dread
+abode, they gambled for life; and, with the deliberation of actors,
+divided the parts of a meditated murder, and sinister testimony. They
+loathed existence, and were willing to shorten its duration, if the
+excitement of a voyage and a trial might precede the execution. It was
+their proverb, that all who entered there, gave up for ever the hope of
+Heaven.[150] Death lost its terrors, and when some unhappy victims were
+brought down to terrify the rest, they saw them die as many see friends
+depart on a desirable but distant journey.[151] Some were detained for
+years by a succession of punishments; perhaps, for the possession of a
+fish-hook, of a potato, or an inch of tobacco. Some were flogged; until
+this species of punishment lost, not only its terror, but its power: the
+remnant of the understanding settled down into one single faculty--the
+ability to endure. It will be our painful task to turn to the results of
+this experiment, since elsewhere repeated, of what nations can inflict,
+and man can suffer: excusable, had the Rhadamanthus of those regions
+been always just, and those subject to his lash always the worst of
+criminals.[152]
+
+The improvement of the assigned service, by raising the qualifications
+of the masters, and increasing the dependance of the men, was another
+great project of the Commissioner. There were, indeed, no employers,
+except those who had been convicts, or officers of government; and the
+first and larger class, possessed neither capital nor discretion. They
+were rather patrons than masters. There were but two changes
+practicable: the vast establishments projected at Moreton Bay, and
+introduction of a class of settlers, who might exercise the authority
+requisite to restrain the vagrant indolence of the men; and whose
+capital might give them constant employment and proper sustenance.
+Several military settlers, such as Macarthur, had large establishments,
+chiefly for cattle and sheep; and their management exemplified the
+superior facilities of control, where the men were both dispersed and
+guarded--divided in their occupations, but subject to a vigilant
+supervision.
+
+It was the opinion of the Commissioner that none, having small estates
+and trivial resources, should be placed in the responsible position of
+masters; but that the inducements offered in former times should be
+renewed and extended. He calculated, that the employers of convict
+laborers, for each, relieved the treasury of England to the extent of
+L24 10s. per annum. Thus every consideration commended the system of
+assignment beyond any other. To attract the attention of settlers, he
+advised that the emigrant should be entitled to a grant, to purchase an
+addition at a low price, and to receive a bonus in land, for the stock
+he might rear, or according to the industry and skill he might otherwise
+exhibit.
+
+It has been stated, that the ministers who founded these colonies,
+intended that free emigration should accompany transportation with equal
+steps. The despatches of Governor Phillip, addressed to the secretary of
+state[153] in 1790, proved that he felt the want, and perceived the
+value, of such auxiliaries; but the early determination to raise
+expirees to the condition of landholders, seems to imply the form the
+settlement at Port Jackson was expected to assume. It is obvious that
+the immediate design of the Governor, was to provide such free settlers,
+as might act in different official capacities, at little or no
+expense.[154] The reply to these communications was favorable, and the
+prospect of emigration cheering; but the result was insignificant. It is
+stated by Collins, that several families, members of the Society of
+Friends, proposed to accept the offers of government, but were deterred
+by the reputation of the colony, and the disorders which prevailed.[155]
+
+The _Bellona_ at length arrived, with free settlers and their families,
+including a millwright and blacksmith; one of whom had been already in
+the colony, under other auspices! An authority to the Governor was now
+conveyed, to establish such persons as were eligible on terms highly
+advantageous. They chose a fertile spot, and to mark their civil
+condition, called their locations "Liberty Plains" (February, 1793). The
+British government provided their passage, an assortment of tools and
+implements, provisions for two years; their lands free of expense; and
+the service of convicts, with two years' rations and one year's
+clothing. It is difficult to imagine a more alluring offer; yet, except
+a Dorsetshire farmer, the rest were not _bona fide_ settlers: two
+formerly belonged to the _Sirius_, and a third to the _Lady Juliana_
+transport; in short, they were sailors. Concluding, then, the secretary
+of state had sought settlers in earnest, the presumption is strong that
+no considerable number of persons could be found to engage in such an
+enterprise: one which seemed to comprehend all the perils of distance,
+of official tyranny, and of social corruption.[156]
+
+The additions, thus made to the free population, were generally of
+persons connected with the merchant service or the military profession;
+and who, by a residence intended only to be temporary and official,
+contracted a preference for the climate; where they found great respect
+and deference, by the paucity of their numbers. It was their example
+which finally overcame the reluctance to settle, which no mere offers of
+the crown were sufficient to conquer.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 138: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 139: Colonial Fund (1820): Quarter's salary, A. P. Humphrey,
+superintendent, L25; government printer, L7 10s.; Mr. Fitzgerald,
+schoolmaster, L6 5s.; G. Northam, chaplain's clerk, L3 5s.; James
+Charlton, executioner, L6 5s.!]
+
+[Footnote 140: "Report of Oxley."--_Barrow Field's Collection._]
+
+[Footnote 141: _Breton's New South Wales._]
+
+[Footnote 142: The following "Instructions" were laid before parliament:
+being a return to an address to his Majesty, dated 2nd February, 1832;
+they were, however, only partially acted upon:--
+
+"_Copy of Instructions issued by the Governor of New South Wales and Van
+Diemen's Land, for the Regulation of Penal Settlements._
+
+"As an aversion to honest industry and labor has been the chief cause of
+most of the convicts incurring the penalties of the law, they shall be
+employed at some species of labor, of an uniform kind, which they cannot
+evade, and by which they will have an opportunity of becoming habituated
+to regular employment.
+
+"With this view, all labor of a complex nature, the quantity of which
+cannot be easily determined, is to be studiously avoided: and the
+convicts are to be employed exclusively in agricultural operations, when
+the public buildings or other works of the settlement do not absolutely
+require their labor.
+
+"In these operations the use of the hoe and spade shall be as much as
+possible adopted; and where the number of men who can be employed in
+agriculture is sufficient to raise food for the settlement with these
+implements, the use of the plough shall be given up; and no working
+cattle are to be employed in operations which can be effected by men and
+hand carts.
+
+"The principle of dividing the workmen at regular distances from each
+other, as established for field labor, is also to be adopted whenever it
+is found applicable; and with the view of affording a more complete and
+effective superintendence, the different gangs are, as much as possible,
+to be employed in one place.
+
+"When it becomes necessary to employ mechanics or tradesmen in their
+respective callings, such arrangements shall be made (by appointing as
+many as possible to the work) as will insure their strict
+superintendence, and a speedy return to the employment of common
+laborers.
+
+"In order that the convicts may be deprived of all opportunities of
+procuring spirits, or any luxury or article beyond the government
+allowance, and with the view the more effectually to prevent their
+escape, it becomes necessary to establish the strictest regulations with
+regard to shipping.
+
+"The commandant is vested with the control of every department on the
+settlement; every person, whether free or bond, being subject to his
+orders.
+
+"No officer, or other free person, employed at the penal settlement,
+shall be permitted to derive any advantage from his situation, either
+directly or indirectly, beyond the amount of his salary and fixed
+allowances. Each individual will be _required to furnish quarterly, a
+declaration upon honor to this effect_, to the commandant, who will
+certify that the whole of the officers borne upon the salary abstract,
+have furnished the same.
+
+"No officer, or other free person, shall be allowed to cultivate any
+ground on his own account, excepting for the purpose of a garden, for
+the exclusive supply of his own family.
+
+"No officer shall be allowed to raise stock of any description for sale,
+or for any other purpose than the immediate use of his own family; such
+stock to consist exclusively of pigs and poultry, which shall be secured
+within the premises of the proprietor.
+
+"No officer, or other person, shall be allowed to employ any convict at
+any time whatever for his personal advantage, or otherwise than on the
+public account, excepting always such men as may be appropriated to his
+service.
+
+"No officer, or other free person, is on any account to leave the
+settlement, without the written sanction of the commandant.
+
+"The commandant is vested with full authority to remove, at his
+discretion, any free person from the settlement, whose conduct shall
+appear to him to render this proceeding necessary for the due
+maintenance of discipline.
+
+"The officers, and other free persons, shall be allowed to purchase
+grain from the public stores, to maintain the livestock they are
+permitted to keep, according to the following scale:--
+
+"Commandant, not to exceed five bushels per month; civil and military
+officers, three bushels per month; inferior free persons, one bushel per
+month.
+
+"To enable the officers of the settlement to cultivate their gardens,
+they shall be allowed to have convicts appropriated to their service in
+the following proportion:--
+
+"Commandant, three men; military and civil officers, two ditto.
+
+"These men are not to be mechanics or tradesmen, and are to be allowed
+in addition to any servants they may have been permitted to take with
+them to the settlement.
+
+"When work is required to be done by the mechanics for the absolute
+comfort and convenience of any of the officers on the settlement, the
+following regulations shall be observed:--
+
+"The officer to make a written requisition, which will, if approved by
+the commandant, be given to the overseer of the mechanics, who will
+receive the whole of the materials from the officer. The work to be
+performed in the lumber-yard during government hours.
+
+"No remuneration of any kind is to be given the mechanic for his
+services. This indulgence is not to extend to any article of furniture,
+or any thing else that can be dispensed with, or procured in any other
+manner. A separate book is to be kept, and entries made of the work so
+done, and quarterly returns sent to the colonial secretary. It must be
+understood that no government materials, even of the most trifling
+nature, will be allowed for any such purpose.
+
+"All trafficking and trading between the free and bond on the
+settlement, shall be strictly prohibited, and severely punished.
+
+"The convicts under colonial sentence, shall be steadily and constantly
+employed at hard labor from sunrise till sunset, one hour being allowed
+for breakfast, and one hour for dinner, during the winter six months;
+but two hours will be allotted for dinner during the summer.
+
+"The convicts shall be worked in field labor, with the hoe and spade, in
+gangs, not fewer than fifteen or more than twenty. No task work shall be
+allowed.
+
+"There shall be an overseer attached to each gang, and to every five
+gangs a constable, who shall assist the overseers in the superintendence
+of the men.
+
+"The constables and overseers, are not to push or strike the convicts,
+and no punishment is to be inflicted but by the express orders of the
+commandant.
+
+"If a convict should have any thing to represent or complain of to the
+commandant, it shall be the duty of the constable to bring him before
+him.
+
+"No prisoner is to be permitted to receive, or to procure, any article
+of luxury, or any addition to the established ration of the settlement.
+
+"As a reward of and encouragement to good conduct, the prisoners shall
+be divided into two classes, to be called the first and second classes
+respectively.
+
+"No prisoner is to be admitted into the first class, who shall not have
+served on the settlement for two years, if a prisoner for seven years;
+for four years, if for fourteen years; and for six years, if for life.
+But convicts, who have been respited from a capital sentence, shall in
+no case be admitted into this class until, upon the representation of
+the commandant, their sentence shall have been mitigated by the
+governor.
+
+"The commandant will make a monthly return to the colonial secretary of
+the prisoners, whose conduct has induced him to admit them to the first
+class, and he will inform the officer of the commissariat officially.
+
+"The prisoners in the first class will receive, in addition to the usual
+ration, one ounce of tobacco weekly.
+
+"The prisoners of the first class are to be employed in the lighter and
+least laborious operations; and it is from this class exclusively that
+men are eligible to be selected for constables and overseers, to be
+employed as clerks, to be assigned as servants to the officers of the
+settlement, and to be entrusted with the charge of the live stock or
+working cattle, or with any other light employment.
+
+"No convict shall be employed as a clerk in the commandant's office, or
+have access to any of the records kept there.
+
+"No prisoner transported for life, or for any heinous or atrocious
+offence, shall be employed in any other way than as a common laborer,
+except, being a mechanic, his services may be urgently required. In this
+case the commandant will permit his being temporarily employed in his
+trade, or on any of the public works.
+
+"Prisoners of the first class, who shall be selected by the commandant
+for constables or overseers, will be allowed the usual distinction of
+dress, and shall receive in addition to their rations, two pounds of
+flour per week, and one ounce of tobacco; but in no case shall any
+convict at a penal settlement be allowed to receive a pecuniary reward.
+
+"As a further encouragement to constables and overseers to be faithful
+and diligent in the discharge of their duty, two years' service as a
+constable or overseer, shall be considered equivalent to three years'
+servitude on the settlement; but in case of misconduct, they shall
+forfeit all such benefit arising from their services as constables or
+overseers.
+
+"As there may be found some individuals whose conduct may be deserving
+of reward, but who nevertheless may not be qualified to fill the
+situation of overseers, the commandant will transmit annually to the
+colonial secretary, a return of the names of such convicts who, having
+served two-thirds of the period of their sentence, may by a long
+continuance of good conduct, be considered to merit indulgence. To this
+return there shall be annexed a detailed statement of the circumstances
+which have induced the commandant to recommend the individuals
+respectively.
+
+"A return will in like manner be transmitted by the commandant, of any
+prisoners under sentence for life, who shall have conducted themselves
+to his entire satisfaction for six years (or of capital respites for ten
+years) after their arrival in the settlement, annexing, as before, a
+detailed statement of the circumstances which have induced him to
+recommend the individuals respectively; and should the governor be
+satisfied that they are deserving of reward, his excellency will
+mitigate their sentence to that of seven or fourteen years, from the
+date of such mitigation; after which the individuals will, of course, be
+eligible to all the privileges of prisoners of the first class.
+
+"The wife of a convict shall, in no case, be allowed to join her
+husband, until he shall have been placed in the first class, and the
+commandant shall have recommended him for this indulgence.
+
+"The wives and children of convicts shall be allowed rations and slop
+clothing from the public stores.
+
+"The wives and children of convicts are not to be allowed to convey
+money or property of any kind to the settlement, nor to possess any live
+stock or poultry, and they are strictly to be prohibited from carrying
+on any trade or traffic in the settlement; but they will be furnished
+with employment in spinning flax, making straw hats or bonnets, making
+up slops, and such other work as they may be capable of performing, the
+materials for which will be supplied from the government store. They
+will receive credit in the books of the settlement, at the market or
+factory prices, on such work being returned to the stores; and the
+amount of their earnings will be annually placed in the savings bank, to
+be received by them on their return from the settlement, as a means of
+support on their arrival.
+
+"Married convicts, whose families have been permitted to join them,
+shall be allowed to live in separate huts.
+
+"A portion of ground shall be allotted as a prisoners' garden, the
+extent of which shall be determined by the commandant.
+
+"If any money or property shall be found in possession of a convict, or
+the family of a convict, it shall be seized and forfeited to the
+Benevolent Asylum.
+
+"The labor of all convicts, excepting only those assigned to the
+officers, shall be wholly and exclusively applied to the service of the
+settlement generally, and the indulgence of working on their own
+account, after the usual hours of public labor, shall be strictly
+prohibited.
+
+"No convict shall be allowed to wear any other clothing than that which
+is issued to him by the government; and the number of each convict on
+the settlement is to be painted on each article of his dress, before and
+behind.
+
+"The commandant will see that due attention is paid to the cleanliness
+of the convicts, and that those whose state of health admit of it, bathe
+regularly.
+
+"A separate barrack is to be provided for the female convicts; and if
+employed in field labor, they are to be kept separate from the men.
+
+"A washing gang from among the female convicts shall be appointed, to
+wash and mend the clothes, and air the blankets and palliasses of the
+prisoners.
+
+"The convicts are not to be allowed to possess knives or any sharp
+instruments; the knives, forks, and spoons, are to be under the charge
+of the barrack overseer, and he will be held responsible that they are
+duly collected from each convict before he is allowed to quit his seat
+at the mess table. This, however, is not to apply to those married
+convicts or overseers, who shall have been allowed to live in separate
+huts.
+
+"The whole of the convicts will be mustered on Sunday morning, arranged
+in their several gangs, and attended by their respective overseers and
+constables, when they will be inspected by the commandant. The wives and
+families of the convicts will also be required to attend the Sunday
+morning musters.
+
+"The prisoners will be mustered daily by the superintendent of convicts,
+at sunrise, before they proceed to labor, when they return to meals, and
+again when the work for the day is closed.
+
+"No convict shall be allowed to receive or transmit any letter,
+excepting through the commandant, who is to exercise his discretion in
+opening such letters, and perusing their contents.
+
+"The section regulating the discipline and employment of the convicts,
+is to be read once in every month to the troops and convicts on the
+settlement.
+
+"These regulations shall be entered in the public order books of the
+settlement, and they are to be strictly and literally adhered to
+throughout; no deviation being permitted, except in cases of very great
+emergency, which are to be determined alone by the commandant, who will
+immediately report in detail his reasons for such deviation to the
+governor, in order that his excellency's sanction to the measure may be
+obtained."]
+
+[Footnote 143: "The crimes for which they were sent down, were
+originally trifling: five or six for a robbery, petty theft, or
+disobedience to orders. One remained for a month, another for the term
+of his natural life,--for the same offence, and by the same
+sentence."--_Barnes: Par. Pap._
+
+"Bryan Taylor, a convict holding a ticket-of-leave, having taken the
+Lord's name in vain, was ordered to be confined in his majesty's gaol
+for one week.
+
+"Thomas Higgins, a constable, was found guilty of a rape, and was
+sentenced to be dismissed from his office, and transported for the
+remainder of his original term.
+
+"Ralph Jacobs, found guilty of stealing one sheep; sentenced to receive
+fifty lashes, and to be returned to government.
+
+"William Blunt, and another, for burglary and violence; sentenced one
+hundred lashes, and transported for their original term."--_Gazette_,
+Dec. 1821.]
+
+[Footnote 144: _Ross's Almanack_, 1831.]
+
+[Footnote 145: "The sight was awfully grand. The pilot commanded all
+below, but I said I should like to see the end of it: they counted off
+eleven feet; we drew seven and a half: there were but seven in the
+hollow of the sea! At this moment a large billow carried us forward on
+its raging head. The pilot's countenance relaxed: he looked like a man
+reprieved under the gallows."--_Backhouse's Narrative._]
+
+[Footnote 146: Barnes: _Par. Pap._, 1837.]
+
+[Footnote 147: Ibid.]
+
+[Footnote 148: _Tasmanian Journal_, vol. ii. p. 205.]
+
+[Footnote 149: _Backhouse's Narrative._]
+
+[Footnote 150: Ibid.]
+
+[Footnote 151: They called to the men, as they ascended the
+scaffold--"Good-by, Bob; good-by, Jack."--_Par. Pap._]
+
+[Footnote 152: To describe this region, requires the awful coloring of
+Milton:--
+
+    "Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death,
+    Where all life dies; death lives; and nature breeds
+    Perverse; all monstrous, all prodigious things;
+    _Abominable_; UNUTTERABLE!"
+
+_Paradise Lost_, book ii.]
+
+[Footnote 153: _Sydney Cove, 17th July_, 1790.
+
+"The consequence of a failure of a crop, when we no longer depend upon
+any supplies from Great Britain, will be obvious; and to guard against
+which is one reason for my being so desirous of having a few settlers,
+to whom, as the first, I think every possible encouragement should be
+given. In them I should have some resource, and amongst them proper
+people might be found to act in different capacities, at little or no
+expense to government; for, as the number of convicts and others
+increase, civil magistrates, &c. will be necessary."]
+
+[Footnote 154: _Par. Papers_, 1792; quoted by Saxe Bannister, Esq.]
+
+[Footnote 155: Besides the reference in Collins, several modern writers
+have alluded to this fact; but in conversation with Mr. G. W. Walker,
+the author has been given to understand, that neither he nor his
+colleague, Mr. Backhouse, ever heard of this projected emigration. The
+correspondence upon the subject would probably disclose more clearly the
+ultimate views of the imperial government. Dr. Laing assigns, for the
+relinquishment of the project, a refusal to extend the laws of England
+to the settlement,--but gives no authority.]
+
+
+
+SECTION X.
+
+The spirit of the Commissioner's propositions was embodied by the home
+government, and its offers were published in various forms; chiefly,
+indeed, by the diligence of adventurers who, to freight their ships,
+filled volumes, and depicted in lively colors the beauty of the
+colonies. The intending settler was told, that not only would he find
+cheap land and cheap labor, but a large return for his produce.
+
+By the grants of Sir Thomas Brisbane, bonds were required to be given
+for the support and employment of prisoners, until their detention
+expired--calculated at the average term of ten years. For every hundred
+acres, the settler engaged to provide one convict with food and
+clothing, in return for his labor; and to contribute 18s. per annum
+towards the expense of medicine, police, and religious instruction
+(1822). Still further to encourage such contracts, the settlers were
+furnished with a cow, for every convict attached to their grants, to
+continue in their possession during the term of his servitude![157]
+
+The regulation issued at Downing-street in 1824, engaged that the
+purchaser of land--who within ten years might save ten times the amount
+of his payment, by the employment of convicts, reckoning each at L16 per
+annum--should receive back his money, though without interest; but when
+the land was conditionally given, one-fifth part of that saving would
+pass to account of quit-rent, and thus probably entitle the employer to
+entire relief.
+
+The Van Diemen's Land Company, by agreement with Earl Bathurst, entered
+into similar covenants, and received their land subject to a quit-rent,
+redeemable by the sustentation and employment of prisoners--to them a
+fortunate stipulation,[158] and which has relieved their vast territory
+from a heavy pressure. These various plans indicate the difficulties of
+finding masters, which once prevailed.
+
+The government having roused the spirit of emigration, were soon enabled
+to grant a favor when they assigned a workman, and rapidly withdrew from
+engagements no longer necessary. Hundreds of families arrived in a
+succession of vessels, and speedily fixed themselves in the interior:
+flocks were contracted, herds were slaughtered; fences, homesteads, and
+fields of corn divided and dotted the land. The least capital admitted
+was L500; and though several evaded the condition, many of the settlers
+brought much larger sums. They pursued their improvements, with all the
+vigour awakened by novelty, and stimulated by the prospect of
+considerable gains. The competition for labor increased, until it
+created in the minds of the settlers a feeling of dependance and
+obligation--to refuse a supply, had been ruin. It placed before the
+prisoners, once again, the examples of emancipist opulence: mechanics
+earned more wages than officers of the army; again transportation was
+represented as a boon; and then came other changes.
+
+In the official newspaper of 1827, it is stated that 1,000 applications
+were registered at Hobart Town. To an English reader, and to a modern
+colonist, the notices of this period seem like satire. "Better," remarks
+this organ of the higher classes, "better send petitions for more
+prisoners--now that applications have lain dormant for twelve months:
+some for four, eight, and ten men--than trouble about trial by jury and
+representative government. The disappointment, we trust, will be
+temporary: when the last vessel sailed, the _York_ was freighting. We
+trust the home secretary will consider the deficiency"! The extremely
+earnest manner in which these felonious additions were implored, is a
+curious relic of a bygone era.[159]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 156: _Collins_, vol. i. p. 267.]
+
+[Footnote 157: _Gazette_, 11th July, 1822.]
+
+[Footnote 158: Bischcoff.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XI.
+
+The system of assignment was first established in America (1718), and
+continued for fifty-six years: the rigid discipline permitted by the
+colonial law, the kind of labor usually performed by the servants, and
+their diffusion over an extensive surface, tended alike to restrain, to
+reform, and ultimately to merge them undistinguished. Many, endowed with
+good natural abilities, such as an accomplished thief usually possesses,
+succeeded in their pursuits, and became masters themselves, _by the
+purchase_ of the servitude of those afterwards sent out for sale.[160]
+Thus, whatever complaints were raised against transportation itself,
+none objected to assignment; and the long period of its duration, proves
+that the home government cared little for the state of prisoners, while
+there was no local press to vindicate their _rights_, and few readers of
+books to encourage romantic delineations of their _felicity_.
+
+On the arrival of a vessel, the chief officers of the government
+examined the prisoners, and the Governor himself addressed them. He
+pointed out their future position, their duties, and their dangers; the
+tone of promise usual in times past was considerably abated, but the
+awful rigours of their servitude were explained, often to their
+astonishment and horror.[161] Often the private examination of the
+prisoner confounded him with amazement: a gentleman, whom he had never
+seen before, unravelled with facility the mystery of his life. If he had
+been often in prison; if his brother had been transported; if his
+sweetheart had been deserted; whether he had been a pest to the lords of
+the manor, or to the parish, by poaching or bastardy: his whole life was
+read by his inquisitor, with supernatural clearness. The raw countryman
+did not know how far his course had been subject to the gaze of the
+stranger: denial gave way rapidly; he assented, and explained, and
+enlarged--and thus the office of the superintendent answered the purpose
+of a confessional. It was the practice to furnish all possible
+information to the local government, and to keep its details a secret
+from the prisoners: such had been the advice of the Commissioner. Thus
+the wonder of the country transport, to find that the picture of his
+life had preceded him--that all was known at the world's end.
+
+Though no persons could have greater cause to confuse their identity,
+the prisoners often stamped on their persons indelible distinctions; a
+custom, perhaps, introduced by the sailors, and encouraged by the
+officers, but which prevailed among London thieves. Those who suffered
+these figures to be pierced, were usually the most simple minded, or the
+most depraved. The figures themselves were sometimes obscene, but not
+commonly: often mermaids, still more frequently hearts and darts;
+sometimes the name, or the initials of the prisoner. Thus, in the
+runaway notices (1825), one had a hope and anchor; another, a castle,
+flower pots, hearts and darts; another, a man and woman, a heart and a
+laurel; another, a masonic arch, and moon and stars, and initials in
+abundance. An Irishman had a crucifix on the arm, a cross on the right
+hand, and the figure of a woman on the breast! Such were the ingenious
+methods which, induced by indolence and vanity, these men permitted, to
+lessen the chances of escape. The initials generally differed from those
+of the known name, and indicated that the wearer, some time or other,
+had occasion for disguise: others were obviously memorials of past
+affection, and of names perhaps associated with blighted hopes and better
+days. Besides these marks, were others; scars, usually the result of
+a life of mingled intemperance and violence: thus, almost in succession,
+the list of absconders gives the following--"a scar on the forehead;"
+"scar on the right eye;" "his arm has been broken;" "his nose inclines
+to the left cheek;" "a broken nose."[162]
+
+All that might assist the police was registered: their native place,
+their age, their crime, and sentence. They were then detached to their
+masters; marched, sometimes, in considerable bodies, from Kangaroo Point
+to Launceston, 120 miles. The mechanics were reserved for government
+employ, and the concealment of a trade, was visited as a crime; yet
+convicts did conceal their trade, instructed by former experience, or a
+hint from a veteran predecessor. They knew that mechanical knowledge
+might prolong their detention, and deprive them of many present
+advantages. They knew that, though rated as laborers, they might obtain
+a master who would pay them. This was effected, sometimes, at once, or
+by the agency of a friend; or oftener by the prisoner, who, on his first
+opportunity, would hint to a builder or carpenter, that he knew
+something of a trade. An order was obtained for a _laborer_, which would
+not have been spared for a mechanic: a fee to the clerk, secured the
+intended selection; and the man assigned to carry the materials of a
+building, was taught, in a time which seemed incredibly short, all the
+mysteries of line and rule. It is thus that weakness ever arms itself
+against might.
+
+The increased demand for assigned servants, enabled Governor Arthur to
+enforce the regulations which had been often promulgated in vain. It
+ceased to be necessary to pay wages, and the master was bound to provide
+sufficient food and clothing for his men: the scale was determined. The
+practice of lending out servants was restricted, and finally abolished.
+All those means of stimulating labor, which had tended to suggest the
+rights of property, were forbidden. It had been the custom to permit
+assigned servants to receive a share in the increase of stock;
+allotments of land had been separated to their exclusive use; they had
+been suffered to trade upon their own account. These arrangements were
+calculated to stimulate industry, but they also generated disputes, and
+led to petty theft. Thus reduced to an absolute dependance upon the
+liberality of their masters, they had no reward but as a boon: many of
+whom, however, evaded the regulations, and paid their servants the
+ordinary wages of free men.
+
+No rule can be devised, that is not liable to objection. The men were
+discontented with a service, in which money was refused them: it was
+illegally possessed, and therefore rapidly spent in debauchery and
+drunkenness. The settlers usually allowed some luxuries; but these,
+discretionally given, were a tax to the liberal, often more onerous than
+reasonable wages. Domestic servants, and those entrusted with important
+concerns, were paid by all, from the Governor downwards, and that while
+regulations were promulgated against such violations of order.[163] It
+was doubtless not at his direction, but at his cost!
+
+A decision at Sydney, explained the nature of the claim for wages
+granted by former regulations of government. A female, at the close
+of a long servitude, sued her master for arrears: the judge advocate
+declared "his court one of equity and right," not of law; that
+the spirit of public orders, not their letter, was the rule of judgment;
+that the allowance of money required by the crown, was intended to
+secure the plaintiff certain comforts: those comforts she had already
+enjoyed, and thus her claim in equity had been already satisfied (1823).
+The wages of a man servant were stopped by the magistrates, because he
+had been accused of stealing from his master (1821)!
+
+The right of a master in the services of his assigned servant, was
+incidentally raised in the celebrated case of Jane New. She arrived in
+Van Diemen's Land under a sentence of transportation, and, according to
+the prevailing custom, was assigned to her husband; who was allowed, by
+Governor Arthur, to remove her to New South Wales: she was charged there
+with a capital felony, and death was recorded against her. The
+prosecutrix, Madle. Senns, a French mantua-maker, gave her evidence by
+an interpreter: afterwards, it was discovered, that the conviction was
+erroneous, both _in substance_ and _in law_: released on the
+recommendation of the judges, by order of the sheriff she was committed
+to the female factory at Parramatta. Her husband then sued out a writ of
+_habeas corpus_, to which the return, as amended by the direction of the
+court, alleged under the hand of the colonial secretary, that her
+detention was by authority of Governor Darling, she being a prisoner of
+the crown. The question seemed to depend on the nature of the rights
+conveyed by assignment; but a second arose: whether those rights could
+be exercised beyond the limits of the territory appointed for the
+transportation; or whether Governor Arthur was authorised to permit the
+removal. The judges, Forbes, Stephen, and Dowling, decided that the
+prisoner having been transported to Van Diemen's Land, was, by removal
+to Port Jackson, no longer under the provisions of the act of
+parliament; that neither the magistrates nor Governor of New South
+Wales, could make her the subject of summary treatment; but as a
+prisoner illegally at large, must remand her to the place of her
+original and unsatisfied term of transportation.
+
+In giving this decision, the judges announced their opinion upon the
+rights of assignment in general, as regulated by the 9th Geo. iv. cap.
+83. The Act required the consent of the governor in the assignment of a
+prisoner, and authorised the revocation of that assignment: this power
+to revoke, was however, to enable the governor to grant remission--to
+change the civil condition of the servant; and thus, by his restoration
+to liberty, to extinguish the rights of the assignee. The law officers,
+on the part of government, alleged that the discretion was absolute, and
+authorised a summary disposal of the services of the prisoner; whether
+under, or independent of, a magisterial decision.
+
+The chief justice, however, maintained that such a right in the
+executive might be ruin to the people. He asserted, that the duty and
+right of the governor was limited to the execution of a public trust, as
+between the crown on one side and the prisoner on the other; to minister
+to a covenant, subject only to those stipulations, the neglect of which
+might, by the common rights of humanity, dissolve the engagement. "If,"
+he remarked, "the governor, at discretion, may revoke the assignment of
+prisoners, as a consequence he may render the estates of landholders of
+no value; nor does it appear that this power of revocation is
+sustainable under any circumstances in the large and discretionary form
+claimed by the law officers of the crown."[164]
+
+The government endeavoured to contest this right (1829), in the instance
+of Mr. Hall, publisher of the _Monitor_, whose strictures had provoked
+official hostility. His men were recalled by the superintendent; he,
+however, paid no attention to the notice, and continued to employ them:
+for this he was summoned before the bench of magistrates, who,
+influenced by the known opinions of the government, fined him, under the
+act against harbouring. Mr. Wentworth moved for a criminal information
+against Messrs. Berry, Wollstoncraft, and others, for contempt: a rule
+was granted, but afterwards dismissed; the judges expressing the
+strongest indignation that the magistrates had dared to set aside the
+solemn decision of the court on a point of law, and in reference to the
+most important rights of the colonists; and to mark their displeasure,
+they saddled them with all the costs. Mr. Hayes, of the _Australian_,
+was involved in a similar contest; but to break the bond, the governor
+granted a ticket-of-leave--thus releasing the prisoner from his
+assignment. The printer, notwithstanding, brought his action against the
+superintendent for abduction, and gained damages; the judges holding,
+that the sudden deprivation of the master, by an arbitrary and unusual
+indulgence--granted only to deprive him of his rights as assignee--was
+not contemplated in the law, which modified those rights by the
+prerogative of mercy.
+
+The following are the chief provisions of the Parliamentary Acts on the
+subject of assignment:--
+
+The 4th Geo. i. (1717) conveyed an absolute property to the shipper, who
+again assigned to the master.
+
+An opinion was obtained from the law officers of the crown (about 1818),
+that the state of convict servitude was created by the 4th Geo. i. and
+subsequent statutes, under which a property in the servant was reserved
+to the master, whether captain or colonist: the power to punish was
+assumed as a necessary consequence.[165]
+
+The 5th Geo. iv. gave a right to the governors to release the convict
+from assignment, by a pardon, &c. A subsequent Act, for abolishing the
+punishment of death in certain cases, limited the exercise of mercy.
+
+The 9th Geo. iv. gave the governor power to revoke assignment; and made
+the master entirely dependant on the government.
+
+The local government rarely interfered with the prescriptive rights of
+the masters, nor did it often object to the transfer of servants when
+the value of an estate depended on the possession of bond labor. The
+most remarkable deviation from this policy was in the instance of Mr.
+William Bryan, a gentleman of considerable wealth, who was dismissed
+from the magistracy, and deprived of all his servants in one day (1833).
+Relying on the decision of the judges of New South Wales, he threatened
+an action, but the law of assignment being changed,[166] it was quite
+within the province of the Governor to recall a servant at any hour. The
+discretion of the executive was never brought into legal question; but
+the deprivation of a colonist in the midst of harvest, without public
+inquiry into any alleged malversation, taught the settlers that their
+fortunes were in the hands of the Governor. A London pickpocket required
+a long course of instruction; but his services were no longer secure to
+his master--a serious drawback from their worth.
+
+The transfer of servants, once convenient to the government, lasted
+until 1838, when it was finally abolished. It had been agreed by a
+settler, named Silcock, to transfer a servant to Mr. Theodore Bartley:
+on the application an endorsement was written--"the consent of the
+servant is, in all cases, necessary." This led to a long correspondence,
+in which several colonists took part. The settlers contended that, to
+require the servant's consent, was inconsistent with his civil
+condition; "tended to weaken the sense of submission and control," and
+raise him into a dispenser of favors. A large amount of polite
+recrimination enlivened this dispute, which perhaps ended as was
+best--the last bond was broken.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 159: _Courier_, 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 160: Colquhoun.]
+
+[Footnote 161: Arthur's evidence: _Par. Pap._]
+
+[Footnote 162: _Gazette_, 1825.]
+
+[Footnote 163: Murdoch's evidence: _Par. Pap._]
+
+[Footnote 164: _Sydney Gazette_, 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 165: _Bigge's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 166: The 9th Geo. iv. enacted (omitting superfluous words),
+"That any offender assigned _under_ 5th Geo. iv. shall not be assigned
+by the master to any other person without the consent of the Governor,
+who may as shall seem meet revoke such assignment and grant remissions,
+as may be best adapted to the reformation of offenders, and revoke and
+renew them as occasion may require, any act of parliament
+notwithstanding."]
+
+
+
+SECTION XII.
+
+One of the earliest (1824) and chief difficulties of Governor Arthur's
+administration sprang from an out-break of prisoners at Macquarie
+Harbour, who divided in their progress, and collected several formidable
+bands. The efforts to escape from that dreary region had been numerous,
+but unsuccessful: the unhappy beings who wandered into the woods, found
+no sustenance, and died either from exhaustion or by the hands of each
+other; or when they endeavoured to ford the Gordon, and attain by a more
+direct course the settled districts, they were either drowned or taken.
+During the first five years, when not more than two hundred were
+confined there, one hundred ventured on this dangerous enterprise,
+notwithstanding their ignorance of the route, and the almost certain
+starvation which awaited them. Prisoners arriving from Hobart Town gave
+them erroneous tidings respecting the absconders, and delusive hopes of
+success, and thus the foolish and desperate were prompted to hazard the
+perils of flight.
+
+The first (1822) adventurers were John Green and Joseph Sanders; never
+heard of more: six others followed a few days after, and encountered a
+similar fate. They were pursued by two soldiers and three prisoners, who
+took with them a fortnight's provision and hunting dogs. The rain
+continued for seven weeks after their departure, and it was presumed
+they perished from exhaustion.[167] Another party formed a catamaran,
+but it parted when they had proceeded a short distance; and they were
+rescued from its fragments by the soldiers. Eight others left in the
+following September, and all lost their lives, except Pearce, whose
+narrative will be noticed hereafter.
+
+At Macquarie Harbour, the first commandant was Lieutenant Cuthbertson, a
+soldier who had been in eighteen general engagements; yet was glad of an
+appointment, to supplement the deficiency of his pay. His discipline was
+severe, but of brief duration. A small vessel, built at the harbour, was
+in danger, and Cuthbertson ordered out his own boat to its relief; this
+he effected: on returning, his boat was upset, and all, except two, were
+drowned. Cuthbertson was thrice raised by one of the crew; but finding
+his strength unequal to retain his hold, he said, "man, save yourself;
+never mind me--it is no use." On the death of the commandant, the chief
+authority devolved on a non-commissioned officer. The prisoners were
+disposed to question his right to obedience: his government was
+vigorous, and he flogged with redoubled frequency.[168]
+
+In June, 1824, two parties absconded from Macquarie Harbour: one,
+consisting of three persons only, who seized the soldiers' boat,
+provisions, and arms. They proceeded about twelve miles, when they
+moored the boat to a stump of a tree, and wrote on its stern with chalk,
+"to be sold:" of this party no tidings were ever heard, and it is
+supposed that they perished. The second left five days afterwards, and
+were, for a time, more fortunate. Having resolved to escape, they
+proposed to capture the barge of commandant Wright; but suspecting their
+intention, he pushed off before they could reach it, leaving behind the
+surgeon. This gentleman they threatened to flog, and prepared the
+instrument of punishment; Brady interposed, and thus began his fatal
+career by an act of gratitude. He had experienced some kindness from the
+surgeon when a patient, and forgave his official attendance at the
+triangles. These men were usually friendly to the doctors: another
+medical gentleman, afterwards taken prisoner by Brady and his gang, was
+allowed to retain his lancet, and treated with respect, although robbed
+of his money. A few days before, he had released one of the party from
+punishment, by alleging his physical inability. It was thus in the power
+of the surgeons to favor the prisoners, and to mitigate the sentence of
+a rigorous magistrate.
+
+The party having obtained a boat, proceeded towards the Derwent, and
+were pursued by Lucas, the pilot, without success. They left on the 9th,
+and appeared on the east coast of the Derwent on the 18th June, at the
+residence of Mr. Mason: having beaten him with great violence and
+cruelty, they next robbed a servant of Mr. Gunn of fire-arms. They were
+pursued by this officer, and five were captured. These were instantly
+placed on their trial, and were desirous of pleading guilty; but courts
+have always manifested dislike to such evasions of trial, and they
+retracted, on the persuasion of the chief justice. They attempted to
+extenuate their crimes by the hardships they had suffered, but in vain.
+
+The advice to a person accused to plead not guilty, though anomalous in
+its aspect, is yet usually a proper protection to the ignorant and
+defenceless: such, under an impression of general guilt, might admit an
+aggravated indictment, and lose the advantage of those distinctions made
+by legislators on public grounds, between crime and crime; or the
+executive might delude a prisoner with fallacious hopes of mercy, to
+prevent the disclosure of extenuating facts to conceal official wrong;
+while ignorance of the details of a crime, might destroy the moral
+weight of exemplary punishment.
+
+With these men was executed Alexander Pearce, whose confessions to the
+priest were, by his consent, published at his death. He formed one of
+the second party who absconded from Macquarie Harbour (1822). They had
+planned their escape with considerable skill: one was a sailor, and able
+to direct their course: they possessed themselves of a boat, and
+proposed to capture the vessel of the pilot, then laden for town. It was
+the custom, when a prisoner was missing, to kindle signal fires along
+the coast, thus giving notice to the sentinels: to prevent such
+information, the absconders poured water on the embers kept in
+readiness. This was not effectually done: and thus, when they had
+proceeded half-a-mile, they saw the smoke rising, and their passage cut
+off; they therefore landed, destroyed the boat, and entered the bush.
+They now commenced a course of fatigue and horror: they began to murmur,
+and then to discuss the terrible alternative of general starvation:
+two, who overheard the proposition, returned to the settlement, but died
+almost immediately, from exhaustion. The rest travelled on, lessened at
+various stages in their course by their fatal necessity, till two only
+survived; these were, Pearce and Greenhill--the last, the victim. They
+spent two days and nights watching each other! Greenhill, who laid his
+axe under his head, to guard against surprise, first slept! Pearce was
+now alone, and destitute; but at length he came to a fire of the
+natives, and obtained some fragments of the opossum: at last he reached
+a flock of sheep, and seized on a lamb, which he proceeded to devour
+undressed. He was discovered by a stock-keeper, and when he surrendered
+was received with great kindness and sympathy. His host introduced him
+to the bushrangers then abroad; but being afterwards captured, he was
+again forwarded to Macquarie Harbour.
+
+Such suffering might have been expected to overcome all future desire to
+abscond; yet, in company with Cox, Pearce again left the settlement:
+they remained several days in the neighbourhood, and then attempted to
+reach the northern part of the island. Pearce slew his unsuspecting
+comrade. Horror took possession of his mind; or, despairing to effect
+his escape, he returned and made signals to the _Waterloo_, then passing
+the coast. He confessed his crime, and professed a wish to die.[169]
+
+These cases indicate the rapid process by which the habits of
+cannibalism are formed: the details of his trial were given in the
+_Gazettes_ of the period, and are contained in the parliamentary papers;
+but who could bear to examine the diary of such a journey, or to
+describe the particulars of those sacrifices which fill the soul with
+unutterable loathing!
+
+Arrests were constantly made, but did not diminish the number, or daring
+of new adventurers. Their exploits were contagious: many fled from the
+employ of government, and the service of settlers, and forfeited their
+lives after a short career. An instance will show the extent of their
+operations. By his spies the police magistrate was aware that a large
+quantity of goods would be offered to a certain person for sale, whom he
+instructed to purchase, and to pay partly by check and partly in cash.
+At midnight he surrounded a house in Hobart Town, with soldiers and
+constables: there he found the men he sought--their arms, their plunder,
+and the check. They had pillaged the dwelling of Mr. Haywood at the
+Macquarie, a district rarely free from depredations. One of the robbers
+was formerly, and a second more lately, in the service of the
+prosecutor, and a third was a neighbour. They had entered, by pretending
+to deliver a message, and assaulted both Mr. Haywood and his wife: they
+fired several shots, and left them with threats. They were promptly
+tried and executed.
+
+Not long after, the same establishment was visited by Brady: he took but
+little, and assured the prosecutor he need not fear retaliation, for
+Broadhead, the leader of the last party, _was not a bushranger_!
+Eighteen were taken in one week, but they increased with equal rapidity.
+
+The Governor, baffled by their lengthened defiance of the efforts to
+quell them, attributed cowardice and corruption with an unsparing
+bitterness; yet the difficulties even of the well-disposed were great,
+and they were often ignorant of the movements of the robbers. Their
+retreats were often in the forests, and known only to themselves; and at
+some future time property will be detected, the relics of early robbers,
+who carried with them to the grave the secret of their hidden spoil.
+Occasionally, the hut of a bushranger has been observed: one, curiously
+formed, was found by soldiers on the brow of Mount Wellington; and
+before the door, a salting apparatus. The servants of the Van Diemen's
+Land Company saw a hut at St. Patrick's Plains, beyond the Great Lake
+(1826). At a distance it resembled a gigantic fallen tree, and in its
+centre and side were doors, from which the whole plain could be surveyed
+and surprise prevented.
+
+The Governor denounced the miserable fear of personal danger--certainly
+more natural in the bush than the council chamber. Doubtless many, equal
+to the bravery of an actual conflict, preferred to pay black mail to
+robbers, rather than risk their sudden inroads and secret vengeance. Nor
+was it at all certain that a marauder, when captured, would be detained:
+some broke from their prisons; from Launceston, a band together, who
+renewed their pillage with increasing diligence. Among others, they
+attacked the house of Mr. Harrison, and maintained a fire which riddled
+his premises. These men attempted to fortify themselves by erecting
+stone fences on the peak of a hill at the Macquarie: there they were
+surprised and taken. The insecurity of the prisons, and the mode of
+disposing of respited offenders, made it not unlikely that an officious
+witness would be called to a future account: thus an old man, who
+prosecuted a burglar, was visited by the culprit when he returned from
+Macquarie Harbour; violently beaten, robbed, and threatened with death.
+
+To distinguish these men was no slight difficulty: they often pretended
+to be constables, and were in possession before the error was
+discovered. One, still more serious, sometimes happened: thus two
+constables saw two armed men enter a hut, and approaching challenged
+them; answer not being promptly given, they fired, and severely wounded
+both the astonished policemen. Nor were the settlers exempt from such
+perils. The bushrangers, often well dressed and mounted, made every
+traveller an object of suspicion: when riding over the Cross Marsh, Mr.
+Hodgson was challenged by the military stationed there; his motions of
+recognition they understood as defiance, and fired. To his remonstrances
+they answered with insolence, and expressed a wish that the shot had
+proved fatal. On a prosecution the rash soldier was acquitted, no malice
+being presumed (1826); and the attack was deemed a contingency of
+colonial life.
+
+Among those whose crimes obtained them the greater notoriety, were
+Brady, M'Cabe, Jeffries, and Dunne: well mounted upon horses, and armed
+with muskets, they scoured the colony: murder, pillage, and arson,
+rendered every homestead the scene of terror and dismay. Those settlers
+most exposed, often abandoned the business of their farms: their
+dwellings were perforated with loop-holes, their men were posted as
+sentinels, and all the precautions adopted, necessary in a state of war.
+But though not without supporters and accomplices, the bushrangers were
+in far greater danger of betrayal and capture than at a former period.
+The settlers, much more numerous, and of a higher class, felt that the
+suppression of the robbers, or the desertion of the colony, were the
+only alternatives. Governor Arthur exerted all the powers of government
+against them. Thus the issue was not long doubtful, although the contest
+cost many lives.
+
+In July, 1824, a party under James Crawford, appeared on the river, and
+having robbed the house of Mrs. Smith, they loaded her servants with
+their plunder, and drove them towards the establishment of Mr. Robert
+Taylor: meeting his son, they compelled him to bear part of the burden.
+The family observed the party approach, and armed to meet them. Young
+Taylor called to his father not to fire; and when he came near his
+friends, he managed to escape from the robbers: a general skirmish
+ensued. The young man seeing a piece levelled at his father, seized the
+assassin by the throat, and pulled him down: this brought a comrade to
+the robber's assistance: one of the servants became alarmed for young
+Taylor, and fired; unhappily, the shot was fatal to the youth for whose
+protection it was intended. The robbers now made their escape, leaving
+behind, beside two of their companions, their arms and plunder. Governor
+Arthur addressed a letter of condolence and praise to the sorrowing
+family: their neighbours expressed admiration of their courage, and
+presented a piece of plate to them, in testimony of their sympathy and
+esteem. Their example was exhibited by the Governor to the imitation of
+the colonists, notwithstanding its terrible issue.
+
+The overseer of Mr. Kemp was met by Brady and his party, and taken to
+his master's house; there he was ordered to gain admission, which he did
+by answering the challenge of his employer: the bushrangers having
+possession, robbed the house, in the presence of seven assigned servants
+and two free persons. Yet it was not a small risk to begin the _melee_;
+and it was not reasonable to expect men, in their civil condition, to
+hazard life to protect the property of a master, for whom, perhaps, they
+did not entertain much love. Thus the settlers could not always depend
+upon their men: many of whom saw, with pleasure, the vengeance inflicted
+on masters who had sometimes procured their punishment; and, partly by
+sympathy and partly by fear, they were deterred from rendering effectual
+assistance. Three men, with blackened faces, visited the residence of
+Captain Allison at Sandy Bay: he met them with uncommon courage, but
+was struck down and beaten; he appealed to his servants, who only
+muttered a reply to his calls for aid. Mrs. Allison joined her
+entreaties, when at length an atrocious woman (Hannah Bell, afterwards
+notorious) said to the robbers, in a tone of sarcasm,--"Come men, don't
+kill him quite out."
+
+One of their most daring exploits was the taking of the town of Sorell,
+and the capture of the gaol. They entered the premises of Mr. Bethune,
+of which they kept possession until dusk on the following evening. Two
+gentlemen, who arrived there during the day, they detained: they
+stripped them of their clothing, and tendered the prisoner dress in
+exchange; this being, however, declined, one of the gentlemen wore no
+other covering than a blanket. These, and others, eighteen in number,
+they compelled to accompany them to Sorell. A party of soldiers, who had
+been employed in pursuit all the day, and who were worn out with
+fatigue, while cleaning their guns, were surprised in the gaol. Brady
+locked them up in a cell, and offered liberty to the prisoners he found
+there; one of whom, who was charged with a capital offence, for which he
+was afterwards executed, declined the opportunity to escape. The gaoler
+hastened to inform Lieutenant Gunn, who was in the neighbourhood, and
+thus prepared for the arrival of the robbers: while raising his arm, he
+received a shot above the elbow, which rendered amputation necessary.
+This officer had been employed in the pursuit of the marauders for a
+considerable time, and his gigantic stature, courage, and energy,
+rendered his name formidable: he received from the public a valuable
+present, and a pension from the colonial fund.
+
+The roads were infested, and communication was dangerous: travellers
+were arrested and tied to trees; and sometimes, though not frequently,
+treated with cruelty. To preserve their property, the settlers resorted
+to concealment and stratagem: among the rest, the contrivance and
+coolness of an old woman, merits remembrance, who knowing that the
+robbers were on the road provided a paper of blank notes, which she
+delivered to them, and thus saved a considerable sum, the result of her
+marketing.
+
+Their close pursuit at length filled them with a spirit of mischief, and
+they perpetrated various acts of cruelty and wanton devastation. Among
+their most ordinary pleasantries, was forcing the people of an
+establishment to drink to drunkenness: thus their recollection became
+confused; they could not follow, and the robbers enjoyed the scene of
+their helpless intoxication. They held a pistol to a servant of Mr.
+Hance, of the river Plenty, and compelled him to drink a large quantity
+of rum: they then led him off the farm and left him. He was discovered
+some time after by a shepherd, his dog fondly licking his face: when
+raised up, he called for water, and died. Inflammation caused
+mortification of the intestines;--the tender mercies of the wicked are
+cruel! Not content with pillage, they destroyed the wool of three years'
+clip, the corn stacks, and the barns on the establishment of Mr.
+Lawrence, by fire. Several other settlers experienced similar
+visitations. The Governor issued a proclamation, five hundred copies of
+which were scattered through the colony. He threatened with death all
+persons who might afford them countenance. He offered rewards to a large
+amount: for every bushranger mentioned in the notice one hundred
+guineas, or three hundred acres of land; or to prisoners, money and a
+free pardon, whether directly or indirectly engaged in the capture; and
+to the chief constable in whose district the robber should be taken, one
+hundred acres. He complained that sufficient energy and co-operation had
+not been employed, and called upon the magistrates and other persons to
+combine for the liberation of the country. He himself resolved to fix
+his residence at Jericho, to direct the operations; and the inhabitants
+of Hobart Town formed themselves into a guard, that thus the soldiers
+and constabulary might be wholly employed in this important service. The
+robbers, however, being mounted, were enabled to move with considerable
+rapidity, and carried on their depredations in every part of the island.
+
+By acts of wantonness and vengeful barbarity, they intended to
+intimidate the prisoners. They called Thomas Preston from his hut, on
+the South Esk, and deliberately shot him. They took Captains White and
+Smith prisoners: the last, they made to kneel--their usual preparation
+for murder; but were induced to spare his life, by the intercession of
+his companion, who appealed to their humanity on behalf of his wife and
+children! They endeavoured to capture the _Glory_, belonging to one of
+these gentlemen; but finding the wind unfavorable, they relinquished
+that purpose. While Brady was on a hill, watching that vessel, a
+confederate escaped, intending to betray them to Colonel Balfour: one of
+the party, stationed as sentinel, was tried by a sort of court martial,
+for permitting his elopement; he was shot, and flung into the Tamar.
+They sent word that they would visit Launceston gaol, carry off
+Jeffries, and put him to death. Their message was of course treated
+with contempt, but they landed and advanced to the residence of Mr.
+Dry, who was then entertaining a number of his friends. The banditti
+plundered the house, and were packing up their booty when Colonel
+Balfour, to whom a messenger had been dispatched, arrived with ten
+soldiers and surrounded the house: the robbers retreated to the back
+part of the premises, and fired into the rooms. It was dark, and when
+the firing ceased, they were supposed to have retreated. The colonel,
+with four of his men, hastened to protect the town, to which a division
+of the robbers had been sent by Brady. As soon as he departed, some of
+the party again showed themselves: Dr. Priest joined Mr. Theodore
+Bartley, and the remaining soldiers; unfortunately, his clothing being
+partly white, enabled the robbers to take aim. His horse was shot dead:
+he himself received a musket ball, which wounded him above his knee; and
+refusing to submit to amputation he lost his life.
+
+Exasperated by these crimes, the whole country rose against them: they
+were sought in every quarter. The settlers, and soldiers scattered over
+the colony, at the first notice of their appearance, were prepared to
+follow them. The Governor himself took the field, and infused vigour
+into the pursuit; and in less than a month the chief robbers were in the
+hands of justice. Brady, wounded in the leg, was overtaken by the
+soldiers, and surrendered without a struggle. With Jeffries, he was
+conveyed to Hobart Town. A large crowd assembled to see robbers, who
+were admired for their boldness by many, as much as they were detested
+for their crimes.
+
+The most ferocious of the bushrangers was Jeffries: he obtained his
+reprieve in Scotland, to act as executioner.[170] Being transported to
+this country, he was employed as a scourger, and thus trained to
+cruelty, entered the bush. He robbed the house of Tibbs, a small
+settler, and after wounding, compelled him, with his wife, to proceed to
+the forest. The woman carried her infant: Jeffries was disturbed by its
+cries; perhaps, fearful that the sound might conduct his pursuers. He
+took the child from the arms of its mother and dashed out its brains
+against a tree! When captured, he was taken to Launceston, where the
+people, exasperated by his unusual guilt, were scarcely restrained, from
+summary vengeance, by the presence of a strong guard. While in prison he
+made sketches of his murders, and wrote memoirs of his life! His
+countenance was an index of his character. Not so with Brady; who,
+though guilty of heavy crimes, pretended to something like magnanimity:
+he was drawn into the plan to escape, contrary to his own judgment, and
+then said the _die_ was cast. His robberies were skilfully planned and
+deliberately executed: he often restored such articles as the sufferers
+specially valued. To every indictment he pleaded guilty: it was thought
+in contempt of justice; but certainly in the full conviction that it was
+useless to expect either mercy or acquittal.
+
+An instance of his persevering vengeance, which rests on the authority
+of a magistrate, may be worth remembering. A man, who had been a
+confederate, determined to entrap him: Brady on approaching his hut felt
+a presentiment of treachery; but at length was persuaded to advance. The
+constables were in ambush: they fired, and both himself and his
+companion were arrested. Brady, wounded, was left bound in the hut with
+his betrayer, while the constables conducted his comrade to a place of
+confinement. He now requested to lie on the bed, and that a kangaroo rug
+might be thrown over him: this done, he disentangled his arms and asked
+for water. The guard laid aside his gun to procure it; this Brady
+seized, and in his turn became captor. While bound, he reproached the
+man for his perfidy, who said that he could but die; and that there was
+neither God nor devil! But being now in Brady's power, he fell upon his
+knees, and prayed him, for _God's sake_, to spare his life. Brady
+reminded him, that he had just said, "there was no God;" but added, that
+the report of the gun might give warning of the state of affairs. He
+bade him beware of their next meeting, and departed. Afterwards, in
+company with his gang, he met this man, and holding a pistol to his
+head, told him to say his prayers: the man, finding remonstrance
+useless, coolly placed his head against the door of the hut, and said,
+"fire!" and was shot dead.
+
+Permission being given for prisoners to unite with the bushrangers, to
+betray them, men in irons left the town secretly, joined the gang, and
+gave intelligence to the police. This manoeuvre was soon worn out. A
+prisoner, who escaped from gaol, desired to join them in good faith; but
+believing him a decoy, the gang adjudged him to suffer death. He was
+compelled to drink a quantity of laudanum: they then left him; but his
+stomach rejected the drug, and after a sound sleep he recovered. He
+again met Brady and his gang: two pistols were discharged at him: he
+fell, and was left for dead; but the wound was not mortal, and reviving
+he determined to deliver himself up. He was, however, again unfortunate:
+he met Brady and his companions once more, who again fired; but the
+bullet, instead of entering the skull, glanced round it. He fell
+senseless to the ground, and was thrown into a dry creek; he, however,
+recovered, and long survived these adventures.[171] The high authority
+on which this anecdote rests, is quite necessary to suppress the
+question of its truth.
+
+During two years ending with 1826, one hundred and three persons
+suffered death, being 3 8-15ths in proportion to one thousand of the
+population: more than in Great Britain. He who looks at these statistics
+alone, will conclude not only that the people were wicked, but that the
+government was cruel. At one sitting of the court thirty-seven persons
+were sentenced to death; and of these, twenty-three were executed in the
+course of a fortnight: nine suffering together, and fourteen others on
+two days closely following. A sacrifice of life so unusual, could only
+be justified by the peculiar circumstances of the colony, and the
+character of the criminals; and the notions which then prevailed
+respecting the punishment of death.
+
+We are forcibly reminded of a passage in Lord Coke:--"If a man could see
+all the _Christians_, that in one year come to that untimely and
+ignominious death--if there were any spark or grain of charity in him,
+it would make his heart bleed!" The extreme pains taken to reconcile the
+unfortunate beings to their lot; the assiduity of the clergy to make up,
+by the assurance of divine mercy, the inexorable fate which awaited
+them; proved that these awful slaughters were onerous to the colonial
+conscience, and vindicable only as the last resort of the last
+necessity. The Governor must be acquitted of great blame. A discussion,
+of considerable warmth, arose (1825-6) on an address being presented
+from fifty persons, who complained of the delays of justice on
+bushrangers already condemned. The gaol was crowded, and the prisoners
+seemed not unlikely to escape: several did actually break out of prison.
+This memorial was transmitted by the government to the chief justice,
+who, while he disdained giving reasons to the colony, vindicated his
+court: the magistrates neglected the depositions; the attorney-general
+the indictments, and the jury their summons. He had sat in a silent
+court until ashamed, while prisoners awaited deliverance. He had often
+felt disposed to discharge them; some of whom were detained longer for
+trial than for punishment. He could not perceive how the delay of
+execution could facilitate the evasion of capture by those at large. In
+transmitting this reply, Arthur took occasion to refer to the colonial
+press, supported by several of the memorialists, as largely implicated
+with the crimes of the bushrangers. He traced, with some artifice, the
+violence of the robbers to political dissensions, as inspiriting men who
+easily confounded "the liberty of writing and the liberty of acting." To
+be satisfied that the Governor did not seize an occasion of rebuke,
+rather than account for a public misfortune, is difficult; and not less,
+to sympathise with the petitioners. It is common for private individuals
+to deprecate the severities of public justice, but the awful state of
+the colony must be admitted, when fifty persons, among its most opulent
+and even humane inhabitants, were anxious to hasten the offices of the
+executioner.
+
+The ignorant and brutal among the prisoners rushed into violence and
+crime, with a recklessness of life scarcely credible. Not less than one
+hundred were in arms at that time:[172] most of them were absconders
+from the various penal stations, and had exhausted all those forms of
+severity which stopped short of the scaffold. Of seventy-three sentenced
+together, nine were for sheep-stealing, four for forgery, five for
+murder, and twelve for robbery; besides four for the offence known in
+gaols under the name of blanketing, who were ordered for execution--a
+punishment which was commuted, being even then thought too severe for a
+theft committed in gaol. They threw over the man whom they robbed a
+blanket, and raised loud outcries; and in this form effected their
+design.
+
+A few of the cases tried on this occasion, will better illustrate the
+condition of the colony than any general description. The murderers of
+Alexander Simpson, a settler at Pittwater, pillaged his shop, where he
+was accustomed to sleep for the protection of his property: his body was
+found in the river, decapitated, and his flesh torn from his bones; in
+many places literally bare. On closer examination, the mark of a cord
+was observed round his neck, which probably occasioned his death. The
+mangling of his body was intended to destroy the proof of identity: no
+marks or signs of struggling were visible, nor was the head discovered.
+One of the murderers dropped an expression, from which guilt was
+inferred. Suspicion was directed to several of the neighbours: articles,
+such as the deceased possessed, were found in their dwelling, _wet_;
+others were discovered in a house adjoining the deceased's, _also wet_;
+the accused were seen together, on the night of the murder. Twenty-two
+witnesses gave evidence to facts, all of a circumstantial nature; but
+sufficient to secure a verdict against them. This crime was considered
+but a type of many, committed in a neighbourhood, the traditions of
+which furnish many a tale of blood.
+
+Among those who suffered death, were several whose captors acquired
+considerable reputation for their courage. Three were taken by Lucas,
+the pilot, assisted by a man and a boy, to whom they surrendered with
+arms in their hands: they had just before committed a robbery at the
+house of Mr. Holdship. On his defence, one of their number told the
+judge, that whatever might be law, he himself could not consider that to
+hold a pistol at the head was to offer violence! Several others belonged
+to a party which had escaped from Maria Island, a new penal settlement.
+On their landing, they advanced to the house of Mr. Gatenby, and were
+seen approaching by his son, who took up his gun and went out to meet
+them: he called upon their leader to lay down his arms, which he
+answered by a discharge. Mr. Gatenby returned the shot, which proved
+mortal. The companions of the robber endeavoured to carry him off; but
+finding this useless, they retreated, and re-appeared at the premises of
+Mr. James Robertson, on the South Esk, whose lands, and those of his
+assigned servants, they tied, excepting one who was lame. Mr. W. Gray
+coming up on horseback, they made prisoner, and bound him in a similar
+manner. The leader of the robbers mounted his horse, while the rest
+guarded the gentlemen and servants, and marched them on towards the
+river. Mr. Gray disengaged his arm, and by a signal seized one
+bushranger, while the lame man assailed another. Mr. Robertson also
+released himself, and got possession of the guns. The robbers were
+overpowered: one only escaped, but was captured the following day.
+
+The Governor was not slow to acknowledge these instances of gallantry.
+The courage of the masters, and the fidelity of their men, were held up
+to the colony as brilliant examples, and to the robbers as a proof that
+persons of the same civil condition had no sympathy with their crimes;
+that their career would be short, and their capture certain.
+Tickets-of-leave were granted to the men, with a promise of full
+freedom, as a reward of one year's service in the field police. The
+_Government Gazette_ observed, that such presence of mind and personal
+bravery, in another age would have entitled the captors to armorial
+bearings; they, however, received donations of land, perhaps not less
+valuable in this meridian.
+
+Amongst others who received a reprieve, was William Kerr, convicted of
+forging, in the name of the chief justice, an ingenious device, which,
+if it did not preserve him from conviction, perhaps rescued him from a
+severer fate. He was advanced in years, and said to be a near relative
+of the Earl of Roxborough, and a brother to Lord Kerr. In gaol, he was
+conspicuous for his zeal in attempting the instruction of his fellow
+prisoners, performing the office of chaplain in the absence of a better!
+These unfortunate beings were placed together in cells, too narrow to
+allow retirement or freedom from interruption: their attempts at escape,
+once or twice nearly successful, rendered it necessary to load them with
+irons. The time of execution was fixed, ere they wholly despaired of
+liberty. There was not, however, deficiency of clerical attention: Mr.
+Corvosso, the wesleyan minister, joined with Messrs. Bedford and
+Knopwood, in this awful task.
+
+Large crowds assembled to witness the first execution; but when the
+novelty was over, the interest subsided. The last assembly was more
+select: in the description given by Dr. Ross, we seem rather to read of
+a martyrdom than an expiation. They came forth, he observed, with
+countenances unappalled: the light of truth rendered that ignominious
+morning the happiest of their lives. They prayed in succession, in a
+devout and collected manner: one in particular, with a countenance
+serene and placid, expressing his thanks to the chief justice for his
+impartial trial; and to the Governor for rejecting his petition for
+life. In this tranquil frame they submitted to the executioner. The
+spectators were affected to tears: the officers and clergymen,
+overpowered, hurried from the scene: the criminals died, as they were
+singing--
+
+    "The hour of my departure's come,
+    I hear the voice that calls me home;
+    Oh, now my God, let troubles cease,
+    And let thy servant die in peace."
+
+About this time Dunne, the bushranger, was executed: he attained a
+considerable distinction by his crimes; more, by his protracted evasion
+of pursuit, and his sanguinary resistance of capture; and still more, by
+the ceremonies of his execution and the honors of his funeral. He came
+forth to the scaffold, arrayed in a robe of white, adorned, both before
+and behind, with a large black cross. He wore a cap with a similar
+token, and carried a rosary in his hand. He was presented with a coffin
+of cedar, ornamented with the devices of innocence and sorrow; and
+bearing a plate, which told his name and the time of his death! As he
+advanced, with several youthful fellow sufferers (of whom it is only
+said, that they seemed _much terrified_), he continued to exclaim,
+smiting his breast with theatrical expression of grief--"O, Lord,
+deliver us!" He was followed by forty couples to the grave. Such were
+the honors paid to a murderer. It is not astonishing, that witnesses
+were insulted, and had to appeal for protection. A proposition was made
+by the government newspaper, to render penal the taunts which prisoners
+were accustomed to use against such as assisted in the suppression of
+outrage.
+
+The public effect of these exhibitions will be extremely questionable by
+sober-minded and pious men. To see a criminal depart from this life in a
+hardened and contemptuous spirit is, indeed, appalling; but the
+serenity, and even rapture, thus common when terminating a career of
+guilt and cruelty, often entered into the calculation of transgressors.
+Among the miserable forms of vanity, is the triumph of boasting
+penitence; and even when nothing else remains, the _eclat_ of a public
+execution. Some were anxious to commit to writing their own last
+confessions of guilt, to secure a posthumous interest in the terror or
+pity of mankind.[173] The fullest appreciation of that system of mercy,
+which never separates religious hope from the living, would scarcely
+justify confidence, founded on such demeanour and language between the
+cell and the scaffold.
+
+Scarcely had this scene closed, when the prisoners in the penitentiary,
+allured by the prospect of escape, broke through the gaol, and seized a
+boat: as they approached the _Emma Kemp_, a premature display of muskets
+convinced them that their plan was discovered. It was, indeed, known by
+the officers of the gaol prior to their departure; who, calculating on
+their arrest, permitted the consummation of their plans. This cost them
+their lives: they retreated to the shore, robbed Mr. Mortimer of eight
+stand of arms, and commenced their career as bushrangers. They were
+evidently unwilling adventurers, and soon taken. The Governor, at their
+execution, compelled the attendance of the prisoners, in the fallacious
+belief that the sight would prove admonitory as well as terrible.
+
+Several were mere youths: their obituary, furnished by the indefatigable
+chronicler of executions, Dr. Ross, is not without interest. There was
+Dunhill, six feet three inches high and handsome, a frequent attendant
+at criminal courts; whose father was a prisoner for life, and whose
+family, once the terror of Yorkshire, were mostly transported or
+executed. There was Child, the son of a Bristol merchant, who, as the
+rope was adjusting, said, "I know I shall go to heaven!" There was a
+Scotch boy, who sang as he went; but said he was ruined in the
+penitentiary. Another had driven his mother to self destruction.
+
+Nine men were executed towards the close of the following year, for the
+murder of a constable, named George Rex, at Macquarie Harbour: their
+leader, James Lacy, a person of considerable talent, was saved on a
+former occasion by the mediation of the Rev. W. Bedford, who represented
+that to Lacy's influence a settler owed his life. Having planned an
+escape, they seized the constable; and having bound and gagged some
+fellow prisoners, whom they rejected as accomplices, they took Rex and
+pushed him into the water, and held down his head until life was
+extinct. They then formed a raft, but it was insufficient to convey
+them: three only landed on the main, and were pursued and retaken. The
+sole witnesses summoned against them were prisoners, who prevaricated in
+their testimony; but the presence of surgeon Barnes supplied the
+evidence they thought proper to conceal, and insured the conviction. At
+the close of the trial, Lacy leaned over the bar and said, "had it not
+been for you, doctor, we should have pulled through."
+
+Lacy was conspicuous in the press-yard for his fervour, and delivered an
+animated warning to the multitude, who were drawn together to witness an
+unusual sacrifice of life at one drop! Dr. Ross, who still endeavoured
+to rally round the scaffold some special interest, gave an artistic
+description of their end; but he was astonished to observe how the
+sufferers themselves were but little affected, and the spectators less.
+He mourned over the unmeaning countenances of the mob, who felt little
+but curiosity when they saw them step from the full bloom of life to the
+grave! Nor was it perceived by that zealous defender of lenity, when the
+government was lenient, and of the severity, when the government was
+severe, that the execution of nine persons for an act, in which three
+only actually participated, or perhaps contemplated, could only be
+possible among such a people. It is rather a matter of exultation, that
+there is a limit, beyond which executions become the dullest of all
+entertainments. At that time no one would have thought a single sufferer
+worth a glance of the eye.
+
+It is remarked, that the most notorious of these offenders were rather
+prepossessing, except that their looks, by long residence in the bush,
+had acquired an air of wildness. The indicative theories of Lavater were
+negatived by the usual aspect of these crowds of victims; but the most
+impatient of penal restraint, have been not only violent and corrupt,
+but often of resolute and generous dispositions; often possessing the
+elements of a mental character, which, had it not been perverted by
+crime, might have been distinguished for the energy of virtue. On the
+primary treatment of such men, everything depends; and their first
+master determined whether they were to become active and intelligent
+agriculturists, or by pernicious indulgence, and not less ill-judged
+severity, to pass rapidly, by a reckless and resentful temper, from the
+triangle to the scaffold.
+
+Such severe exhibitions of penal vengeance were intended to crush the
+insurgent spirit; to prove to the prisoners that any forms of
+combination or resistance would be followed by severer suffering. The
+re-action of that excitement assisted the future success of discipline.
+It convinced the masters that a neglected or careless management was
+equally pernicious. But the natives, also became objects of terror: the
+outlaw could not wander far without risk from their spears, or hover
+near the settled districts without encountering the roving parties
+employed in their pursuit. Thus the ravages of white men almost wholly
+ceased, during the conflict with the aboriginal tribes: the constables
+and the blacks together beat up the quarters of absconders.
+
+But the precautions of the government were more effectual than its
+severity. Hitherto many had lived at large. At night their own masters;
+when not seduced by more serious temptations, their drunkenness exposed
+them to the lash; and dread or resentment precipitated them into open
+crime. In 1827, the enlargement of the penitentiary, and its better
+order, enabled the government to recall from private dwellings those
+least worthy of trust; and to make the indulgence of a home a reward for
+orderly and industrious habits. The prisoners employed by the crown were
+divided into seven classes. Some were permitted to labor one day weekly
+for their own advantage: these were the mechanics, who were detained
+only because they were artisans; others, on the roads, were allowed half
+that time, and by great exertions often obtained very considerable sums.
+The rest were in irons, or sent to the penal settlement under a
+magisterial sentence.
+
+The fate of many who had suffered death was traced by the Governor to
+the imprudence and guilty connivance of the masters, or to the irregular
+methods of payment long interdicted by the crown; such as cattle,
+allotments, or a portion of time. The executive council professed to
+follow up these evils through every stage of their growth, until they
+were finally consummated on the scaffold.[174] During twenty years they
+had been often condemned; but they were not extinguished until the
+market was enlarged, and labor became scarce--so much do moral questions
+depend on material revolutions.
+
+The distribution of servants was made with more prudence, and some
+reference to their previous habits and mode of life; and a stand was
+opposed to the sole superintendence of prisoner overseers, who were
+often the occasion of unjust punishments and criminal laxity. The
+impounding laws gradually cut off another occasion of mischief.
+Heretofore, large herds of cattle were under the charge of prisoner
+herdsmen, who were armed with guns. The wild and exciting employment
+exposed the men to many temptations: their daring spirit and fearless
+riding, rendered them objects of admiration; and created discontent in
+the minds of prisoners who were tied down to the more quiet labor of a
+farm. Of eight men employed by Mr. Lord, a wealthy colonist, five
+suffered death for various crimes.[175] Such persons lived remote from
+the civilised community and the inspection of their employers: often
+the channel of communication between the town receivers and country
+thieves; nor this alone. The large herds wandering far beyond the limits
+of the settled country, and without a recognised owner, suggested to the
+discontented servant a resource, and led him to abscond where he could
+subsist on the flesh of slaughtered spoil.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 167: From Barnes' and Lempriere's account: compared, they
+differ in statistics; but Barnes copied his statements from the official
+records at the Harbour.]
+
+[Footnote 168: _Par. Pap._
+
+Of 182 prisoners, 169 were sentenced in 1822 to 7,000 lashes; that is,
+all were punished, except 13: and received each, upon an average, 400
+lashes--inflicted with the severity unknown elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 169: It has been suggested to the author, since the above was
+in type, that the disclosures of this unfortunate being are not without
+a moral, which may compensate for the disgust their perusal may
+occasion. They are therefore given in a note, which the reader may pass
+over:--
+
+"The Rev. Mr. Connoly, who attended this unfortunate man, administering
+to him the consolations of religion, addressed the crowd assembled
+around the scaffold, a few minutes before the fatal drop was let to
+fall, in words to the following effect: He commenced by stating that
+Pearce, standing on the awful entrance into eternity on which he was
+placed, was desirous to make the most public acknowledgment of his
+guilt, in order to humble himself, as much as possible, in the sight of
+God and man; that to prevent any embarrassment which might attend Pearce
+in personally expressing himself, he had requested and directed him to
+say, that he committed the murder of Cox, under the following
+circumstances:--Having been arrested here, after his escape from
+Macquarie Harbour, Pearce was sent back to that settlement, where the
+deceased (Cox) and he were worked together in the same gang. Cox
+constantly entreated him to run away with him from that settlement,
+which he refused to do for a length of time. Cox having procured
+fishhooks, a knife, and some burnt rag for tinder, he at last agreed to
+go with him, to which he was powerfully induced by the apprehension of
+corporal punishment, for the loss of a shirt that had been stolen from
+him. For the first and second day they strayed through the forest; on
+the third made the beach, and travelled towards Port Dalrymple, until
+the fifth, when they arrived at King's River. They remained three or
+four days in an adjoining wood, to avoid soldiers who were in pursuit of
+them, and were all the time, from the period they started, without a
+morsel to eat. Overcome by famine, Pearce determined to take Cox's life,
+which he effected by the stroke of an axe while Cox was sleeping. Soon
+after the soldiers had departed, Pearce occupied the place they had been
+in, where he remained part of a day and a night, living on the mutilated
+remains of Cox; he returned to the settlement, made signal, and was
+taken up by the pilot, who conveyed him to Macquarie Harbour, where he
+disclosed to the commandant the deed he had done, being weary of life,
+and willing to die for the misfortunes and atrocities into which he had
+fallen.
+
+The reverend gentlemen then proceeded to state, that he believed it was
+in the recollection of every one present, that eight men had made their
+escape, last year, from Macquarie Harbour. All these, except Pearce, who
+was of the party, soon perished, or were destroyed by the hands of their
+companions. To set the public right respecting their fate, Pearce is
+desirous to state that this party, which consisted of himself, Matthew
+Travers, Bob Greenhill, Bill Cornelius, Alexander Dalton, John Mathers,
+and two more, named Bodnam and Brown, escaped from Macquarie Harbour in
+two boats, taking with them what provision the coal-miners had, which
+afforded each man about two ounces of food per day, for a week.
+Afterwards they lived eight or nine days on the tops of tea tree and
+peppermint, which they boiled in tin-pots to extract the juice. Having
+ascended a hill, in sight of Macquarie Harbour, they struck a light and
+made two fires. Cornelius, Brown, and Dalton, placed themselves at one
+fire, the rest of the party at the other; those three separated,
+privately, from the party, on account of Greenhill having already said,
+that lots must be cast for some one to be put to death, to save the
+whole from perishing. Pearce does not know, personally, what became of
+Cornelius, Brown, and Dalton: he heard that Cornelius and Brown reached
+Macquarie Harbour, where they soon died, and that Dalton perished on his
+return to that settlement. After their departure, the party, then
+consisting of five men, lived two or three days on wild berries and
+their kangaroo jackets, which they roasted; at length they arrived at
+Gordon's River, where it was agreed, that while Mathers and Pearce
+collected fire-wood, Greenhill and Travers should kill Bodnam, which they
+did. It was insisted upon, that every one should partake of Bodnam's
+remains, lest, in the event of their ultimate success to obtain their
+liberty, any of them might consider himself innocent of his death, and
+give evidence against the rest. After a day or two, they all swam across
+the river, except Travers, whom they dragged across by means of a pole,
+to which he tied himself. Having spent some days in distress and famine,
+it was proposed to Pearce, by Greenhill and Travers, that Mathers be
+killed, to which he agreed. Travers and Pearce held him, while Greenhill
+killed him with an axe. Living on the remains of the deceased, which
+they were hardly able to taste, they spent three or four days, through
+weakness, without advancing beyond five of six miles; Travers being
+scarcely able to move from lameness and swelling in his foot. Greenhill
+and Pearce agreed to kill Travers, which Greenhill did while Pearce
+collected fire-wood. Having lived some time on the remains of Travers,
+they were for some days without any thing to eat; their wants were
+dreadful: each strove to catch the other off his guard, and kill him.
+Pearce succeeded to find Greenhill asleep; took his life--and lived upon
+him for four days. He was afterwards for three days without any
+sustenance; fell in, at last with the Derwent River, and found some
+small pieces of opossum, &c., at a place where the natives had lately
+made fires. More desirous to die than to live, he called out as loudly
+as he could, expecting the natives would hear him, and come to put an
+end to his existence! Having fallen in with some bushrangers, with whom
+he was taken, Pearce was sent back to Macquarie Harbour, from whence he
+escaped with Cox, as has been already stated, for whose death he is now
+about to suffer."--_Hobart Town Gazette_, 1824.]
+
+[Footnote 170: _Ross's Almanack._]
+
+[Footnote 171: "The fact was also corroborated by Brady, when examined
+by the gentleman from whom I got the account; and, strange as it may
+appear, it is perfectly correct."--_Breton's New South Wales_, p. 340.]
+
+[Footnote 172: _Gazette_, 1825.]
+
+[Footnote 173: The author is assured by a clergyman, that he has been
+dismissed his attendance upon a prisoner, within a few days of his
+execution, for refusing to write down the particulars of his life.]
+
+[Footnote 174: "The flagitious proceedings of several of these men were
+clearly traced to have had their source in the weakness or improper
+treatment of their employers, whose ill-judged neglect of discipline, or
+corrupt toleration of irregularity, had contributed to entail
+consequences so awful to those victims to offended justice. If it shall
+be ascertained, any settler makes payment to convict servants in stock,
+or apportions to them land for their exclusive benefit, or suffers them
+to be employed in any other than his immediate service, every support
+and indulgence of the crown will be withdrawn."--_Gazette Notice, Sept.
+1826._]
+
+[Footnote 175: _Ross's Almanack._]
+
+
+
+SECTION XIII.
+
+To preserve the continuity of this narrative, it may be advisable to
+give throughout the incidents which relate to Macquarie Harbour. The
+short but severe government (1824) of Lieutenant Wright was superseded
+by Captain Butler (1825), of whom the common testimony is favorable. Its
+economical results will be comprehended in that general view of prison
+labor, reserved for the close of this volume. He extended cultivation,
+and thus mitigated the sufferings of the prisoners; and by building
+ships, varied the industry of the men--many of whom went down for
+punishment, but returned skilful mechanics.
+
+Of all the thousands professing to bring back its consolation to the
+wretched, not one minister had been found--perhaps not sought for--to
+try there the remedies of the gospel. That a Wesleyan missionary
+ventured, entitles him to the esteem of mankind. Governor Arthur
+suggested, and even entreated this direction of missionary labours: he
+wrote to Joseph Butterworth, M.P., and to the Colonial-office, and the
+Rev. Mr. Schofield was appointed to enter this moral desert. On his
+arrival in 1829, he heard terrific accounts of the perils of that place:
+he was told, that his labors would be useless, and his life sacrificed.
+He hesitated for a time; but Arthur declared that such a post of danger,
+he, as a soldier, should consider one of honor.
+
+Mr. Schofield proved that he was neither deficient in zeal nor prudence.
+The place prepared for his ministry was, indeed, comfortless: the wind
+overpowered his voice, and his congregation shivered with cold; but to
+the men it was a new era. Having discoursed on the advantages of
+knowledge, forty-seven prisoners requested instruction; and, assisted by
+Mr. Commissary Lempriere, and countenanced by the commandant, he taught
+many to read. Capt. Butler marked a change in the temper of the men:
+punishments fell off one half; several were united with the wesleyan
+society; and on the missionary's recommendation, their stay was
+shortened.
+
+They only should ask the reality of such repentance, who have
+endeavoured to reform the wicked. One man was specially pointed out to
+Messrs. Backhouse and Walker: the change in his conduct was great, and
+its effects visible: his demeanour, his countenance, and, said the
+commandant, "his very voice was changed." He had lost his arm by an
+accident, which nearly deprived him of life. He had formed a cave at the
+base of the island, reached by a steep slippery descent. It was here Mr.
+Backhouse joined him, as he knelt down on the rough floor of his cold
+cavern to adore the Almighty, for granting the privilege of solitude!
+Strange meeting, and strange subject of thanksgiving!
+
+Messrs. Backhouse and Walker, of the Society of Friends, travelled these
+colonies (1831 to 1836), chiefly engaged in religious labors, and
+principally to admonish the prisoners. The volume, of which Backhouse
+was the author, attests their industry and accurate observation, while
+performing a mission, which the moral weight of their connections
+rendered of great moment. To understand this record of their labors,
+some acquaintance with science is requisite, and not less a knowledge of
+quaker modes of thought. The adventurous and buoyant spirit of the
+writer, which carried him into odd situations, is sometimes irresistibly
+droll, in contrast with formal phrases. He was a gentleman of prudence
+and sagacity: "he lifted up his heart to God; took his pocket compass,"
+and thus escaped some perils, both by sea and land; and carried to
+England a reputation, from which detraction has taken nothing, and which
+friendship would scarcely desire to improve.
+
+The capture of the _Cyprus_ in Recherche Bay, on the voyage to Macquarie
+Habour, was a stirring episode in the history of transportation. It
+excited vast interest in Great Britain, and was dramatised at a London
+theatre. The prisoners, who wage war with society, regarded the event
+with exultation; and long after, a song, composed by a sympathising
+poet, was propagated by oral tradition, and sung in chorus around the
+fires in the interior. This version of the story made the capture a
+triumph of the oppressed over their oppressors. The stanzas set forth
+the sufferings of the prisoners by the cruelty of their masters, who
+they vainly attempted to please. It related their flight from torture
+to the woods, and drew but a dreary picture of the life of an outlaw. It
+passed through the details of conviction and embarkation, and then
+described the dashing seamanship of the pirates in managing the bark,
+once destined to carry them to that place of suffering; but which bore
+"bold Captain Swallow" to the wide ocean and liberty. Such was the song;
+but the facts were different. In August, 1829, thirty-one prisoners
+embarked on board the _Cyprus_; among them was Swallow, a seaman, who
+eighteen years before had cut out a schooner at Port Jackson, and was
+afterwards transported to Van Diemen's Land in the _Deveron_, Captain
+Wilson.
+
+This man, before he landed, exemplified remarkable courage. A dreadful
+storm disabled the vessel; the rigging was in fragments: it became
+necessary to cut away a portion of the wreck, which would probably cost
+the adventurer his life. The captain called for a volunteer, and all
+being silent was himself about to ascend, when Swallow remarking that
+his own life was of little moment, accomplished the perilous task.
+Perhaps presuming on this service, he was found secreted on board the
+_Deveron_ on its homeward voyage, and was delivered to the British
+admiral at Rio; he, however escaped, got to London, was retaken and
+returned to this colony. Several others were capital respites, who had
+been guilty of atrocious crimes.
+
+These men were entrusted to the charge of Lieut. Carew, and a guard of
+ten soldiers. On board they had provision for four hundred men for six
+months, with a scanty supply of water. When he received the prisoners,
+Lieut. Carew was warned of their desperate character by the gaoler,
+though not of the precise nature of their crimes. The ammunition
+supplied was, however, insufficient--ten rounds each man: to spare the
+powder, the muskets were not often charged. The berths of the soldiers
+were below, and the opening only sufficient to emerge unarmed: that of
+the prisoners was too small to permit their lying down: one opening
+admitted air, without bars or fastenings, and could not be closed day or
+night. It was necessary to exercise on deck, and at the time of the
+capture the number allowed was exceeded, it is said by the connivance of
+the convict sailors. Several of the prisoners had before been relieved
+of their irons: among the rest, Swallow, the pirate captain; and when
+the assault commenced, there were nine, and soon after sixteen engaged
+in the fray. There were only two sentinels, and one other soldier
+unarmed on deck. Lieut. Carew had left the vessel to fish, accompanied
+by the surgeon, the mate, a soldier, and the prisoner Popjoy. A few
+minutes after, he heard the firing of a musket, and hastened towards the
+vessel; but when he reached her side she was taken. The struggle with
+the sentinels seems to have been severe; and one of the soldiers below
+fired a shot, which passed between the arm of Swallow and his side. The
+mutineers compelled them to surrender by pouring down water into the
+hold, and threatening to stifle them if resistance were prolonged: they
+were also in danger of suffocation from their own gunpowder. Carew
+implored the pirates to give up the vessel, and promised oblivion: when
+attempting to board, they pointed several muskets at his breast. At
+length he consented to go ashore, with the soldiers and thirteen
+prisoners, who refused to share in the adventure; and, in all,
+forty-five were landed at different points of the bay. The pirates gave
+them one sheep, a few pieces of beef, thirty pounds of flour, and half a
+bag of biscuit, with a small quantity of spirit and sugar; and at dawn
+sailed from the coast. The refusal of a boat, cut off all immediate
+communication with the port, and gave time for considerable progress.
+The _Cyprus_ was without charts, but several of the mutineers were well
+acquainted with navigation.
+
+The sufferings of the party on shore were inexpressible: they
+distributed one quarter of biscuit daily, and subsisted chiefly on
+muscles, found for some time, until a spring-tide covered them. Morgan
+and Popjoy set out the next day for Hobart, and attempted to cross a
+river, with their garments tied on their backs: they were driven back by
+the natives, and were obliged to return, having lost their clothes. Five
+men started to head the Huon, and thus reach Hobart; and were saved from
+starvation, only by the party sent down to meet them. Morgan and Popjoy,
+under the direction of Carew, and encouraged by his lady, who displayed
+extraordinary fortitude, constructed a coracle of wicker work, about
+twelve feet long, formed of the wattle: they covered it with hammock
+cloth, and overlaid it with boiled soap and resin mingled, which they
+happened to possess. In this frail bark they boldly ventured to sea;
+and, notwithstanding a strong south breeze, happily found the _Orelia_
+at Partridge Island, twenty miles distant. Contrary winds had compelled
+that vessel to put back to the island, and boats were instantly
+forwarded to the relief of the sufferers, who for two days had been
+without sustenance. Though several had received severe contusions in
+the capture, and experienced much privation during the thirteen days
+detention, no life was lost.
+
+The circumstances attending the capture were subject to the
+investigation of a court martial. Lieutenant Carew was charged with
+neglecting the proper precautions, though warned of the extreme peril
+which demanded his vigilance; that he proceeded on a fishing excursion;
+that during his absence the vessel was surprised and seized; that he
+exhibited professional incapacity, and had been guilty of a breach of
+the articles of war. This trial lasted five days, and was fully
+reported. The evidence is conflicting, and especially respecting those
+incidents which were supposed to suggest the capture to the prisoners:
+such as the neglect of the fire-arms, and the indulgence of the
+prisoners by a removal of their irons, and their access to the deck. On
+the other hand, the testimony was positive and multiplied, that Carew
+had guarded the prisoners with great steadiness and rigour. That he
+apprehended no danger was certain--his wife and children were aboard;
+but he forgot that the desire of liberty makes men quick and desperate,
+and that they who had the miseries of Macquarie Harbour before them,
+made light of life.
+
+The arrangements of the vessel did not, however, admit of proper
+precautions. When two of these men, in company with sixteen other
+prisoners, were sent down three years after to the penal settlement,
+there were ten soldiers to guard them: two only were on deck at once.
+Their prison was railed in, and closed down with triple bolts: the
+sentinels were doubled, and some sat continually in sight of the
+prisoners.[176]
+
+The pirates proceeded to the Friendly Islands, and thence to the Islands
+of the Japannese, where seven deserted, and the rest passed towards
+China. Four seamen presented themselves in a boat, having _Edward_ on
+the stern, to a vessel at Whampoa, and stated that they had belonged to
+a lost ship of that name. Swallow was one of them: he was examined by
+the committee of supercargoes at Canton, and produced a sextant on which
+was the name of Waldron, of the _Edward_. This name Swallow assumed, and
+said that he was captain of the _Edward_, of Durham; related his voyages
+to various ports of South America, the Sandwich Islands, and Japan.
+Compelled to abandon his vessel, injured by the fire of the Japannese,
+the crew had divided into parties, of which himself and companions were
+one. This deposition was forwarded to the company's secretary, and
+passages were given free to Swallow and three others. A few days after
+he had sailed, four more appeared: Davis, who gave his name as Stanley,
+was examined; but he had forgotten the assumed name of the captain, and
+called him Wilson--this led to minuter inquiries, and he was sent home a
+prisoner. Information was instantly forwarded, and reached England
+before Swallow arrived with his companions, and a warrant was issued for
+their detention: the three were taken, but Swallow had left the ship at
+Margate, and for a time escaped.
+
+Watts, Davis, and Swallow, were ultimately tried for this offence by the
+Admiralty Court, in London: the two first were executed, and Swallow was
+acquitted. It is said that the proof of his participation, except by
+compulsion, was incomplete. The events which led to their conviction
+were curiously coincident. The Thames police magistrate was unable to
+proceed, and they might have been discharged; but the police clerk had
+studied the _Hue and Cry_, and was struck with their resemblance to the
+description. Popjoy, now in England,[177] pardoned for his good conduct
+at the capture, had been recently before the magistrate for some
+trifling offence, and to interest his worship had given the story of the
+capture, the coracle, and all incidents of his intrepidity. He was thus
+soon found out by the police, and gave full proof of identity. He stated
+their crimes, their names, and secret marks which were discovered on
+their persons: one of them, the very day of the capture, had the figure
+of a mermaid punctured on his arm. Mr. Capon, the gaoler of Hobart Town,
+was in London,[178] and thus was able to supply important particulars.
+
+Several were forwarded to Van Diemen's Land, and tried by Judge Pedder:
+they pleaded that their concurrence was involuntary. The chief question
+was the actual position of the vessel; whether or not on the high seas.
+The military jury were not disposed to hesitate on this point, and when
+asked repeatedly, whether they found a place shut in between two heads
+_the high seas_, they answered, without hesitation, "we do." Only John
+Cam suffered death in Van Diemen's Land. Robert M'Guire was tried last
+for this offence: in the scuffle, he wounded a soldier, who had
+attempted to strike him, and whose testimony was decisive: he stood
+sentry, with a military cross-belt and bayonet fixed; and was
+recollected by his refusal of liquor, which he warned his comrades would
+prove their destruction.
+
+The chief advantage of Macquarie Harbour was its total isolation; but
+the opening of the country from the Derwent to the Gordon, destroyed
+this seclusion. The bar gradually rising, became more dangerous: the
+place was too distant for supervision or supply; its barren soil allowed
+no variety of labour or produce. The decaying buildings were of little
+worth: there was nothing removable, except the doors and windows. These
+were shipped on board the _Frederick_, of one hundred tons; and all
+being ready for sea, on the 11th January, 1834, Mr. Taw, the pilot, as
+captain, embarked with the master shipwright, Mr. Hoy, the mate, ten
+prisoners of the crown, and a corporal's guard. They were detained by
+adverse winds, and the pilot allowed the prisoners to land to wash their
+clothing, all except one; they returned with great apparent
+cheerfulness. Two of the soldiers were permitted to fish near a
+neighbouring rock, and thus only two remained on board: while one of
+these, allured into the forecastle, listened to the singing of a
+convict, the prisoners on deck handed out the arms. Messrs. Hoy and Taw
+endeavoured to recover possession, both by persuasion and force: there
+was a short scuffle, and shots were fired: the balls passed near the
+gentlemen in the cabin, though they were not injured. Remonstrance being
+useless, they surrendered, and with the soldiers now recalled from the
+rock, were sent on shore: thus, although the military and civil officers
+were nearly equal in number, the mutineers accomplished their purpose
+without loss of life. They sent next day a quantity of provisions, small
+in amount, but, considering the voyage before them, more than such men
+could have been expected to spare. The soldiers, gratified by their
+fairness, forgot their own position in sympathy for the liberated men,
+and gave them cheers and good wishes. On the morning after, the wind
+became fair, and a light breeze carried them beyond danger.
+
+When the mutineers had gained possession of the ship, John Barker, a
+mariner, was chosen captain: he could take an observation, and direct a
+ship's course; his mate was John Fair, and several others were sailors.
+By carrying too much canvas they strained the vessel, which required
+their constant efforts at the pump. They proposed to run to Valdavia,
+South America: they suffered from a gale of wind of nine days duration,
+which they weathered with great difficulty, and saw land on the 26th of
+February, having been six weeks on their passage. They resolved to
+abandon the brig: they had three carpenters on board, by whom the launch
+was decked and rigged, and they left the _Frederick_ with her channel
+plates under water. Having landed, they discovered an Indian ploughing
+with a wooden share: from him they could not obtain supplies; they,
+however, found that they were in the neighbourhood of Valdavia, and soon
+approached the battery of that port, and were humanely received by the
+inhabitants. On examination they declared the entire facts of their
+escape, and were allowed to reside under promises of protection. They
+appealed to the officials as _patriots_, and implored them to take their
+lives rather than to restore them to the British. A few months after, H.
+M. S. _Blond_, Commodore Mason, excited their alarm; it however passed
+over: several married, and the governor and his lady honored the
+nuptials of the pirate captain with their presence. Shortly after, they
+were put under friendly arrest, Commodore Mason having applied for them,
+and made some preparations to seize them by force; sending an armed
+boat, which the Americans repelled. The second "governor" was not
+equally favorable, but was conciliated by the promise of Barker and
+three others to build him a boat: this accomplished, they seized her and
+absconded. The governor exasperated at the loss, and their
+perfidy--probably excited by his harsh treatment, and their constant
+apprehension of capture--arrested and delivered up their companions to
+the _Blond_; who were sent first to England, and then to Van Diemen's
+Land.
+
+They were tried in 1837: one of their number raised an objection, which
+was referred to the English judges, and decided in their favor. The
+defence was very ingenious: admitting the vessel was taken, it had never
+been finished; it belonged to no port; it had received no name: it was
+canvas, rope, boarding, and trenails, put together shipwise--yet it was
+not a legal ship: the seizure might be theft, but not piracy! Upon the
+whole, the prisoners conducted themselves well: however criminal the
+escape, their kindness to the people they overpowered; their unusual
+unanimity, and prudent acknowledgment of their real circumstances; their
+appeal to the _patriots_ for sympathy, and the ingenuity of their
+defence,--must be admitted as exhibiting qualities by no means
+despicable.
+
+But never was the government more culpable, or the prisoners less so,
+than in the instance of the _Badger_, a vessel of twenty-five tons,
+freighted with provisions for the East Bay Neck military station (1833).
+She was a fast sailer, and well found, and in charge of a master
+mariner, a convict, and convict seamen. The escape was joined, and
+probably planned, by Darby, late a lieutenant in the royal navy, and
+present at the battle of Navarino: a man of small stature but great
+daring. On his passage to the colony he had been implicated in a plot to
+take the vessel, which was partly known to a notorious receiver on
+board,[179] who expected some favor by informing. The plotters intended
+to shut down the soldiers and officer, to run for the American coast,
+and there allow those who thought proper to land, or to attend the
+vessel to her destination. Darby declared that, buried on the shores of
+America, he had considerable treasure. On his arrival in Van Diemen's
+Land the affair on board was made known to the Governor, by whom Darby
+was told, that if ever he attempted to abscond, or to enlist others in
+the enterprise, he should suffer all the law could inflict. He was,
+however, placed at the signal station, and afterwards appointed to
+assist the water bailiff, and thus had always in view the means of
+escape! A convict clergyman, employed as tutor by a member of council,
+was the companion of his flight. The loss of this vessel exemplified the
+laxity of official oversight, where most required. No one could be
+surprised at the escape, which good men suffering in a good cause would
+have naturally ascribed to the favor of Providence.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 176: _Backhouse's Narrative._]
+
+[Footnote 177: This man had been transported, when eleven years of age,
+for horse-stealing. He was lost off the coast of Boulogne. Swallow died
+at Port Arthur.]
+
+[Footnote 178: On the affair of Ikey Solomon.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XIV.
+
+The escapes of prisoners might be called romantic, could romance enter
+the province of crime. While the first fleet were at anchor off
+Teneriffe, John Powers slipped down into a boat attached to the
+_Alexander_ transport. He boarded a foreign ship: his offer to enter as
+seaman was refused. He then landed beneath some insuperable rocks:
+assisted by the governor of the island, his retreat was soon found.
+
+Such was the first absconder. The determination to escape from New South
+Wales, induced the prisoners to listen to every project, and to commit
+their lives to boats of the most imperfect structure, in which they were
+usually lost. But Bryant, an expiree, his wife and two children, and
+seven convicts, escaped in a small fishing boat (1790). He had purchased
+a compass and quadrant, and obtained a chart of his intended course.
+They provided food for the voyage, and the boat was in excellent trim;
+they were met at Timor by the crew of the _Pandora_, sent to the
+southern seas to arrest the mutineers of the _Bounty_. Bryant professed
+to have suffered shipwreck: he was kindly received by the Dutch. He died
+at Batavia; also one of his children and two of his companions: the rest
+were afterwards seized, and conveyed to England, where the story of
+their sufferings excited the public compassion, and they were merely
+detained in Newgate for the unexpired term of their sentence.[180]
+
+Their nautical intrepidity and their comparative success, inspirited
+future attempts. But the most celebrated project was concocted by Irish
+convicts, who proposed an overland passage to China! Of forty-four men
+and nine women absent, the greater part perished on this curious
+enterprise.[181] Some, after the absence of several weeks, re-appeared,
+exhausted with fatigue and hunger. The Governor, finding it impossible
+to prevent elopement by punishment, attempted to convince them by
+experience. He furnished some of the strongest with provisions, and
+appointed them conductors, that they might proceed as far as possible
+towards the desired land: they returned, only partially convinced that
+flight in that direction was hopeless.
+
+The imagination of the prisoners pictured an elysium beyond the
+mountains. A seductive rumour long prevailed, that in the interior a
+community of white persons were living in primitive innocence; but many
+years elapsed, ere the notion obtained the consistence of a story. In
+1833, an account was circulated in England, that white people were found
+several days journey from the north coast of New Holland, in a village
+enclosed by a wall to defend them from the natives. They spoke in Dutch,
+and stated that their ancestors, among whom were twelve females, came
+from a distant land; that their vessel was broken; that they travelled
+far towards the rising sun; that many died by fatigue, and the rest
+settled on that spot--a beautiful valley, on the borders of a lake. A
+full description of their habits and customs was given in the _Leeds
+Mercury_, but which can have no interest to such as disbelieve their
+existence.[182]
+
+The _Young Lachlan_, a vessel the property of Capt. Howard, was seized
+at the Derwent, by sixteen prisoners (1819). The sails were bent; the
+rudder was on board: she was freighted and provisioned for a voyage to
+Port Jackson. She lay outside the cove, and was to drop down the river
+on the morrow. The four seamen were surprised, and shut down below: the
+darkness of the night and a strong wind favored their escape; passing
+the battery, unseen by the guard. At daybreak the pilot boat, with, a
+party of the 48th regiment, gave chase: a sloop, the property of Mr.
+Birch, with another detachment, followed. The boat found the seamen on
+Brune Island, but both vessels returned without any other success.
+
+Arrived on the coast of Java, the robbers destroyed the vessel by fire.
+They then presented themselves to the authorities as shipwrecked
+mariners: their story was believed; but at length they were suspected of
+piracy, and imprisoned. Some of them confessed: all, except five, died
+at Batavia, to which place they were transmitted, and the survivors were
+conveyed to this colony by the _St. Michael_. The _Young Lachlan_ not
+being on the high seas their offence was not piracy: they were therefore
+charged with stealing only. Their punishment was necessary, but who
+could forget their temptation?
+
+One of the more common methods of elopement was to hide in the hold of a
+ship, often with the connivance of the sailors, until the vessel had
+cleared. Scarcely did a ship quit the coast during the first years of
+the colony, without discovering, mostly too soon for the culprits, their
+concealment. Sometimes, to stir them from their stowage, the vessel was
+fumigated. Ships calling at Van Diemen's Land often delivered up
+absconders, found after they had weighed anchor.
+
+When secreted runaways were enabled to avoid detection until the ship
+had advanced far on her voyage, they were conveyed to England, and
+usually surrendered to the authorities. A soldier, on looking down the
+hatchway of the _Dromedary_, when returning to England (1820), saw a
+spectre walking the deck below, who requested a glass of water: the
+soldier alarmed, made known the vision; and after a search, a stranger
+was pulled out from among the planks with which the vessel was laden.
+Having said "we," repeatedly, in speaking of his condition, the presence
+of another was suspected, and further search discovered his
+companion.[183]
+
+Morgan, a Welshman, who concealed himself, was more fortunate: having
+made a considerable sum by his labor, which he was desirous of carrying
+home unbroken, he concealed himself in the hold of a vessel, and after a
+few days appeared on deck. He was carried to London, and handed to the
+police, when he coolly thanked the captain for his passage! He had
+satisfied the law before he ventured on his voyage.[184]
+
+The penalties on merchantmen conveying prisoners in a clandestine
+manner, were sufficiently severe. The most remarkable was the instance
+of the _General Gates_, an American vessel, which carried off ten
+prisoner mechanics, and one free man;--a double violation of the local
+laws. The _Dromedary_, store ship, was instantly sent in pursuit, and
+captured the vessel at New Zealand. An action for twelve thousand pounds
+was instituted by the Governor, and awarded by the court (1820). The
+judge, in his address, dwelt chiefly on the ingratitude of the
+defendant, who, "being permitted to partake in a valuable fishery, had
+abused the hospitality of the country, and had gone into low
+public-houses to entice away their best workmen!" This, indeed, was the
+chief grievance, and occasioned the rigour of the pursuit and capture--a
+stretch of power, it was deemed proper to compromise.
+
+It was made lawful to arrest any persons suspected of being illegally at
+large, and to detain them until they "proved otherwise;" the onus of
+proof resting with the person apprehended: indemnity was provided for
+those who did anything in furtherance of the act. In defence of these
+powers it was alleged, that tenacity of the forms of British freedom was
+unsuited to a state of society, where of the adults more than one half
+were prisoners; and to distinguish them was impossible. The government
+maintained that free persons, arrested in _bona fide_ error, were bound
+to regard their consequent sufferings as a tribute to the welfare of the
+country; but considering the ungentle spirit and ruthless instruments of
+convict government, it was necessary to check these prerogatives with a
+considerable responsibility.
+
+The arrest of Mackay, a free man, at Swan River, indicated the danger of
+undefined powers, and the boundless arrogance of office. He was seized
+by the commander of a vessel and delivered to the _Phoenix_ hulk, New
+South Wales, where, loaded with irons of unusual weight, his clothing
+branded, he was confined with prisoners destined for a penal settlement.
+Having been brought up by a writ from the judges, he was _discharged_,
+and _retaken_: again the court interfered, and the man--never known as a
+prisoner, against whom nothing but a general suspicion existed; who had
+been torn away from a distant colony, and exposed to the contemptuous
+treatment of those through whose hands he passed--owed his final
+liberation to the interference of an advocate, and the firmness of the
+judges. He obtained L200 damages, against which the government appealed,
+unsuccessfully, as excessive!
+
+Absconding has been punished with various degrees of severity. By the
+first governors it was held a venial offence: before the law provided
+any specific penalty, it was usually flogging or a penal settlement. A
+capital respite was, however, sent to Port Macquarie: within three
+months he absconded, with several companions, and started to reach
+Timor: on his re-capture, he was executed without further trial
+(1823).[185]
+
+A colonial law, of 1827, made it capital to escape from a penal
+settlement. It was intended to prevent a recurrence of those evils which
+resulted from the Macquarie Harbour elopements. That it intimidated a
+single person, to whom the chance of escape was presented, is extremely
+doubtful: that it rendered their efforts more desperate, and their
+course more sanguinary, is far more probable. No one will contend for
+the right of a prisoner to burst the bonds imposed by a sentence, yet
+will it never appear to justify the sacrifice of life. Such laws are
+useless: they outrage the common sentiments of mankind--more criminal
+than the offences they intend to prevent: they belong to what Lord Bacon
+stigmatised as "the rubrics of blood."
+
+Their extreme diffidence of each other, has rendered the combined
+opposition of prisoners impossible. A guard of two or three soldiers is
+sufficient to intimidate hundreds, and to prevent an open effort to
+escape. The sentinels have, generally, displayed forbearance and
+consideration--the honorable characteristics of the British soldier.
+
+Governor Arthur recommended a declaratory statute, to subdue any doubts
+respecting their right to shoot absconders, which seemed common among
+the military. That right had never been called in question; and in two
+instances only, during fourteen years, was it exercised in this country.
+The sense of responsibility is a healthy emotion: promptitude in taking
+the life of a runaway, however tolerated or authorised by law, could
+never be remembered by a soldier but as an odious execution.[186]
+
+The piratical seizure of vessels lately, has not been common: escape is
+easy in other forms. The elopement of individuals has been attended with
+no great perils, since the establishment of the surrounding colonies.
+Craft of small burden have been sometimes taken, and at the close of the
+voyage dismissed. Prisoners have passed as merchandise, or boldly
+submitting to examination, have been lost in the crowd of emigrants. A
+contrivance was recently discovered, by the fatal consequences which
+followed it: a woman was enclosed by her husband in a case, and on
+arriving at Port Phillip was found dead.
+
+These instances comprehend most of those forms of escape which are found
+in the colonial annals. They prove how powerful the passion for liberty,
+with which, when united to common intelligence, the threats of legal
+vengeance, or the vigilance of official guards, cannot cope. The same
+instinct, however, which induces men to break their bonds, restrains
+many more from transgression, and is a powerful auxiliary to the laws.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 179: Ikey Solomon.]
+
+[Footnote 180: _Collins's New South Wales._]
+
+[Footnote 181: Ibid.]
+
+[Footnote 182: Clarke, executed at Hobart Town (1835), and who for five
+years wandered among the natives of New South Wales, asserted he had
+seen an isolated colony of Malays, or some other nation, the remnant of
+a shipwreck, which had existed for ages on the borders of a lake in the
+far interior to the north of Sydney. This he affirmed to the last moment
+of his life. If reliance can be placed upon his testimony, the village
+he described is doubtless the same, and is yet to be discovered. "Clarke
+addressed the people from the scaffold, acknowledging his crimes, and
+imploring all who heard him to avoid the dissipated course, which had
+led him to so wretched and ignominious an end." Upon this execution Dr.
+Ross adds--"It is a matter of consolation that we have a pastor,
+possessed of the very peculiar--we had almost said tact--but we should
+rather say endowments, with which Mr. Bedford is gifted, for leading to
+repentance, and affording all possible consolation to the miserable
+beings in their last extremity."--_Courier, August_, 1835.]
+
+[Footnote 183: _Cunningham's New South Wales._]
+
+[Footnote 184: _Gazette_, 1824.]
+
+[Footnote 185: James Hawkins, a celebrated pugilist and pickpocket, was
+not less remarkable for his escapes. He was transported to Hobart Town,
+where he found several persons who invited him to become a bushranger:
+he refused, and devoted all his efforts to escape. In this he succeeded:
+soon re-transported for life, again he stowed himself on board a vessel,
+and returned to Weyhill, and was again transported. On his way to the
+hulks he once more got off his irons, but was secured (1820). In gaol he
+was orderly and quiet, and refused all enterprises which might have
+compromised his life.]
+
+[Footnote 186: _Par. Papers_.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XV.
+
+The principles of penal government recognised in the times of Governor
+Arthur, may be best ascertained from his despatches and orders, and from
+the writings of Dr. Ross, who, if not directly assisted by Arthur, was
+inspired by his opinions. Whether those principles were practically
+applied, will be known by reference to other testimony. The deviations
+must not, however, be ascribed exclusively, either to the Governor's
+connivance, or to the intrinsic defect of his system. He could not act
+alone, and the agents he employed were sometimes incapable, and
+sometimes corrupt. In his own writings, he repeatedly alludes to the
+gradual approximation to what he deemed perfection of detail: it cost
+him the labor of years.
+
+The estimate he formed, philanthropists are slow to entertain: one-third
+of those who arrived in these colonies, he rated incorrigible; the rest,
+chiefly affected by the prospect of reward or the dread of punishment,
+and indifferent to abstract good. In tracing crimes to their causes he
+largely ascribes them to poverty, and the pressure of classes on each
+other. He enunciated a novel view of the mental character of
+criminals--that they were subjects of _delirium_; that they saw every
+object through a false medium; and that no treatment could be successful
+which did not restrain them by an enlightened rigour. This view, given
+in a code of rules[187] for the management of road parties, was
+attributed to the reasonings of a medical member of his government: the
+notion it embodies, he himself ascribed to long experience in the
+management of prisoners. His observation supplied the facts; his
+councillor, perhaps, constructed the system.
+
+He believed that to remove the opportunities of crime, was the only
+successful method of general prevention; that to keep the convicts
+quiet, to withdraw all external excitement was essential to successful
+treatment of their mental malady. He compared the ordinary offender to a
+steed untrained: very impatient of the curb and rein. The discipline of
+the government, either by its own officers or the master, he likened to
+a _breaking in_. Under the first application of the bridle, more facile
+tempers became at once submissive and docile; or if not--if the man
+threw the master--then came the government with heavier burdens and more
+painful restraint: he was caught, and resistance was borne down. The
+milder servitude being unsuccessful, then came magisterial admonition;
+then the lash; then sequestration on the roads; then irons; then the
+penal settlement--with its stern aspect, its ponderous labor, and prompt
+torture; in which mercy wrought through terror and pain, and hope itself
+was attired in lighter chains.
+
+Arthur alleged that his system was inductive: reared upon a foundation
+of facts, its classification was self-constituted: every step in the
+several gradations of a prisoner's punishment was the result of his own
+will; the first, by his crime against English society, the residue by
+his misconduct in servitude. It was in his power, when delivered to his
+master, to work out his own liberty, without knowing again the frown of
+a magistrate, or the darkness of a dungeon: it was in his choice to
+delay deliverance until death. Thus the distribution and separation
+vainly attempted by a direct management of government, was better done
+by the prisoners themselves: they determined their own merit by their
+actual position, where they awaited pardon and liberty, or gradual
+descent to despair.
+
+Arthur watched with great diligence the operation of his system. The
+character of most masters was known: they were bound to make annual
+returns of the number and conduct of their men. Their recommendation was
+required to procure the prisoner's indulgence: his police character was
+drawn out in form--the parliamentary papers shew into what minute
+particulars those documents entered; even an admonition of the
+magistrates was noted, and made part of the case. _Black_ and _white_
+books were kept, in which meritorious actions and the reverse were
+recorded. The term of preparatory servitude was four, six, or eight
+years--as the sentence was for seven, fourteen years, or life; then a
+ticket-of-leave allowed the prisoner to find his own employ, to enjoy
+his own earnings; subject to the surveillance of the police, and to a
+forfeiture for breach of its regulations.
+
+Arthur described the police as the pivot of his system: it comprehended
+surveillance and detection. The establishment of district courts, in
+which a paid magistrate resided, was an essential element of its
+success. The masters had a correctional authority at hand: a few miles,
+often a few minutes, brought them within the police court, and the
+punishment ordered followed the offence by a very short interval. The
+police constables, mostly prisoners of the crown, were selected from
+each ship to assist the recognition of their fellow prisoners, and they
+were rewarded for every runaway they arrested. They often shortened
+their own sentence by procuring the conviction of others; often, too,
+they obtained considerable sums, and even instant liberty, by the
+discovery of an outlaw. They were acute, expert, and, we are told by
+Arthur, vigilant beyond all men he ever knew. They were objects of fear
+and detestation.
+
+The strong will of the prisoners thus encountered opposition on every
+hand. They were hedged round with restrictions; they were at the mercy
+of the magistrate, and subject to the lash, for offences which language
+is not sufficiently copious to distinguish with nicety.[188] Their
+unsupported accusations recoiled on themselves. They were entitled to
+complain, but the evidence they could generally command, was heard with
+natural suspicion. So well did they understand the hopelessness of
+contest, that they rarely replied, where a defence sometimes aggravated
+their punishment.
+
+The convict was subject to the caprice of all his master's household: he
+was liable every moment to be accused, and punished.[189] Unknown,
+without money, he had no protector or advocate: one magistrate could
+authorise fifty lashes; one hundred could be inflicted by the
+concurrence of a second. It was asserted by Arthur, that the statement
+of their liabilities produced an expression of dismay in the
+countenances of convicts newly arrived. The indefinite character of
+these offences; the boundless discretion of the magistrate; the
+influence of the master; the presumption always against the accused; the
+dreadful nature of several of the punishments--doubtless created in many
+the recklessness of defiance and despair. A prisoner's sentence might be
+extended one or three years; he might be doomed to a penal settlement
+and chains. Nor could he liberate himself from his servitude: he came
+back from the triangles or road party, and stood at his master's door.
+
+The determined resistance of change, except for punishment; the
+indissoluble tie of men to masters--was one part of Arthur's plan. The
+knowledge that submission was the only chance of happiness, caused many
+to yield to their destiny without a struggle; and where masters were
+humane, the connection lasted, without murmuring or oppression, until
+the close; but with many more, it was a period of misery, mental and
+bodily--the fierce passions breaking into open war, and seeking nothing
+but revenge or freedom. The rolls of the muster-master exhibit curious
+instances of this long struggle: there are several now before the
+writer, in which punishments succeed each other with a frequency so
+terrible, that the mind is only relieved by the belief that sensibility
+is destroyed by incurable misery.
+
+Governor Arthur addressed a despatch, on "secondary punishments," to
+Viscount Goderich, intended to answer the report of the select committee
+of 1832. He thought the witnesses were not conversant with the state of
+the prisoners--a fact not surprising, since even the effect of English
+penitentiaries was debated under their very walls. The gentle system of
+Governor Macquarie was a tradition among the criminal population of
+Great Britain; but in this country, colonised at a later date, and by
+settlers of a higher class, the advantages of the convict were small,
+and his control more complete. Arthur thus delineated the condition of
+the assigned servant: deprived of indulgence, living in the interior,
+employed in clearing and cultivating forest land, allowed no wages;
+idleness, even looks betraying an insurgent spirit, exposing him to the
+chain gang or the triangle; deprived of liberty, subject to the caprice
+of a family, and to the most summary laws. He was a slave, except that
+his master was not trusted with the lash, and his claim for service
+terminable. True, he was well fed, while many in England labored hard,
+and yet were hungry and poor; but nothing reconciled the prisoner to
+bondage: he compared his condition not with the British pauper, but
+theirs who, though working in the same field, were masters of their own
+labor. He asserted that the bravado of persons, who affected
+indifference when ordered for Macquarie Harbour, was fully answered by
+the murderers who, to enjoy a momentary escape, ventured their lives; by
+the desperate efforts of many to conceal themselves in vessels,
+deprived of food for days, and tortured until their limbs mortified; by
+the despair of many rioters who arrived in the _Eliza_, who, dejected
+and stupified by grief, soon drooped and died. He maintained that
+transportation, though not absolutely successful, was to be preferred,
+as frequently most dreaded, reformatory, and final.
+
+He maintained, that the current reports respecting transportation
+deserved no credence, and were unsafe as foundations of public policy.
+Often, from the most selfish motives, the most delusive statements had
+been forwarded by prisoners. He instanced a woman from Liverpool, who
+arrived with her four children, allured by the representation of her
+husband, and sent out by the charity of his prosecutors; and who had
+informed her that, beside L60 per annum, he was lodged and fed for his
+labor. In this case, however, the man wrote falsely; but at that moment
+there were many who might have made the statement with truth.
+
+In the despatches of Governor Arthur there is much acute observation and
+just inference. He had actually lessened abuses, until they became not
+very common or very flagrant: by collecting men in the employ of
+government under a more rigid system of superintendence, he had
+curtailed their indulgence, and made their condition more irksome. But
+it is well known to every colonist, that throughout his administration
+some prisoners were favored with greater liberty than others; that they
+accumulated property, and had at command whatever money could buy. He
+often, with a discretion both wise and humane, mitigated the severity of
+a sentence and alleviated the domestic desolation of a wife, by granting
+some indulgence to her husband. It is told to his credit as a man,
+although it does not add to the weight of his despatches.
+
+The enunciation of principles was not common in the writings of Governor
+Arthur; he, however, states his view of the objects contemplated by
+punishment. He held that the severity of a penalty was to be measured by
+the operation of the crime on society,--or the views taken by
+legislators of its effect. Unhappily, this theory overlooks the fact,
+that penalties are usually for the protection of classes, rather than
+communities. The severe laws against poaching have never been vindicated
+on the principles of equity or national right: they are the laws of an
+aristocracy, for the protection of its pleasures. The unlimited power
+over life and liberty claimed by this doctrine, would excuse the Spartan
+method of anticipating crime. It is the old code of the opulent and
+powerful; but it is essentially unjust, fallacious, and therefore
+useless and wicked.[190] It is probable, however, that abstract opinions
+maintained but a slight influence on his actual policy, and that by his
+strong perception of the interest of society in the reform of the
+offender, he adopted many practical lessons of philanthropy.
+
+Governor Arthur was directed by the Secretary of State to assign the
+prisoners employed on public works: such as were unfit for the service
+of settlers to form into gangs, and employ on stations distant from the
+towns. Lord Goderich had come to the conclusion that the service of
+government was rather courted than dreaded by the prisoners. This plan
+was skilfully resisted by Arthur: he admitted that constables and
+messengers were favorably situated. So great, however, were the
+hardships of those employed in public works, that his conscience was
+troubled, and only relieved by remembering that they were the worst of
+offenders; or, if better conducted, passed at length into the
+loan-gang--a condition as preferable to assignment, as was assignment to
+the service of the crown: thus balancing the advantages of their last
+against the severity of the first stage. He stated their assignment, so
+far from increasing the severity of punishment, their faults, and even
+crimes, would be covered by their masters, to preserve their labor;
+their earnings would place them beyond the condition of their class in
+Great Britain; and when their fortune should be known, they would never
+want for successors. But he appealed to a still more cogent argument.
+The expense of a convict mechanic to the crown, was one shilling per
+day; of a free artizan, seven to ten shillings: the difference would go
+to the workmen, to bribe their industry and gratify their vices. It was
+not, perhaps, known fully to Arthur, that at the moment he sealed his
+despatch, forty mechanics lodged in one ward, who earned not much less
+than L50 per week, by the leisure hours they enjoyed.[191] It was,
+however, true, that the inducement to pay large sums for occasional
+labor, arose from the difficulty of obtaining it: few mechanics were
+transported; so few, as to excite astonishment.[192]
+
+But however exact and successful transportation, in Governor Arthur's
+opinion, a variety of causes contributed to excite in England a powerful
+prejudice against it, and to lead the ministers to interfere with some
+of its details of great practical consequence. The gradual amelioration
+of the criminal code--a restriction of capital punishments, demanded by
+the humanity of the British public--was allowed by the ruling classes
+with doubt and grudging. Some conspicuous cases confirmed their
+predilection in favor of the scaffold. What punishment, they asked,
+would transportation have proved to Fontleroy, who from the spoil of his
+extensive forgeries, might have reserved an ample fortune? It was
+reported, and not untruly, that many had carried to the penal colonies
+the profit of their crime; that the wife had been assigned to the
+nominal service of her husband; or, still more preposterous, the husband
+committed to the control of the wife--and were enabled at once to invest
+their capital in whatever form might promise success.
+
+Several volumes issued in succession from the British press, full of
+highly colored sketches of colonial life; in which the advantages
+possessed by many emancipists, the splendour of their equipage, and the
+luxurious profligacy of their lives, were exhibited as the larger prizes
+of a fruitful lottery. Among these works, the most popular, that of
+Cunningham, professed to delineate the sentiments of the prisoners, from
+which it might be inferred that few conditions of human life offered so
+many chances of gaiety and prosperity.[193]
+
+About the same period, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, of a talented family,
+and afterwards distinguished by his connection with colonisation, was
+imprisoned in Newgate for the abduction of Miss Turner. During three
+years' residence he professes to have devoted great attention to the
+subject of transportation. Few sessions passed but some prisoner,
+formerly transported, appeared under a second charge. In conversing upon
+their prospects, they described the country of their former exile in
+terms of high eulogy. It was the opinion of Wakefield that, as a
+punishment, it had no influence in preventing crime. The evidence of
+several settlers from New South Wales was of the same character; and
+M'Queen, a member of parliament, long resident in that country, stated
+that he had been often asked what offence would be sufficient to ensure
+transportation.[194] The letters received from the prisoners, recorded
+their good fortune, and were read by their former acquaintances. They
+were filled with exaggerations, dictated by vanity or affection; and
+seemed to convey an impression that, of their families, they only were
+fortunate.
+
+A colonist is certainly not entitled to deny, that many strong cases of
+perversion occurred; but, except the superiority of diet, and the high
+value of labor common to new countries when they prosper at all, the
+descriptions given were mostly illusive and mistaken. The extreme misery
+and degradation endured by many, and to which all were liable, rendered
+the ordinary condition of prisoners one which could not have been
+desired, except by the most wretched of the people.
+
+New South Wales was regarded, by the laughing portion of the British
+public, as a perpetual beggar's opera. One eminent writer said, that the
+people of these colonies attracted attention only from the curiosity
+they excited: mankind were amused to know what form would be assumed by
+a community, composed of men who narrowly escaped the executioner. By
+another they were compared to an old fashioned infant, which had all the
+vices and deformity of a corrupt constitution and precocious passions.
+The exhibition of a panorama of Sydney in the metropolis of England,
+attracted large crowds. It was hardly possible to exaggerate the charms
+of its scenery, when clothed in the radiant verdure of the spring; but
+the dwellings were drawn, not only in their just proportions, but with
+all the grace of the pencil--cabins looked like bowers. The poet,
+Campbell, struck with the glowing harmony, exclaimed, how delightful to
+the London thief--beneath the clear sky and amidst the magnificent
+forests of Australia,
+
+"Where Sydney Cove its lucid bosom swells"--
+
+to shake the hand he once encountered in the same pocket at Covent Garden
+theatre! It is thus, too often, that substantial interests are sacrificed
+to humour. No one, acquainted with the minds of prisoners, can imagine
+that the purest atmosphere, or most exhilarating prospect, would be
+half so attractive to a veteran robber, as the murky cellars of the
+"London Shades."
+
+The writings of Archbishop Whately tended to the same result. Against
+the principles of transportation he entered an earnest protest, not only
+as defeating the primary objects of a penalty, but as constituting a
+community charged with the elements of future mischief. He reasoned in
+his closet, and formed his conclusions from a process of investigation
+which was not complete: he overlooked some facts which tended largely to
+neutralise the evil, and that suppress or defeat propensities which
+thrive in Europe. He made many senatorial converts, and those he did not
+convince, in reference to his main proposition, were anxious to obviate
+his objections.
+
+To meet, however, the views which prevailed, and which were strongly
+recommended by the parliamentary committee of 1832, the government
+determined to increase the rigour of transportation. The effects of the
+French revolution, and the pressure of commercial distress, had produced
+a strong tendency to crime. In the agricultural districts of England
+riot and arson were prevalent: the utmost exertion of the laborer did
+not preserve his family from want. Depredations upon game, and other
+species of rural property, exasperated the legislative class. The hulks
+were crowded: it was proposed to establish a penitentiary at Dartmoor,
+long the site of a French prison, and employ the convicts in cutting
+granite for sale; but the discussions in parliament manifested the
+strong preference of the agricultural interests for a system of absolute
+banishment. It was observed by Peel, that the detention of prisoners
+exposed the government to endless annoyance, and before half their time
+was expired the solicitation of their friends often procured a
+remission.
+
+Pending these enquiries, a rumour reached the colony that transportation
+was abolished. The papers broke out in the language of wailing and woe:
+the _Courier_, especially, gave utterance to the most passionate grief.
+The editor described the melancholy visage of the settlers, and the
+different expressions of vexation and disappointment which he heard
+around him. One declaiming against the perfidy of government, and
+another delineating the ruin involved in the fatal resolution. Some
+threatening to leave the country ruled by covenant breakers, who, in the
+spirit of reckless experiment, were not only demolishing the finest
+imaginable system of penal discipline, but sacrificing the fortunes of
+colonists, who had emigrated in the confidence that convicts would
+follow them in an uninterrupted stream.[195] These apprehensions were
+but temporary. The strong representations of Governor Arthur, and the
+extreme difficulty of change, secured a further trial under new
+conditions.
+
+Lord Melbourne held a consultation with Mr. Stanley. He suggested that
+the increase of crime had arisen partly from ignorance of the actual
+consequences of transportation. He requested him to reflect upon this
+topic, and to determine whether it might not be proper to send
+transgressors through a more rigorous discipline on their landing, and
+to stop the comparative ease and comfort it was customary to enjoy.[196]
+Mr. Stanley undertook to contrive a scheme, which should terminate the
+indifference with which banishment was regarded. He had said that he
+would render the punishment of transportation more dreaded than death
+itself. At his suggestion Lord Melbourne addressed a letter to the
+judges, and requested them, when on their circuits, to explain the
+extent of torment which banishment included; to select such as they
+might deem it proper to separate to a more terrific form of punishment;
+and to declare, in a public manner, the degree of severity which would
+follow a particular sentence.
+
+It was determined that the more hardened should be confined at Norfolk
+Island or Macquarie Harbour; and that no prisoner for life should be
+withdrawn from a penal settlement, until seven years of his sentence was
+passed, or until one-third of a shorter period was completed. Then
+drafted to the roads: after wearing chains a further five years, he
+might be assigned to a master, and commence his probation. The less
+guilty were to join the road party at once, and in seven years be
+liberated from their chains. Mr. Stanley forwarded sixteen persons in
+the _Southwell_, whom he directed should be kept in chains for the first
+seven years of their bondage. He thus established the system,
+distinguished as the "certain and severe" in the orders of government;
+and for several years described by the journals, as the "worse than
+death" system of Mr. Secretary Stanley.[197]
+
+The object of Stanley was to invest transportation with novel terrors,
+and to give a more tragic aspect to the law. He did not, however,
+reflect, that he who has destroyed hope has also made the despairing
+worthless; that the victim will have recourse to violence or
+insensibility--that when he cannot rupture he will hug his bonds. He did
+not perceive that no Englishman would accept the service of a felon, who
+for twelve years had experienced the misery of chains--that it was not
+as prisoners, but as husbandmen, that the poachers and rioters of
+England were acceptable to the Australian farmer; who was reconciled to
+penal slavery, only when disguised under semi-patriarchal forms.
+
+The change proposed by Stanley was greatly disliked by Arthur. It was
+the reverse of his system. Whatever influences were brought into action
+by agricultural service, would be lost in a gang. He foresaw the
+despondency, the oppression of the prisoners, and the gradual alienation
+of the colonists. Arthur referred Stanley's despatch to the executive
+council, with his own rejoinder. His system of twelve years bondage and
+chains was unanimously reprobated: the council concurred in the opinion
+of the Governor, that it would break up the gradations of punishment;
+and unless sustained by a large reinforcement of military, endanger the
+public safety and produce habits of outrage and revenge.[198] Whatever
+influence these representations possessed, the plan was abandoned of
+necessity. The chief justice of New South Wales advised the Governor
+that the law had not authorised the arbitrary addition of chains to a
+sentence of transportation--to increase the misery, not to add to the
+safe keeping of the prisoners. Such, on reference, was the opinion of
+the English legal authorities, and the men in irons were released.[199]
+
+Whatever the motives of Lord Stanley, the transmission of such an order,
+without ascertaining the authority under which it was issued, was a
+serious official error. It is probable, that the persons injured had no
+means of appeal, and deserved no redress; but when it is remembered,
+that the law does not profess to determine the moral enormity of an
+offence by the extent of punishment, to aggravate a penalty which the
+legislators deemed equal to the crime--avowedly to make it more terrible
+than death itself--was a stretch of official power, which can scarcely
+be explained.
+
+St. Paul denounced the judge who smote contrary to the law. Mr.
+Stanley's encroachment on the functions of legislation was only more
+defensible because less corrupt. To repress colonial disorders, the
+local government had, indeed, grafted the penalties he prescribed on the
+colonial statute book; but the despotic interference of a secretary of
+state was specially objectionable. Persons sentenced to transportation
+for political or agrarian crimes, were not unlikely to provoke the
+personal hatred of ministers, and therefore to suffer a vengeance beyond
+the intention of the judges, or the spirit of the laws.
+
+To render corruption more difficult, the power of the governors was
+limited by statute. They had granted tickets-of-leave for the discovery
+of outlaws, the detection of serious crimes, and any service of great
+public utility. They had been often swayed by feelings of humanity in
+hastening the liberation of men, whose families required their care; but
+an Act "for abolishing the punishment of death in certain cases,"[200]
+not only fixed the time when prisoners should be capable of
+tickets-of-leave, but abstracted the chief advantages a ticket
+conferred. They were excluded from the protection of civil laws, and
+thus thrown on the mercy of any who might employ them. These clauses
+were introduced by Lord Wynford (Sergeant Best), and were intended to
+equalise the punishment of offenders, and to prevent an early enjoyment
+of plunder. This restriction was, however, practically unjust. The grant
+of a ticket-of-leave was to enable a man to procure a livelihood: to
+deprive him of legal resource, was to invite the swindler and the cheat
+to make his earnings and acquisitions their prey. The local courts had
+hitherto resisted the injustice by evasion: a record of conviction being
+required to stay a civil action; although in the criminal courts it was
+sufficient to prove that the person accused had been dealt with as a
+transported offender.
+
+Lord Wynford's Act made no such distinction. Its provision, probably the
+result of inadvertence, was so palpably a contradiction, that it was
+never acted upon in Van Diemen's Land, and was earnestly deprecated by
+all classes. To grant a prisoner liberty to seek subsistence, and yet
+suffer any fraudulent person to deprive him of his just wages, could
+arise only from that confusion of ideas, too common in legislation on
+the subject.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 187: "It can scarcely be doubted, that the main body of
+convicts are under mental delirium--they see and appreciate every thing
+through a false medium; and as, from long experience and close
+observation, the Lieutenant-Governor is confident that a firm and
+determined, but mild and consistent supervision, is the very best to be
+followed, in order to remove the infirmity under which they labor, it is
+the treatment he enjoins shall be uniformly observed!"--_Regulations
+issued to the Roads' Department._]
+
+[Footnote 188: "Absconding, insubordination, drunkenness, indecent
+conduct, neglect or wilful mismanagement of work, neglect of duty,
+indecent or abusive language, swearing, insolence, or other disorderly
+conduct."]
+
+[Footnote 189: Arthur.]
+
+[Footnote 190: Arthur's despatch to Lord Goderich.]
+
+[Footnote 191: It was not uncommon for four in their number to consume
+one gallon of rum at a sitting. Incredible as this may appear, it stands
+upon indubitable testimony; and one of the witnesses, had he been
+classical, might have said--_Pars magna fui_.]
+
+[Footnote 192: Arthur's despatch to Lord Howick, 1832.]
+
+[Footnote 193: "Several went out with me on these very terms: and among
+them one merry youth of two-and-twenty, whose father had been
+transported when he was a child. His elder brother followed the fortunes
+of his father by special invitation. On our arrival the elder brother
+came alongside, and introduced the younger brother and father (who, of
+course, were strangers to each other). 'When may we expect Jem?' was the
+question put shortly after the preliminary congratulations."--_Two
+Years_, &c., vol. ii. p. 259.
+
+"I shall conclude this subject with a short anecdote, which fully
+illustrates how little a convict cares for transportation, or rather how
+much he prefers it. A gentleman, who came home passenger in the same
+vessel with myself, brought with him a convict as a domestic. I asked
+him what were his future plans? He replied, that he meant to go and see
+his mother, if she was alive; but if she was dead, he, to use his own
+words, would 'frisk a crib,' (_Anglice_--rob a shop) or do something to
+lag him for seven years again, as he was perfectly aware that he could
+not work hard enough to get his living in England."--_Widowson's present
+state of V. D. Land_, 1829. p. 65.
+
+"In order to show the opinions entertained by some of the convicts, as
+regards the colony, I will give an extract from one of the sundry
+letters which I have read, written by them to their friends in England,
+using the writer's own language and punctuation, but altering the
+spelling. He requests that his wife will come out, and bring their
+children with her, and then proceeds as follows: 'I am perfectly well
+satisfied with my situation thanks be to God that has placed me under
+those that does not despise a prisoner. No, my love, I am (not?) treated
+as a prisoner but as a free man, there is no one to say a wrong word to
+me. I have good usage, plenty of good meat, and clothes with easy work.
+I have 362 sheep to mind, either of our lads could do it with ease. The
+best of men was shepherds. Jacob served for his wife, yea and for a wife
+did he keep sheep and so will I, and my love we shall be more happy here
+than ever we should be at home if happiness is to be found on the earth.
+Don't fail to come out I never thought this country what I have found
+it. I did expect to be in servile bondage and to be badly used but I am
+better off this day than half the people in England, and I would not go
+back to England if any one would pay my passage. England has the name of
+a free country and this is a bond country, but shame my friends and
+countrymen where is your boasted freedom. Look round you, on every side
+there is distress, rags, want, and all are in one sorrowful state of
+want. Happiness and prosperity has long taken their flight from Albion's
+once happy isle.' He then alludes to the low price of provisions, and
+adds--'Except you live in a town you have no rent to pay, for each
+builds his own house, no tithes, no poor-rates, and no taxes of any
+kind. And this is bondage is it?' There are some other amusing remarks
+in this original composition, but the above will suffice to show that
+convicts lead not always the unhappy life they are supposed to do,
+unless through their own bad conduct. The writer of the above letter
+bears such an excellent character that his master has sent to England
+for his wife and family, with the intention of trying to be of some use
+to them."--_Breton's New South Wales_, p. 281.]
+
+[Footnote 194: Potter M'Queen's evidence before the Commons, 1831.]
+
+[Footnote 195: _Courier_, 1831.]
+
+[Footnote 196: May 20th, 1833.]
+
+[Footnote 197: Stanley's despatch, August, 1833.]
+
+[Footnote 198: February 3rd, 1834.]
+
+[Footnote 199: _Par. Pap._: Forbes's evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 200: 2 & 3 9th Will. iv. cap. 42.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XVI.
+
+The treatment and disposal of mechanics, craftsmen, and the educated, or
+"specials," disturbed the equal operation of the laws.
+
+The artizan, when not adapted for public works, was placed in the loan
+gang, and lent from time to time, chiefly to the officers of government,
+or to such settlers as were deemed worthy official patronage. They were
+not authorised to claim wages, but their employers prompted their
+industry by its usual recompense. Their value as workmen often secured
+them an appearance which surpassed the common means of English
+artificers, or they expended their earnings during paroxysms of
+intemperance. The power to grant the assistance of skilled workmen, and
+the custom of the officers to borrow them for their own service, excited
+unceasing murmurs. Master tradesmen complained, that their callings were
+followed by captains and lieutenants, whose journeymen were the
+prisoners of the crown, and who, beside the emoluments of office,
+engrossed the profits of smiths and carpenters--of tailors and
+shoemakers. Those settlers, excluded from participation in the _loan_
+labor, denounced the venal partiality of its distribution. Long lists
+were published of workmen allotted to the relatives and confidants of
+the Governor, to display his unwearied nepotism.
+
+The educated prisoners occasioned still greater complaint. At an early
+period, many of the higher functionaries were utterly ignorant of
+accounts, and were glad to employ the abilities which transportation
+placed at their disposal. Curious anecdotes are told of the profits
+derived by this class of scribes, by the distribution of royal clemency:
+thus the indents were altered by a clerk, who charged L10 for reducing
+considerably the duration of a sentence.[201] At a later date, a
+prisoner offered by letter L15 for his conditional pardon. The bearer
+gave information of its contents to another convict in office, who
+offered to obtain the "royal mercy" for L10, and he did so.[202] The
+reliance frequently placed in the fidelity of their penmanship,
+sometimes modified the details of punishment.
+
+From the report of a board appointed by Arthur, it appeared that
+sixty-six were employed in the various departments. The evidence is
+valuable, from the statements it contains respecting the condition and
+influence of this class. They were represented to be quick, intelligent
+men, and were preferred because more easily commanded--if not
+controlled. Their office hours usually terminating at 4 o'clock, they
+obtained considerable sums as book-keepers. All correspondence, except
+despatches to the British government, and communications with the
+judges, passed under their eye. They were employed in taking
+depositions, and received bribes for expediting indulgences. Their
+acquaintance with the probable demands of the commissariat, was a source
+of emolument: they sold information to the shopkeepers, and thus
+enhanced the price. Arthur professed to deplore the necessity of their
+employment; a practice which long survived his government.
+
+It was, indeed, a mournful sight, to behold men of better hopes sink
+into habits of intemperance; and for a long series of years pass through
+a succession of punishments, often for trifling infractions of the penal
+code--to see them display the utmost facility in penmanship, and to hear
+at every movement the rattle of chains. Yet these prodigal sons of many
+a desolated house, were not so much objects of compassion, as those
+whose peace they had blighted with an incurable affliction. No one could
+imagine how many families, distinguished for rank, benevolence, and
+piety--known at home as the fortunate and happy--had in these regions
+unhappy relations, whose fate must have cast dark shadows on their own.
+Many, however, protected their kindred from public dishonor by the
+change of their names: they not unfrequently were overtaken by crime and
+punishment, having long left the dwellings of their fathers, whose
+reputation they spared by artifice and silence.
+
+The wives of prisoners, who once moved in the higher circles, often
+exhibited an example of complicated virtue. What they took from the
+misery of their husbands they added to their own; and even by their
+participation rendered more intense the mental anguish they came to
+remove. Delicately reared, familiar with the comforts of affluence, they
+resolutely abandoned all. No entreaty, maternal tears, or offers of
+support, could change the purpose of conscience and affection. They
+gathered up the fragments of their shivered fortunes to venture on a
+lonely voyage, and encounter a rough courtesy--generous, when not
+brutal; to solicit commiseration from the harsh delegates of a nation's
+vengeance, or the hucksters of its mercy. Sad lot! fraught with anguish,
+with terror, and trembling: every moment passed in fear of some new
+fetter--of some fresh official caprice, or sudden separation! Such
+scenes of mental and physical martyrdom have been often known to
+professional men, who enter the interior of life, and watch the
+operations of secret sorrow. The mould of Tasmania covers many a
+true-hearted woman, whose constancy and self devotion are registered on
+high; and which, in another sphere, might command the admiration of the
+world!
+
+The colonial government interdicted the connection of prisoners with the
+press, which, however, was not prevented or punished, when loyal to the
+authorities. Their writings were commonly laudatory of the officials,
+even when most offensive to the colonists. They were not always the most
+trucculent and unprincipled; although the censorship of public morals
+and political measures was unsuited to their civil condition.
+
+Among those thus employed was Savary, once an opulent sugar baker at
+Bristol, who in 1824 was convicted of forgery, and his life spared by an
+exercise of mercy then novel. Happier far, had he died! He wrote for
+the press--on the right side. On the accusation of a colonist, his
+ticket-of-leave was withdrawn; but he was spared the usual penalty of
+banishment by the kindness of his patrons, who granted him another form
+of liberty. This man was followed by his wife; but on her arrival, her
+affection was seduced, or exhausted, and she returned to England. Savary
+attempted suicide, recovered, and again fell into crime: he was tried by
+Judge Montague, convicted of a colonial forgery, and afterwards died at
+Port Arthur--an awful instance of the effects of transgression; and of
+the proneness of men to repeat a crime they have once committed.[203]
+
+It having been resolved to abandon Macquarie Harbour (1832), the
+government fixed on Port Arthur, on the east coast, as the site of a
+settlement where the rigour of discipline might be preserved. This
+district is situated on a peninsula within a peninsula, and contains
+about 100,000 acres of woodland--barren, but not repulsive. A neck of
+450 yards broad, divides Tasman's and Forrestier's Peninsulas: there
+lamps are set on posts, to which fierce dogs are chained; and to close
+the passage by the shore, when opened by the recession of the tide,
+others are kennelled on a floating platform. Sentinels, guard-boats, and
+telegraphs, are the precautions employed to prevent escape; which few
+have attempted, and fewer still accomplished.
+
+The first commandant was Surgeon John Russell; an office subsequently
+confided to Captain O'Hara Booth, a gentleman whose administration has
+been the subject of great eulogy. A minute code of government
+regulations defined the duties of all on the station. Hither all
+convicted of colonial crimes, or of more serious misconduct as assigned
+servants or in the road gangs, or who were separated to more than
+ordinary punishment by the secretary of state, or of the educated class,
+were sent. The degrees of punishment were, however, varied; and the more
+severe was exhausting and dangerous. The carrying gang, with a massive
+balk on the shoulders, resembled a huge centipede. The laborers,
+sometimes thirty together, groaning beneath a weight of many tons,
+obtained no respite from toil. The slippery and inclining ground exposed
+them to terrific perils: when they complained of inability to bear
+their burden, they were flogged, taken back, and compelled, by
+supernatural effort, to raise the load they had laid down. The numerous
+orders were enforced without momentary relaxation, and the scourge was
+the chief agent of control.
+
+When the settlement was new, the men suffered from scurvy; they were
+not, subsequently, unhealthy: diseases of the heart formed a large
+proportion of their maladies. Many instances of great hardship have been
+authenticated; and several committed murder to be removed from misery by
+a public execution. The possession of a piece of tobacco was penal, and
+for this offence alone multitudes were flogged; but its use was only
+limited by the supply: many men would have risked the rack, rather than
+rejected this valued indulgence. A wesleyan missionary was accustomed to
+reward his servant with the luxury, until he found that being
+distributed, others were involved in punishment. Visitors usually
+carried tobacco, which they dropped on the tramway by which they were
+conveyed; and even when the prohibitions were most severely enforced,
+money would procure a supply.
+
+The effect of Capt. Booth's administration was soon visible: the
+stoutest hearted gave way. Inexorably just, according to the system he
+represented, the accused might plead, but were never pardoned. The
+gentlemen convicts, clad in a prison dress, were employed in lighter
+labor and worked together; but were transferred to more penal gangs, for
+the least disorder. It is said that the terrors of Port Arthur were
+preventive of crime; that its rigour controlled and reformed, for the
+time, such as were sent there; but, both by those who vindicated, and
+those who condemned its severity, it is admitted that relapses were
+usual;[204] that it operated on the will by mechanical force, but
+debased the soul.
+
+However heavy the hand of authority, it was not capricious. The
+overseers and constables were less brutal than at the road parties and
+previous penal stations. Compared with every other settlement of its
+class, Port Arthur, during Booth's management, was more humane because
+more equal and impartial. Constantly exhibited as a place of profound
+misery, it carried the vengeance of the law to the utmost limits of
+human endurance.
+
+It would be improper to withhold the common testimony in favor of this
+officer, of whom the writer never heard a prisoner speak with reproach:
+he was detested only as the personification of unimpassioned severity.
+He gave all the weight of his example to promote the success of the
+missionary, and paid him respect in the sight of the prisoners. Time
+softens all things, and Captain Booth, on calm reflection, deserves to
+be remembered with respect, as an officer who took no pleasure in the
+sufferings he inflicted--who was as prompt to reward as to punish. A
+further detail is needless, and would add no new illustration of
+transportation.
+
+The interest which Arthur took in the settlement which bears his name,
+may be inferred from his frequent visits, and the large promises which
+he offered in reference to its future prosperity. He thought seven
+thousand men might be sent there, to be detained six months on an
+average; and that the large consumption and expenditure would be repaid
+by the produce of their labor. From an early date, Port Arthur possessed
+the advantage of schools and ministerial attendance. A church, of
+handsome exterior, was erected.[205]
+
+As the settlement improved, a tramway formed of hard wood, crossed a
+space of five miles, and thus connected the opposite bays. On this road,
+travellers were conveyed by human labor, a large proportion of the
+distance being, however, overcome by spontaneous locomotion.
+
+The denizens of Port Arthur would furnish a curious collection of
+biography: the muster would be a living calendar. Among the more
+celebrated were, Ikey Solomon, the receiver, whom they made constable:
+the chartists--men, in whose fate millions have publicly expressed an
+interest. There was Collins, the mad sailor, who threw a stone at the
+last king; May, who murdered the Italian boy; and Cohen, a jew, who
+resigned himself to despair, and refusing sustenance, died: they now
+rest in the "_Isle de Mort_."
+
+The establishment at Point Puer was intended to reclaim and control,
+rather than to punish, the unfortunate youth submitted to its
+discipline. Until a very late period, boys had been transmitted to the
+colonies in company with the men, and were treated without much
+discrimination: some at an age to understand crime only as a trick, or
+to deserve aught except pity and correction. Thus at Preston, a child,
+only seven years old, was transported for life. A boy, three years
+older, perhaps the same, called by his fellow prisoners, "King John,"
+after three years imprisonment, arrived in this colony (1829) with sixty
+other lads; of whom, on their embarkation, not one in twenty could
+repeat the Lord's prayer.[206] It was stated by a Lord Mayor of London,
+that nothing could be kinder than to transport juvenile offenders to a
+country where their labor would be useful and their prosperity sure. It
+may be presumed, that in this spirit a girl and two boys were committed
+to take their trial for stealing some wood, valued at twopence, the
+property of the crown.[207] These acts of severity forcibly contrast
+with the happier fortunes of other classes. It is said of George III,
+that he arrested two Eton boys in the act of poaching: they took him for
+a keeper, and offered their pocket-money as a bribe. He threatened to
+inform their master; but next day sent them a present, requesting them
+to cease their depredations. They were peers when the monarch told the
+story, and he observed that they were most rigorous preservers of their
+game--"according to the old proverb, set a thief to catch a thief," said
+the king! A better authenticated anecdote was given by Lord Eldon, of
+his juvenile adventures; such as a rigorous magistrate might have turned
+to a very different account.[208] By what construction of equity the
+poor man's son, or the orphan, could deserve to be branded with an
+indelible stigma for no heavier crimes, it would be in vain to ask.
+Infractions of the law cannot be tolerated in any age, yet its
+administration has been often both partial and unmerciful.
+
+Most of these young convicts had been first imprisoned a short period,
+and then turned on the world to obtain, by greater crimes, more lasting
+protection; or sometimes accused, but not convicted, they waited amidst
+moral pestilence the long delays of justice. A lad, fourteen years of
+age, was charged with stealing a hat: twelve months after, he was
+acquitted. What wonder that, dismissed a hardened criminal, he returned
+to be transported for life.[209] Such was the education of many, who
+might fairly adopt the language of Howard to the German emperor--"It is
+not in the power of your majesty to make reparation for the injury they
+have suffered." No subsequent care could atone for the long slumber of
+protective justice.
+
+It is refreshing to find that kindness and coercion were united in the
+discipline of Point Puer: an oasis in the desert of penal
+government--unless viewed from the woolsack. Captain Booth was prompt in
+subduing rebellion and enforcing industry: the meals were regular, and
+habits of devotion and cleanliness were promoted. But when the boys were
+submissive and diligent, they were not forbidden to be happy: they were
+made tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, boat-builders, masons, and
+gardeners. Some became acceptable apprentices, were lost sight of as
+prisoners, and are now known only as respectable men. Such boys,
+however, were protected from contamination, from the moment of
+conviction. Those who mingled indiscriminately with the prisoners,
+surpassed them in mischief and wickedness. When landed they were placed
+in the barracks: some, not more than ten years old, blended the trickery
+of boyhood with the villainy of age, and had scarcely arrived a week,
+before they were tied up to the triangles and punished with the cat.
+Lord John Russell, yielding to humane suggestions, collected a
+cargo of juveniles from the various prisons, and appointed a
+surgeon-superintendent, who never lost sight of their moral welfare. The
+care was not unavailing: Captain Booth reported that a large proportion
+passed through his hands without incurring even magisterial correction,
+notwithstanding the most trivial disorders were punished. The
+reformation of adults may admit of scepticism, and be tolerated as a
+topic of ridicule: but children, taught to steal earlier than to speak;
+who received the first lessons of crime on the lap of a mother; who
+never heard of God, but from the lips of blasphemers--or of right, but
+as the fair distribution of spoil, were surely entitled to compassion.
+The sympathies of man cast penal science to the winds, and scorn to
+preserve the inexorable temper of legal vengeance, to save the rich from
+peculation, by the moral immolation of infant robbers. They are orphans
+cast upon a nation's mercy; for though nature gave them the claims of
+children, she did not secure them an interest in a parent's heart.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 201: Collins.]
+
+[Footnote 202: _Mudie's Felonry of New South Wales_, p. 27.]
+
+[Footnote 203: Savary wrote a novel, called _Quintus Servington_, 3
+vols. It professes to detail his life: it sets out with a gypsy
+prophecy, delivered at his birth, which gave warning to his father that
+his son would be in danger between his thirtieth and fortieth year; but,
+passing that period, safely reach a happy old age!]
+
+[Footnote 204: Arthur's evidence: Murdoch's ditto.]
+
+[Footnote 205: While its foundation was digging, a murder was committed
+in the trench, and when its roof was covered, the plumber moulded
+dollars from lead, the property of government.]
+
+[Footnote 206: This child, when asked his age by the superintendent,
+answered, "I was so young when I was born, that I cannot tell."]
+
+[Footnote 207: _Spectator_, Sept. 21, 1833.]
+
+[Footnote 208: "I do not know how it was, but we always considered
+robbing an orchard an honorable exploit. I remember once being carried
+before a magistrate: there were three of us. The magistrate acted upon
+what, I think, was rather curious law: he fined our fathers each 30s.
+for our offence. We were very good boys, indeed. I believe, we never did
+anything worse than a robbery."--_Lord Eldon; Life, by Horace Twiss._]
+
+[Footnote 209: _Prison Discipline Society's Report_, 1827.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XVII.
+
+The views of the ministers respecting the severity of punishment,
+rendered the discipline more stern.[210] The subordinate agents of
+government received instructions to enforce an amount of labor from the
+prisoners employed upon the roads, which was measured without much
+regard to their previous habits, dexterity, or strength.
+
+Nottman, to whose management several gangs were committed, was a person
+of unflinching temper--rigorous and fearless. Once, when assailed upon
+the road, he clenched the robber by the throat, until he expired. He
+found a pleasure in hastening the operations entrusted to his oversight,
+and neglect of work was an offence which was never pardoned. It did not
+unfrequently happen, that a tailor, or other sedentary craftsman, was
+sentenced to the roads; but in breaking stones, there is an art, and
+while the dexterous could make every blow effective, the utmost toil of
+the novice left a deficiency in the task. To admit excuse, would have
+disturbed the calculations of labor, and the defaulter was delivered at
+once to the flogger; often, too, the implements, injured by use,
+rendered the fracture of stones more difficult: the issue of rations
+weekly, tempted the improvident to consume their food, so that the last
+days of the week were spent in exhaustion and hunger.[211] The slightest
+symptoms of insubordination were promptly visited; and in one party,
+3,300 lashes were administered in one morning.
+
+The overseers copied the rigour of their superiors, without their
+discrimination or sense of justice. It was not uncommon, though
+forbidden, for these men to strike down the prisoners who displeased
+them. Such violations of rule were punished when discovered: but men of
+weak minds bore in silence miseries they were afraid to resent. The
+government compelled to accept such agents as transportation yielded,
+employed persons of the vilest character, of which the following may be
+taken as a specimen: W. A----, a prisoner for life, forfeited his
+ticket-of-leave for keeping a house of ill-fame, and harbouring assigned
+servants. He applied for its restoration: this was opposed by the police
+magistrate, who recommended that he should serve as an overseer for
+three months on probation, as he had been notorious for keeping a bad
+house![212] The incongruity of this employment with his character must
+have suggested itself to all except those familiar with similar
+appointments. Such as could command a bribe ameliorated their condition,
+while those who possessed no such resources, were selected to illustrate
+the vigilance and fidelity of the overseers. It requires no extensive
+acquaintance with mankind to perceive, that in such hands public justice
+was desecrated, and the weight of a sentence determined by causes which
+had no relation to the character or the crime.
+
+The orders of Stanley were constantly criticised by the press, and from
+various motives were disliked by every section of the public. All who
+had been prisoners, naturally sympathised with the sufferers: those who
+were employers, reprobated a form of punishment which, without
+diminishing the application of the lash, abstracted from their farms a
+proportion of labour. A spirit of resistance was extensively propagated,
+and during the year following many sad instances occurred, in which an
+insurgent spirit was fatal. A young man, when employed on the public
+works, struck at Mr. Franks with his hammer: fortunately, the blow fell
+lightly; but he was tried and executed. A considerable number threw down
+their tools and retired to the bush, whither they were pursued and
+retaken. One instance made a powerful impression on the public mind: a
+convict, named Greenwood, took from a fellow prisoner his shovel, which
+was better than his own. He was sent at once by the superintendent to
+the cells in charge of a fellow workman. In the spirit of reckless
+daring, he told his conductor that he could run away if he thought
+proper; the other replied--"no doubt of it." Thus, by a sudden impulse,
+in bravado or in terror of the lash, he sprang across the boundary, and
+threw up his hat as a signal of his flight. He appeared on the race
+ground, and was there discovered by the constables committing some act
+of petty robbery: he was pursued, drew a knife from his pocket, and
+wounded his captor. Being taken before a magistrate, both his absconding
+and his resistance were stated--the last a capital offence. To punish
+this man was, of course, the duty of those whose authority he had
+defied. As an absconder, he was sentenced to one hundred lashes, and
+told--in words the import of which has not been disputed, although the
+taunting tone attributed to the justice may possibly admit a
+question--that after his flogging he would be hanged! Ten days after, he
+was condemned to death: his execution was delayed a few more by a
+respite; but he went to the scaffold with his wounds unhealed! The
+treatment of this man called forth, and justified the strongest
+expressions of public indignation. True, it was within the letter of the
+law: either of the penalties inflicted, might have been vindicated or
+excused both by necessity and custom; but to torture a fellow creature
+shortly to make his defence against a charge affecting his life, and to
+send him to his last account whilst suffering the pangs of laceration,
+was inexpressibly revolting. Those who desired to disgrace the
+government, embraced the opportunity--perhaps with the eagerness of
+faction: pictures were exhibited of the unfortunate man, illustrative of
+his melancholy fate. Surely no argument can be found, in the calmest
+exercise of the understanding to extenuate an administration of the law,
+which distorted justice into cruelty.
+
+Under circumstances far more consonant with reason, but scarcely less
+affecting when considered at large, was the execution of Samuel, a black
+man: he was transported for theft, from the Cape of Good Hope, and was
+remarkable for the quiet easiness of his disposition. For some violation
+of penal discipline he was ordered to be flogged: when approaching the
+triangle, he attacked one of the officers in attendance, who was
+slightly wounded; for this he forfeited his life--justly, had England
+been just; but what was his story? With his mother and sister he was
+stolen from Mozambique, and thus became a slave: he robbed his masters,
+and thus became a criminal. His fate turns justice into mockery, and
+might make the Briton blush for his country. His execution, however, was
+not without utility: Dr. Ross, who for years had attended such scenes,
+then adopted the conviction that no resources of language, or varieties
+of incident, could invest them with interest, and he resolved to attend
+them no more. Here, too, the reader will be willing to abandon them.
+Since, they have often been repeated; but happily society has adopted
+from reflection, what that gentle-hearted man, so powerful is habit,
+required years to learn--that the executioner is an officer far less
+useful, and the agent of a spirit far less just, than past ages have
+deemed.[213]
+
+At parting, it is proper to pay the tribute of history to the memory
+of Dogherty, the hangman--a functionary who surpassed greatly the
+common character of his order; and who, while he lived, contrived to
+evade the detestation of his calling. There was no amateur gaiety in his
+manner--no harshness in his speech. He accepted office when a prisoner,
+to enjoy the quiet quarters of the gaol and liberation from ordinary
+toil: he intended to resign it with his bondage, but the number of
+candidates for his place, it is said, reconciled his mind to its
+retention. Not in the spirit of menace, but defensive retort, he would
+promise those by whom he was jeered, his most delicate attentions in
+their last emergency. He was always willing to part with his provisions:
+to divide his sugar and tea with the necessitous, and to perform errands
+of kindness in their favor. No one could wield the lash with more mercy;
+and it is said that once, an offender, sentenced to a public flogging,
+received one stroke at starting, and the cart being driven by an
+associate, a second at stopping. His predecessor was a different
+character; and overcome with the misery of his condition, he committed
+murder, that he might escape from life! Dogherty passed through the town
+without fear of vengeance; although once, certain soldiers, his
+countrymen, injured him, and left scars which he carried to the grave.
+But what character is perfect? He was addicted to intemperance, and
+commonly spent the day succeeding an execution in drunkenness. The
+incredulous are assured, that this is not the language of fiction, but
+the character commonly ascribed in sober earnest to this unfortunate
+being.
+
+The day will come, when the sacrifice of life, made with more
+hesitation, will cease to be a public spectacle; when, if it is deemed
+requisite to cut off from the earth the shedder of blood, the dreadful
+doom will cease to amuse the brutal, or to offer a momentary excitement
+to the unreflecting. Women will be no longer seen raising their children
+above the crowd, to enjoy the most humiliating sight that can meet the
+eyes of mortals. Let no one imagine, that men are effectually
+intimidated by attending public executions: as the fatal moment draws
+nigh, crowds are indeed seen rushing towards the spot; but they wear the
+lineaments of insensibility, intemperance, or habitual crime. It is not
+the guilt of the sufferer which extinguishes their pity: they would run
+to witness the murder of a saint. The utility of executions is left to
+the judgment of statesmen, but it cannot be wrong to detest them.
+
+Thus far having delineated the broad features of the system known as
+the "certain and severe," it will be proper to explain the changes which
+it ultimately produced in the practical working of transportation.
+Simultaneously, a new theory of colonisation was promulgated. Land
+ceased to be granted: the funds accumulated by its sale were available
+for emigration,--and thus to decrease the rate of wages, and to enable
+the government to dispense with the services of convicts as writers,
+overseers, and mechanics. To assist this project, it had been determined
+to levy a tax on prison labor; but the protest of the colonists and the
+remonstrance of Arthur, led to its abandonment. The despatch which
+explained his views, dwelt on the inconvenience, vexation, and loss, to
+which the settlers were subject. He informed the Secretary of State,
+that his lordship could not understand, except by experience, how much
+and how often the colonists were fretted by the misconduct of their
+servants, and despoiled by their peculation: however perfect the
+discipline established; although the roads were safe, and violence
+infrequent; though many prisoners were reformed and useful, still the
+existing social state was charged with every form of domestic annoyance
+and mortification. Trivial thefts were constantly passed over, because
+punishment was attended with greater loss. Thus, two hundred men
+arrive--they are distributed: their masters pay down money for their
+clothing; but before they reach their home, their clothes are destroyed
+or sold--or, perhaps, they are committed for felony to gaol. At first
+the settler repines, but his difficulties are inevitable: he is silent,
+because his trials have long lost the interest of novelty, and all
+around him are fellow-sufferers. The settlers who submitted to the
+impertinence and unwillingness of pickpockets, he thought certainly
+entitled to the benefit of their services without any other tax than
+might be levied by their fingers. This earnest protest was not without
+success; but it became, afterwards, a potent weapon in the hands of
+those who pronounced transportation a failure.[214]
+
+The arrival of many hundreds, whose previous habits were far from
+respectable, increased the difficulties of penal government. The former
+marked division of classes was confounded: the emigrant laborer was the
+companion of the prisoner of the crown; but, in law, the equal of the
+prisoner's master. This addition was greatly deplored, both by the
+Governor and the press. It was perceived that great organic changes must
+follow the influx of free men, whose interest would run in a direction
+entirely opposite to penal institutions. Thus, almost instantly, a
+change became perceptible: the high value of prison labor was reduced,
+and employers hostile to the government could afford to defy its power.
+The emigrant laborers formed an intermediate class, which detested the
+espionage and insolence of a convict constabulary, and was disposed to
+resent the haughty spirit which slavery has ever generated in the ruling
+classes.
+
+In 1835, the feeling in opposition to transportation was strongly
+expressed by certain portions of the people. A meeting was called, under
+the auspices of Messrs. Kemp, Gellibrand, Hackett, Thomas Horne, and
+others, which complained that the hope entertained, that the colony
+might ultimately be freed from its penal character, had been
+disappointed, and that the colonists "were made materials for the
+punishment of British offenders;" were considered only as the "occupants
+of a large prison;"--phrases of Arthur--and that "this penal character
+had recently increased; thus violating the feelings of the adult, and
+barbarising the habits and demoralising the principles of the rising
+generation." This meeting, at which the sheriff presided, called by
+public advertisement, was perhaps _de jure_ a meeting of the colony; but
+the sheriff refused to attach his signature, lest the petition should be
+taken as that of the settlers in general, whose opinions it certainly
+did not then represent.
+
+Arthur, in his despatch, endeavoured to neutralise its possible
+influence, at the same time intimating that he had "long foreseen that
+abolition would become a popular question." He, however, maintained that
+the emigrant, knowing the object of the settlement, had no right to
+complain; and that for the quarter of a century succeeding it would
+become increasingly adapted for the enforcement of penal discipline. He
+advised the ministers to stop the current of emigration, which, if
+continued, would render "convicts less valuable to the settlers," or to
+confine it to female emigrants, or such artificers as carpenters and
+masons.[215] Two hundred and sixty persons, in the Launceston district,
+repudiated the following passage of the petition:--"Your Majesty's
+humble petitioners most respectfully pray your Majesty to be pleased in
+your paternal goodness to remove from the colony of Van Diemen's Land
+the degradation and unspeakable evils to which it is subject on account
+of its penal character."
+
+It would be amusing to contrast the sentiments expressed by various
+persons during the first formal agitation of this subject, with
+those that have latterly prevailed. It must, however, be remembered,
+that there were two political parties. Some opposed transportation
+as the last indignity which could be offered to Arthur, its zealous
+patron; while others desired its continuance only because no other
+labor was at hand. The paupers sent from the parishes did not create
+a strong feeling of preference for free servants, many of whom
+were profligate, intemperate, and otherwise worthless. Nor is it honest
+to conceal the disastrous influence of power on the moral perceptions of
+the mind. It is justly observed by Franklin, the philosopher, that "it
+is one of the worst features of human nature, yet one with which it is
+too generally impressed--the love of power; whereby all men prefer to be
+served by slaves, over whom they have absolute dominion, than by free
+men, who have rights as well as their masters." These motives, mingled
+and corroborated by the practice of many years, contributed to
+strengthen the views of the local government, and to reduce to a small
+minority the advocates of abolition. Yet such are the singular
+conjunctions of affairs: though derided and rejected on the spot, they
+were afterwards quoted with respect by a committee of British
+legislators, when the subject of transportation again engaged the
+attention of parliament.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 210:
+
+"_Colonial Secretary's Office, 14th February_, 1833.
+
+"His Majesty's government having been pleased to enjoin the strictest
+fulfilment of the law upon all convicts sent to this colony, and that
+their punishment should be _certain and severe_, the Lieutenant-Governor
+directs the renewed attention of all public officers connected with the
+convict department, to the instructions which have from time to time
+been issued on the subject.
+
+"His Excellency is desirous especially to impress upon them the
+necessity of invariably exacting the due portion of daily labor from
+each convict, and of not permitting any remission or indulgence but such
+as have been previously and especially authorised.
+
+"The orders prohibiting convicts employed on the roads and in the public
+works (including clerks, messengers, and persons of that description)
+from laboring, under any pretence, for private individuals, or to the
+advantage of those in charge of them, are at all times to be most
+perseveringly and carefully enforced, and to avoid any misconception in
+a matter deemed so important by his Majesty's government, the
+instructions are to be understood most peremptorily to forbid every
+species of indulgence beyond the food, clothing, bedding, and lodging
+authorised by regulations to every convict.
+
+"A proportionate degree of restraint and watchfulness over all assigned
+convicts is equally essential. The object of their reform, as well as
+punishment, must never be lost sight of.
+
+"His Excellency is sensible that this end could never have been so
+successfully attained as it has been, without the zealous co-operation
+of the colonists at large, who in conjunction with a due exaction of
+labor, have very generally insisted upon the observance of orderly and
+regular conduct.
+
+"As it is through this good feeling on the part of the colonists
+generally, that the police has proved so efficient an auxiliary in the
+general control of the convict population, and as it would be unjust to
+allow the exceptions which may yet exist to affect the reputation of the
+colony at large, the government will still more firmly pursue the course
+of withdrawing assigned servants from all masters who neglect to regard
+cleanly, decent, and sober habits in and out of their huts, and a
+seasonable attention to moral and religious duties, as part of the
+compact under which the labor is placed at their disposal.
+
+"The Lieutenant-Governor on this occasion feels it due to the general
+body of the settlers, to acknowledge his obligation to them for the
+cordial support he has received at their hands in the control and
+management of the convict population, with which no political
+differences have been permitted to interfere, and his Excellency does so
+with the more satisfaction, at this particular time, when the attention
+of the Imperial Parliament is so especially drawn to the consideration
+of the important subject of prison discipline, and when the state of
+things in the colony has placed the local government in a situation to
+contradict the unjust imputations which have been raised against
+transportation as a punishment.
+
+"By his Excellency's command,
+
+"J. BURNETT."]
+
+[Footnote 211: Backhouse and Walker's observations. This evil was
+corrected on their representation.]
+
+[Footnote 212: _Par. Papers._]
+
+[Footnote 213: "The Rev. Dr. Bedford, in the course of his remarks,
+stated that his duty had imposed upon him the painful task of attending
+between three and four hundred executions, and that more than
+nineteen-twentieths of the unhappy men who had thus miserably perished,
+had been brought to this end by the effects of drunkenness."--_Courier_;
+Speech at a meeting of the first Temperance Society at Hobart Town,
+1832.
+
+"It has fallen to our lot to be present at the executions of a large
+proportion of the malefactors who have suffered the extremity of the law
+in Hobart Town, and the apparent apathy with which the unhappy men met
+their fate, was always to us the most humiliating part of the spectacle.
+Their lips would utter with apparent sincerity the invocations prompted
+by the clergyman, but the heart, that should have given them expression,
+was too plainly wanting. They were empty sounds--the soul was gone. The
+main part of the executioner's duty was performed to his hand; the
+kernel was already consumed.... They sung psalms, ate a hearty meal:
+they heard the summons of the sheriff; their arms were pinioned; the
+halter was put about their neck; the cap was brought over their eyes,
+and they dropped into eternity with more indifference than the ox goes
+to the slaughter."--_V. D. Land Annual_; edited by Dr. Ross, 1833.]
+
+[Footnote 214: 28th June, 1832.]
+
+[Footnote 215: Despatch to Spring Rice.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XVIII.
+
+Governor Arthur held the reins of authority while considerable changes
+transpired in the elder colony. Sir Thomas Brisbane, who succeeded
+Macquarie, had chiefly attempted to diminish the expenditure, and in the
+management of convicts had sought in the results of their labor, rather
+than its detail, the success of transportation. Formed into gangs, they
+were employed in clearing farms under the inspection of government
+superintendents, for which the settlers paid a moderate price; but on
+the arrival of General Darling, the government assumed an aspect of
+increasing rigour, and the reins of authority were tightened until they
+were in danger of breaking. It does not belong to this work to examine
+minutely the general policy of that ruler; it was, however, held in
+earnest detestation by those who were, or had been prisoners. The
+magistrates were empowered to inflict corporal punishment to a very
+questionable extent, and it was customary for one settler to judge and
+sentence the servant of another, who in his turn performed a similar
+office. It is surely not necessary to prove, that the moderate exercise
+of such extensive powers depended rather on the equitable temper of
+British gentlemen than the practical limitation of their power.
+
+On the arrival of Sir Richard Bourke, the successor of Darling, the
+spirit of convict discipline underwent a change. By a new law he
+lessened the power of the magistrates to inflict corporal punishment,
+and particularly terminated the system of distributing through
+successive days the sentence awarded. The magistrates complained that
+the convict servants treated the penalties to which they were liable
+with derision, and petitions from various districts of the colony
+claimed the restoration of the abolished laws. This led to the issue of
+an order to the various district magistrates, requesting their personal
+attendance at the triangles, and a special report upon the extent of
+suffering which resulted from the application of the lash.
+Superintendent Ernest Augustus Slade, son of General Slade, prepared a
+scourge, which was called the "regulation cat." Every flagellator
+through the colony was supplied with this instrument, and the effects it
+produced are described with scientific minuteness. The last victim was
+much more fortunate than the first: the lash loosened, or softened, and
+became more merciful at every stroke.
+
+The description of several hundred cases in the course of one month,
+prove how useless, how unequal, and unavailing this form of torture.
+Such as these: "a fair skinned young man, he bore his punishment well;"
+"he resolved to bear his punishment like a man;" "he begged for some
+water;" "he seemed much exhausted, and cried like a child;" "this man
+never moved or spoke;" "he seemed to suffer much mental pain;" "he bit
+his lip, he had had former punishments;" "he neither cried nor spoke;"
+"he cried out domino." Of fifty, one half had never been flogged before.
+Then there follows in each case a description of the writhings of the
+sufferers: the discoloration of the skin, the time at which the blood
+appeared, and whatever might illustrate the power of the lash to degrade
+and torture. These returns were obtained to vindicate Governor Bourke
+from the charge of unseasonable lenity, and to prove that no just
+discontent was authorised by the mitigations he had enforced.
+
+A great portion of these punishments were inflicted by the order of Mr.
+Slade. Dismissed for immoralities he was authorised to avenge, he
+excused them by alleging his youth. Though capricious, he was not cruel;
+but it is due to mankind, to protest against depositing power in the
+hands of young persons, who have to cover their own passions by the plea
+of juvenility, and who, in every part of the penal colonies, have
+exhibited an example of those habits which lead to crime--and too often
+administered public vengeance in the spirit of tyranny.
+
+Corporal punishment, long tenaciously vindicated, by those who ruled
+masses of men, was held indispensible, and no severe reproach can be due
+to the government which authorised, or the magistrates who ordered, its
+infliction. It seems, indeed, to be essential to every social system
+that denies the ordinary rewards of labor. The rebel slave, to deprive
+his master, will dare any suffering which suspends or terminates his
+service. But beside those who employed the lash from conviction, there
+were others of a different stamp: it is quietly observed by Messrs.
+Backhouse and Walker, that they found its greatest advocates "among
+persons given to profane swearing." The violent temper, prone to break
+out in imprecations, would find another and congenial relief in scenes
+of torture and debasement. There were modes of punishment which no
+prejudice could extenuate: among these, the infliction of the lash in a
+form which degraded society more than it debased the sufferer. Thus, at
+Hobart Town, men, for mere faults, have been sentenced to _exposure_ and
+the scourge, in the view of hundreds: the flagellator extinguished the
+last feeling of the man, and roused the temper of the demon. An old
+compositor, within a month of his freedom, was charged with some
+trifling breach of convict discipline, and though the father of grown up
+children, was ordered by a chief police magistrate, this cruel disgrace.
+He is dead--and his oppressor is dead! Such cases were not uncommon, but
+they are past, and they may be left to oblivion.
+
+Whether it is possible, in the present state of penal discipline, to
+withdraw the scourge from the hands of authority, it might be difficult
+to decide: it should not, however, be forgotten, that its present
+comparative disuse, was once pronounced impossible; and that when
+flogging decreased, crimes of savage violence became unusual.
+
+The partisans of General Darling, many of whom were eminent, both for
+their opulence and social worth, resented the constructive censure of
+his policy. They asserted that discipline was relaxed; that, under the
+title of the "prisoners' friend," Bourke was an incendiary, stirring up
+the laborers to rebellion.[216] They predicted that the diminished
+severity of transportation as a penalty, would suggest new arguments
+against it in parliament, ultimately lead to its abolition, and thus
+inflict a fatal injury on the colony. The press, supported by
+emancipists, lauded the lenient temper of the governor, and exasperated
+the advocates of the past system by allusions to their tyrannical rule,
+and exultation at their defeat. The old quarrel revived: the
+dissatisfied magistrates and settlers dwelt on the characteristic
+depravity of the emancipists; and the necessity for their permanent
+disqualification as jurors and electors. While they asserted the lasting
+civil and moral distinctions between the voluntary and expiree settlers,
+the patrons of the latter avenged them by maintaining that the convict
+was only less _fortunate_ than his free employer, and that the moral
+disparity assumed and vaunted, was rather fanciful than real.
+
+The treatment of assigned servants in New South Wales had always been
+more open to objection than Van Diemen's Land.[217] The transportation
+of 30,000, during ten years ending in 1836, produced the moral evils
+inseparable from such vast accumulations. Several of the settlers
+employed from one to two hundred men, and it was a capital object to
+reduce them to the feeling, while they were subject to the economy of
+penal slavery. There were, indeed, many mitigations and many exceptions;
+but the settlers at large realised less the healthy sympathy between the
+master and servant than was common in this country.
+
+A class of settlers, whose management was not less exceptionable,
+chiefly expirees, surrounded the large estates; thus, while some
+convicts were considered both as criminals and slaves, others sat at the
+table and enjoyed the company of their masters. The results of these
+extremes have been already described, and are always uniform.
+
+Among those who resented the policy of Bourke, Major Mudie was the most
+bitter and persevering. In his "_Felonry of New South Wales_," he
+employed every epithet of horror and contempt in condemning the conduct
+of this governor. The character of Mudie, as delineated by his friends,
+is not repulsive: they have described him as a good master and a just
+magistrate; but the style of his work awakens a suspicion that his
+temper was not fitted for the control of his fallen countrymen. They
+were sent to New South Wales to be punished: such was his theory.
+Macarthur, who participated in many of his sentiments, yet describes his
+own plan as the reverse. He knew that a severe gaoler could not be
+esteemed as a good master: "he endeavoured to make his farm servants
+forget that they were convicts."[218] Mudie spoke of those he employed
+in the tone of an executioner--nothing could wash away their guilt, or
+obliterate its brand. His descriptions of the "felonry"--a cutting term
+devised by himself, are grotesque and amusing. He deserves the fame of a
+satirist, but on historical questions his vehement language impairs the
+force of his testimony, and lessens the weight of his opinions.
+
+This gentleman was the proprietor of Castle Forbes, an estate of large
+extent, where many convicts were employed. Their immediate
+superintendence he intrusted to his nephew, of whom their complaints
+were bitter and mutinous. Their remonstrances were punished: one man set
+out for Sydney, and carried a petition to Governor Bourke; he was sent
+back with a note to his master, written by the private secretary, who
+interceded in his behalf; but his application was irregular, and his
+absence unauthorised, and Mudie delivered him to the magistrate, by whom
+he was flogged and condemned to chains. On this, several men rose in
+rebellion: they attacked the house of their master, robbed him of some
+race horses, and attempted the life of the overseer. At their trial, and
+just before their death, they implored the governor to stop the
+cruelties which had driven them to desperation and the scaffold.
+
+Deferring to the strong feeling excited by their appeal, Bourke
+appointed an enquiry. The evidence collected did not sustain the charges
+of the men, who probably mistook their position, and exaggerated their
+grievances; but their accusations made a deep impression on a certain
+class, and the tyranny of the settler magistrates, of whom thirty were
+dismissed from the commission, was denounced with increasing boldness
+and asperity.
+
+Among the most effective writers of the time, was William Angus Watt,
+who held up the angry magistrates to derision, and their partisans, "as
+a faction dwindled to a shadow--
+
+    A mumping phantom of incarnate spite;
+    Loathed, but not feared, for rage that cannot bite."[219]
+
+The career of this man is a curiosity of Australasian literature. Both
+Dr. Lang and Major Mudie have spread his fame by their works and their
+parliamentary evidence. He committed a crime in Scotland, for which he
+was outlawed; for a second, in London, he was transported. At Wellington
+Valley he won the favor of his superintendent employed in an office at
+Sydney, he conciliated the good-will of Bishop Broughton and several
+other clergymen, who interceded for his pardon. This was refused, but he
+obtained a ticket-of-leave, and engaged in the service of the editor of
+the _Gazette_, the reputed organ of the government. The profligacy of
+his habits, and the insolence of his writings, exposed him to
+observation. He lived with a female illegally at large, whose child,
+born in the factory, was baptised in his name. To involve the editors of
+the _Herald_ in a prosecution for libel, Watt procured, by the agency of
+a printer in their office, a slip proof of a letter they had resolved to
+suppress. This he transmitted through the post to the person
+calumniated, to give him the necessary evidence of publication. For his
+share in this scandalous trick he was tried, but the paper stolen was of
+so little value that he was acquitted. In addressing the jury, he
+pointed out Major Mudie as his unrelenting persecutor, and as an
+oppressor of unfortunate prisoners. Mudie, to punish the alleged
+insolence of his defence, accused him of immorality and habitual lying,
+and demanded the revocation of his ticket-of-leave. The investigation
+lasted several weeks, and ended in the dismissal of the charge, which
+was not unfairly attributed to the animosities kindled by newspaper
+warfare, in which Mudie was more than a spectator. Judge Burton
+represented that the residence of Watt in Sydney was pernicious, and
+Governor Bourke ordered him to the district of Port Macquarie; whither
+he was followed by the proprietress of the _Gazette_, with whom he
+married, by the governor's permission. There he was again concerned in
+an official dispute: his ticket was withdrawn; he absconded, was retaken
+and flogged--and thus dropped down to the degraded condition which his
+enemies desired, and which was certainly not undeserved.
+
+The attempt to identify Bourke with this man was an artifice of faction.
+The license he received was not unusual, and his previous character had
+been free from colonial offence. His influence resulted from his
+ability: his principles were the current notions of the emancipists; nor
+is it easy to discern how talents, such as he was supposed to possess,
+could be prevented from finding their level.
+
+About this time Dr. Lang established the _Observer_. Its object was to
+write down the emancipist partisans, and the journals subject to their
+power. The good service performed by this earnest censor was not without
+alloy: and in his attacks on their moral reputation, he seemed sometimes
+to write what they themselves might have written. The emancipists were
+drawn together by common sympathies: they charged the free settlers with
+attempting to exact from the sufferings and failings of their brethren,
+a consideration in the colony, to which they were entitled neither by
+their rank nor their reputation. Nor was this reflection always without
+reason: in strange forgetfulness of the natural operation of self-love,
+the upper classes of New South Wales expected multitudes, often of
+greater wealth than themselves, to walk humbly in their presence. Such
+claims the emancipists met with defiance. The false morality of their
+journals will be largely ascribed by a calm enquirer to retaliation and
+hatred, rather than to a judgment corrupted--in reference to the real
+nature of crime.[220]
+
+Nothing so powerfully contributed to rouse the attention of the empire,
+as the charge of Judge Burton, delivered to the petty jurors, at the
+close of the criminal court, 1835. Perhaps a more awful picture was
+never drawn, or a more serious impeachment pronounced against a people.
+This celebrated speech furnished the text of examination, when
+parliament once more enquired on the subject. Judge Burton asserted
+that the whole community seemed engaged in the commission or the
+punishment of crimes. Crimes, including 442 capital convictions in three
+years: crimes of violence, murders, manslaughters in drunken
+revels--deliberate perjuries, from motives of revenge or reward, were
+brought to light. He complained of the deficiency of religious
+principle: of the neglect and profanation of the sabbath: on which day
+the worst actions were planned and perpetrated. The convict stations he
+compared to "bee-hives, diligently pouring in and out; but with this
+difference--the one worked by day, the other by night: the one goes
+forth to industry, the other to plunder." These evils he traced to
+"squatting;" the congregation of prisoner servants in Sydney; the
+license of improper persons to public houses; and, more than all, the
+total neglect of superintendence by employers of convicts, who, armed
+for marauding expeditions, sometimes left their masters' premises by
+night, and even by day. He closed, by declaring his love to free
+institutions--the pride, indeed, and boast of England; but which, if
+conferred on such a populace, he believed would end in the corruption of
+all.
+
+That this address gave a true description of a part of the population,
+cannot be doubted; but inferences were liable to error, even on the
+spot, much more when drawn at a distance. A mass of thieves under any
+system, if in contact with property, must produce a mass of crime; yet
+even in the worst days of transportation, the relapses were
+proportionately less than under any other system of prison discipline.
+In England, 30,000 such persons at large, would yield annually at least
+an equal number of felonies.
+
+The abuses which were brought to light, were certainly flagrant: the
+most memorable was the instance of Nash, who took to Sydney the rich
+spoil of a robbery, and set up a large drapery warehouse; and of Gough,
+an assigned servant of the chief justice, who lived at large, and
+carried on a quiet business as a receiver of stolen goods. Cases so
+conspicuous strongly illustrated the evils of assignment. The miserable
+fate of Mudie's men, compared with the condition of such persons,
+naturally suggested the idea, that some new change was essential, to
+protect from reproach or derision the public justice of the nation.
+
+The appointment of a committee to promote emigration from Ireland, of
+which Archbishop Whately was chairman, called attention to the subject
+of transportation. It was the opinion of the committee (1836), that to
+send the peasantry of Ireland to a community so polluted, was base,
+cruel, and impolitic. The right reverend prelate asserted that statesmen
+were tolerating a social organisation, destined one day to involve the
+empire in deep disgrace, and exhibit the awful spectacle of a nation of
+criminals!
+
+The desire to possess free institutions, brought the question of
+transportation to a crisis. The patriotic association advocated an
+unrestricted concession of political rights; the anti-emancipists a
+limitation of the franchise to such as were always free. This division
+of opinion was characterised by the usual warmth of political faction,
+aggravated by personal anger. The petition of the exclusionists called
+the attention of parliament to the state of the convict question, and
+solicited enquiry.[221] Macarthur, whose work is a commentary on the
+petition, full of valuable information, suggested the abolition of
+assignment, the separation of the convict department and colonial
+government, and the establishment of large gangs, in which labor might
+be exacted, without partiality.
+
+Such was the state of this important question during the last years of
+Arthur's administration. When he deemed the details of his penal system
+nearest perfection, the main principles on which it rested were
+undermined. The severity enjoined by Lord Stanley, and the lenity
+exercised by General Bourke, raised an outcry against transportation;
+and once more propagated the idea that in its lenity it was corrupt, and
+its severity cruel. A running fire was kept up by the press, which
+returned to the question of secondary punishments with new vigour, and
+repeated all the problems on this perplexing subject--perhaps, destined
+to confound the wise, and furnish a theme for dogmatism through all
+time.
+
+In 1837, the House of Commons appointed the committee, of which Sir
+William Molesworth was chairman.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 216: _Mudie's Felonry._]
+
+[Footnote 217: "I thought them a villanous shabby set, compared with
+convicts in Van Diemen's Land." "There appeared a great deal of
+flogging." "My men did twice as much work." "I told my brother, if he
+used his men as we did, he would get more work: he said _it would be
+ill-received through the country_. They had very inferior clothing, and
+got very little meat. These remarks were applicable to the estates in
+general."--_Mr. P. Murdoch's Evidence_--questions 1397 to 1403.]
+
+[Footnote 218: _Par. Pap._]
+
+[Footnote 219: _Sydney Gazette, April 1835._]
+
+[Footnote 220: "It was the uniform tendency or design of the writings of
+these individuals, as it has been also that of all other public writers
+of convict origin in the Australian colonies, to reduce the reputable
+portion of the community to the same level as themselves; to abolish all
+the salutary distinctions which the laws of God and man have erected
+between right and wrong; and if possible to dispossess the whole convict
+population of all sense of criminality and degradation."--_Lang's
+Transportation and Colonisation_, 1837. p. 109. And yet the
+disappearance of emancipist disqualifications has almost banished a
+class of writers who were accepted as champions, but who could not
+seriously affect the ultimate views of public and private morality--they
+were mere actors.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XIX.
+
+While these questions were agitated in England, Sir John Franklin
+received the government of Tasmania. Captain Maconochie, already known
+to scientific men, and who had enjoyed long the friendship of the
+Governor, accepted the office of private secretary--a situation of not
+much emolument, but highly confidential. When his destination became
+public, the society for the improvement of prison discipline requested
+him to examine closely the results of transportation, as exhibited in
+Van Diemen's Land. To assist his inquiries, they prepared sixty-seven
+questions, comprehending the details of convict management, on which
+they desired a minute exposition of his views; and added, "_make such
+general remarks as occur on the whole convict system of the colony, and
+its effects on the moral and social state of the community: also remark
+on the effect of the latter, and enter on the subject largely, making
+any observation which may be useful in regard thereto_."
+
+Captain Maconochie referred the application to Sir George Grey, who
+consented, conditionally:--that all papers on the subject should pass
+through the usual channel to the colonial-office, and be first placed at
+his absolute disposal. The effects of this commission were momentous.
+Maconochie, when he left Great Britain, professed a freedom from decided
+bias, and to favor the general system of Arthur, rather than that
+propounded by Archbishop Whately. The opinions he ultimately adopted, he
+ascribed to his own observation, and disclaimed all prejudice against
+those forms of prison discipline he was destined to subvert.
+
+The discussions thus originated are of a deeply interesting character,
+and their influence will long survive the animosity they occasioned. The
+completion of Maconochie's report was exceedingly rapid, or it was very
+early commenced. He had resided but three months, when he felt
+authorised to pronounce the existing system of management defective, far
+less in application than in principle. The course ascribed to Maconochie
+was that of a prejudiced spy, seeking evidence for a case pre-judged:
+that which he claimed, was the task of a philosopher, scanning facts
+patent to every eye--even more striking when first seen. His conclusions
+he attributed to the inevitable process by which facts are generalised,
+and demonstrate systems. His style, when deliberate, is terse and
+explicit: his ideas he expressed with the utmost freedom; or, as it then
+seemed, audacity. The colonists he treated as an operator, who indeed
+pities the sufferings of his patient, but disregards a natural outcry,
+while expounding in the language of science both the symptoms and the
+cure. Without circumlocution or reserve, he spoke of the officers
+concerned in convict management as blinded by habit--as empirics who
+could patch and cauterise a wound, but were involved in the hopeless
+prejudices of a topical practice, and much too far gone to comprehend
+improvements founded on scientific principles. His deviations from the
+tone of philosophical discussion were not numerous, but they were
+marked. The chief police magistrate he compared to the lamplighter, by
+whom gas is detested. In praising that officer's administrative talent,
+he observed that he belonged to the martinet school, and that his
+estimate of human nature depressed it below its worth.
+
+The representations of Maconochie, with reference to the condition of
+the convicts and the character of the settlers, awakened a storm of
+indignation. Transportation, he said, at a distance appeared a trivial
+penalty; but when surveyed more nearly, it was found to be inhuman. The
+servant was assigned to a master without his consent; his employment was
+alien to his habits; he labored without wages; he was met with
+suspicion, and ruled with insult or contempt. The servant became sullen,
+the settler vindictive: slight offences were visited with punishments
+"severe, to excessive cruelty,"--offences, often the ebullitions of
+wounded feeling, and the tokens of a hopeless wretchedness.
+
+Notwithstanding, this condition--unknown to the population at
+home--afforded no warning. The victims were uncompensated--the great
+majority unreformed. Thus, employers preferred new hands to those passed
+through this discipline of suffering. Such as rose in society, were
+seldom really respectable; they neither regretted their crimes, nor
+offered atonement. But if the prisoner was injured, the colonist was not
+less so. Social virtues were discouraged; all classes were contentious
+and overbearing: the police, ever prying into the business of life, thus
+intermixed with penal systems, filled the colony with exasperation, from
+which not even the mildest spirits could escape. He did not propose to
+abolish transportation, but that the government by its own officers
+should both punish and reform; that the prisoners, when restored to
+society, should stand in the relations of free men to all except the
+crown, receiving wages at the current rate; and if restrained in their
+expenditure, not for punishment, but for safety--"the chains of paternal
+authority" thrown over them, "to protect them against themselves."
+
+Maconochie sent to Sir G. Grey a Summary of his Report, containing his
+opinions of existing systems: at his request it was at once handed to
+Lord John Russell, who again, conveyed it to the committee then sitting
+upon the subject of transportation. Although substantially agreeing with
+his report, _the summary_ condensed, and therefore rendered more
+flagrant, the charges against the colonists, and his description of the
+condition of the prisoners still more revolting.
+
+This _Summary_ appeared in an English newspaper. Hitherto the discussion
+had been confined to official circles or to select correspondence: it
+was now open to the world; and the colonists found, with astonishment,
+that the reform proposed was radical, and that the opinions of the
+reformer were wholly adverse to the existing systems.
+
+In this summary, the condition of the convicts was depicted with all the
+coloring of misery: they were slaves, subject to coercion; strangers to
+moral impulses, save only the distant hope of liberty. They were lodged
+in huts with stable roofs, damp floors, and rude furniture.[222] They
+slept on truckle bedsteads, often undressed; their food was cooked in
+the roughest manner; without wages, they robbed; miserable, they were
+drunken. Their better qualities were unregistered: the artful escaped,
+while the "careless fellow," otherwise good, was involved in a long
+train of penalties. A ticket obtained, the holder could acquire no
+property, and was worried by police interference; and in one night his
+indulgence might be forfeited. Though some masters, generous or weak,
+softened its rigour, assignment as a punishment, generally exceeded the
+desert of minor offences: and its degradation, unfelt by old offenders,
+was agony to men of minds more sensitive. The bad were little punished,
+the good demoralised; self respect was destroyed; and men born to better
+things, sacrificed by political institutions, rather than by their
+personal depravity or their crimes. This state was worse than negro
+slavery: the interests of the masters were less permanent; who, though
+they did not fear their servants, disliked, coerced, and inveighed
+against them. This slavery tainted colonial life: the colonists were
+harsh and overbearing at home; they were quarrelsome neighbours, given
+to reckless assertion; rapacious, envious, and disaffected. Government
+was unpopular, and all governors so in succession. The police, if not
+corrupt, was irksome and intrusive. Labor was wasted, emigration
+discouraged. Crime and drunkenness multiplied, and what a hundred and
+fifty is to one thousand, or thirteen hundred, such was the crime of
+Van Diemen's Land to that of England and Scotland. Drunkenness had
+risen, in ten years, from three per cent. to fourteen per cent.: in
+London, such was the difference of tendencies between those meridians,
+it was reduced to an imperceptible fraction.
+
+To remedy these evils, he demanded the abolition of domestic slavery: a
+separation, distinct as their natures, between punishment and moral
+training; punishment, certain and appropriate--inflicted upon system,
+and in seclusion; and training, not less systematic, but social and
+probationary--coercion being banished, moral influence alone applied.
+For punishment, Maconochie deemed the system of Port Arthur,
+administered by Booth, an admirable model. For training, he suggested
+stations within reach of the free community, where the convicts should
+be prepared for society in parties of six, joined in a common fate, by
+mutual agreement. They were to work out their redemption together: their
+vigilance would detect, their interests depress disorders in the clubs;
+the virtues of sobriety, diligence, decency, and industry, achieved by
+each, would be rewarded for the common benefit of all; but for the fault
+of one, the whole would pay the penalty; or should the partnership be
+dissolved by the intolerable injustice of any, its disbanded members
+would return to their starting point, and in new combinations pursue
+again, and perhaps again, the first steps, until all should reach
+abreast one common goal.
+
+Such was the system of moral training and mutual responsibility, which
+he deemed only a new accommodation of established principles. In his
+view, it was a moral field the greatest statesman might enter with
+success, and thus crown himself with immortal renown. Such in substance
+was the summary, afterwards amplified by details and illustrated by
+facts. In subsequent papers the more offensive passages were explained
+and qualified; but at best, they appear not only an indictment of
+opinions and systems, but of classes and communities.
+
+Sir John Franklin promptly referred the queries of the _Society_ to an
+official board, which consisted of the chief police magistrate of the
+territory (Captain Forster), the director-general of public works
+(Captain Cheyne), and the superintendent of convicts (Mr. Spode). In
+reply to sixty-six of these questions they had only to refer to
+undisputed facts; but the last contemplated both the theory and
+practice of transportation. In the statement of facts they united; but
+the proper remedies to apply to acknowledged evils, admitted of
+difference--and they all differed.
+
+The memorandum of the chief police magistrate, beside briefly describing
+the practice of former times, recommended important changes for the
+future. Instead of assignment from the ships, he suggested that all
+prisoners should be placed on the public works, for a period to be fixed
+by the judges. He proposed a new distribution of time penalties: thus
+instead of seven, fourteen years, and life, to recognise by law a more
+minute and proportionate sub-division. In assignment, he recommended
+wages, rateable at the discretion of government; afterwards a _first
+class_ ticket-of-leave, with a permission to choose employers; and a
+_second class_, to include most of the privileges of freedom, voidable
+only by a court of quarter sessions for specified offences. The
+conditional pardon he deemed it necessary to defer a longer time than
+usual; since, when released from surveillance and responsibility,
+ticket-holders often relapsed into the vices from which they had
+previously emerged.
+
+Mr. Spode concurred with the chief police magistrate, though with
+serious reservations: especially, he deprecated any delay of
+assignment--a state he deemed most conducive to reform, and highly
+useful to the colony. Mr. Forster had declared that female prisoners
+"_were not available subjects for prison discipline_." Mr. Spode
+recommended solitary confinement, or marriage. In the meantime,
+Maconochie having drawn up his report, submitted it to Captain Cheyne,
+and made a proselyte.
+
+Captain Cheyne took the colony by surprise. Not only did he denounce
+assignment, but spoke of the settlers with still less tenderness: he
+asserted that a great proportion of those entrusted with convicts "were
+dissolute in their habits, and depraved in their principles." That there
+"existed a fearful degree of depravity, unparalleled in any age;" that
+assignment was the great source of crime and caste: for the convict "no
+man cared;" few were exempt from contemptuous and brutal treatment--few
+escaped punishment. Such opinions could only usher in a system radically
+new. Thus Captain Cheyne proposed to divide the prisoners into gangs of
+two hundred each, and the adoption of task work proportioned to physical
+strength. He proposed wages to be paid to the road parties, to be
+expended in the purchase of comforts, or reserved for a future day. On
+introducing the prisoners into society, he recommended a graduated scale
+of indulgence, not greatly dissimilar from the propositions stated
+already.
+
+The papers of Maconochie and Cheyne were referred to the members of the
+executive council, and were generally condemned. Captain Montagu urged
+the great danger to the public peace, from the propagation of an opinion
+that the laws were unjust, the masters oppressive, and the government
+cruel. Were it intended to test Maconochie's theory, he demanded a large
+increase of military force. He, however, complained that gentlemen, who
+possessed such slight practical knowledge, should venture to assail
+established systems. His remarks chiefly related to the colonial
+influence of their ideas, and he exaggerated the danger to the public
+safety. The most dispassionate examination of this report was given by
+Archdeacon Hutchins. It was far more copious in its admissions in
+reference to the existing system. Little work was done; the prisoners
+were very slightly reformed, and the agents often unfit. But by what
+means labor could be exacted, or a "millennial age of righteousness"
+supersede the past, he declared himself uncertain. He was sceptical that
+it was possible to obtain men of science, prudence, and equity, to
+administer a system so complexed, and requiring such discretion.
+
+Mr. Gregory, the colonial treasurer, adopted a less grave form of
+criticism. He soothed, by his humour, the colonial wrath, and among the
+lesser gods excited unextinguishable laughter. The charges of Maconochie
+and Cheyne against the colonists, he described as loose and random
+shots, fired by inexperienced hands. In reducing the plan of clubs to
+practical details, he insisted they were unequal, and even impossible.
+The minute appraisement, both of good and evil; reckoning up the diurnal
+merits of the men--the balance of which was to furnish their capital
+stock, to discharge their fines, to find them food and clothing, and
+liberty--he described as a gigantic scheme of finance.[223] He amused
+himself by supposing the number of chances which might intervene before,
+of ninety-six men, the whole should be divided into clubs of six, and
+by the separate agreement of all combine their fortunes, and risk joint
+forfeitures: each man settling into partnership with five others whom he
+could trust, and by whom he could be trusted. He figured also the
+embarrassment of the protectors, who every evening, ledger in hand, must
+make up their debtor and creditor account for the three hundred
+probationers.
+
+The summary, Capt. Maconochie had enclosed, under seal of the Governor,
+to Sir George Grey, without however fully explaining its contents to Sir
+John Franklin, or intimating its serious and formal nature. When the
+journal containing it was placed in his hands, he uttered an exclamation
+of astonishment, and instantly dismissed its author, but did not
+withdraw his friendship. Maconochie represented that it was a private
+document, intended for private use--its sudden appearance not less
+unexpected than embarrassing. That he had not submitted this paper to
+the Governor, he ascribed to the irritation caused by the difference of
+their opinions; and that he did not delay its transmission, he imputed
+to its overwhelming importance and its pressure on his mind. How the
+spirit of the Governor was extolled by the colonists need not be
+formally stated, or how his discarded secretary was accused of rashness,
+perfidy, and falsehood. Maconochie did not himself disdain to
+acknowledge, that in error of judgment he had forwarded too early, and
+in a manner seemingly clandestine, a report so decided. The imputation
+of duplicity was unjust: Franklin was not wholly ignorant of the
+contents of the packet. Although not, perhaps, aware that he was
+franking a system, yet by the same vessel he wrote to the minister that
+he had not read, and could not answer for the _summary_. It was,
+however, strange for the ministers of the crown to rely on a private
+report; and especially upon the truthfulness of an analysis, which gave
+opinions, but deferred the evidence on which they were said to rest.
+
+The resemblance which may be traced between the system propounded by
+Maconochie, and the suggestions which have been offered at various times
+by writers on this subject, will not deprive him of the credit of
+originality. Hazarded by their authors without much reflection, the
+boldness of a reformer was required to adapt them. It may, however, be
+interesting to trace the details which he combined, or the sources of
+those ideas which he comprehended in his scheme.
+
+Sidney Smith suggested "new gradations of guilt to be established by
+law, and new names to those gradations; a different measure of good and
+evil treatment attached to those denominations--as rogues, incorrigible
+rogues," and so forth.
+
+Mr. Potter M'Queen recommended a division of offenders, some of whom
+should be punished in gangs, and others subject to a process simply
+reformatory.
+
+Blanco White, a celebrated Spaniard, had suggested sentences to an
+amount of work rather than to an extent of years. He proposed that the
+tread-wheel should measure the progress of the culprit, and that every
+revolution should bring him nearer to liberty.
+
+His punitive system had long been adopted by Arthur, though probably
+with objects somewhat distinct: it was found in every penal settlement
+and road gang.
+
+Capt. Cheyne had recommended the opening of accounts and payment for
+probationary labor.
+
+At Bermuda, the stimulus of present enjoyment was offered to industry:
+convicts were allowed 1_s._ 6_d._ per week, half of which they were at
+liberty to expend in fruits, vegetables, and such like comforts; the
+residue forming a fund, sometimes of L15 and L20, receivable at
+discharge. These indulgences were attended with the happiest effects,
+and the superintendent, Sir Thomas Usher, was so satisfied with their
+reformation, that he had no doubt seven-eighths were better men at the
+close than at the commencement of their bondage.
+
+The idea of clubs was found in the tithings of the ancient Britons,
+which were enrolled by the authority of Alfred, and made liable for each
+other. Maconochie saw in the disjointed and licentious condition of that
+era, something analogous to the state of convicts, and in the result
+that "a bracelet might be left on the highway with security," an
+encouragement to hope, from a similar organisation, for the same
+success. Capt. Maconochie quoted Hume in describing these societies, but
+he omitted those sentences which seem to give another aspect to the
+institution; for when a member of the tithings was charged with a crime,
+the rest could purge themselves from responsibility, if acquitted on
+oath of connivance with the offender, or his escape: but, however
+innocent, the clubs of Maconochie were involved in the responsibility of
+the transgressor--a fundamental difference, the suppression of which was
+scarcely compatible with literary candour.
+
+Bentham himself had proposed that convicts should remain at auxiliary
+establishments, in principle resembling the training stations of
+Maconochie, until they could be prepared for the full enjoyment of
+liberty. He also suggested mutual surveillance associations, in which
+the prisoners should watch over, instruct, and assist each other.
+Archbishop Whately advocated the detention of prisoners until their
+reformation was established.
+
+Maconochie attributed his idea of marks to an observation of Messrs.
+Backhouse and Walker on their usefulness in training the rising
+generation: they thought they discerned a faint image of the club system
+at Macquarie Harbour, where devout prisoners separated themselves into a
+society, and were secured from the interruption of the rest. Men from
+bondage, were released in the hulks, when the sum total of marks in
+their favor covered a certain period of their sentence.
+
+Macarthur had recommended the employment of an officer, under the
+immediate direction of the home secretary of state, responsible for the
+full execution of a sentence, to whom the entire management of the
+convict department might be committed. The governors would thus be less
+likely to change the aspect of transportation, according to their
+particular theories.[224]
+
+Captain Maconochie was preceded in this branch of penal philosophy by a
+gentleman, not equally celebrated, but who proposed changes as radical.
+It is amusing to observe, with what different objects, and how diverse
+in spirit, similar mutations have been enforced. Dr. Henderson, the
+founder of the Van Diemen's Land Society, on returning to India, offered
+through the press at Calcutta a new scheme of colonisation, based on
+convict government. That which existed he deemed defective in its main
+principles, and futile in its results. The settlers he described, with
+some contempt, as an inferior class, inflated with notions of liberty
+and equality, and debased by convict associations; prone to quarrel and
+encroach, but distressed with the endless vexations of their lot.
+Forbidden to punish the insolence of their servants; exposed to the
+disgrace of meeting their accusations; or when they prosecuted a charge,
+liable to the strictures of the magistrate, who might penetrate the
+secrets of their dwellings, and censure them in the presence of their
+exulting slaves. Thus, though the author assumed the tone of
+philosophical discussion, he differed from others who professed to
+investigate principles: he observed--"We find the convicts in the
+condition of slaves placed under despotic power." "It is not necessary
+to enquire whether it is for their benefit;" "they are not entitled to
+our sympathy, should they be treated with the rigour of slaves:" "they
+will not often labor when they are removed from the dread of
+punishment." "The magistrates should be relieved from forms and
+precedents, and punish according to the intrinsic value of offences, and
+for the public good." "More injury is done by the trammels of the law,
+than by leaving the judges to their own discretion." Such is the essence
+of his system, which, however, always presumed the existence of a lofty
+purpose and a dispassionate administration.[225] For this large
+discretion, however, he pronounced the existing settlers unfit: he
+recommended the employment of young educated gentlemen, under a board of
+directors, and proposed as the primary object of discipline, neither
+punishment nor intimidation, but _productiveness_. Power being lodged in
+the hands of the superintendents, without regard to _Burns' Justice_, or
+written regulations, they would check offences at once, and punish
+according to their social and material tendency. He held, as vitally
+important, that all national views in reference to transportation should
+be subordinate to the colonial welfare. Having formed agricultural
+establishments, and fitted them to become the home of capitalists, the
+officers of government would give place to another class of employers.
+The house, the servants, and the cleared ground, would be disposed of by
+the crown; the convicts, gradually trained, exalted into a free
+population, and with their families would form a peasantry. The sale of
+these estates would repay the original outlay; and thus, without further
+drafts on the treasury, the process could be renewed in an endless
+succession. The lash, Dr. Henderson was far from rejecting as an
+instrument of correction--"cheap and expeditious:" in short, his was a
+plan of slavery, and which conveyed semi-magisterial powers to the
+overseers, and gave them a profit on the labor they might exact.
+
+Henderson had become sultanised by living in India: he was attached to
+the spirit of its government; the legal formalities, which delight an
+Englishman, seemed to him the degradation of rank, and a pernicious
+license to inferiors. In his imaginary commonwealth, he saw but two
+classes, which, in the language of the East, he distinguished as the
+"head and the hand." He thought the judges should be required to aid the
+governors by their interpretations of the law; who, at the close of
+their administration, might be tried by their peers, and, if found
+wanting, handed over to everlasting shame! Thus, his plan embodied the
+spirit of caste, of orientalism, and of the India House. He had no
+simpering tenderness for the prisoner, while he attributed to the upper
+classes an innate rectitude and self control, such as the British
+records of the East will hardly sustain. His speculations are worth
+remembering, for the contrast of their _animus_ with those of
+Maconochie, and for the analogy in their details.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 221: The petition to the Commons prayed an enquiry into the
+efficacy of transportation to New South Wales as a secondary punishment:
+whether it should be continued, and under what alterations of the
+present system; or, if discontinued, in what manner, &c.--_Petition_,
+1836.]
+
+[Footnote 222: It was not much better in England: the Rev. J. Clay
+stated, that in Preston there were 422 dwellings, inhabited by 2,400
+persons, sleeping in 852 beds; that is an average of five and a
+fractional part as follows:--84 cases 4 in a bed; 28 cases 5, 13 cases
+6, 3 cases 7, 1 case 8; one family of 8 on bed frames, covered with a
+little straw.--_Health of Towns Commission_, 1844.]
+
+[Footnote 223:
+
+_Dr._                             _Cr._
+A. 3 marks for getting drunk.        | B. 1 mark for punctual at
+C. 2 marks for losing part of his    |      church.
+     Sunday clothes.                 | D. 2 marks for general
+E. 5 marks for wantonly assaulting F.|      steadiness and obedience.
+  --                                 | F. 3 marks for self command
+  10                                 |      under grievous provocation.
+   6                                 |   --
+  --                                 |    6
+   4 loss; falling one-half on those who obtained the entire stock of
+     credit.]
+
+[Footnote 224: _Macarthur's Present State, &c._ pp. 47, 49.]
+
+[Footnote 225: "They should have increased the barriers between him and
+the convict; and in those investigations they should have leaned towards
+him (the master), even at the expense of legal justice: his character
+should have been rendered sacred in the eyes of the convict."--_Henderson's
+Observations_, p. 12.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XX.
+
+At this era, no one will question the integrity or benevolence of
+Captain Maconochie, and it would be disgraceful in a historical work to
+adopt the language of prejudice, much more the invectives of a quarrel;
+but it is not less important to estimate aright both his opinions and
+his plans. His description of the condition of the prisoners might be
+easily illustrated by examples. There were settlers, not a few, to whose
+care the prisoners were entrusted, who were unfit to govern a kennel.
+Low in their origin, corrupt in their principles, and detestable in
+their lives--themselves differing from felons in nothing but their
+position.
+
+The unhappy prisoner entrusted to their charge, was insulted, coerced,
+and crushed. Sufficiently cunning to avoid a palpable infraction of the
+orders of government, they constantly violated their spirit. Physical
+weakness, or mental incapacity, they treated as evasion or contempt.
+Prone to invoke the interposition of the magistracy, they drove
+unfortunate beings for slight offences to a tribunal, where the
+presumption was always against them. In the presence of the magistrate
+they were smooth and supple; but the eye of the punished prisoner marked
+the exultation of cruelty triumphant, and his course was rapid from
+failings to faults, and from faults to crimes.
+
+In the larger establishments, except where the humanity of the master
+kept alive his vigilance, the men were sometimes placed in the power of
+an overseer, himself perhaps an expiree; who, elated with office,
+delighted in the advent of his turn to torture. On such farms the rigour
+of discipline seemed essential to order: too often, the men differed but
+little from slaves. Violations of rule were deemed more pernicious by
+their example than their immediate inconvenience: to pass by a fault,
+was thought to license its imitation. The indulgences afforded by a
+small settler, whose social happiness depended on their good humour,
+would have proved, where many herded together, an item of large expense.
+Punishments, the readiest instruments of control, were inflicted on
+calculation: there was, perhaps, no anger in the breast of the
+accuser--the defaulter he would have readily forgiven, had he stood
+alone; but impunity would relax the reins of authority, and the lash was
+invoked because most convenient. The published documents of the House of
+Commons illustrate the perseverance of masters, in repeating their
+prosecutions; and the resistance and suffering of miserable men, who for
+the long period of their service lived in constant warfare, and
+retaliated the social wretchedness they endured. An enquirer could not
+long reside in the colony, without learning that many had borne a
+succession of punishments sufficient to prostrate the strength of a
+giant, and which no mere animal in the creation could survive.
+
+Yet this is not a fair estimate of the character of the settlers, or the
+results of assignment; and a want of discrimination in Maconochie,
+however unintentional, was a serious injustice. It was true, that the
+constant vexations of a settler's life produced, too generally, a tone
+and manner, striking to a stranger, because not so common under happier
+circumstances. The substantial benevolence of many employers is not the
+less unquestionable: a large number continued their liberated men in
+their service, whom they had taught the arts of industry, brought under
+the influence of moral instruction, and assisted to settle in life.
+Hundreds scattered throughout these colonies, who were born in the
+contagion of wickedness, were rescued from habits of crime by the long
+and patient training of their masters. That many such have become
+virtuous, in the highest sense, could not be affirmed without hazard;
+but can this be said of the majority of mankind?
+
+The charges of Maconochie incurred severe reproach, for their rashness.
+It is true, that the prominence of evil fixes the attention, while
+humanity is retiring and noiseless--as the riot of the streets conceals
+rather than illustrates the sobriety and order within doors; but a
+philosopher should have taken into account this facility of error, while
+condemning with whatever severity the evils he might scan: lest he
+should be found to set forth the exception as the rule, and the rule as
+the exception.
+
+Were persons, who have passed through assignment, to give their
+testimony, a very large proportion would acknowledge that their
+condition was not unhappy, or their masters unkind. In his estimate of
+prisoners, Capt. Maconochie was equally deceived by a generous
+confidence, or by his pity for human suffering. Some were, indeed, far
+superior to their degradation: they retained in bondage the principles
+they had derived from education, or the dispositions natural to their
+character: offenders by accident, not habit; and some condemned by that
+last calamity incident to society, the mistakes of public justice. A
+much larger class were victims of early neglect: parental example, or of
+the social evils which are incident to the refinement, corruption, and
+selfishness of the age; but very many, whatever the cause of their
+depravity, were really and recklessly depraved. The pitying eye of the
+philanthropist, glancing at their history, would find his compassion in
+the ascendant, and in surveying their misfortunes might forget their
+crimes; but to stand in contact with them; to struggle against their
+passions, to hear their profaneness, to correct their indolence, and to
+thwart their peculations--these were duties and trials, in the presence
+of which the highest benevolence became practical, and theory gave way
+before actual experience. Nor is it easy to discover by what plan the
+injustice of European society, or the misfortunes of youth, can change
+the colonial aspect of depravity, or supersede the penalties provoked by
+indisputable wickedness.
+
+A close examination of the records in the police-office, not only proves
+the revolting severity of our penal administration, but by preserving
+the original character and colonial career of the prisoners, illustrates
+the depth, continuity, and recklessness of their guilt. It was in this
+department of his investigation Maconochie dropped into serious errors.
+He entertained the conviction that the far greater number were wicked,
+because they were unhappy: nor did he sufficiently perceive, that in a
+large mass of offenders the principles which debase them had become
+constitutional by habit; and that nothing, short of divine power, could
+change the current of their passions, or the course of their lives. From
+such a view of human nature the feeling mind revolts, and the
+philanthropist may justly cherish those animating hopes which instances
+of reformation may save from the charge of folly; but a philosopher,
+constructing a system, cannot disguise facts with impunity: and nothing
+is more certain than that he whose expectations are disappointed, feels
+a dangerous reaction, and passes from unlimited confidence to
+undiscriminating suspicion. The administration of the criminal laws,
+both in Great Britain and the colonies, presents a series of
+alternations between rigour and laxity, which have proceeded from the
+alternate ascendancy of conflicting ideas, that can never settle into
+harmony.
+
+Maconochie delighted to trace the better qualities of prisoners: how
+even the most daring are moved by tenderness, and when kindly spoken to,
+melt into tears. Unhappily these characteristics too often exist in
+combination with passions which render them useless. It is, however, the
+duty of all to endeavour to elicit and nourish them; for though they but
+slightly relieve the depravity with which they are not incompatible,
+they afford a nucleus round which the social virtues often gather, and
+prevent the total despondency of those who labor for the welfare of the
+weak, the wicked, and the miserable.
+
+Sir John Franklin made a last effort to save the system of assignment.
+He defended the colonists from the imputations of Captain Maconochie,
+and exhibited statistics, which proved their anxiety to promote the
+spiritual welfare of the population. He maintained that the surveillance
+of the government was active, the distribution of labor usually
+impartial; the protection of the prisoners from injustice
+secured by law, by the press, and by the constant scrutiny of the
+lieutenant-governor. He argued that the quiet submission of the
+prisoners was not ensured so much by military power as the consciousness
+that they were treated with justice. In his view assignment, by its near
+resemblance to the ordinary combinations of social life, prevented the
+worst consequences of penal degradation, and tended to rouse the
+sympathies which crime might have rendered dormant; he, however,
+disapproved of assignment in towns, and for domestic service.[226]
+
+The abuses of assignment were prominently exhibited in the instance of
+Clapperton, a man greatly trusted by his master, Mr. Alfred Stephen. He
+was guilty of embezzlement to a large extent: he was tried by Captain
+Forster, and sentenced to fourteen years transportation; but Clapperton
+was famous as a clever cook, and as such was desired by the colonial
+secretary, who, however, judged it right first to enquire whether his
+services would be in demand for the kitchen of the governor. The private
+secretary waived the precedence, and Clapperton was accordingly sent to
+the residence of Captain Montagu. On the way to his destination he
+called at the house of his old master, to acquaint the servants with the
+favorable turn in his fortune: this became known to Mr. Alfred Stephen,
+who found that, by the prosecution he had instituted, he had conferred a
+favor upon an official friend. He immediately appealed to Sir John
+Franklin, who was evidently unconcerned in the arrangement: he recalled
+the man, and sent him to labor on the roads. The public discussion of
+this case excited a strong sensation: it illustrated the system, which
+sent one man to toil on the chain, and another to wear the livery of the
+second officer of the government.
+
+Fifty gentlemen presented a requisition to the sheriff, to call a
+meeting, to discuss the abuses of transportation: this, however, he
+declined, and the requisitionists permitted the matter to drop, lest an
+exposure should endanger assignment altogether. It could only suggest to
+the British parliament new arguments for abolition, when it was found
+that a doubly convicted offender was sent a few miles, into an opulent
+establishment, to enjoy the dominion of the larder, to romp with the
+maids, traffick with the tradesmen, and command the means of vicious
+gratification; while a simple rustic, fresh from his first
+transgression, was subject to all the hardships of predial bondage.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 226: Despatch lo Lord Glenelg, October, 1837.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XXI.
+
+But Sir W. Molesworth had roused opposition to the prevailing system.
+The Commons' committee examined twenty-three gentlemen, whose testimony
+would be without novelty to the reader of these volumes. The greater
+part concurred in the inexpediency of assignment, and in the usefulness
+and importance of transportation. These witnesses were charged by
+Maconochie with a general indifference to the moral welfare and personal
+improvement of the prisoners. A colonist would, however, easily
+distinguish substantial benevolence from sentimental opinions; and they
+knew, by the trials of experience, how toilsome are the most generous
+efforts to correct habits not to be softened by the tears of compassion,
+and which do not yield to the wand of the magician.
+
+The committee recommended that transportation to New South Wales, and
+the settled districts of Van Diemen's Land, should be discontinued: that
+establishments abroad should be limited to places where no free settlers
+were allowed to enter; that the abridgment of a sentence should be
+determined by fixed rules; that at its close, encouragement should be
+offered, to such as might merit the favor, to go to some country where
+support could be more easily obtained, and character recovered; and,
+finally, that no convict should be permitted to remain at the place of
+his punishment after its termination.
+
+Such were the recommendations of this famous committee, which were
+carried into effect only so far as suited the convenience of the
+ministers; who, however, stopped transportation to New South Wales, and
+revoked the order in council by which that country was constituted a
+penal settlement. "On the 1st of August, 1840," said Lord John Russell,
+"transportation to New South Wales will cease for ever."
+
+In van Diemen's Land, assignment was abolished: first in domestic
+service, then in the towns; and the opinion was intimated by Lord John
+Russell, that he inclined to the views of Archbishop Whately, with
+limitations and exceptions.[227]
+
+Among writers upon the subject, who most strenuously maintained the
+policy of transportation, may be enumerated Bishop Broughton, Dr. Lang,
+Dr. Ross, of Hobart Town, Sir George Arthur, Sir John Franklin, Messrs.
+Macarthur, David Burns, and Captain Wood. They united in vindicating the
+colonists from the imputation of profligacy and cruelty. Governor Bourke
+was alone, among influential persons, a secret advocate of total
+abolition. In writing to the secretary of state, he intimated his
+conviction that, however strong the prejudice of the colonists in favor
+of penal labor, they were losers by the bargain; and that the social
+mischief gathering around them would soon demand a total cessation.[228]
+
+In the voluminous productions, which for more than twenty years teemed
+from the colonial press, the idea of total abolition was scarcely
+suggested; except, indeed, in the year 1826, a colonist, under a
+fictitious signature, hinted in modest language that free labor might
+prove the cheapest in the end. The notion was tolerated, while the
+country was ravaged by bushrangers, but it was only treated as a
+curiosity and a dream.[229]
+
+Towards the close of 1839, a meeting was held in the Mansion-house at
+Dublin, to promote emigration to New Zealand. A resolution was passed,
+on the motion of Dr. Dickenson, the chaplain of the Archbishop of
+Dublin, which exhibited a frightful portraiture of the Australian
+colonies.[230] Dr. Dickenson dwelt upon the social corruption, and
+declared that it was in vain to imagine a colony, so composed, could
+ever become respectable. The natural conclusion from the proportions of
+the census, the amount of crime, and the character of the expirees, was
+unfavorable to the colonies; but the imputation of general vice and
+juvenile depravity, were made most frequently by projectors of rival
+settlements, and were tinged with selfishness. The object of the
+arch-bishop and his chaplain warped their judgment, and their lofty tone
+induced the public to believe that they were right; yet when they
+described the colonies as vast brothels--as the dwelling of banditti,
+rank with the crimes and ripening to the ruin of Gomorrah--they were
+guilty of injustice. Many, who labored to civilise the brutish, and to
+reform the vicious, read with just indignation the statements of
+persons, whose station gave weight to their accusations, when they told
+the world that the children of the settlers surpassed, by the precosity
+of their depravation, the dreams of misanthropy. Against these sweeping
+opinions, Major Macarthur, then on the spot, earnestly protested. Dr.
+Broughton, on this side the globe, made an energetic remonstrance, and
+asserted that the report of the transportation committee could be taken
+only as the collection of facts, which were spread over a long period of
+time, and were descriptive only of a base and dishonored fraction. He
+asserted that a series of the _Times_ newspaper contained a succession
+of atrocities which, if combined, would exhibit Great Britain as the
+most worthless of nations.
+
+Inspirited by Captain Wood, of Snake Banks, the settlers of Tasmania had
+endeavoured to check the calumnies which assailed them. A public
+meeting, held when the report of the committee arrived, requested the
+Governor to do them justice. Sir John Franklin warmly denied the
+corruption imputed to the settlers, and the chief facts alleged against
+transportation; and the clergy united in general commendations of the
+liberality, decorum, and religious habits they had witnessed. This
+appeal was not received with much favor in England, and the London
+_Times_ pertinaciously maintained that they were mere assertions of
+individuals--who represented that Van Diemen's Land, far from being a
+den of vice, was the place to look for virtue.[231]
+
+The Archbishop of Dublin presented a petition from certain citizens of
+London, praying for the total abolition of transportation. He declared
+that no opposition, derision, or contempt, should daunt him. He advised
+the establishment of insular penitentiaries in the neighbourhood of
+Great Britain, and he moved that the punishment of transportation
+should be abolished immediately, completely, and finally.[232] The
+Bishop of Exeter, always in antagonism to Dr. Whately, asserted that his
+representations were exaggerated, and that crime amongst the native born
+population was one half less than in England. The whig Bishop of Norwich
+sustained the views of Dr. Whately. In reply, the minister stated that
+they had stripped transportation of its allurement. Some punishment for
+life was essential; Englishmen would not endure the perpetual
+imprisonment of human beings, or the sight of felons in their streets
+working in chains. It was resolved, however, to reduce the proportion
+transported, and to promote emigration. Lord Normanby observed, that
+although the most reverend prelate had made the question the subject of
+eight years meditation, he had not yet discovered a substitute which
+could justify abolition.
+
+The ministers of the crown resolved to diminish transportation, but
+nothing was prepared for a change so great as was implied by total
+abolition: they, therefore, adopted a middle course, and Lord Normanby,
+in a despatch to Sir George Gipps, developed the policy then in the
+ascendant.[233] The principal scene of the future experiment, chosen by
+her Majesty's government, was Norfolk Island, commended by its healthy
+climate, its fertile soil, and its seclusion.
+
+When the former settlers relinquished this insular paradise, it was long
+abandoned to desolation. The timber of the buildings was consumed by
+fire, lest the place should allure and accommodate pirates or enemies.
+In 1825, when it was re-visited, the few swine left there had
+multiplied; the domestic cats had become wild, and the trees were
+thronged with pigeons and doves. The ruined walls and blackened chimneys
+spread over with the unpruned vine, the coffee plant, the orange tree:
+the road overgrown, the stone enclosure beset with rank vegetation,
+amidst which many a garden flower grew wild, presented a scene, perhaps,
+unprecedented, except by oriental desolations.[234]
+
+It was proposed to erect a prison on the island, in which a large body
+might be lodged; for which plans were forwarded, and the expenses
+required authorised by the crown. It was intended to remove the convicts
+already there; thus to preserve the prisoners transported from the
+united kingdom from the contaminating example of their predecessors. A
+commandant was to be appointed, at a salary of L800 per annum, who was
+expected to avoid the extremes of laxity and severity; qualified by a
+deep interest in the moral welfare of the prisoners. To this office
+Captain Maconochie was appointed by Sir George Gipps, and was permitted
+to test the ideas he had propounded, and to seek the success he had
+foretold. It was expected by the government, that the labour of the
+prisoners would soon almost cover the cost of their support.
+
+The advent of Maconochie created vast excitement among the unfortunate
+beings. The active efforts of this officer altered the tone of the
+settlement, and inspired the desponding with hope: they changed the
+aspect of that abode of misery--where suffering, insurgency, and
+carnage, had furnished a dark page in penal history. True to his creed,
+he removed the permanent gallows, which met the eyes of the prisoners as
+they left their barracks for their morning toil, and abolished the
+doubly-loaded cats, which had been heretofore the instruments of
+punishment. The impulse was powerful: a new tone of command, humane even
+to tenderness; the promise of speedy deliverance, wrought on the minds
+of the prisoners with the force of novelty and surprise. The gaol doors
+were thrown open: the gaoler loitered before the deserted prison, and
+the prisoners yielded to the spell of a transient enchantment. On his
+arrival, Maconochie issued an "exposition" of his plan: he told the
+prisoners that punishment would be inflicted, to inspire the thoughtless
+with reflection and the guilty with repentance. Such would be its
+object, and such its limits. He exhorted them to a manly endurance and a
+diligent preparation to acquire the comforts of _honest_ bread. He
+assured them, that while the escape of the incorrigible would be barred
+for ever, he would delight to hasten the freedom of the worthy. Thus
+those that earned 6,000 marks would discharge a seven years' sentence,
+or 7,000 would be required for ten years' servitude; and 8,000 was the
+composition proposed for a sentence for life. They were, however, to
+enjoy a portion of their earnings, which they paid in exchange for
+luxuries, or to reserve the whole to hasten their discharge. Thus it was
+possible to obtain a ticket-of-leave in one, two, or two and a-half
+years, from a sentence of seven, ten years, or life. He deprecated those
+lengthened punishments, which deprive men of the years of youth, and
+strengthen and ripen every evil propensity into fatal maturity.
+
+While the government of Norfolk Island developed the novel system,
+accounts were conveyed to the colonies only at intervals: some in the
+spirit of hostility, and others because they were idle, delighted to
+depict the enthusiastic Maconochie as the subject of delusion, and the
+butt of ridicule among those he reformed; but the climax at last came.
+
+Never was Norfolk Island so gay, or its inhabitants so joyful, as on the
+25th May, 1840. A proclamation had been issued by Maconochie, describing
+the pleasures and festivities he contemplated. On this occasion he
+resolved to forget the distinction between good and bad, and to make no
+exception from the general indulgence; but he entreated the men to
+remember that on the success of this experiment his confidence would
+greatly depend: he warned them to suppress the first tokens of disorder,
+and by retiring to their quarters at the sound of the bugle, prove that
+they might be trusted with safety. On the morning of the day, the signal
+colours floated from the staff, crowned with the union jack: twenty-one
+guns, collected from the vessels and from the government-house, were
+mounted on the top of a hill, and fired a royal salute. The gates were
+thrown open, and eighteen hundred prisoners were set free, and joined in
+various amusements, of which Captain Maconochie was a frequent
+spectator. Eighteen hundred prisoners sat down to dinner, and at its
+close, having received each a small quantity of spirits with water, they
+drank health to the Queen and Maconochie--three times three for Victoria
+and the captain rent the air. They then renewed their sports, or
+attended a theatrical performance. New scenery, dresses, music, and
+songs, contributed to the hilarity of the party. The performances were,
+the _Castle of Andalusia_, in which the comic powers of the prisoners
+were exhibited to their companions, a variety of glees and songs, the
+tent scene of _Richard III._, the _Purse, or the Benevolent Tar_, and
+finally the national anthem.[235] At the termination, no accident had
+occurred; the gaol was entirely unoccupied; no theft or disorder had
+disgraced the day; and thus the notion of Maconochie seemed to be
+illustrated by the experiment. The contrast with the past system created
+the greatest amazement, and the description of this extraordinary scene
+excited universal laughter.
+
+The long habit of connecting the notions of crime and punishment, of
+guilt and misery, was thus violently shocked. Its novelty gave to the
+policy of Norfolk Island the air of delirium: the disciplinarians of the
+ancient regime raised their hands with astonishment. The place, once of
+all most hateful, painted by fancy became an elysium: employment
+enlivened by plays, rum, and tobacco, was described as a cheering
+vicissitude in a life of crime. It was not difficult to see, that a
+reaction would follow, and that any untoward accident would produce a
+recoil.
+
+It is said, that the prisoners at Norfolk Island deeply sympathised with
+their chief: that they combined in a society for mutual reformation, and
+that the paper which contained the outlines of the plan was headed by
+the well-known motto of the Irish liberator--
+
+"Hereditary bondsmen! know ye not, who would be free,
+Themselves must strike the blow."
+
+These promising appearances were soon followed by a catastrophe,
+attended with sad sacrifice of life.
+
+On 21st June, 1842, the _Governor Phillip_ stood in the Bay. A prisoner,
+seated upon a rock, awaited the return of his companions from the
+vessel, twelve in number: they had been sent to assist in unloading the
+stores, and had remained all night. He heard firing on board, and ran to
+give notice to the nearest officer: the vessel had been taken. There
+were twelve soldiers, beside eighteen seamen. Two sentries were placed
+over the hatchway, but the prisoners were allowed to pass to the deck,
+where they noticed the negligence of the guard, which they rapidly
+communicated to their comrades below. In a few minutes they were all on
+deck: they rushed one sentry, and attempted to seize his pistols; then
+threw him overboard: the other resigned his gun. Two unarmed soldiers,
+who were accidentally on deck, struggled against them; they were
+unsuccessful: one took refuge in the main chains, and slipped down into
+the launch; the second attempted to swim ashore, but when within a few
+yards from the rock, he uttered a cry, raised his hand, and disappeared.
+The sergeant having gained the deck, shot the nearest of the mutineers;
+but he received a blow which rendered him insensible. The sailors ran to
+the forecastle, and the hatches were fastened down; but the prisoners,
+unable to work the vessel, summoned two sailors from below to assist
+them. The soldiers, having broken through to the captain's cabin, fired
+through the gratings: several mutineers were wounded. The convicts then
+proposed to send the sailors on shore, and demanded the surrender of the
+captain, who answered with a shot, which struck the leader in the mouth,
+and passed through his brain: the remainder instantly ran below, and the
+vessel was retaken. One soldier, who had attempted to reach the shore,
+had been compelled to swim back, and had been saved by a mutineer; but
+in ascending the side of the vessel was shot by the sergeant in mistake.
+The prisoners now asked quarter, which was granted; but one, on reaching
+the deck, received a shot in the thigh: another raised his arms, and
+cried "spare me!" Either by mistake, or in revenge, his head was blown
+off by the fire of the soldiers. Thus the deck was covered with the
+dying and the dead. The wounded were landed, and the bodies of those
+slain were buried by moonlight.
+
+The prisoners were confined together in a large room of the gaol, where
+they were visited by the chaplain and commandant, who both labored to
+awaken them to a sense of their guilt. Several were remarkable for their
+misfortunes and their crimes. They were conveyed to Sydney in the vessel
+they attempted to capture. On their arrival, crowds met them, anxious to
+catch a glimpse of the men who had dared, unarmed, so bold an
+enterprise. They met their fate with fortitude, and their last words
+were in grateful remembrance of Maconochie. The chaplain who attended
+them, has described[236] the gratifying change of which he was the
+witness; and mentions with natural indignation the negligence which
+suggested the attempt, the cowardice with which it was resisted, and the
+cruelty displayed in its suppression.
+
+Before deciding the merits of Maconochie's system by the result at
+Norfolk Island, it is proper to estimate the disadvantages under which
+it was tried. The island was not cleared of its former occupants, and
+thus its corrupting traditions were perpetuated. The officers employed
+had been formed under another system: several regarded the process with
+contempt, and were involved in quarrels with its projector. They
+resented the diminution of personal consequence, by an attempt to give
+prisoners the air of free men.[237]
+
+The application of marks in redemption from a time sentence, was
+forbidden in cases of second conviction: thus, while some were spurred
+on to labor by the prospect of earlier liberty, the older and worst
+offenders were rewarded in having at their own disposal the time they
+saved by extra exertion; too often injuriously passed.
+
+The small extent of the island, and the absence of a free employing
+population prevented an uniform practical liberation of the prisoners:
+vessels were not always at hand, and thus tickets-of-leave were granted
+to prisoners, who were employed on small farms allotted for their use.
+The obstruction to rapid dispersion prevented the hope of liberty from
+acting on the imagination with proper efficacy. The experimental nature
+of the plan was injurious to its fame. It required constant adjustment:
+irregularities and excesses suggested new details, and gave to the
+movements of the commandant the aspect of vacillation.
+
+The settlement continued under the command of Maconochie four years;
+during which time another Plan, known as the probation system, was
+launched on the sea of penal speculation. The destination of Norfolk
+Island was reversed: no more the school of reform, it was to be made the
+lowest deep of transportation; and well has its destiny been
+fulfilled.[238]
+
+Sir George Gipps, in his address to his council,[239] announced that,
+after two years and a-half trial, it was found that the expense had
+greatly increased; he had, therefore, resolved to transfer the prisoners
+from Norfolk Island to Van Diemen's Land. It had been at first
+contemplated to establish in that island not less than from two to four
+thousand men; but this accumulation the ministers had found it necessary
+to abate: and he expressed his conviction that that settlement would be
+only reserved for the restraint of incorrigible offenders, and the
+punishment of aggravated crimes.[240]
+
+Sir George Gipps deemed it necessary to visit Norfolk Island (1843). His
+stay was too brief for more than a superficial survey. His impressions,
+on the whole, were favorable. He found the men orderly, respectful, and
+contented. The "old hands," or colonial convicts, formerly subject to a
+discipline severe to cruelty, were softened in their demeanour. "Great
+and merciful as the amelioration, no evils had resulted equal to those
+prevented." The lash was disused: the men were permitted to walk abroad
+during their leisure; to fish or bathe; to mix sweet potatoes with their
+maize bread--an indulgence greatly prized; to use knives, and other
+conveniences before denied them: yet beneath these pleasing appearances
+a fearful demoralization was traced. The prisoners from Great Britain
+were exposed to examples of appalling sensual degradation: vices
+prevailed which have ever stained that island.
+
+The colonial press, uniformly hostile, was crowded with grotesque
+delineations--a style of opposition, when not ill-founded, more fatal
+than the most bitter criticism. The politeness of Maconochie to his men,
+and which formed a part of his system, was the subject of constant
+humour: he treated them like gentlemen in distress; they regarded him as
+a patron and benefactor.[241] The recall of Maconochie had been
+contemplated from the publication of the birthday festivities of 1840:
+his administration was, however, prolonged until 1844, from the
+difficulty of finding a qualified successor.
+
+The people of New South Wales, who regretted the abolition of assignment
+as a calamity, disapproved the scheme of Maconochie. The legislative
+council declared against the transportation of convicts to Norfolk
+Island, not only as hopeless in reference to the moral recovery of the
+prisoners, but tending to perpetuate all the evils of transportation
+without its advantages. They requested that prohibitory measures might
+be adopted to prevent them from entering the colony at the expiration of
+their sentences (1840).
+
+The trial of the "mark system" in Norfolk Island during a period of
+four years, according to Captain Forster, totally failed. This was the
+most important element of Maconochie's reform discipline. The men,
+however, found means to render the accumulation of marks independent of
+individual conduct and moral reformation. The amount, which ranged from
+eight to thirty marks a-day, afforded ample means for corruption. Clever
+mechanics were rewarded for their skill; the strong for their strength.
+The convict clerks falsified the accounts; men transferred their marks
+to each other as a private traffic. Offences were mostly punished by the
+forfeiture of marks: blasphemy at thirty; insolence at fifty; and
+greater insubordination, two or three hundred. These are the
+representations of an officer hostile to the plan; but they are such as
+are probable in themselves, and are inseparable from every system
+admitting indefinite good conduct as a positive claim to
+liberation.[242]
+
+The officers had been permitted to keep shops and to traffic with the
+prisoners; and, it was said, that a vessel was freighted from Sydney to
+supply them with goods. It was, however, asserted by Maconochie that the
+practice had prevailed before his time; that it was in harmony with the
+milder views which led to his appointment, and conduced to the
+development of social virtues; that the re-convictions of persons
+discharged from the island were one-third less than of prisoners trained
+in Van Diemen's Land. Captain Maconochie repudiated "the fearful
+conclusion, that to make men examples to others, it is necessary to
+destroy them, body and soul."[243]
+
+Nothing could have been more ill-judged than the selection of Norfolk
+Island for the experiment. The detention of the doubly-convicted, men
+long practised in the vices of the island, was still more unfavorable to
+a moral reformation. The preliminary accommodations, directed by Lord
+Normanby, were not provided: even friendly officers were not secured;
+and had the scheme been ever so sound in its principles, its failure was
+inevitable. In retiring from office, Maconochie was permitted to
+recommend for indulgence all whose expectation of release was justified
+by his promises, and he left the island regretted by the prisoners. A
+total change was contemplated in the discipline of the place: Norfolk
+Island returned to its former character as the "lowest deep."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 227: These views are thus stated by the Archbishop:--"Thus,
+under a reformed system of secondary punishment, supposing
+transportation abolished, it strikes me as desirable, with a view to the
+preservation from a return to evil courses of persons released from
+penitentiaries, &c., after the expiration of their punishment, that such
+as may have evinced a disposition to reform, should be at their own
+desire furnished with means of emigrating to various colonies, British
+or foreign, in which they may mix, not with such men as their old
+associates in crime, but with respectable persons unacquainted with
+their past history; and may thus be enabled, as the phrase is, to turn
+over a new leaf.' This, of course, implies that they should not emigrate
+in a body to any one place, and as a distinct class. For juvenile
+offenders the same course would, perhaps, be even still more
+suitable."--_Letter addressed to the Rev. H. Bishop, on the evidence
+taken before the Transportation Committee; containing his Grace's
+opinion on the efficacy of the punishment of transportation._]
+
+[Footnote 228: "I may venture to assure you, the colonists will feel
+great satisfaction at the declared intention (1833) to continue
+transportation.... The great advantage they derive from the labor
+outweighing, in their opinion, the mischief. Regarding, however, the
+advancement and prosperity of this colony, as now placed on foundations
+which cannot be shaken, I am strongly impressed with the belief, that
+the manners and morals of this people would be much improved, and
+ultimately their wealth and happiness would be much augmented, by a
+gradual relinquishment of the services of convicts. Yet I am aware that
+this sentiment is not generally prevalent among the settlers, and I
+shall therefore abstain from troubling you with any detailed
+explanations, upon which my opinion is founded."--_Despatch of
+Major-General Bourke, addressed to Mr. Secretary Stanley_, 1834.]
+
+[Footnote 229: _Hobart Town Gazette._]
+
+[Footnote 230: "Resolved--That in the opinion of this meeting it is
+unjustifiable to induce intending emigrants to take up their abode in
+the midst of the vice and immorality which notoriously prevail in the
+penal colonies; but that such persons should be encouraged to settle in
+countries, where they will not only be likely to thrive in fortune, but
+to lead good lives, and bring up their children in virtuous habits."]
+
+[Footnote 231: _Times, February 11th, 1840._]
+
+[Footnote 232: House of Lords, 1840.]
+
+[Footnote 233: May 11th, 1839.]
+
+[Footnote 234: For an account of Norfolk Island see vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 235: The following are the characters and performers in the
+_Castle of Andalusia_: _Don Caesar_, John Lawrence; _Scipio_, George
+Rolfe; _Fernando_, James Walker; _Alphonso_, Henry Whitton; _Spado_,
+James King; _Pedrillo_, James Monns; _Sanguino_, James Cranston;
+_Rafrino_, James Porter; _Calvetti_, William Smith; _Vasquez_, R.
+Saunderson.]
+
+[Footnote 236: See _Chambers' Miscellany_, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 237: The idea of employing the prisoners as jurors, will not
+appear more strange than as witnesses, except that it is unusual:--
+
+"These may appear singular proposals, and I readily admit that the
+absolute _rights_ of prisoner jurors, and thereby their power of
+directly controlling the course of justice, might, without impropriety,
+be for a time somewhat restricted, though, if properly trained up to the
+privilege, and this latter confined exclusively to men in their last
+stage, they would very rarely, I am certain, be found wanting in what
+was required of them. But apart from this, the objects of interesting
+prisoners, when under a course of moral discipline, in the
+administration of justice, and of giving them confidence in its equity,
+are very important ones--perhaps not any in all their management are
+more so: and both are absolutely wanting now, and may well be so in the
+circumstances in which they are placed.
+
+"In 1839, the year before my arrival at Norfolk Island, 811 cases were
+tried; of which only four ended in acquittal--such was the certainty at
+that time of conviction if accused. In 1840, I acquitted 90 out of 416
+tried. (I was then, perhaps, too difficult about evidence, and in my
+inexperience carried abstract principle too far.) In 1841, I acquitted
+25 out of 297 tried; in 1842, 24 out of 326; and in 1843, 16 out of 429.
+I was much in the habit of employing the officers about the court as a
+sort of jury, referring to them, though not formally, in cases of
+difficulty, and inviting them to ask questions. And I very early
+appointed an intelligent prisoner, in whom I otherwise had confidence,
+to speak for men accused of local offences, and make the most of their
+several statements, on condition, however, that he never said for them
+what he knew to be directly false. He thus served me very much, for what
+he did not say I sifted with the more care; and the plan altogether, and
+it is nearly that in the text, answered extremely well. It greatly
+improved the pleader himself: under the new impulses given to both his
+head and heart, he became almost a new man: while stupid prisoners, who
+could not speak for themselves, had as good a chance given them as the
+cleverest, and the latter, another very important point, had no
+better."--_Maconochie on the Management of Prisoners in the Australian
+Colonies._]
+
+[Footnote 238: The following extract from Maconochie's pamphlet, may be
+taken as his plan, matured by experience:--
+
+"The management of penal settlements should be as follows:--1. A
+fictitious debt of 6,000, 8,000, or 10,000 marks should be created
+against every man, according to his offence, which he should redeem by
+labour and other good conduct, having a proportion placed to his credit
+daily as wages, according to his behaviour, and suffering a loss by fine
+if he offends. 2. No ration should be allowed him of right, except bread
+and water: for every thing else, following up the analogy thus created
+between marks and money, he should be charged in them. 3. He should be
+allowed, however, thus to expend his marks for present indulgencies to
+what extent he pleases, but never to obtain his discharge, till from his
+labour and economy combined (both voluntary) he shall fully redeem his
+debt. 4. On first arriving at a penal settlement, for a period not under
+three months, but beyond that depending entirely on his own regularity
+and proficiency, and the acquisition of marks exhibiting them, his
+treatment should consist of moral, religious, and other intellectual
+instruction in a penitentiary. 5. After this, he should for a time not
+under eighteen months, but the period also depending on the acquisition
+of marks, serve in a mutually responsible party, labouring for
+government, and disqualified for any situation of trust, authority or
+indulgence under it, or for any private service. 6. After this, he
+should hold for not less than fifteen months (making three years in
+all), and beyond this till he has fully redeemed his marks and earned
+his entire discharge, a ticket-of-leave in the settlement. 7. In this
+last stage every reasonable facility should be afforded him to
+accumulate a little money against his return to society. For this
+purpose small farms or gardens should be let to men holding this
+indulgence, at moderate rents in kind:--any stock or edible produce they
+may raise on these, beyond their rents, should be purchased from them at
+fair prices into the public stores:--and a fixed proportion of them (3,
+4, or 5 per cent, of the entire number of prisoners on the settlement)
+should further be eligible, as selected by their superintendent, to fill
+subordinate stations of trust in the general management, and receive
+(say) 6_d._ per day as money salary, besides the marks attached to their
+situations. (In my proposed regulations I suggest also another mode of
+giving the men a little money to take with them on their return to
+society--which is, perhaps, a little extravagant, and it would thus
+admit, at least, of modification; but the point is very important.) 8.
+On discharge the utmost possible facilities should be afforded the men
+to disperse;--and their final liberation, as well as every intermediate
+step towards it, should in every case depend solely on having served the
+_minimum_ time, and accumulated the corresponding number of marks. No
+discretion on either head should be vested in any local authority. The
+whole arrangement should be, as it were, a matter of contract; and the
+local authorities should have no other control over it, than to see its
+conditions on both sides punctually fulfilled."--_Maconochie's
+Management, &c._]
+
+[Footnote 239: 1843.]
+
+[Footnote 240: Address to the Legislative Council of New South Wales,
+August, 1842.]
+
+[Footnote 241: "The whole island, we understand, is in a disorganised
+state, and thefts of every day occurrence. A few weeks since a boat (the
+second) was ran away with by nine convicts: one named Barratt, who a few
+days before he left the island had been charged with making a picklock,
+for the purpose of robbing the store, of which he was acquitted; and
+Captain Maconochie actually begged his pardon for allowing him to be
+locked up."--_Sydney Herald, July 26 1841._]
+
+[Footnote 242: _Comptroller-general Forster's Report,_ 1845.]
+
+[Footnote 243: _Observations on the State of Norfolk Island: Par. Pap._
+1847.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XXII.
+
+Lord Normanby was succeeded by Lord John Russell, 1840. The decrease of
+transportation to Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land, was interpreted
+as an intention to terminate the system altogether. This was avowed in
+the usual organs of the government, and the colonists were warned[244]
+to prepare for the change which awaited them. Thus the total number
+arriving in Van Diemen's Land in 1839 and 1840, was little more than
+2,000: less than one-fifth of the usual number transported.
+
+Two thousand inhabitants of New South Wales made a last effort to
+recover their share in the benefits of convictism. They forwarded a
+petition to the British parliament, entreating the continuance of
+transportation for five years longer. Lord John Russell regarded their
+request as a strong argument against compliance; and a few weeks after
+settled the question by cancelling the order in council! The intention
+of Lord John Russell was to limit transportation to the worst class of
+offenders, estimated at 500 per annum.
+
+Sir William Molesworth endeavoured to prevent the restoration of the
+practice, and proposed to supply the demand for labour by anticipating
+the land fund. The decision of parliament was precipitated by the
+contrivance of a friend of Captain Maconochie, Mr. Innes, who, in a
+pamphlet of considerable acumen and literary merit, set forth the value
+of his scheme. He asserted that the advantage of transportation as a
+reformatory and deterring system, notwithstanding the numerous
+experiments, remained yet to be resolved.[245] The House of Commons
+negatived the motion of Molesworth (September, 1840), and the crowded
+condition of the hulks excited serious complaints. The House of Commons
+resolved that the sentence of transportation should be carried into
+effect, and the prisoners sent out of the country. Lord John Russell
+then observed that, although he admitted that it was desirable to send a
+certain number of convicts abroad, where after their liberation they
+might earn their own livelihood, "he was bound at the same time to
+consider the state of society, and not expose it to the evils likely to
+result from a disproportionate number of convicts." (April, 1841.) He
+announced that not fewer than 2,000 would be sent to Norfolk Island and
+Tasman's Peninsula.
+
+During these debates, Captain John Montagu, the colonial secretary, was
+in England. The views of this colony were favorable to transportation
+under the plan of assignment: many, indeed, were anxious to obtain,
+through the old channels, the supply of labour so necessary to their
+prosperity. Montagu succeeded in removing some impressions at
+Downing-street, unfavorable to the colonial masters, and was welcomed as
+their successful advocate and general benefactor. At a public dinner,
+given to celebrate his return, all parties united in expressions of warm
+respect and gratulation. The roads, he observed, were to be made, public
+works to be completed, and labour to be abundant. When in England, it
+was said, "Mr. Montagu steadily pursued one object: transportation--no
+matter under what modification." The system of assignment had already
+terminated.
+
+It had been determined that all new prisoners should be worked in gangs,
+and on their dispersion should receive two classes of tickets; the last
+giving them greater freedom. It had been recommended by the secretary of
+state, to compel the prisoners in service, to wear a badge; but this
+open mark of slavery was exceedingly offensive, and indeed, as a
+measure of police, exceedingly impolitic--not only calculated to degrade
+well-conducted men in their own eyes, but to facilitate recognition, and
+secret signs; and perhaps the confederation of a large class, whose
+numbers it was so desirable to disguise.
+
+The probation system, initiated by Sir John Franklin in obedience to the
+orders of Lord John Russell, was intended to combine the principles
+afterwards extended by Lord Stanley with some of the advantages supposed
+to result from assignment. The former practice, by which the government
+transferred the prisoner without delay to the service of a master, left
+his fate to accident.
+
+Sir John Franklin endeavoured to meet, as far as possible, the views of
+all parties. To carry out the plans of Lord J. Russell, he proceeded to
+form gangs of from two to three hundred men, and to locate them wherever
+it might be practicable to render them useful. The superintendence of
+the scheme he committed to Captain Forster, who at the same moment held
+the office of police magistrate, and whose administrative tact was
+highly esteemed. The effects appeared, at first, encouraging, and the
+despatches of Sir John Franklin gave promise of success; but in 1842 he
+found it necessary to recall the favorable opinion: he found that many
+great and formidable evils were rising into strength, and that the gangs
+had far from realised his anticipations in the moral improvement of
+convicts.[246]
+
+It is probable that transportation would have been limited by Lord John
+Russell, had not a change of ministry thrown the colonies into the hands
+of Lord Stanley. This nobleman, who succeeded September, 1841, differed
+greatly from his predecessors. He hinted that the colonies were not
+entitled to separate consideration--scarcely to notice, in the
+discussion of this question. That the interest of the mother country was
+the final and sufficient object to regard; but he did not hold the
+common views of assignment. He thought that it had been far too hastily
+condemned. Thus it did not seem improbable that on his return to power
+the former system, so highly prized by the colonists, would be restored.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 244: _Courier_, February, 1840.]
+
+[Footnote 245: The following eloquent and touching appeal closes this
+very able production:--
+
+"I am well aware of the scorn with which the main principle recognised
+in these pages--the reform of the culprit, is regarded by many persons.
+I know that the task is pronounced a hopeless, visionary one. But, that
+a being _lives_, is a Divine authority for believing him not to be
+beyond hopes, in which his own reclamation is implied. That the task is
+not an easy one, is admitted; but that is the case in reference to every
+other end of penal institutions as well: and, is it really so very much
+more difficult to reclaim a criminal than any other man given to vice? I
+believe not;--criminals, I think, will be found even more accessible to
+religious influences, sympathisingly applied, than those whose errors
+have had a less equivocal stamp. Their apparent hardness of heart is not
+always the native hardness of the rock, but more often the frozen
+hardness of the ice, which the sun of human sympathies may melt again.
+The world, accustomed to judge them harshly, to see only their crime,
+and to see it without its palliations--to out-cast them, makes them what
+they become; when instead, a discreet humanity might have converted
+many, after a first transgression, into useful and honored members of
+society.
+
+    'The tainted branches of the tree,
+      If lopp'd with care, a strength may give,
+      By which the rest shall bloom and live
+    All greenly fresh and wildly free:
+    But if the _lightning_ in its wrath
+    The waving boughs with fury scathe,
+    The massy trunk the ruin feels,
+    And never more a leaf reveals.'"
+
+--_Secondary Punishments. By Frederick Maitland Innes._ 1841.]
+
+[Footnote 246: November, 1842.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XXIII.
+
+When the new secretary of state saw that the probation gangs, formed
+under Lord John Russell's directions, were not attended with moral
+benefit, he attributed the failure to the defective supply of religious
+teaching, and not to the inherent qualities of the scheme. It became
+necessary to reorganise the whole plan, and to provide for the
+transportation of 4,000 men annually. Lord Stanley was greatly
+perplexed; but Captain Montagu (dismissed by Sir John Franklin) and the
+attorney-general of New South Wales happened to reach Downing-street at
+the moment: in concert with them, Lord Stanley framed the celebrated
+"System of Probation," which has astonished the whole civilised world.
+
+The employment of men in gangs, had been practised from the foundation
+of these colonies: they usually, however, consisted of persons under
+short colonial sentences, and who were only sequestered awhile from
+society. The distribution of ten or twelve thousand men over a settled
+country, in parties of from two to three hundred, and subject to an
+oversight not usually exceeding the ordinary superintendence of free
+labor, was indeed an experiment, and fraught with the most important
+consequences.
+
+At the head of this scheme was a comptroller-general, appointed by royal
+warrant, who, as colonial secretary for the convict department, was in
+communication with the governor alone. Under him were superintendents
+and overseers, religious instructors, and all other subordinate
+officers. He was authorised to make rules for the government of the
+whole, and these were minute and elaborate; and gave to the department
+the air of a great moral and industrial association.
+
+The most severe form of this discipline was established at Norfolk
+Island, for the prisoners for life, or not less than fifteen years. For
+this purpose the island was relieved of persons entitled by the promises
+of Captain Maconochie to a more indulgent treatment, and the remainder
+were detained to assist in the preparation of buildings for the new
+plan. Thus the traditions of Norfolk Island--a complicated theory of
+evasion, artifice, pollution, and fraud--were preserved on the spot, and
+propagated through all the gangs located in Van Diemen's Land.
+
+Persons sentenced for less offences, were transported to Van Diemen's
+Land: were formed into gangs, generally placed in close vicinity to the
+settled districts. Into these, men were drafted from Norfolk Island,
+when their first stage of probation was closed. The superintendents were
+instructed to keep a record of industrial and general improvements: the
+religious instructors were to insert a similar statement of moral and
+religious advancement. Thus it was expected, that at any instant the
+character and merit of every man might be known. The denominations
+selected to supply religious teaching were the episcopalian, wesleyan,
+and Roman catholic. The convicts having passed this probation were
+declared eligible for hire at wages, and entered the service of
+settlers. This portion of their progress was divided into three stages:
+in the first they were entitled to one-half, in the second to
+two-thirds, and in the last to their entire earnings. The masters were
+expected to pay the surplus into the hands of the crown; and the
+passholder was informed that the sum, if not forfeited by misconduct,
+would be receivable at his discharge, or in the event of death by his
+heirs. The fourth stage was revocable pardon, or ticket-of-leave: the
+holder could possess property, sue or be sued, and enjoy all the
+ordinary advantages of freedom, subject to police inspection. The last
+stage, pardon--conditional, or free: if the former, it removed the
+consequences of conviction in the colonies--if the latter, it had that
+effect in any part of the empire; but the enjoyment of this
+enfranchisement was made entirely dependent on the royal pleasure, and
+could not be demanded as a right. Such were the main provisions of the
+scheme: so fair in its outlines, so prodigious in its results.[247]
+
+In describing the operations of the probation system, it may be
+desirable to trace throughout the branch established at Norfolk Island.
+Major Childs, the commandant in succession to Captain Maconochie, was
+nominated by Lord Stanley. His fitness for the office was assumed from
+his reputation as a strict disciplinarian: in this the minister was
+mistaken. It must not, however, be forgotten, that many of the most
+flagrant evils attributed to his administration, had existed at
+different periods during the preceding experiments.
+
+The island was annexed by parliament to the government of Van Diemen's
+Land, and thus terminated a connexion with New South Wales, which had
+subsisted from the colonization of that country.
+
+Captain Forster, who succeeded to the chief control, was hostile to
+Maconochie's system, and proceeded to interdict all the privileges he
+had been accustomed to grant. A gang system of labour was restored; the
+barter of food was forbidden; vegetable stalls, pork shops and general
+stores, herds of swine and private gardens, were swept away. Thus, to
+all the prisoners left behind by Maconochie, the new regulations were
+equal to an additional sentence.
+
+Two classes of prisoners were sent to Norfolk Island under the new
+system. The doubly-convicted colonial prisoners, and persons sentenced
+in England to transportation for fifteen years or life: the accumulation
+of both was rapid. Many bushrangers and other capital convicts, were
+transmitted to that settlement, to whom the arts of a prison were fully
+known; who were celebrated as "flash" robbers; and who bore down by
+their tyrannical wickedness all the weaker or better men within their
+influence. The numbers on the island in 1845, were nearly 2,000; of whom
+one-fourth were colonial or doubly-convicted prisoners. For these rapid
+additions no preparation was made: the buildings in the island, adapted
+for prison purposes, were dilapidated and insufficient. In the sleeping
+wards, the hammocks were placed in contact: the men were shut up after
+dusk, from eighty to a hundred together, in charge of a convict
+wardsman, until the morning. The place of promiscuous association was
+called the lumber yard, and was subject to the dominion of a "ring:"
+there old and new prisoners met; it was regarded as an _Alsatia_, or
+sanctuary. To arrest a prisoner there would have risked the life of the
+constable: attempts were sometimes met with concerted resistance: the
+whole body would surround the culprit, and draw their knives in
+defiance; in several instances the officers were assaulted with
+violence. The assembly of such numbers in one spot destroyed all
+authority: the officers did not choose seriously to infringe the
+privileges of the "ring." Those who gave information or evidence, did so
+at the venture of their lives. The harmless prisoners were the victims
+of oppression and rapid deterioration. At a station where the English
+and colonial convicts were intermixed, the colonial suffered various
+punishments, in three months 58 per cent., the English 30 per cent.;
+while the English separated from direct contamination suffered only
+about 18 per cent. Thus contact evidently produced one-half the penal
+disorders of the English convicts.
+
+The incapacity and corrupt practices of the officers were serious
+obstructions to their usefulness. Thus, they were found to traffic with
+the men; to obtain their services under false pretences. The
+superintendents left the actual supervision of the work to the convict
+sub-overseers, who, had they been inclined to preserve order, or to
+enforce labor, would have been liable to vengeance.
+
+The Rev. Thomas B. Naylor, chaplain, who quitted his employment in 1845,
+addressed a letter to Lord Stanley, describing the condition of Norfolk
+Island. This letter was intended for publication; but being placed in
+the hands of Captain Maconochie, he transferred it to Lord Stanley. Mr.
+Naylor asserted that the regulations were neglected: the commandant, a
+good intentioned but blustering person, was utterly incompetent to
+secure obedience. Thus the island was ever on the verge of insurrection.
+Large gangs had succeeded by mutiny in obtaining terms with their
+officers: the commandant himself had been knocked down. Convicts of
+every grade were intermixed; the fresh feelings of English prisoners
+cruelly insulted; youths seized upon with abominable violence--_inter
+christianos non nominandum_. He described the parade of separation,
+classification, and religious instruction, as an elaborate scheme of
+delusion.[248]
+
+The reports transmitted by different parties from Norfolk Island, were
+published in the colonial newspapers; and the lieutenant-governor
+(Wilmot) was induced to issue a commission of inquiry, entrusted to R.
+P. Stewart, Esq., whose bold and faithful delineation of abuses more
+than sustained the rumours that prevailed.
+
+On his return to head-quarters Mr. Stewart furnished a minute report. He
+stated that the reins of authority were relinquished, and that the
+anarchy and insubordination justified the fear that the whole island
+would be involved in mutiny and bloodshed. He considered the commandant
+deficient in the qualifications required by his arduous and perilous
+post. This report occasioned the utmost alarm, and the executive council
+resolved on the removal of Major Childs without delay.
+
+On leaving Norfolk Island, Mr. Stewart, in obedience to his
+instructions, recommended the commandant to a more stringent discipline.
+Many colonial convicts, who constituted the "ring," exercised a power
+over the less daring, which intimidated more than the authority of
+their officers, or the fear of punishment. The "flash" men conspired
+with the cooks to deprive their fellow-prisoners of their food, and were
+permitted to prepare in their own dishes the produce of their frauds.
+
+To end this scandalous robbery of the well disposed, Mr. Stewart
+recommended that all should be deprived of cooking utensils, and receive
+their rations dressed. Unhappily the stores on the island were not
+sufficient to afford the stipulated quantity and kind of food. Many
+suffered from dysentery, which the medical officer considered to be
+aggravated by the state in which the maize was prepared. The sweet
+potato, which mixed with the meal so greatly improved the diet, was no
+longer attainable; pork was absurdly issued instead of vegetables; and
+the deficiency of proper food--a greater grievance than any amount of
+severity--provoked their murmurs and threatenings.
+
+Among the leaders of the "ring," were Westwood, or Jacky Jacky, and
+Cavannah, both bushrangers, recently re-transported. They were both able
+to read and write, and possessed a sort of intelligence which renders
+such men more dangerous. The conduct of the English prisoners at the
+stations, where they were separated from the doubly-convicted, was far
+from disorderly, and punishments were rare. There was no lack of
+severity elsewhere. A stipendiary police magistrate, appointed shortly
+after the system was changed, organised a body of police: twenty-five
+thousand lashes were inflicted in sixteen months, beside other forms of
+punishment. The men committed to the gaol were often tortured: iron-wood
+gags were bridled in the mouth. Men were sometimes tied to bolts in the
+walls, the arms being out-stretched, and the feet in contact fastened on
+the floor: this was called the "spread eagle." The solitary cells, as
+they were named, were often crowded, and the men exposed to more than
+disease. Yet all this severity was useless for the purposes of
+discipline, while the precautions against violence and crime were
+comparatively neglected.
+
+The apprehensions of Mr. Stewart were, unfortunately, realised. A
+murderous outbreak on the 1st of July, filled the settlement with
+terror. The constables were ordered, on the 30th of June, to remove the
+dishes and cooking utensils while the men were in the school-room.
+Westwood was calculating a sum: at the sound, he raised the pencil and
+listened; and a murmur passed through the classes: a sullen gloom
+overspread the whole. The next morning they were mustered for prayers:
+their conduct was orderly. They then marched to the lumber-yard; there
+they collected in a crowd, and suddenly moved to the stores, which they
+broke open and carried off their impounded dishes. They then returned to
+the yard, and Westwood told them that he was going to the gallows, and
+advised those who were afraid to keep back. Several armed with
+bludgeons; Westwood caught up an axe, and in a few moments four
+constables were murdered, some in their beds. The military were
+instantly called out, and in a very short time appeared, and the
+prisoners, without waiting a charge, retired to their quarters. When the
+account of these proceedings were received at Hobart Town, a special
+commission was sent down to try the rioters: thirteen suffered
+death.[249]
+
+It is exceedingly difficult to determine to whom the chief blame of this
+fatal disaster belonged. The officers on the spot, whose testimony can
+be scarcely deemed impartial, alleged that it was chiefly due to the
+system of Maconochie: "when," said they, "the reins of discipline were
+tightened, the rage of the prisoners was unbounded." The police
+magistrate declared that he had all along expected such resistance:
+"before a more healthy state of things could be produced, a sacrifice
+would be made." It is, however, obvious that no such necessity could
+have existed, had the two classes of prisoners been divided, and proper
+military precaution secured.
+
+On the 3rd of August, 1845, Major Childs was succeeded by John Price,
+Esq., formerly a police magistrate at Hobart Town. This gentleman,
+remarkable for his knowledge of prisoner habits, language, and
+artifices, was represented by the local government as unusually
+qualified to put down the disorders which prevailed. The greater number
+of the officers, civil and ecclesiastical, were dismissed or recalled;
+and Mr. Price commenced his career with a vigorous, summary, and, it is
+said, merciless exercise of his authority. The agents he employed were,
+of course, liable to strong objections: they were chiefly persons who
+were or had been prisoners; some remarkable for their crimes. The
+clergymen stationed on the island exhibited the most serious charges
+against the new commandant, and the persons acting under his authority
+and encouragement.[250] Cruelties of the most atrocious description, and
+a toleration of evils of an appalling kind; but the often insane
+violence of the men, scarcely admitted of either much caution or delay.
+It could answer no purpose to collect the awful details. In part, these
+charges have been disputed; but their substantial truth is, at least,
+rendered probable, by the accumulation of similar facts in the history
+of such settlements.[251]
+
+The dismissal of the chaplains occasioned a long and painful
+controversy. The reports of their conduct appear to have been hastily
+collected; often dependant on testimony which would never be received
+elsewhere, unless strongly corroborated. The entire spirit of convict
+government is almost inevitably modified by its penal purpose. The
+instances are rare where a clergyman, acting in harmony with the design
+of the gospel, could escape the censure of men who look on prisoner
+piety with habitual suspicion and disdain, and who consider "doing
+duty," both the obligation and the limit of the clerical office. Thus
+when a prisoner desired to receive the sacrament, although a man of
+respectable origin and quiet demeanour, he was sent to the church in
+charge of constables, while men of far different habits were
+occasionally indulged with considerable liberty.
+
+The constables were afraid for their lives: many of them, when the
+discipline became rigorous, implored to be removed from their office.
+One was sentenced to chains, for declining to be sworn; another, who had
+given evidence, entreated a discharge: he was refused, and was murdered.
+The civil commandant, Mr. Price, himself did not dare to neglect his
+personal safety, and appeared with loaded pistols in his belt.
+
+When these accounts reached Downing-street, the abandonment of Norfolk
+Island was determined. The secretary of state having read the letter of
+Mr. Naylor, requested the lieutenant-governor to break up the
+establishment without delay: to withdraw the whole population to the
+settlement of Tasman's Peninsula, at the time a secondary penal station
+in Van Diemen's Land. No discretion was allowed in the execution of this
+imperative instruction. On further reflection, however, Earl Grey
+qualified his order.[252]
+
+When the proposal to vacate Norfolk Island, and to settle the prisoners
+in this colony, became known, the inhabitants manifested the strongest
+indignation. Their views coinciding with the wishes of the local
+authorities, were received with respect, and the lieutenant-governor
+decided to delay the measure until the secretary of state should be
+fully informed. The administration of Mr. Price had quelled the mutinous
+temper of the convicts, and the removal of the better class had greatly
+diminished the number. The desirableness of an island prison to punish
+colonial offences, and obstinate insubordination in the English
+penitentiaries, overcame the intention to desert once more that spot, so
+celebrated for its natural beauty and moral pollution (1849). The reader
+will not, however, confide in present appearances; but will expect a
+repetition, at some future day, of those startling disclosures which
+have several times filled the world with horror.
+
+The attempts of the convicts to overthrow the authorities have been
+numerous. Three years after the re-occupation of the island (1827) a
+large body murdered the guard, seized the boats, and crossed over to
+Phillip's Island. Seventy were engaged, and their number screened them
+from the capital penalty. In 1834, a still more sanguinary attempt
+issued in the instant loss of several lives, and the execution of eleven
+men. It was on this occasion that Mr. Justice Burton sat as judge: when
+he heard the appeal which "brought tears to his eyes, and wrung his
+heart;" and which, recorded by the famous anti-transportation committee
+of the House of Commons, told with such power on public opinion. The
+culprit being brought up for sentence said--"Let a man be what he will,
+when he comes here he soon becomes as bad as the rest: _a man's heart is
+taken from him, and there is given him the heart of a beast_."
+
+Such has been always the result of capricious severity; and not only to
+the prisoners--to the ministers of vengeance might often be extended,
+without injustice, the appalling description.
+
+The administration of law at Norfolk Island was but a choice of
+difficulties. Special commissions were of late sent down, when cases
+were urgent or numerous. The temptation to risk life for a release from
+toil, or the excitement of a voyage, was thus removed. But at this
+settlement the formalities of justice were but a slight security for its
+fair distribution. The value of an oath was less than the least favour
+of the authorities; the prisoners without counsel; the jury taken from
+the garrison. A convict attorney was occasionally permitted to advise
+the accused; but in the case of the July rioters such aid was denied,
+and several who were convicted, died protesting their innocence. During
+the assize, one judge sat with the military as an assessor, under the
+old law of New South Wales; a second, under the law of Van Diemen's
+Land, which appoints a jury. Capital convictions were thus obtained by a
+process, one or the other, totally illegal. These would be deemed slight
+considerations, taken separately; but it is difficult to be satisfied
+with a trial, in which all, except the judge, may be interested in the
+prisoner's condemnation. Substantial justice will not be long secure,
+when its usual conditions are either evaded, or are impracticable. A
+civilized nation would release the culprit rather than condemn him in
+haste, and the judge is criminal who smites contrary to the law, though
+he smites only the guilty.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 247: Despatch of Lord Stanley, 1842.]
+
+[Footnote 248: _Par. Pap._ 1847.]
+
+[Footnote 249: The following was addressed by Westwood, on the eve of
+his execution:--"Sir,--The strong ties of earth will be soon terminated,
+and the burning fever will soon be quenched. My grave will be a
+heaven--a resting place for me, Wm. Westwood. Sir, out of the bitter cup
+of misery I have drunk from my sixteenth year--ten long years, and the
+sweetest thought is that which takes away my living death. It is the
+friend which deceives no man: all will then be quiet; no tyrant will
+disturb my repose, I hope--WM. WESTWOOD."--_Letter to Rev. Thomas
+Rogers._]
+
+[Footnote 250: _Correspondence relative to the dismissal of the Rev. T.
+Rogers._]
+
+[Footnote 251: "That I may not be supposed to speak heedlessly when I
+say that the gaol treatment, at the period spoken of, was of itself
+sufficient to derange men's intellects, I subjoin a few facts in proof
+of my assertion, taken from written communications made to me by several
+respectable officers with whom I am acquainted. The original letters are
+in my possession:--
+
+EXTRACTS.
+
+_August 6._--Visited the general hospital; found a man named Lemon
+dreadfully beaten, and having his arm broken. It appears that constable
+Baldock was taking a man to gaol, charged with either having or using a
+towel irregularly. He threw his shirt to Lemon, and asked him to get it
+washed. Baldock would not allow him (Lemon) to have it. Upon this the
+man Lemon gave Baldock either a blow or, as he says, a push, when a
+number of constables fell upon him and beat him with their clubs. It was
+just as divine service was commencing yesterday evening. All the
+officers and constables left the church, except Mr. Duncan, and the "old
+hands" made a general rush towards the windows to see what was going on.
+Mr. Bott told me he interfered to cause the constables to desist after
+the man was down, but Baldock said "lay it into him--lay it into him."
+While down he was handcuffed with his hands behind him; after this he
+was taken to gaol and gagged two hours, with his hands chained behind
+him to the lamp post, having all this time his arm broken! He was then
+taken to the new gaol, and Stephens sent for the doctor who received him
+into hospital.
+
+_April 16 (Friday)._--Had a long chat with Dytton. He was chained down
+to the floor by Mr. ---- order, and had been gagged. I asked the reason:
+he said for getting up to the window to get some air in the hospital
+cell, as the doctor had ordered him to have air and he was refused out.
+He has been ill at the general hospital--had six or seven weeks'
+sickness--has never been well since a beating he received while I was
+absent from the island. He was then in the chain-gang. Some pegs had
+been removed upon which he hung his clothes and rations. He abused the
+gaoler for removing the pegs; was gagged and taken to the new gaol, and
+chained down; was then dreadfully beaten by six or seven constables. He
+lay in a puddle of blood. The next day a constable came in and jumped
+upon him, and severely hurt his chest: he pierced his body with a piece
+of sharp iron or steel. He showed me a scar on his arm he had received
+on that occasion. He said Mr. Elliot came to the cell and found him in
+that mutilated condition, and asked ---- when it was done. ---- replied,
+"he received a portion yesterday and a portion to-day."
+
+_August 6, 1847._--Visited the gaol. Found Waters strapped down on
+suspicion of having prevented his eye from recovering. His back was bad,
+having been flogged, and the cord which laced the straitwaistcoat which
+they put on him pained him much. His eye was very bad. He was laid on
+his back, bound unable to stir hand or foot, and in agony of pain from
+the pressure of his lacerated back on the lacing cord. Having asked to
+see Major Harrold as a magistrate, he said to the turnkey, "If I am
+guilty of injuring myself let me be punished; but if not, why am I
+strapped down?" For saying this he was flogged! He told me that Dr.
+Everett said he did not think he had done anything to his eye. I saw him
+again soon after: he said his back had stunk most offensively, and
+through the intercession of the turnkey Mr. Price had allowed the cord
+to be removed; but his hands were chained to the foot of the bed. He had
+received a sentence of eighteen months on the reef in chains. [Note:
+Some of these chains were 36lbs. weight; and on the reef the men had
+mostly to work up to the middle in water.--T.R.]"
+
+"In one of the turnkeys' rooms in the new gaol is to be seen an article
+of _harness_, that at first sight creates surprise in the mind of the
+beholder, when considering what animal of the brute creation exists of
+so diminutive a size as to admit of its use; but on enquiry it will be
+found to be a bridle, perfect in head band, throat lash, &c., for a
+fellow creature. There is attached to it a round piece of ironwood of
+almost 4 inches in length, and 1-1/2 in diameter; this again is secured
+in a broad strap of leather to cross the mouth. In the wood there is a
+small hole, and, when used, the wood is inserted in the mouth, the small
+hole being the only breathing space; and when the whole is secured with
+the various straps and buckles, a more complete bridle in resemblance
+could not well be witnessed. This is one of Mr. ---- instruments for
+torturing the unhappy and fallen men, and on one occasion I was
+compelled to witness its application on a poor blind wretch, named
+Edward Mooney. My duty required my attendance at the gaol occasionally.
+I came in one evening after eight o'clock. I was conversing with one of
+the turnkeys; the notorious ----, who robbed Mr. Waterhouse of L700, was
+present; he also at that time being a turnkey, holding a third class
+pass, and in receipt of 2_s._ per diem. Everything was quite still. I
+could not help remarking how quiet the gaol was, when the said ----
+exclaimed, 'there's some one speaking; I know what b---- it is;' and
+forthwith took from its pegs one of the bridles just described and a
+pair of handcuffs. I followed him to one of the cells which he opened,
+and therein was a man lying on his straw mat undressed, and to all
+appearance asleep. ---- desired him to get up, calling him by his name,
+and to dress himself. He did so, and came out into the yard, where ----
+inserted the ironwood gag into his mouth, and the sound produced by his
+breathing through it (which appeared to be done with great difficulty)
+resembled a low indistinct whistle. He then led him to the lamp post in
+the yard, placing him with his back to it, and his arms being taken
+round were secured by the handcuffs round the post. As the night was
+very chilly, I buttoned his jacket up to the throat, speaking at the
+same time a few words to cheer him, that brought tears from his
+sightless eyes, to think that some one felt for his miserable and
+forlorn condition; and this convinced me still further, that even the
+most hardened villain can be melted by kindness, however trifling.
+Having enquired how long he was to remain in the condition described, I
+was told three hours!"
+
+"Perkins had another drubbing some time since coming out of church. ----
+a prisoner constable, was the first to fall on him, and after him a host
+who soon covered him with blood and wounds, for not walking in a proper
+manner out of church. And the commandant allowed this drubbing to stand
+as a sort of instalment of punishment when the man was brought up for
+trial. On account of the beating he received a lighter magisterial
+sentence. Mr. ---- told me one day that the commandant censured the
+conduct of the constables who complained of some man not opening his
+mouth to have the inside of it searched for tobacco. It seems they were
+deemed blameworthy for having in this instance neglected to use
+violence. 'Why didn't you knock him down like a bullock?' was the
+interrogatory at Norfolk Island!"--_Correspondence_, pp. 41, 42.
+
+"Before Mr. Price's arrival I resided for twelve months on the Cascade
+station. Its strength was between three and four hundred men. I have
+known this station to continue twenty days without a single case
+requiring the intervention of a magistrate. Within three months after
+Mr. Price's arrival, I have known forty cases for the police-office on
+one single morning! Many of the men thus brought up were sentenced to
+solitary confinement, and sent to the Longridge cells--our own not being
+sufficient to contain a quarter of them. The Longridge station had a
+strength of five hundred men, and the united solitary sentences of both
+stations often trebly filled the Longridge cells. I have frequently
+found in my daily visits as chaplain from twenty to forty men confined
+by threes and fours in the Longridge cells, doing what was called
+'solitary;'--three men sleeping together on the floor of a cell four and
+a half feet wide by seven feet long. For pulling a lemon or guava--for
+laughing in the presence of a convict policeman--for having a pipe--for
+wearing a belt or button not issued by government--for mustering in
+dirty trousers on Sunday, although to wash them the owner would have to
+go naked all the Saturday afternoon--for having half or a quarter of a
+pipeful of tobacco--for offences the most trivial, and sometimes on
+false charges--the most inoffensive and best behaved men of Cascade and
+Longridge were often to be found filling up the cells which might
+otherwise have been set apart for the custody of some of the grosser
+criminals who were tried at the assizes.... The convicts selected as
+constables were like a ruthless band of predatory assailants, seizing
+their fellow-prisoners under any and every pretence, in order to have
+'cases for the police-office!' A first-class officer overheard the
+following speech uttered by a convict policeman:--'I have no case for
+court this morning--what will Mr. ---- say to me? But a case I must
+have--and a case I will have--and here goes!' This policeman proceeded
+with another into the bush, and in an hour returned bringing in two men
+on a capital charge. On the evidence of their captors alone these two
+men were committed to gaol, tried at the assizes, and sentenced to
+death. By whom were the police compelled to such activity? By Mr. Price.
+His opinion, publicly expressed, was, that a policeman could not be
+doing his duty unless he had 'cases for court.'"--Ibid, pp. 88, 89.
+
+                    *     *     *     *     *
+
+"A short analysis of the abstract would quickly strip the favored '25'
+of some rays of their infamous glory, and do more to expose the
+blunders, follies, and ferocious inhumanities of convict discipline than
+volumes of concocted reports and oracular despatches. From his position,
+Dr. Hampton must know that under the name of _discipline_, deeds have
+been done sufficiently atrocious to glut the soul of a Caligula. He
+knows that the perjuries and punishments about tobacco were sins that
+cried to heaven for abolition. He knows that in every seven cases out of
+ten the convicts at a penal station are more sinned against than
+sinning. Nothing is required to prove this but a critical inspection of
+their 'police sheets.' In the court-house at Hobart Town, a youth, E----
+G----, aged 19, was on his trial for a capital offence. The crown
+prosecutor referred to the prisoner's _bad character_ as exhibited by
+the unusual number of offences on his police sheet. The judge asked to
+see the parchment. While looking at it, G---- said, 'Your honor, the
+whole of them wouldn't make one ---- good one!' For a few moments the
+judge continued to examine the record, and then flung it on the floor of
+the court-house with an expression of disgust at the childish nature of
+the 'trifling offences' set down as serious crimes."--_Review of Dr.
+Hampton's First Report on Norfolk Island: By Rev. T. Rogers._ p. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 252: Despatches, 30th September and 7th November, 1846.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XXIV.
+
+But Van Diemen's Land was the chief sphere of the probation system. The
+colonists, at first, were not indisposed towards the experiment: the
+promise of an unlimited expenditure and a boundless supply of labor
+reconciled them to its gigantic proportions. It assumed the air of
+philanthropy: Sir John Franklin, when he announced the first outline of
+the scheme, referred to the redemption of the negro slave, and
+said--"that England was about to incur a large expenditure in the
+attempt to emancipate her erring children from the infinitely more
+degrading slavery of crime."[253] This picture was fully borne out by
+Sir James Graham, who observed, in reference to the probationer--"New
+scenes will open to his view, where skilled labor is in great demand;
+where the earnings of industry rapidly accumulate. The prisoner should
+be made to know that he enters on a new career. The classification of
+the convicts in the colony (of Van Diemen's Land), as set forth in Lord
+Stanley's despatch, should be made intelligible to him. He should be
+told that he will be sent to Van Diemen's Land: there, if he behave
+well, at once to receive a ticket-of-leave, which is equivalent to
+freedom, with the certainty of abundant maintenance, the fruits of
+industry."[254]
+
+In describing the probation system it is not necessary to do more than
+state its general aspects and acknowledged results. The publications in
+the colonies and the official documents substantially concur, and with
+minute controversy history has no concern. To view the subject with the
+prejudices of a party would be treason to those important interests
+affected by the question. Crime will still be committed--and its
+treatment, the great problem of the age, is the business of all men.
+
+The comptroller-general, Captain Forster, who obtained his appointment
+by the influence of Captain Montagu, entered on his office when Sir
+Eardley Wilmot arrived (1843), and re-modelled the practical measures of
+Dr. Milligan, who for a time, under the auspices of Sir John Franklin,
+had possessed the chief command. Captain Forster was too well acquainted
+with discipline to entertain the smallest expectation of ultimate
+success. Among his friends he expressed his distrust without reserve:
+but believing the home government irrevocably pledged, he concluded that
+penal philosophy was not his affair; and, not without reason, that he
+was better qualified than a stranger to mitigate the natural tendencies
+of the system. He had not been consulted in its structure: he did not
+hold himself responsible for its errors or results.
+
+During four years, ending in 1844, more than 15,000 prisoners arrived:
+in 1847, there were, in all, 30,000. Free emigration was stopped. In
+1842, 2,446 emigrants landed; in 1843, 26; in 1844, only 1.[255] The
+greater number of transports under short sentences became almost
+immediately eligible for hire, who were at first preferred by the
+farmers to free men. The free laborers rapidly retreated to the other
+colonies. Gangs of probationers were formed throughout the country.
+Their locations were chiefly selected with reference rather to their
+easy accommodation than their useful employment. A few large gangs were
+established beyond the settled country, but the greater part were lodged
+in the old buildings erected for the use of road parties, and
+ill-adapted for either moral or industrial operations.
+
+Van Diemen's Land was supposed by the crown to be peculiarly fitted for
+the experiment: an area nearly equal to Ireland, occupied by little more
+than 50,000 inhabitants, appeared to offer ample room for the stations.
+It was not considered that the free population was condensed chiefly
+within a line of country between the Derwent and Tamar, or on the
+borders of those rivers; and that however a temporary location might be
+chosen, the settled districts must ultimately absorb the pass and ticket
+holders. Most were within a few hours, nearly all within a day's journey
+of the free population. The ample supply of food; a system of moral
+training, which devoted considerable time to books and pencils; a
+decided discouragement of strictness in discipline and severity in
+punishment, removed the temptation to rebel. The chief grievance of the
+prisoners was the prohibition of smoking, often indeed evaded by the
+connivance and assistance of the overseers; yet, while at some stations
+indolence and plenty prevailed, at others, remote from the public eye,
+misery and vice existed to an extent too awful for more than mere
+reference. At the coal mines the men were robbed of their provisions by
+their fellow-prisoners; new clothing was not issued until they were in
+tatters; hundreds were without shirts, scores without shoes, and some
+only wrapped round with rugs (1843). These evils were certainly not
+lasting; but they have been by no means unfrequent at stations remote
+from the capital, and from the notice of the press.
+
+The colony did not afford a sufficient corps of able and conscientious
+superintendents: many were military and naval officers, qualified to
+control, but utterly unable to instruct. The quiet movement of the vast
+system was earnestly desired by the local government: its effects would,
+of course, be inferred from the absence of punishments; and it was
+understood by the lower officers, that the shorter their black lists,
+the more agreeable their periodical reports. It was stated by the
+comptroller that they were engaged to carry out the system, not to
+condemn it; and disaffection ended in dismissal.[256]
+
+The rapid increase of numbers disconcerted the comptroller. The new
+arrivals were sent to crowd the stations of their predecessors: order,
+and even decency, were impracticable. The accommodation of the officers
+was often miserable: too distant for proper inspection.
+
+As the men removed from Norfolk Island were added to the gangs, their
+tendencies became more alarming and apparent: they were of the worst
+possible description, and defied all remedy.[257] No artifices of
+language will enable the moralist to describe them.
+
+The mean pay of the officers, their uncertain tenure of office, and the
+nature of their duties, would only attract candidates for employment as
+a temporary expedient. The control of considerable bodies of men, under
+favorable circumstances, demands both vigilance and firmness. The
+prisoners perceive, almost at a glance, the character of their
+superiors: their history and habits are the theme of constant inquiry
+and discussion. An equal temper and unwearied attention are required in
+this arduous occupation. But the persons engaged were often wholly
+disqualified by their past pursuits and personal character, to inspire
+either awe or respect. The practical oversight was often committed to
+the least responsible.
+
+The religious instructors selected by the government, though chiefly of
+the episcopal or catholic professions, were of miscellaneous origin. The
+clergy of all persuasions were formerly admitted to the road parties;
+their discourses were welcome, for they gave an interval from toil: some
+performed service on the sabbath at their own charge. The new
+instructors were strictly official: some, indeed, highly educated men,
+of long standing in their respective churches; others were the
+off-shoots of various sects, without education or personal dignity. Of
+their qualifications, several high officers have spoken with
+contempt.[258] These opinions were, however, partly the indirect result
+of disputes, in which the instructors were very generally involved.
+Several were known to convey accounts of evils within the stockades,
+which it was the desire of the department both to conceal and to
+suppress: notwithstanding, many were deficient in zeal and ability.
+Their labors were strictly formal, and were soon considered hopeless.
+Several exceptions must be understood; but to select them would be
+invidious. The exclusive occupation of clergymen as teachers of
+convicts, is generally unfavorable to their usefulness: the recognised
+pastor of a congregation brings to the prison the reputation and
+sanctity of his character among the free; the instructor of a gang is
+soon considered but as the agent of penal government.
+
+The basis of Lord Stanley's system was an imaginary demand for labor in
+Van Diemen's Land. The home government was so confident in this
+resource, that placards were suspended on the English prisons, holding
+forth the prospect of high wages as the final stage of transportation.
+The execution of public works in the colonies, except at an equivalent
+price, was strictly prohibited. By improving the settled parts of the
+colony, the crown might have increased its attraction to capitalists,
+and by diverting an excess of laborers excited the competition of
+masters. The governor was desirous of allaying colonial irritation by
+some substantial boon: the orders of Lord Stanley were, however, rigid.
+The comptroller-general was forbidden to adopt any detailed regulation
+at variance with the scheme prescribed by the crown, or to alter or
+depart from its provisions, without express authority.[259]
+
+The demands of the settlers for laborers soon fell far short of the
+supply. The written contracts for the passholders in the first stages of
+service bound the master to pay over a portion of their wages to the
+crown: this course was troublesome. Thus few, except in the last stage
+of their service, were able to obtain employment at all; and the
+graduated scale of payment fell to the ground. The accumulation at the
+hiring depots, sometimes to the number of 4,000, who could obtain no
+engagement, induced the governor to urge their useful employment in
+public works. He stated that neither private individuals nor the
+colonial treasury could afford to employ them in improvements of
+prospective utility, and recommended that a fixed moderate payment
+should be accepted, in return for the service they might perform. The
+reply of his lordship was decided:--"If," he observed, "the free
+inhabitants cannot purchase the labor we have to sell, at a price which
+it is worth our while to accept, it remains for us to consider whether
+other advantageous employment cannot be found." "The necessaries of life
+may be produced to such an extent, as to render the convicts independent
+of the free colonists, who are not entitled to claim any compensation
+for the inconvenience with which their presence may be attended." His
+lordship proposed that new lands should be surveyed, cultivated, and
+sold for the advantage of the imperial treasury; and thus the government
+might assert "its independence of the settlers," and teach them to
+"appreciate correctly the value of convict labor."[260]
+
+The defiant tone of this despatch, and its contemptuous reference to the
+settlers, determined the question of transportation.[261] The partizans
+of abolition could assail the system at its foundation. Thenceforth the
+interests of the colonists, moral and material, were obviously one. The
+crown was to compete in the market with the farmer and the landowner;
+and the labor market to be overruled by official contrivance, for the
+benefit of the imperial treasury.
+
+The colonial newspapers were filled with notices of robberies, and the
+complaints of employers. A rapid emigration took place: free laborers
+and mechanics sold their properties, acquired by years of toil, often
+for a trifling sum; and the immigrants, brought to the colony at great
+public and private cost, almost universally passed over to the adjacent
+communities.
+
+The comptroller-general attempted to carry out the supplementary plan
+ordered by Lord Stanley. Agricultural establishments were formed; but
+this only provided for the probationers. The passholders were entitled
+to enter the service of the settlers. To detain them twenty miles from
+the nearest farm-house, was to extend indefinitely the first stage of
+punishment; but when drafted to the settled districts, they could not be
+employed,[262] except for the benefit of the colony, and against this
+resource the decision of Lord Stanley was imperative.[263]
+
+The hiring depots were placed in settled districts or chief towns. The
+stage of rigid discipline being past, the convicts were not required to
+labour with diligence, or suffer much restraint. They were now deemed
+fit for society, and it was merely the fault of their numbers that many
+were unemployed. They were permitted to roam about in search of casual
+employment--to spread themselves over the country. They were allowed to
+expend the money they acquired in temporary service, and while any
+remained they were unwilling to accept an engagement. Thus they were fed
+and clothed, and lightly worked: they were free from care, their time
+was running out, and they were objects rather of envy than
+commiseration.
+
+The official reports of the probation system forwarded to
+Downing-street, were not unfavorable. Lord Stanley asserted in his
+place, "that from all he could judge the system had been productive of
+the most beneficial results, and that the general conduct of the
+convicts had been most satisfactory;"[264] but in his despatch to the
+governor, he complained that, amidst an abundance of statistics, the
+notices of moral success were "slight, unimportant, and few."[265]
+
+The operation of the system was, however, well known to his lordship.
+The under-secretary, Sir J. Stephen, with extraordinary exactness,
+described the actual condition of the prisoner population--"living, not
+by a healthy competition for employment, but by an habitual and listless
+dependence on the public purse." He depicted the apathy and indolence,
+the low tone of moral feeling, the lamentable and degrading habits
+which prevailed; and asserted that in the hands of Lord Stanley, were
+proofs of an existing state of convict society, such as would be
+contemplated with deep solicitude. It may not be impossible to reconcile
+in detail these official and parliamentary declarations; but, taken
+alone, they would lessen our confidence in the value of ministerial
+explanations, not less than in official reports.
+
+The comptroller-general stated that the system would not only prove
+beneficial to Great Britain, but work a great moral reformation in the
+convict population:[266] "that it had fully answered its object." These
+assertions were confirmed by the governor, who remarked, "that the men
+behaved as well as possible." Such views were strongly opposed by other
+testimony; among the most conspicuous was that of Dr. Hampton,
+surgeon-superintendent of the _Sir George Seymour_, who, charged with
+the care of a party from Pentonville prison, resided some time in the
+colony. He described the prisoner population as sunk in the deepest
+debasement; the ticket-holders in great misery; the reformed prisoners
+committed to the charge of felons; the better disposed taunted as "pets,
+psalm-singers, and Pentonvillains." Whatever had been most strongly
+affirmed by the enemies of the system, was amply sustained by his
+testimony.[267]
+
+To the same effect was the evidence of Mr. Boyd, formerly of
+Pentonville, and appointed an assistant-superintendent to Darlington,
+Maria Island. This station was regarded by the government as superior to
+all. Separated entirely from the free population, it was accessible only
+by authority; yet close to head-quarters, it had the advantage of direct
+inspection and control. There were, at this time, 800 persons subject to
+twenty-one officers, civil and religious. Not a single soldier was on
+the island, and yet there were "no prisoners more orderly, or better
+behaved, in Van Diemen's Land."[268] This reputation it maintained,
+while the stations of Rocky Hills and Broad Marsh, were infamous for the
+abandonment of all order and decency. "Few could be favorably compared
+with Darlington, and none possessed its local advantages."[269] But the
+interior, as described by Mr. Boyd, entirely changes the scene. He
+declared the precautions against corrupt intercourse insufficient and
+unsuccessful: the most disgusting language was common; hoary villains
+and boys were worked together; the school books were torn and defaced;
+education was mere pretence; a large proportion of offences were
+unpunished; lashes were received in hardened indifference; the criminal
+habits of the men were unbroken; conspiracies to murder were frequently
+denounced. On the whole he concluded, that there could exist no better
+school of crime than a probation station.[270]
+
+The laxity which prevailed was everywhere confessed, except by the
+immediate dependents of government. The Rev. Mr. Fry, a clergyman of
+Hobart Town, differed, however, with the colony in general. His earnest
+defence of the probation system (1845) was published by command, and
+quoted by Lord Stanley in the House of Lords. He asserted that the
+convict population had placed the settlers in ease and opulence; and
+that the bulk of the colonists were emancipists, who were bound to
+assist the condemned outcasts of Europe to acquire honesty and
+independence. "The clank of chains," said the reverend gentleman, "is
+now seldom heard, and the deportment of free laborers, grateful and
+respectful, has succeeded to the scowl of malignity, with which the
+assigned white slaves regarded their owners." He asserted that the gangs
+recalled the men from intemperance; that they were attentive to
+religious teaching; that the parties, although almost abandoned to
+self-discipline, yet lived tranquilly, unawed by surrounding force.
+These opinions were afterwards modified.[271]
+
+Notwithstanding the habitual acquiescence of the colonists in the
+measures of the crown, the development of Lord Stanley's system
+occasioned considerable sensation. The rapid increase of prisoners early
+excited alarm. The masses accumulated from all parts of the empire
+presented a new and fearful aspect: crimes reached a height beyond
+example in any civilised country. The settlers, environed by parties,
+were subject to frequent irruptions, and were compelled to guard their
+dwellings, as if exposed to a foreign enemy. The men wandered miles from
+the stations, alone: at the hiring depots they were left almost to their
+discretion. According to the evidence of a magistrate, neither the
+comptroller-general, nor any confidential subordinate, visited the
+station of Cleveland from its establishment to its dissolution. At
+another, ninety men, near the township of Oatlands, under the charge of
+one free overseer, were worked in a line of seven miles extent. A
+settler, whose flocks had been pillaged, brought back twice in one month
+the same party; and again they escaped, threatening vengeance on the
+authors of their arrest. At Jerusalem station, 800 convicts were
+permitted to roam on their parole; to carry bundles in and out of
+barracks unsearched; to disguise their persons, and to change their
+dress. Their daring highway robberies ended in the proof of these facts
+before the supreme court at Hobart Town. At Deloraine, nearly one
+thousand prisoners were in charge of twenty persons, including the
+military: on one occasion, eighteen started for the bush, and filled the
+neighbourhood with terror. The local authorities could offer nothing but
+condolence; and even this poor relief was presented in a peculiar form.
+It was alleged that the amount of depredation and violence had not risen
+more rapidly than the number of convicts. This was scarcely correct; but
+it was little consolatory to the sufferers, assailed so much the more
+frequently, though by different hands.[272] Their honors the judges,
+with repeated and pointed condemnation, reprehended the utter want of
+proper surveillance and restraint, as cruel alike to the settlers and
+the convicts. Nor were the towns exempt from extraordinary inundations:
+many hundreds of men were turned out from the penitentiary on Saturday
+afternoon, and were thus exposed to the temptations of a populous city.
+
+The officers of the department were charged with the trial of a system
+professing to breathe the most exalted charity. Had they, however,
+designed to expose theoretical benevolence to endless execration, no
+course could have been chosen more obvious. The liberty and indulgence
+given to the unfortunate prisoners seemed to bring them purposely within
+the circle of their old temptations. Many were led into scenes which act
+with fascinating power on men of criminal tendencies: they were often
+seen lingering for hours around the doors of houses for the sale of
+liquor. Amusements, which are always attended with some peril, were
+rendered more public and accessible. Dancing houses of the lowest kind
+were licensed, until their noise and confusion compelled their
+suppression. The regulation of night-passes became much less practically
+stringent. Everything facilitated the allurements and the commerce of
+crime. Receivers were always at hand, and robbers were tolerably insured
+when the first danger was over, by the rapid shipment of their spoil.
+Offenders, practised in the fraud of cities, were admitted into the
+towns, and placed in situations precisely calculated to recall their
+former habits, and excite their habitual passions. The puisne judge, in
+passing sentence on prisoners of this class, for new crimes, and holding
+up their police character in his hands, exclaimed--"Now, Mr.
+Attorney-general, I ask you what we may expect if such men as these are
+assigned in towns. Is it not surprising that I have to try such cases?
+It is shameful! It is shameful!" And such will be the opinion of
+mankind.
+
+The chief expedients of Lord Stanley to relieve the colony from the
+redundancy of labor, and pressure on the treasury, were never applied.
+At the suggestion of Mr. Bishton, a clergyman of Westbury, Sir Eardley
+Wilmot recommended the leasing portions of land to well conducted
+ticket-holders. This was however strongly opposed on the spot, as
+tending to depreciate property, and inconsistent with the social
+circumstances of the country. The English allotment system was
+inapplicable: at home, it is a subsidiary to the general resources of
+the laborer, who can commonly find employment with the farmers, and
+easily dispose of the produce of his supplementary toil.
+
+But a project of greater moment was contemplated by Lord Stanley, and
+adopted by Mr. Gladstone, and advanced far towards completion. This was
+the formation of a new colony, called North Australia. The civil list,
+composed of officers of modest designations--as superintendent, chairman
+of sessions, and clerk of the peace--was framed with the strictest
+economy, and the expense was to be defrayed by the English treasury. The
+colonists for the most part were to consist of exiles landed with
+pardons, either from England or Van Diemen's Land, and thither female
+prisoners were intended to be sent. During the first three years only
+new settlers were to be furnished with food for one year; with clothing,
+tents, tools, bedding, and seed. L10,000 in all, were to be expended in
+public buildings. To the office of superintendent, Colonel Barney was
+appointed, under the governor of New South Wales. A party set out for
+their destination: they were discouraged by the appearance of the
+country, but before an experiment could be made they were recalled.
+
+A more practical measure was the extension of conditional pardons to the
+neighbouring countries, the operation of which had been limited to Van
+Diemen's Land. The dearth of labor in New Holland induced the settlers
+to send vessels to this colony, and many hundreds, liberated by the new
+form of pardon, were conveyed to pastoral districts on the opposite
+shore.
+
+During the short official relation of Mr. Secretary Gladstone, who in
+1846 succeeded Lord Stanley, Sir Eardley Wilmot was recalled, and Mr. La
+Trobe and Sir William Denison were placed in succession at the head of
+our colonial affairs. Like his predecessor, Mr. Gladstone complained
+that the information conveyed by Wilmot and the comptroller-general,
+amidst abundant statistics, left the main moral questions obscure. Mr.
+Forster had passed beyond the reach of censure; and Sir Eardley Wilmot
+maintained that the actual evils imputed had formed the topic of
+incessant communications. He derived his impressions from others; and
+seeing but the surface, was persuaded to the last that the probation
+system had not failed.
+
+The despatch of Mr. La Trobe fully corroborated the common report. His
+honest discrimination was worthy his high reputation for integrity.
+Nothing the reader has perused will be unsustained by his more elaborate
+analysis--which may be expressed in one sentence--as illustrating both
+the high-wrought theory and the mischievous practice of the probation
+department:--"In spite of all the superior arrangements of the system,
+vice of every description is to be met with on every hand: not as an
+isolated spot, but as a pervading stain."[273]
+
+Dr. Hampton, whose representations had largely contributed to these
+official changes, which were however fortified by a mass of concurrent
+testimony, received the appointment of comptroller-general. Meanwhile
+the office of secretary of state for the colonies devolved on Earl Grey,
+and at his assumption of office he abandoned at once all the schemes of
+his predecessors. The practice of transportation he resolved to
+discontinue, and in its stead to inflict punishment at home; and to send
+out the prisoners, when entitled to liberation, to the various colonies
+of the British empire. His expectation that their labor would be highly
+prized, was fortified by the "Associations" at Port Phillip to obtain
+laborers from Van Diemen's Land, and the resolutions of the committee of
+the New South Wales Council, where a strong disposition was exhibited,
+on the part of employers, to renew transportation. Several ship-loads
+had been sent from Pentonville, and the nominal lists of their
+employment and wages, appeared to assure an unbounded field for their
+successors. To shut out the possibility of complaint, however, Earl Grey
+sent circulars to all the colonies on this side the Cape of Good Hope.
+The reply was universally adverse; and this plan, which a few years
+before would have been gladly accepted, was rendered impracticable
+perhaps for ever.
+
+The total abandonment of North Australia was a subject of deep regret to
+its projectors, and was too hastily done; but as a substitute, Earl Grey
+proposed the creation of villages in the more remote districts of Van
+Diemen's Land. The erection of houses and a limited cultivation of
+forest land, was expected by his lordship to afford employment for the
+ticket holders, and to yield a fund for an equal amount of free
+emigration. It was intended these dwellings, built on quarter acre
+allotments, should be sold to prisoners, or subject to a rental of L5
+per annum; and a clergyman and schoolmaster provided in each. It would
+be useless even to examine the plan, which was based on a valuation of
+crown lands at that time entirely erroneous, and a fallacious estimate
+of mere labor, in any form whatever.
+
+Late changes, effected by a more intelligent superintendence, and the
+vigilant censorship of the public, may be readily confessed. The
+decrease of numbers in the gangs, and the greatly improved resources of
+the convict department, have ameliorated several evils which formerly
+elicited great complaint. The male establishments at Hobart Town are
+patterns of neatness--the female, of disorder.
+
+It merely remains to be stated, that the present system is to send out
+prisoners when entitled to tickets-of-leave; to disperse them through
+various districts in search of labor. In the colony they enjoy all the
+privileges of free laborers, except responsibility to a police
+magistrate. They will be entitled to release at a term prefixed, but on
+condition that they pay a sum for their passage. Few have either the
+ability or self-restraint required by this regulation, and unless it is
+relaxed they must remain prisoners during the term of their
+sentence--often for life.
+
+A great variety of details might be added; but the total revolution in
+the system will now lead the enquirer into the state of society rather
+than the management of gangs and penitentiaries. The despatches, which
+fill volumes of blue books, are rather transactions of penal
+philosophers than trustworthy guides to the historian of transportation;
+and the writer has not relied exclusively on these authorities, even
+when he has quoted them--a discretion amply justified by their endless
+contradictions.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 253: Address to Council, June, 1841.]
+
+[Footnote 254: Sir James Graham, December, 1842.]
+
+[Footnote 255: _Report of Emigration Commissioners._]
+
+[Footnote 256: "It is but just for me to observe, that the state of
+various convict establishments, inquiring into the conduct of the
+various officers engaged, was not so generally unfavorable as I had been
+led to anticipate. The negligence and irregularity of subordinate
+officers cannot be denied."--_La Trobe's Despatch, November_, 1847.]
+
+[Footnote 257: _Forster's Report_, 1845.]
+
+[Footnote 258: Despatches: Sir Eardley Wilmot, acting
+Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe, and Governor Denison.]
+
+[Footnote 259: Despatch, 1843, No. 34.]
+
+[Footnote 260: Despatch, 1844.]
+
+[Footnote 261: The proceedings of the colonists, in reference to this
+question, will be found in the first volume of this work.]
+
+[Footnote 262: _Forster's Report._]
+
+[Footnote 263: "Employment, in many cases, appeared to be merely
+devised, because whether to the real advantage of the military chest or
+not, they are certainly not to the colony."--_Le Trobe, November_,
+1847.]
+
+[Footnote 264: March, 1846.]
+
+[Footnote 265: September, 1845.]
+
+[Footnote 266: _Forster's Report_, 1844.]
+
+[Footnote 267: "Under all the circumstances of the case, therefore, I
+cannot find language sufficiently strong, to express my opinion that
+convicts, considered deserving of any indulgence whatever, ought not to
+be sent to Van Diemen's Land; ... for, in my opinion, it would be more
+just and humane to shut up Pentonville Prison at once, than to pass men
+through such a course of training, only to discover, on arriving here,
+that their previous expectations are a mockery, their present prospects
+worse than slavery, and their future moral ruin and contamination nearly
+a certainty."--_April_, 1845.]
+
+[Footnote 268: Sir Eardley Wilmot's despatch, 1846.]
+
+[Footnote 269: La Trobe's despatch, 1847, No. 18.]
+
+[Footnote 270: Letter to Dr. Hampton, 1845.]
+
+[Footnote 271: The writer thus records his opinion in 1850:--"If
+transportation were discontinued, and the colonists, under a free
+government, were allowed to exercise their own intelligence and develop
+the resources of their country, the stain and evils of having been the
+receptacle of criminals would gradually and speedily disappear.... For
+nearly ten years have the colonists been struggling to relieve
+themselves from the annual importation of criminals, and throughout that
+long period they have displayed a spirit and disposition worthy of the
+highest admiration. Regardless of the profits of convict labor, and of
+the immense government expenditure, they preferred any sacrifice to the
+continuance of what they considered demoralising their community. In
+future ages their conduct will be regarded as one of the few examples of
+a people struggling against temporal advantages for morality and virtue;
+and if the desire of removing a grievous injury, and aiding the
+sufferers in recovering from its effects, be a noble feeling, the people
+of England are bound to afford their powerful sympathy and assistance to
+the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land."--_A System of Penal Discipline,
+with a Report on the Treatment of Prisoners in Great Britain and Van
+Diemen's Land. By the Rev. H. P. Fry, A.B._]
+
+[Footnote 272: "A settler in the interior loses a quantity of sheep:
+whether correctly or not, he believes that they are stolen by
+probationers. Perhaps they are sold, perhaps they are slaughtered, and
+the wool 'planted.' He finds two members of the gang wandering over his
+grounds: he suspects, challenges them, and on their refusal to withdraw,
+attempts to arrest them. One of them seizes him by the throat, and
+threatens his life: the timely appearance of his brother enables him to
+secure them both. He conveys them to the station, lays before the
+magistrate a charge, who sentences them. They are turned out among the
+gang, without special permanent restraint, and abscond again. Our
+readers may fancy this to be mere romance, but every word of it is
+truth, and the detailed account will be found in another column. The
+place is Oatlands; the complainant, Mr. Wilson; the time, last week. Let
+us look at this case. A settler who bought his land from the government,
+finds in his neighbourhood ninety convicts, in the charge of a single
+overseer. His property, and it is impossible it should be otherwise, is
+subjected to daily depredation. And who is the real robber? Who, at
+least, are the more accountable parties? The men whose known
+propensities have occasioned their transportation--the unfortunate
+overseer, whose life hangs upon his connivance or indifference--_or the
+government_, which, knowing all these circumstances, exposed the men to
+temptation, and the settler to ruin? And what will be the result of all
+this? The unfortunate settler will chafe, murmur, and implore, but he
+must, at last, gather together the remnant of his property, and escape
+for his life!"--_Observer, March_, 1846.
+
+"In another column will be found the proceedings of the criminal court.
+The puisne judge, in passing sentence on the prisoners, said 'it must be
+remembered that there are from 20,000 to 30,000 men spread throughout
+the country, whose increasing offences require that some signal examples
+should be made. I am sorry to say that crime has increased amongst this
+class very considerably within the last two or three years.' After
+dwelling upon the absolute necessity that the executive should rigidly
+carry out the sentences of the court, he added, 'I am sorry to say that
+within the last two or three sessions some twenty or thirty cases of
+this description (cutting and wounding) have been tried in this court,
+as great a number as were formerly tried in two or three years, and also
+of a more aggravated character.'"--Ibid.
+
+"The evidence of Mr. James Arnold Wheeler, the superintendent of the St.
+Mary's Pass station, exposed some of the beauties of the system. A
+hawker was robbed within about a mile of the station under very
+aggravated circumstances, by men in the dress of probationers. It was,
+of course, important to ascertain who was absent from the station at
+that particular period, and Mr. Wheeler stated that he could not tell,
+as all the third class had liberty to roam about within hearing of the
+bell, about half a mile in any direction from the establishment. When
+asked by the judge what prevented the men from going further if they
+pleased? he replied, nothing, provided they returned at a certain hour.'
+His honor shook his head in silence."--_Examiner_, 1846.
+
+"During the trial of John Burdett in the supreme court, on the 2nd
+instant, for robbery, the prosecutor, an old man between 60 and 70,
+swore that he had been robbed (his property taken) seven times since
+last Christmas; that his bed, rug, and blanket had been taken from his
+hut; that he lived a mile and a-half from Oyster Cove probation station;
+that he was reduced to such straits that he now depends on his
+neighbours for a little bread to eat; that the superintendent's lady had
+given him a rug and a blanket, but he had nothing but straw to sleep
+upon. There is only an open four-rail fence outside the station to
+confine the prisoners after they are let out of their sleeping cells.
+Mr. Justice Montagu commented, with indignation, upon the total want of
+restraint upon the probationers, and of protection to the poor settlers
+in the neighbourhood of the station; and expressed, in feeling terms,
+his sympathy for the prosecutor's distress and losses, and kindly
+declared that, if the old man would prepare a petition, and forward it
+to him, he would take care that the clerk of the court should give the
+jurors an opportunity to join in it, and would use his best endeavours
+with his excellency the lieutenant-governor, who, he was sure, would
+feel happiness in extending compensation, if it were in his power. In
+passing sentence of transportation for fifteen years (the lightest which
+the law permits in cases of robbery), his honor protested that,
+considering the position of the prisoner, placed in a probation station
+but having no restraint laid upon him to prevent from going in quest of
+luxuries and comforts, he would be fain to pass a lighter sentence. He
+felt the inefficiency of the sentence that he was about to pronounce,
+but he had no alternative. Accordingly he passed the mitigated sentence
+of fifteen years transportation".--_Courier, September_, 1846.]
+
+[Footnote 273: Despatch to Earl Grey, 1847.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XXV.
+
+The notices of the treatment of female prisoners in this work have been
+few. Until recently, the attention of the English government has been
+almost entirely confined to the management of male convicts; and the
+impression has been always too general, that the unhappy women are
+beyond recovery. In the local discussion of the convict question the
+deliberate opinion of Captain Forster has been usually adopted, by all
+who have seen the conduct of the women. "I have not," said that
+distinguished officer, "entered upon the topic of discipline for female
+convicts, not considering them available subjects for prison
+discipline." (1837) Colonial experience, before and since, would hardly
+authorise any other conclusion.
+
+The first female transports were left to the casualties of a convict
+colony. Some, who were adopted by the officers, became the mothers of
+respectable families: some wholly emerged from their degradation, and
+became respectable wives; but, for the most part, they merely exhibited
+the depth to which vice can depress. Nearly 20,000 have been
+transported; of these, a considerable proportion have fallen victims to
+intemperance, and sunk into a premature grave.
+
+The description of the conduct of female prisoners is so uniform, that
+any date and any account might be joined at random. Those who read the
+works of Collins, of Read, of Henderson, and of Lang, and compare them
+with each other, and with works of the present time, will find little
+variety of incident. They represent woman deprived of the graces of her
+own sex, and more than invested with the vices of man.
+
+The transportation of women has been a great social evil to the
+colonies. At first it seemed unavoidable: it was afterwards deemed
+highly expedient, for reasons it is not necessary to describe. Yet it is
+not too much to attribute the chief vexations of domestic life to their
+character and conduct. It would have been better for the nation, for the
+male convicts, and for the women themselves, had they been detained at
+home, or banished to countries where they would have avoided the double
+degradation of moral and social infamy.[274] Such were the views of many
+most enlightened men. The extreme difficulty of finding them employment
+as servants, and their perpetual relapses, have induced the government
+usually to encourage, at first concubinage, and, in more scrupulous
+times--marriage: in some instances with great success. It is the last
+expedient in the administration of penal laws; when it fails, the case
+is considered hopeless.
+
+The number of females transported, until within twelve years, were about
+1 to 10 men; since then, they have been about 1 to 7. The penalty has
+been inflicted for the lighter crimes; and in many instances the Irish
+courts must have been influenced rather by a vague notion of humanity
+than of punishing offenders. Such are often young creatures: not a few
+could be scarcely considered depraved.
+
+The accumulation on the hands of the government has been usually very
+great, and curious expedients have been devised to dispose of the
+burden. The factory at Parramatta, in former times, was a mart of women.
+Thither the laboring man went in search of a wife, and often, after a
+general survey, selected one on the spot. These marriages were not
+always a failure, but far the greater number ended in intemperance and
+prostitution.
+
+To overcome the reluctance of the settlers to employ them, Sir George
+Murray, when secretary for the colonies, directed the governor to compel
+the settlers to receive one woman with three or four men (1829). The
+effect of this stipulation was probably never considered. The condition
+of the better disposed has been one of great hazard and temptation. The
+last state of female degradation was often their inevitable lot. They
+were surrendered to solicitations and even violence: a convict constable
+conducted them to the houses of their master; they lodged on the road,
+wherever they could obtain shelter; convict servants were usually their
+companions,--or when their manners were superior to their class,
+corrupters of a higher rank were always at hand to betray or destroy
+them. Reformation has been commonly deemed unattainable, and precautions
+useless.
+
+The influence of such persons on the tone of society, the temper of
+masters, the morals of children, and even the conduct of the convict
+men, has proved everywhere disastrous, unless checked by incessant
+vigilance. Smoking, drinking, swearing, and prostitution, have very
+commonly formed the character ever present to the tender mind. The
+stranger entered perhaps a splendid dwelling, and found all the
+advantages of opulence, except what money could not procure--a comely
+and honest-hearted woman servant. The eye at length became more familiar
+with lineaments bloated or rigid with passion and debauch, and the ear
+accustomed to the endless vicissitudes of the servants' hall, which
+discharged and received an endless succession of the same debased,
+despised, and unhappily despicable beings. The writer has not forgotten,
+for a moment, that under the protection of a virtuous mistress, some
+unfortunate but not depraved females have escaped the terrible ordeal,
+and have found in the land of their exile the comforts of a home.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 274: Letter from Chief Justice Forbes, 1836.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XXVI.
+
+Lord Stanley devoted commendable and humane attention to the management
+of female prisoners. They were comprehended in his scheme of probation.
+He resolved to establish a penitentiary, on a large scale, within twenty
+miles of Hobart Town. The women were to be carefully classified and
+separated, and trained for the duties of domestic life. The discipline
+intended rather to restore than to punish: those remitted in disgrace to
+the government, were not to re-enter this place of reform. Instructions
+were forwarded to prepare the ground and collect the material (1843);
+but the local officers were averse to the plan. They complained that the
+contemplated site was remote and inconvenient, and they succeeded in
+postponing and finally defeating the project.
+
+Mrs. Bowden, a lady of majestic presence and enlightened mind, who had
+acquired considerable experience in the management of the insane, was
+appointed matron. Her fertility of resource, courage, and zeal, had been
+greatly admired at Hanwell, where many hundreds of the unfortunate were
+relieved from the greatest of human calamities. The reputation of this
+lady recommended her to the confidence of government:[275] with her
+husband, Dr. Bowden, the medical officer, and a chosen staff of
+assistants--several only inferior to herself--she arrived in this colony
+with high expectations of success. As a temporary expedient, the
+_Anson_, a ship of war, was appropriated to the project. The decorum of
+the ship, and the healthy and cleanly appearance of the women, were
+striking to a stranger; but the early lack of employment ruined the
+enterprise. The government, with its usual negligence, failed in
+details, and thus failed altogether. Towards the close of the
+experiment, the making of clothing for the prisoners was more
+successfully attempted; but the local authorities were always hostile to
+the institution. It was protected by Lord Stanley and Mr. Gladstone, but
+Earl Grey consented to its extinction. The results were certainly not
+encouraging. The women, discharged from the ship ignorant of the colony,
+were at once thrown into every temptation of convict associations. They
+had been instructed in the principles of religion, reading and
+needlework, and the fruit of these labors will hereafter perhaps,
+appear; but whoever expects much from mere dogmatic knowledge, will be
+doomed to disappointment. On the death of her husband Mrs. Bowden
+returned to England, convinced that moral insanity is far more hopeless
+than the diseases of Hanwell. This lady and her friends and coadjutors,
+the Misses Holdich, found the women generally submissive and docile:
+they were haunted with all kinds of terrors, and had less than the
+ordinary courage of women. Mere children in understanding; some, such
+only in years; but their actual reformation, for the most part, only
+remained an object of confident expectation, while their true tendencies
+were repressed. The lady officers, who expected to reap a harvest in
+this field of mercy, began by blaming the colonists for scepticism, and
+after 3,000 women had passed through their hands, they, alas! ended in
+becoming sceptical.
+
+A great number of these prisoners are married. During the probation
+system, the local government of the colony became far less scrupulous in
+reference to their character, previous engagements, and means of living.
+As a choice of evils this course was the least; but many of these
+marriages were a disguise for licentiousness, and of a very temporary
+character. The freed man united to a convict woman could not be detained
+in the colony; indeed, he was often compelled to leave it, and his wife
+was not permitted to accompany him. From this cause alone, infinite vice
+and misery has arisen; and a total disregard of ties so modified by a
+police regulation; which, while encouraging women to marry, subjects
+them to lasting desertion.
+
+Before the introduction of Lord Stanley's probation system, several
+pious ladies established a committee of visitation. They entered the
+factories and cells, and conversed with the female prisoners. Official
+teachers superseded these efforts of private benevolence; and lessons,
+however excellent in themselves, lost the attraction of spontaneous
+sympathy and disinterested toil.
+
+It is with deep regret these observations are recorded. It is not
+intended to assume that the reform of female prisoners is impossible. A
+considerable minority are probably not inferior to the lower classes of
+poor and uneducated women in the cities, or more uncivilised provinces.
+Re-convictions are not numerous; though, of course, many are deeply
+implicated with colonial crime. The law which consigns all to one penal
+fate, devotes all to one common ruin. Were it possible to escape the
+contamination of a gaol, what could be hoped, where the male population
+is contributed chiefly by prisons? What can be done to obviate these
+evils? Such is the enquiry of the philanthropist: would to God it could
+be successfully answered.'
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 275: _Report of Hanwell Institutions_, 1842.]
+
+
+
+SECTION XXVII.
+
+Whatever details are omitted from the foregoing pages, nothing has been
+withheld necessary to complete a colonial view of transportation. Errors
+may doubtless be detected; but as they have not resulted from
+carelessness or haste, it is hoped they will be found both unimportant
+and rare.
+
+The views expressed by various parties on the subject of transportation
+are modified, or even wholly suggested by their interests. The English
+peer rejoices that sixteen thousand miles of ocean divide him from the
+"wretch" who entered on his preserves, or dragged his rivers, and is at
+rest; the citizen is glad that one burglar less lives in his
+neighbourhood, and considers that transportation is indispensible to the
+safety of plate. The colonist farmer regards convictism as a labor
+power; the working emigrant as a rival labor market; while the officers
+in charge naturally cloak its evils and exalt its efficacy.
+
+It is nearly impossible for a stranger to estimate the weight of
+testimony, so prejudiced throughout, and nearly as impossible for a
+writer, interested in the issue of its discussion, to preserve the
+unclouded judgment required to arrive at truth. But little reliance can
+be placed on official statistics: they give imperfect views of moral or
+industrial results. They have often been compiled by government for
+specific purposes, or by agents unworthy of confidence.
+
+It may be proper to point out the chief difficulties which beset this
+branch of penal jurisprudence. Some of these have been long noticed by
+authorities on political philosophy. From Paley, to the latest
+speculators on transportation, all have noticed its inequality. They
+have dwelt on the uncertainty of its details--from the differing habits
+and original condition of those subject to its infliction; and from the
+absence of supervision, only to be expected where those who direct the
+sentence secure its observance. The convict is condemned to a penalty
+which may subject him to predial slavery, to capricious punishments; to
+brutal taskmasters, and to the antipathies of a caste; or he may be
+regarded with compassion, good-will, and even preference: the sting of
+the law may be taken away, and what was a penalty may constitute a
+brotherhood.
+
+Thus it happens that no uniform description is a true one. What may
+correctly delineate the aspect of transportation on one class, may be
+false in reference to another; what may be facts one year, may be an
+exaggeration in the year following. This inequality has been partly the
+result of the law. The relation of the convict to the free has been
+constantly changing. He was a bond servant; he was permitted to compound
+his servitude by a daily payment; he was allowed to work partly for
+himself and partly for the crown, at the same moment. He has been
+restrained in government gangs; he has lodged in barracks, and worn the
+coarsest dress, or he has lived in his own hired house. Sometimes
+treated as a public enemy, chained, flogged, and over-worked; at others,
+petted as a favorite or soothed like a child.
+
+The public policy has depended on causes which have had little relation
+to the individual character of convicts. A mild or severe governor, or
+secretary of state; a great increase or decrease of numbers; the book of
+some literary idler, or of an angry colonist; instances of extraordinary
+good fortune, or an insurrection against tyranny; the fluctuations of
+feeling at home, sometimes wrath against crime, sometimes compassion for
+the criminal. Such are the causes, traced in the incessant agitation of
+penal transportation.
+
+Two incompatible objects have been always professedly
+embraced--intimidation and reform; but while they have both animated the
+scheme, they have struggled for the ascendancy, and the one or the other
+has seemed to be the chief, if not sole, motive of government. The
+Australian seal expressed the design of mercy: it was to oxen
+ploughing--to bales of merchandise, and the various attributes of
+industry, that Hope pointed the landing convict, when she broke off his
+bonds. Fifty years after, Lord Stanley deemed many years spent in
+chains, a just punishment for crimes against property, or others of no
+deep dye.
+
+The changes of systems have been usually based on facts and opinions,
+elicited during those paroxysms of reform which occur generally once in
+ten years. Thus the improvement of discipline; the efficiency of convict
+labor; the several efforts to restrain its attendant vices; have
+usually occurred when some old officer has been superseded; and others
+have devoted to their novel duties the first vigour of their zeal.
+
+The whole spirit and apparent object of convict discipline has been
+revolutionised several times. In the vicissitudes of English factions a
+new secretary of state has had power to sift and overturn the expedients
+of a rival. It has rarely remained beyond a few months in one stay. For
+four or six years, during the governorship of Colonel Arthur,
+transportation reached its highest perfection. It was rendered uniform,
+by the imperial confidence reposed in his judgment; more so by the
+demand for labor, by the rapid influx of capital, and by the common
+interest of the government, the colonist, and the well-doing prisoner.
+It would be difficult to find half that period undisturbed under any
+other ruler.
+
+Many difficulties connected with transportation are created by natural
+and social laws: full of mercy to the human race. The sufferings
+inflicted by man cannot reform man: he cannot carry out the vengeance of
+another, for wrongs he neither endured nor saw. His heart melts at the
+sight of distress, and forgetting general principles, says, in the
+absence of accusers, "neither do I condemn thee;" or if forgetful of a
+common nature, he punishes with inflexible severity, while the iron
+enters the soul of his brother his own heart is seared. Thus, again, a
+nation cannot send away her criminals, and yet make their punishment
+exemplary; she cannot detain them in masses, without rendering them a
+scourge; she cannot discharge them to live under a clement sky and
+amidst abundance, without meeting everywhere the reproaches of the
+honest poor. Thus beset on every side, she is taught that crime is not
+an excrescence to be cut off, but a disease to be cured; and that to
+increase the comparative penalty of guilt, more than liberty must be
+forfeited. She must offer something better to her paupers than the
+benefits of disgraceful exile.
+
+In reference to practical results, almost every theory may be sustained
+by the records of transportation, if one class of facts only are
+admitted into view. Thus it has been pronounced by men distinguished and
+intelligent, as an expedient worthy an enlightened statesman, and
+gratifying to the most ardent though scrupulous philanthropist; but they
+have often omitted sections of facts which, resting on evidence not less
+deserving regard, excite astonishment, disgust, and horror.
+
+Whether the judgment of Governor Arthur was correct on the main
+question, or not, he doubtless pointed out the great difficulty. His
+words are well worthy remembrance:--"Sanguine as I am of the beneficial
+results of transportation, and confident as I feel that it may be made
+to surpass any other secondary punishment, both as relates to the
+criminal and to the country from which he is banished,--I cannot lose
+sight of many imperfections of our present system, some of which are
+bottomed on a state of things which no human ingenuity can
+rectify:--'you cannot make that straight which God hath made
+crooked.'"[276]
+
+A few men of the generation survive, which witnessed the departure of
+the first fleet of convict vessels to a country then a wilderness, and
+inhabited only by savages. The stranger, who lands where they first
+pitched their tents, will survey the scene and consider the question of
+transportation determined. The shipping which crowd the harbour; the
+public and private buildings rivaling the architecture of Europe; the
+spacious churches, filled with well-dressed families; the extensive
+thoroughfare, thronged with business and equipages, and adorned with
+elegant shops and offices; the courts of law; the public markets; the
+London cries; the noise of the hustings; the debates of the assembly.
+Such are the alleged results of transportation: as if by some vast
+effort the people of an old country had transferred the seat of empire,
+and were collecting all that art could devise and wealth could bring.
+Should the visitor extend his enquiries, he will find vessels trading to
+many neighbouring and kindred cities. They all owe their existence to
+that first fleet. Sometimes they repudiate their origin; but they bear
+evidence that their giant youth has learned from the experience, and
+risen in part under the auspices of the great convict country. Should
+the traveller extend his travels to Van Diemen's Land, he will hear the
+same tale of penal transportation, and its wondrous effects in former
+times. He will pass over a road made after scientific plans, and bridges
+of costly structure. He will see orchards, in which mingle the blossom
+of the cherry, the apple, the pear, and the peach; and gardens green
+with British vegetation. This successful spread of the English name,
+language, commerce, and power, has required less than the life of man.
+Many survive, who were born when the first sod of Australia was turned
+by the hoe of a banished Briton. The man even now seen sauntering
+along, chained and moving sullenly to labor, is but a continuation of
+that army who first broke in on the solitude of a new world; laid the
+first foundation, and planted the first field.
+
+Should the traveller still extend his enquiry, his astonishment and
+delight will not be diminished. The swarms of children rushing from a
+village school participate the blood of men, some of whom were once a
+terror to society, or of women who were its reproach. In the lists of
+religious societies, commercial companies, jurors, magistrates, will be
+found traces of their lineage. What could hope have anticipated beyond
+these realities!
+
+But the connection between these successes and transportation, is rather
+co-incidental than of cause and effect. Were it supposed that seventy
+years would have elapsed prior to the occupation of these countries, but
+for transportation, the advantage must be calculated not by actual
+achievements but the value of that advanced starting point, which
+colonisation now possesses. It is not improbable that colonisation would
+have commenced at a much earlier date: the first ships of free settlers
+would have been more intelligent; their attention to the resources of
+the country more earnest. The second quarter of a century had half
+expired, when the Blue Mountains ceased to be a barrier to the colonists
+of New South Wales. The dawning of a new world must have attracted the
+national mind, had not an unexampled society, abandoned to vice and
+crime, appeared to the people an object of dread and horror.
+
+The progress of the colonies, until 1830, cannot be considered rapid.
+The first settlers were, individually, prosperous: many emancipists were
+wealthy; but for the rest, their houses were mean, their commercial
+arrangements pedling and insignificant; their public buildings generally
+miserable. It is from the date of emigration that progress has been
+conspicuous: and that date is but recent--a progress in a ratio vastly
+greater than any previous cycle. The great colonies of Port Phillip and
+South Australia, before that time, were hardly in existence.
+
+If, indeed, no capital had been introduced; no whalers collected the
+treasures of the deep; no free emigrant arrived; no free colonies
+erected; then the improvements of this quarter of the globe might be
+ascribed to penal laws; but they have the same relation to its present
+prosperity as the numerous parts of an edifice have to each other--not
+such as of the oak to the acorn. When, therefore, it is stated that
+transportation has been the making of these colonies, it should be
+rather said it was the cause of their establishment. The outlay of the
+crown, although great, has been small compared with the outlay of the
+people. The chief settlers of the convict colonies were capitalists;
+they gave themselves to cultivation, which, in most instances, has
+involved them. Agriculturists are poor: it is the shepherd prince who is
+rich. He may be benefited a few score pounds by labor artificially
+supplied; but nature is the great patron of his house.
+
+The chief connexion between transportation and progress is in the
+government outlay; but that has been less than apparent; it has often
+been the mere difference between an English and a colonial price; it has
+been attended with great consumption without equal re-production. It has
+sometimes had no other effect than foreign commerce on the places of
+depot and transit. The price of labor, when labor was chiefly supplied
+by transportation, was often very high. Thus a farmer found one man with
+rations and clothing; but a person, working in the same field, received
+L30, L40, or even L60 per annum. The price of labor was therefore often,
+on the whole, sufficient to absorb the capital of the employer.
+
+There are many wealthy landowners, who are, however, the sole
+representatives of those numerous fortunes lost by London firms in these
+colonies. The court of insolvency made that which was foreign, colonial
+property. The rich freights sent from Europe, when not wasted by an
+extravagant consumption, were really exchanged for land improved, and
+finally disappeared from the ledger of the merchant. It remains--not as
+the result of convict labor, but as the dividend of an expenditure which
+shews more loss than gain.
+
+The value of convict labor has been generally overestimated. "The day
+that sees a man a slave, deprives him of half his worth." The employers,
+as a class, are uniformly poor. Slave labor in America is dearer than
+free, although it implies no moral degradation.[277] What then could be
+expected from bondmen of the same colour as their lords; whose
+resentment and indolence combined to prevent their usefulness. It may be
+safely affirmed, that the employer who gained by his servants, not only
+watched, but paid them.[278] Instances may be found in opposition to
+this conclusion: the great employers, who reduced their men by an
+unrelenting pressure, were few in number; and their advantages were of
+brief duration.[279]
+
+The ordinary settlers purchased convict labor at great sacrifices, which
+they never estimated. They lived in woods, often without religious
+instruction, medical attendance, and in want of those refinements which
+can be realised only when the stern features of the wilderness are
+softened by neighbourhood and civilisation. Who can value the toil and
+time, and wear and tear of life, in bringing the stubborn, ignorant, and
+vicious to drive the plough and reap the harvest. Other colonists, in
+other lands, with less capital, but with free labor, have thriven
+faster; and attained a prosperity far less compromised by debt, and far
+more durable.
+
+A very great quantity of property has been destroyed by crime and vice.
+It is commonly said that theft merely changes ownership, and does not
+detract from the aggregate of wealth; but the thief is not only idle,
+his expenditure is reckless; he wastes more than he consumes.
+
+Many colonists of former years spoke of the arrival of prisoners with
+gladness, and seemed to regard the punctual supply of a certain but
+increasing number as a boon. The minds of these persons usually dwelt
+solely on the advantage of coercive labor, of military and prison
+expenditure, and the prisoner was regarded as a "productive power."
+When ashamed of sordid calculation, they discovered a defence in the
+blessedness of expatriation to the offender. His food was greater in
+quantity, and better in quality, than he could obtain by industry in a
+crowded country. His liberty restored, fortune became often auspicious,
+and the temptation, to rude roguery ceased. He took his side with the
+laws; he married, and educated his children; he attended the house of
+God, and became serious; he rivalled his master in liberality and public
+spirit. Multitudes died in hospitals and in prisons; but they were
+forgotten, and the fortunate only were conspicuous.
+
+The public works performed by convict labor, though sometimes extensive
+and important, will appear inconsiderable, if compared with the imperial
+or colonial cost. The deep cuts and massive bridges, which please the
+eye, are yet disproportionate to the traffic, and produce no adequate
+return. The proportion between free and bond labor, is as 2 and 3 to 1.
+Task labor has been commonly found incompatible with discipline, or
+liable to favoritism and official dishonesty: the overseer
+"approximates" or guesses, when not inclined to reckon. Day work is
+still less satisfactory: the pick is slowly uplifted, and descends
+without effect. The body bends and goes through hours of ineffectual
+motion; or if the rigour of discipline renders evasion penal, the
+triangles disgrace a civilised nation, and the colony is filled with
+violence and vengeance. Yet convict labor has, generally, been deemed
+important to an infant settlement; to secure a combination, without
+which preliminary stages of colonisation are slowly passed. Such has
+been its undoubted use; but who, with the prodigies of modern enterprise
+before him, will assign to bond labor a peculiar efficacy, or doubt that
+well directed capital can ensure all that force can effect.
+
+The industrial enterprises of the crown have been utterly unsuccessful:
+they have been the laughter of the colony. Examples might be given in
+abundance; but it is needless to prove what has been never disputed.
+Convicts have been employed by the authorities as ship-builders, masons,
+hop-growers, and cultivators; but the general results would have
+involved any less opulent proprietor in ruin.
+
+Nearly 120,000 prisoners have landed in these colonies; of these, the
+major part have passed into eternity. Thousands have died in chains;
+thousands and tens of thousands perished by strong drink. Their domestic
+increase, compared with equal numbers of free persons, is
+insignificant--partly by the effects of vice, and in part by the
+impracticability of marriage: they melt from the earth, and pass away
+like a mournful dream. In every parochial burial-ground there is a large
+section of graves, where not a tomb records who slumber there.
+
+The nursery is the natural hive of arts and agriculture. The sons of the
+farmer, when they commit him to the dust, occupy his fields, and the
+little one becomes a thousand. There are several families in this
+colony, more than were the sons of Jacob when he lodged in Goshen; but
+convicts, for the most part, die childless.
+
+In delineating the character of an exile population, a broad line must
+be drawn between the accidental offender and the hereditary robber. To
+the first no special description will be applicable: they are often not
+inferior to the ranks from which they sprung. Though a small section of
+the whole, they present not the least affecting picture among the many
+sad sights of a penal land. In the folly and recklessness of youth they
+lost at once their fame, their honor, and their freedom. The statesman
+may behold only a mass of outcasts; but among them are many whose names
+are the burden of a father's prayer, or are traced in deep lines of
+sorrow on a mother's breaking heart.
+
+Transportation confounds men of entirely distinct character in one
+common penalty. Thus every variety of disposition, and every grade in
+life may be discovered. A proportion, certainly not considerable, obtain
+the respect and influence due to benevolence, integrity, successful
+toil: a much larger number exhibit only the common faults of uneducated
+men, and acquire the common confidence suited to their original station.
+
+The character of convicts cannot be safely inferred from their sentence.
+Thus highway robbers were not unfrequently the best conducted men: they
+exhibited a courage and resolution which, directed aright, became useful
+to society and to themselves. The petty thief, often detected in his
+least offence, proved incapable of shame or gratitude. To an English
+reader, preference expressed by masters for persons under heavy
+sentences, would appear inexplicable; but it was founded, not on length
+of servitude alone, but a not uncommon superiority of disposition. Those
+transported for agrarian offences and political crimes, were often
+honest men. The rustic insurgents of 1832, were considered valuable
+servants. The Canadian prisoners conducted themselves with exemplary
+decorum.
+
+Among those who belong to the class of habitual offenders, a large
+proportion are intellectually deficient. These unfortunate beings
+regularly return to crime on their discharge; incapable of resisting
+temptation: while prisoners, they are perpetually involved in
+difficulties. A very bad man will pass through the different stages of
+his sentence without reproach, while the weak-minded are involved in
+endless infractions of discipline and successive punishments. Nothing
+retards the release of the artful villain when his time is expired,
+while the warm and incautious, but better man, accumulates a catalogue
+of prison penalties.
+
+The most civil and useless prisoners are the Irish: the most base and
+clever are the Scotch. They stand in different relations to the law: the
+Scotchman violates his own judgment, and offends, against knowledge; the
+Irish peasant unites a species of patriotism with his aggressions.
+
+The modern convict is, in some respects, better than his predecessor;
+less ruthless, or prone to atrocious violence. Civilisation has extended
+its mollifying influence, even to the professional robber. On the other
+hand, in former times, men were transported for very trivial offences:
+poaching, with its consequences, formed the leading crimes of the
+English counties; yet many poachers were otherwise first-rate men, both
+in disposition and physical development. The modern convicts are, more
+generally, criminals in the popular sense. The abolition of capital
+punishments, and the erection of penitentiaries at home, left the
+penalty of transportation chiefly to more serious offences.
+
+The tendency to particular crimes is often curiously displayed.
+Prisoners are safe amidst scenes which present no allurements adapted to
+their former habits: the pickpocket is perfectly trusty as a shepherd;
+the housebreaker makes a confidential dairy-man. Old temptations are
+fatal: even the stealing particular goods seems a special propensity. A
+woman, lately convicted of stealing blankets, who was originally
+transported for blanket-stealing, had twice stolen the same article in
+the colony. It is, of course, in the same department that the robber,
+the coiner, or the receiver of Europe, resumes in Australia his
+antagonism to the laws. These characteristics are happily often
+obliterated and overpowered.
+
+The Christian will not doubt that reformation is possible, and that many
+once neglected and unfortunate, placed under the guidance and encouraged
+by the countenance of benevolent men, acquire both the principles and
+habits of ordinary society. The affections of domestic life are all
+awakened. The parent feels a new interest in the world: his share in the
+common prosperity excites the sentiment of patriotism. He promotes his
+children's education with unusual care; but it is at this stage of life
+that his heart endures a pang which legislators never contemplated.
+
+The occasional prosperity of the transported person has been the
+opprobrium of the laws. He rises above his former condition; becomes a
+master where he was a bondman; patronises public amusements, and rides
+in his chariot past the pedestrian who received him in bonds. Great
+changes in condition are common everywhere: but transportation presents
+the whole career of the exile, from the bar to the civic hall, as parts
+of the one drama. A pardoned offender is lost in the population of Great
+Britain. Were the changes in his fortune noticed, it would occasion no
+reflection on the laws; but when numbers ascend under the same auspices,
+their prosperity is flagrant, and stands in ludicrous contrast with the
+predictions of the magistrate, who opened up a field of successful
+enterprise when he pronounced the sentence of transportation.
+
+The colonial aspect of transportation is, to a British statesman, a
+secondary question: thus the injury of a distant community is of
+inconsiderable importance. If the expatriated classes carry out with
+them their ignorance, disorder, and crime, they retard the progress and
+destroy the reputation of a distant country, but the nation may still be
+satisfied: she may balance the evil and the good, and find herself the
+gainer. The colony is injured; but the parent country is saved. Thus
+transportation not only removes the habitual criminal, it extinguishes
+the embers of insurrection: it prevents the dreaded war between property
+and poverty, and silently withdraws a mass of dangerous discontent.
+
+Of those transported a great proportion, if in England, would be in
+prisons; or, if at large, preying on the world--following their old
+calling, as burglars, coiners, and sheep-stealers. They would be active
+incendiaries and anarchists: they would be out at every riot, and by
+throwing their numbers into the scale of sedition, overturn all order,
+and even change the constitution. Such have been the conclusions of
+English statesmen: perhaps, partly founded on their fears, or stated for
+effect; but not wholly unsupported by analogy.
+
+While some exhibit a convict colony as depraved beyond all examples of
+depravation, others lower the standard of human virtue, and not only
+extenuate its evils but magnify its worth. It was asserted by Lord
+Stanley, that the feeling of caste guarded the habits of the free. A
+view so flattering to human pride could hardly fail to be confessed;
+but, in fact, familiarity with crime, although it may not corrupt the
+judgment, must abate the moral sensibility. No colonist can forget his
+shudder at the first spectacle of men in chains: none can be unconscious
+that the lapse of years has deadened the sense of social disorder. It
+has, indeed, made many doubly circumspect, and awakened a peculiar
+interest in the ordinances of religion. Nor is it to be doubted that
+many expirees, disgusted with the enormities of vice, have, under the
+same feeling, contributed to set up the indispensable land-marks of
+honesty and religion.
+
+Never were families guarded with more care, or efforts to educate the
+population more earnest, than during the inundation of the probation
+system. The external decorum of the Sabbath, the general attendance of
+the free inhabitants on worship, would go far to countenance the idea
+that the place of peril is the place of caution and prayer.
+
+Ministers of the crown are, or profess to be, astonished that when the
+freed population increases, and the territory is explored, a country,
+still needing labor, should object to the prisoner supply; but the
+slave-holding interest expires, when immense numbers can be held no
+longer by a few: the common views of mankind re-assert their ascendancy.
+All, save employers, are hostile to degraded labor; employers themselves
+become less interested as masters than as colonists.
+
+But transportation to one country cannot continue for ever. The causes
+which suggest the exile of offenders will occasion their rejection:
+money or labor may bribe the settler to become an overseer for the
+crown; but from the beginning he will calculate on a nobler vocation. A
+considerable community cannot be tempted by convict labor: and the
+numbers who regain liberty are enemies to the social state they have
+escaped. Fathers, who for themselves dreaded no dangers, tremble for
+their children: the adventurer becomes a citizen; a merchant, a
+politician: and the time approaches, when the same causes which induced
+the parent country to send the first convict vessel, will impel the
+colony to send back the last.
+
+The late expedient of Earl Grey, is the trial of a scheme long present
+before his imagination.[280] Its rejection by the Australian continent
+has limited the experiment to Van Diemen's Land, where resistance is
+unavailing. It is the last achievement of penal philosophy, and will
+ascertain how long one small portion of the earth can receive the
+liberated masses, gathered by the penal laws of a mighty empire!
+
+The ticket man lands; the colony is crowded with his predecessors; the
+colonists consider his arrival a grievance; the government, ignorant or
+careless of his fate, cast him into new temptations. Under such a plan
+the emigrant is gradually superseded by the exile population: the
+emancipated laborer is expelled by a fresh ticket holder. The
+country-born youth finds himself unable to live in his native land. The
+tone of public morals follows the prevailing spirit: crime is currently
+spoken of merely as a fault or a misfortune; the press teams with
+vicious sentimentalism; the administration of justice becomes more
+uncertain, perjury more common; the reputation of the colony is formed
+from the census, and the land becomes a by-word and a hissing.
+
+Such, then, is the scheme which originated in philanthropy; such the
+practical result of years of laborious inquiry and official debate!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 276: Despatch of Colonel Arthur to Right. Hon. E. G. Stanley,
+March 10, 1834.]
+
+[Footnote 277: "On the left bank of the Ohio the population is rare.
+From time to time one descries a troop of slaves loitering in the
+half-deserted fields, the primaeval forest recurs at every turn: society
+seems to be asleep. From the right bank, on the contrary, a confused hum
+is heard, which proclaims the presence of industry. The elegance of the
+dwellings announces the taste and activity of the laborer: in the end,
+the slave has cost more than the free man."--_Tocqueville_, vol. ii. p.
+222.]
+
+[Footnote 278: Murdoch's evidence, 1837.]
+
+[Footnote 279: It is a curious fact that, generally, the most severe
+government officials were reckoned the most indulgent of masters.]
+
+[Footnote 280: The following question, put by Earl Grey (then Lord
+Howick), and answer, given by James Macarthur, Esq., appears in the
+evidence taken before a committee of the House of Commons, 1837:--
+
+"Q. Suppose, instead of the present system of transportation, criminals
+were to be punished in England with a certain number of years'
+imprisonment, and after that to be banished to New South Wales, were
+there to be placed under the surveillance of the police, in the same
+manner as ticket-of-leave men, what do you think would be the effect of
+such a system?
+
+"A. I conceive that the effect would be, in a modified shape, the same
+as that of continuing transportation."--_Report of Commons_, 1837, p.
+218.]
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF TASMANIA
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+The history of Tasmania is a type of the Australian world. The events
+recorded in these volumes represent the policy, modified slightly, which
+has everywhere prevailed. The author has however rarely attempted
+generalization, and has represented every fact in its independent
+colors. Thus an evil pursued to its source might have been avoidable by
+greater forethought and care, or it may have been the inevitable issue
+of a system upon the whole beneficial and therefore just.
+
+For many years the government of these colonies was absolute: could it
+be otherwise? A company of exiles, overawed by dissolute soldiery,
+interspersed here and there with few persons of a superior class, could
+only be governed by despotism. It might have been legalised instead of
+tolerated by the parliament, and it might have been less offensive to
+the spirit of liberty. But to have trusted a few proprietors with
+legislation or a share of the executive authority, could have only
+created a tyranny more grievous.
+
+The comparison between the early colonists of America, at least those of
+the northern states, and the founders of Australia, must quickly run off
+into a contrast. The primary object of the Pilgrim Fathers, was the
+enjoyment of opinions in peace. The early denizens of the southern world
+burned their first church to escape the tedium of attendance. The first
+pilgrims of New England attempted a community of goods on the plan of
+the apostles. The first Australians drew their stores from the
+commissariat, and adopted the traditions of Houndsditch and Wapping. The
+leaders of the first Americans were their clergy,--the bible was their
+political and civil standard. The rulers of the first Australians were
+half marine, half soldiers, whose pay was supplemented by the sale of
+spirits sold by convict women, their mistresses. Thus for many years
+the government of these colonies was absolute, and the usual
+consequences sometimes appeared.
+
+Were a judgment to be formed however of the spirit of colonial
+government by a severe examination of its early frame-work, erroneous
+conclusions would be drawn. In the worst times the sentiments and habits
+of Englishmen tempered the operation of power. Settlers fresh from
+English society could not discard the opinions and principles cherished
+in Great Britain; nor could the rulers of the day forget that their
+conduct would be judged, not by the standard of continental despotisms,
+but by British systems of government. The establishment of British
+courts of justice and the protection of English laws have been found
+with few exceptions an impenetrable shield. The chief examples of
+official wrong have been generally connected with the misappropriation
+of public resources rather than invasions of personal liberty. How
+different the despotism of a Spanish viceroy and the sternest rule of a
+British governor! For the last twenty years cases of aggravated
+oppression have been exceedingly rare. The genius of British freedom has
+ever overshadowed the British colony, and awed the despotic ruler, while
+it has encouraged and sheltered the feeblest colonist. The great defect
+in official men has been their superciliousness and indolence, rather
+than their tyranny, and the popular governors of this hemisphere have
+gained the public esteem by their manners rather than their ability. A
+genial temper and a feeling heart rarely failed to conciliate the
+multitude, while distinguished talents have lost their immediate
+influence when in union with a harsh, contemptuous, and fiery
+spirit.[281]
+
+For many years the press has exercised a powerful influence on the
+affairs of government, and left no avenue of escape to official
+ignorance and corruption. Even when jurors were selected by governors,
+the most unmeasured denunciations were poured forth without fear of
+prosecution. Associations for the redress of grievances have carried
+their organizations to the very verge of constitutional order. A
+democratic state certainly would never have tolerated the discussion of
+its principles and authority in feeble dependencies. But the British
+government, secure in its power and serenely conscious of its ability to
+check an intrusion on its just authority, has encouraged rather than
+repressed the freedom of public discussion and combination. The local
+rulers, instructed by their superiors, have long permitted even the
+licentiousness of the press. The strength of the empire justified and
+accounted for its tolerance. There is no tyranny so watchful as that of
+fear, and no cruelty so relentless as that of factions who struggle for
+existence.
+
+The non-dependence of the government on the people has united the
+colonists in one body. It has been the colony against England, and not
+tories against whigs. In America the powers of self-government were too
+often seized by a faction, and a political opposition, even in a most
+moderate form, was stigmatised as felony and punished as treason. But in
+the Australias the colonists have expended their rage on a distant
+office, and in their real or imaginary sufferings have felt a sympathy
+for each other. The ascendancy of a faction in a small community is the
+reign of terror, and might soon lead those who value their personal
+freedom to regret the most sensitive and unscrupulous vice-regal
+despotism.
+
+The spirit of colonial government, however, has been sensibly affected
+by the policy of Great Britain. The enlargement of popular freedom at
+home has relaxed the severity of colonial rule. For every considerable
+amelioration the colony has been indebted to the whigs. They gave trial
+by jury: they stopped white slavery in the Australian colonies, and thus
+in the end transportation. They placed religious denominations on an
+equal footing: they introduced the sale of land, for the purposes of
+immigration: they granted first to New South Wales, and since to all the
+colonies, the legislative assemblies which now watch over their rising
+liberties. In the days of a Castlereagh or a Bathurst, England possessed
+far less practical freedom than her colonies now enjoy. It is impossible
+to prevent the contagion of opinions, and the colonies may see in the
+growing intelligence and spirit of the United Kingdom the assurance of
+their own gradual advancement in the ranks of freedom. In this respect
+Australia is more happily conditioned than was once her American sister.
+The colonies of that continent were in advance of the parent country.
+The royal government not only detested their institutions as democratic,
+but as a standing reproach to the maxims of domestic policy. Thus, the
+appearance of a royal governor was ominous to their liberties. He came
+to entrap, to report, and to betray them. They had to hide their
+charters, to preserve them from violent abduction; and to threaten
+insurrection as the alternative of liberty. Whatever Australasia gains
+she will attain with the approbation of English statesmen. She will look
+to the spirit of the times as the guardian of her rights. While
+privileged exclusiveness is in Great Britain crumbling to the dust, it
+cannot be that the middle classes will impose upon the necks of infant
+colonies the burdens they themselves abhor.
+
+In seeking the improvement of colonial government, a prudent colonist
+will guard against the extravagance of theory. It is true that the
+people are the best judges of their own interests, but not that the
+interests of all colonists are uniform, or that they are capable of
+impartially disposing of all the incipient interests of the colonial
+state. Their covetousness as landholders might absorb the inheritance of
+the nation--their ambition as citizens contract the franchises of the
+humbler classes. The most strenuous opponents of Downing-street have
+denounced most fiercely the extension of the popular power. Mr.
+Wentworth, whose services in the cause of Australian freedom have
+immortalized his name, is yet a lictor when he turns towards the
+multitude, and a tribune only when he faces the seat of authority. His
+defiance of Earl Grey was pronounced nearly the same time that he
+imprecated vengeance on the Sydney democracy. The most strenuous
+educated advocates of self-government are not yet prepared to carry out
+their principles to their utmost limits. If the people have reason to
+dislike the autocracy of Downing-street, they would find no amelioration
+in the ascendency of an oligarchy which would divide the universe into
+sheep walks for the benefit of flockmasters, and convert the residue of
+mankind into shepherds. True liberty is a compromise, and if a small
+community would prevent faction from establishing a tyranny, it must
+exchange some advantages for a control which defends while it restrains.
+Thus the claim of responsible government, and the appointment of
+officers chosen from the colonial ranks, though favorite projects, and
+certain finally to prevail, require a considerable growth before they
+could be useful. Our functionaries hold their office at the pleasure of
+the crown and thus survive the confidence of the assemblies; but evils
+of another class would issue from an opposite system. Official men,
+always fearful of defeat, would strengthen their position by the most
+desperate use of their power, and a dozen voices would decide. Thus
+family compacts would be formed, and cliques and cabals would finally
+determine the distribution of office. For this the Americans have found
+a remedy in the meagre pay of those who occupy their highest situations.
+Ambition is moderated by its unrequited toils, and the public business
+chiefly carried on by paid servants of humble designations. But were
+thousands a year the prize of a successful opposition, not better men,
+but worse than the nominees of the crown might be expected to climb or
+creep into the seat of government.
+
+In looking down the lists of colonists who have most largely benefited
+their adopted country many would be found who were appointed from home
+to fill offices they have long since quitted. Nor would it be just to
+deny that they have largely contributed to whatever has elevated the
+taste and improved the social condition of these countries. For some
+time to come the appointment of well-educated Englishmen, though not to
+the exclusion of Australians, would be desirable, unless the recent
+discovery of gold should rapidly augment the population, and thus extend
+the basis of government and the number from which its officers may be
+chosen. The feelings of the colonists have, indeed, been too often
+violated by the scandalous multiplication of offices and the utter
+incompetence of those who have filled them. But a community little more
+than half a century old cannot be entitled to denounce Englishmen as
+foreigners, or to complain that strangers usurp the rights of the
+country-born. A wise administration of local patronage, without
+distinctions which are unnatural and absurd, would strengthen the hands
+of the executive and satisfy the reason of the people.
+
+The future independence of the Australian colonies is written in the
+book of fate; but the inevitable change may be long postponed with
+advantage to themselves. A superior power is desirable to regulate their
+development, and to preserve at once their order and their freedom. The
+reins of government, if snatched from vice-regal hands, would not
+immediately fall into those more worthy. The love of order is too strong
+in the English breast to tolerate anarchy, and whatever changes
+transpire the public voice would pronounce in favor of a strong and
+regular administration. But since life is short, no wise man would wish
+to waste a considerable portion in passing through the disorders of a
+revolution to gain the mere name of a State. The royal government may
+redress every grievance, and the colonist may turn with confidence to
+the seat of empire for the accomplishment of every municipal change
+requisite to advance the country of his adoption. But were independence
+desirable in itself, the colonists would, notwithstanding, calculate
+its cost. Those who have pretended that England does not prize her
+colonies, know little of her temper: her colonies are her pride, her
+ornament, and her strength. One day she will lose them; but that day
+will be a day of mourning and humiliation.
+
+The discussion of this question by the metropolitan press, and the
+predictions of parliamentary statesmen, have induced many ardent minds
+to anticipate an early realization. These prophecies are but the weapons
+of party which would disappear in the presence of real danger; one voice
+would be heard proclaiming the rights of Great Britain. To her power
+what could Australia at present oppose? The American revolutionists had
+an army: they had thrust out the Indians and beaten the French, and
+their national character was deepened by the political and religious
+sentiments in which they had been cradled. But Australia has not a
+soldier or a gun. Her population may quickly reach the three millions
+numbered by the Americans at the era of independence; but she has not
+the habits of Americans--she has not their country, their forests, their
+frozen rivers, their terrible snows. England, when America resisted,
+hired a few German troops to assist her own feeble army. Since then she
+has conquered Napoleon, subdued India, and established her military
+power in every region of the world. Whether the mutual interests of
+Great Britain and her colonies are sufficient to bind them together may
+be a question at issue. Independence may be desired; but it is well to
+remember that those who will attain it must fight for it, and that in
+this war they will not only contend with the most benign and just, but
+with the most powerful government on the earth. England will not permit
+her ministers to oppress the colonies; but would hazard the last
+regiment rather than lose the colonial empire.
+
+The British government will not, if wise, rely on any abstract
+principles of loyalty, or conclude too confidently that no attempt will
+be successful. The distance of the central power; the peculiar structure
+of colonial societies; the mountainous regions of Van Diemen's Land and
+New Holland, where small bodies could resist all the armies of the
+world; the possibility of foreign sympathy: all these are considerations
+proper to moderate imperial confidence, and to teach that the integrity
+of the empire is only safe in the unity of interest and affection.[282]
+
+The colonies have every motive for preferring the British rule to any
+other; yet the contingencies of war may expose them to extraordinary
+sufferings. Foreign nations would scarcely attempt a permanent
+occupation; but the cities which contain half the inhabitants, and more
+than half the moveable wealth, might be successfully assailed, pillaged,
+and easily destroyed. Thus, a powerful European state may expose her
+distant colonies to the calamities once endured by those of Spain. Such
+may be the expectation of the Australias. When they are required to
+support armies for their defence it will be felt that these are
+necessary chiefly because they are united with an empire whose interests
+are complicated with every government in the world.
+
+To strengthen the authority of the British crown no measure would be
+more effectual than a federal union of these colonies. They require a
+senate exalted by station above the influences of mere localism, and
+capable of holding in check individual ambition. Statesmen, gathered
+from the various colonies, would restrain and moderate each other. The
+highest questions of colonial government being confided to their care,
+they would leave the internal improvement of the districts to be pursued
+by the local legislative assemblies. The state and expense of colonial
+governments, which now maintain distinct departments in each colony,
+assuming all but imperial style, might then be abated. Monetary
+establishments find no difficulty in conducting their affairs under a
+general inspectorship assisted by a local direction. The American
+states, by remitting all great questions to the federal government, are
+sustained at less cost than the branch establishments of the Bank of
+Australasia. It is true that a federal union would increase the
+importance of the colonies among nations, and contract the power of the
+ministry to a distant superintendence: it would, however, prevent many
+of the evils of political dependence, and secure to Great Britain all
+the advantages of imperial authority so long as it shall last.
+
+It is infinitely important that intelligent and upright men should
+occupy their true position in public affairs. A reluctance to face the
+virulent and brutal opposition of low adventurers must be naturally felt
+by every refined and educated man. The future character of these
+colonies will, however, depend on the courage and perseverance of the
+respectable classes. The widest extension of suffrage cannot be long
+resisted, and qualifications for office founded on property will
+inevitably break down. But the reputable and intelligent will be able to
+command the public mind if they think it worth while to instruct and
+conciliate it. Religious men must no longer avoid the strife of the
+hustings as inconsistent with piety, or set the claims of religion in
+opposition to the obligation of the citizen. Both are in reality one;
+and while churches in their corporate capacity stand best when they are
+most distant from the arena of politics, it is the duty of all who
+reverence the Almighty's will and regard the welfare of mankind, to
+devote themselves to the social and political amelioration of society.
+Personal character and social position are distinct elements of
+political power. The Queen of England and her illustrious husband are
+instead of armies: wherever they have moved they shed light and
+pleasure, not only through the mansions of the rich but the cottages of
+the poor. The theoretical republican is compelled to doubt whether an
+example so valuable may not be worth all the cost and prerogatives of
+royalty.
+
+The settlers of Australia are as diversified in their habits as in their
+origin. Many in Van Diemen's Land are retired officers of the army and
+navy, masters of merchantmen, and persons of respectable connexions. The
+squatters of Port Phillip are a superior class, although their habits
+will require time to recover from the deteriorating action of bush life.
+The middle classes constitute the most influential body in South
+Australia. The German race are largely interspersed in the colonies of
+South Australia and Port Phillip. As they acquire the language they
+separate. Their condition improves more rapidly by diffusion, and their
+villages are rather asylums than homes. As might be expected the
+prevailing spirit of the colonies is democratic: the democracy of the
+middle classes, not of the mob. There are no permanent springs of crime:
+the instinct of order, everywhere powerful, cannot but be strong where
+society is prosperous.
+
+The social prospects of the colonists, though not without omens of ill,
+will not discourage the political philosopher. The various races are not
+sufficiently distinct to prevent an easy amalgamation. Nationality,
+whether of Germans, Irish, Scotch, or English, insensibly loses its
+political character. Hostile traditions cannot be naturalised in a new
+land: all respectable men condemn the revival of ancient feuds, and they
+will soon disappear for ever.
+
+More fortunate in this respect than America, in these regions no African
+slavery exists--the brother will not sell his sister, or the father his
+son. The temporary inconvenience of transportation will leave no deep
+indent on colonial society; but the black brand of slavery is indelible.
+
+The liberality and generosity of the Australians has been remarked by
+every stranger. In prosperous times money is at command for every
+project which professes to do good, and suffering is instantly relieved
+by bounty which is sometimes extravagant. The loss of a vessel a few
+years ago afforded an instance of this. The utmost latitude of
+beneficence could not exhaust the immense sum (L1,200) contributed to
+make good the personal losses of a few passengers and seamen. The
+liberality of the hand is here unrestrained by religious antipathies.
+Bigotry assumes the character of ill temper and puffing. Two parrots in
+Philadelphia trained to polemics were set over against each other, one
+crying all day, "there can be no church without a prelate;" the other,
+"there can be a church without a prelate;" the passengers were divided
+in opinion, but laughing walked on. Such is colonial life.
+
+No believer in the glorious destinies of the Anglo-Saxon race can look
+upon the events of the last three years without wonder and hope. The
+American and British empires are seated on all waters; the old and new
+worlds are filled with the name and fame of England and her children.
+The lands conquered by Caesar, those discovered by Columbus, and those
+explored by Cook, are now joined together in one destiny. There are
+indeed peculiarities in the various branches of the Anglo-Saxon race;
+but they are only the varieties of the same family, conscious of eternal
+unities. How awfully grand are their prospects. America attracted by
+gold has pushed forward her commercial pioneers, not only to the
+extremity of her territories, but to all the islands of the Pacific. The
+discovery of gold in California was scarcely less momentous to the
+Australasian than to the American continent. They are now our nearest
+neighbours: their markets are affected by our own; their territory
+offers the quickest transit to Europe; every hour will develop the
+immense importance of this contiguity--that passage across the isthmus
+of Panama, once represented as the last achievement reserved for
+commerce and science in their highest maturity, has already been
+assured. The common interest of trading nations will strengthen the
+securities of peace, diffuse civilisation among the thousand islands of
+the Pacific, and facilitate the extension of Christian knowledge in the
+remotest portions of the earth. England, the parent--no longer the
+exclusive centre of Anglo-Saxon civilisation--will find auxiliaries only
+less powerful than herself in a work once entirely her own.
+
+An impetus has been given to the Australian colonies by the discovery of
+still richer gold fields than those of California. In six months, more
+than two millions in value has been taken from the surface of the earth
+by laborers unskilled in the process, and who have perhaps wasted more
+than they have secured. The riches which remain scattered over many
+hundred miles can only be appropriated by the state as they flow through
+the coffers of commerce. A period cannot be imagined when the precious
+metal will be exhausted.
+
+The interest excited in Europe by the discovery of new mineral wealth,
+is chiefly important from its tendency to change the current of
+emigration to these regions--certainly unsurpassed and scarcely equalled
+in the world. Here, under a tropical sun, no fever rages; here
+indigenous diseases are unknown; even those so fatal in Europe rarely
+visit this hemisphere. The small pox, the measles, and various other
+disorders fatal to infancy are only occasionally seen, and are scarcely
+ever mortal. No miasma arises from the marshes: no decaying vegetation
+poisons the virgin soil. The clement skies and light atmosphere
+stimulate and confirm the health. Whether long life is the gift of this
+quarter of the globe is hardly yet determined. Those of middle age who
+land here find their constitutions recruited; but the country-born come
+more quickly to maturity. It is probable, however, that the highest
+average of human life will be attained: fewer will die in infancy,
+perhaps a smaller proportionate number reach old age.
+
+If the productions of these countries are considered, they will be still
+more attractive than other unoccupied regions. Nature has multiplied her
+gifts with a liberal hand. It were more easy to enumerate those that are
+wanting than those that exist. Gold, silver, iron, copper, coal, and
+every variety of stone are included in our geological wealth. All the
+fruits of the tropics and of the most temperate lands may be easily
+brought to the same table. Taking Tasmania and Port Phillip as the
+central regions; on the right and on the left the fertile earth yields
+every variety of European fruits, until the meridian is reached where
+the sugar cane and cotton tree flourish. It is true, that some other
+lands present more comparative fertility, but the Australias contain
+sufficient alluvial soils to satisfy the wants of millions. Washington
+raised but twenty bushels of wheat per acre in his paternal lands of
+Virginia. The intelligent Australian farmer often far exceeds that
+quantity even with imperfect cultivation. Nor is there a season of the
+year when he cannot toil, or one when the garden is wholly unproductive.
+
+But if the position of Australia in relation to the rest of the world be
+surveyed, the prospect is still more brilliant. An Englishman measures
+distance from his native land, and thus his pardonable vanity fixes the
+Australias at the extremity of the earth. But such is not the real
+position of New Holland. In reference to the most populous and fertile,
+or the most ancient and opulent,[283] it has been compared to the frog
+or soft part of a horse's foot in relation to the outline of the hoof.
+With the face turning to the north, America is on the right, Asia and
+Africa on the left. Great Britain, the parent land, is far more distant
+from most of those mighty regions which feed her commerce and sustain
+her strength than her Australian colonies. They will soon meet her
+vessels on every shore. Steam navigation will flourish on the Pacific
+ocean not less than on the rivers of America. The eye that scans the
+future, guided by calculation rather than fancy, sees the ports of
+Australia thronged with steamers, or follows them traversing every sea
+and ocean, and bringing from every city of the civilised world both
+merchandise and men.
+
+Thus the progress of the next quarter of a century will be multiplied by
+its years.
+
+When North America separated from Great Britain, she exported not much
+more than four millions in value per annum. Australia already exports
+not less.[284] The commerce of England with her Australian colonies is
+without parallel. History affords no example of such rapid advancement;
+and this not as the result of protective laws, or of remarkable
+intelligence or enterprise, but as the fruit of that boundless opulence
+scattered by the hand of nature and gathered with unexampled facility.
+The merchant laments the paucity of navigable streams. Yet there are
+rivers of many hundred miles extent, which will ultimately be available
+to commerce. The engineer of Europe would laugh at difficulties opposed
+by stones, and trees, and marshes. Population will one day justify the
+improvement by art of what nature has only partially accomplished. But
+in the level plains of the Australias there is a compensation for this
+deficiency. Hundreds of miles are almost prepared for the rail road; and
+as the cheap methods adopted in America become known, the inland
+communication will be rapidly enlarged.
+
+The late date of the discovery of gold in Australasia has created much
+astonishment. It seems to have been concealed by Providence, or rather
+the signs of its existence were not permitted to arrest attention, until
+the colonies could endure the shock. A shepherd publicly sold at Sydney
+several ounces of gold in 1844. Years after a still larger quantity was
+exposed in Victoria (1849). These facts were recorded in the journals of
+the time; in the first instance scarcely awakening the slightest
+interest, and the last producing little but distrust and derision. The
+delay has probably upon the whole benefited both the colonies and the
+human race. Had gold been discovered before the era of free immigration
+it must have led to frightful disorders. California has added another
+to those warnings presented in the history of gold mining, that the
+absorbing pursuit, for a time, suspends the voice of reason and
+morality. The multitudes who have precipitated themselves on the gold
+fields of Victoria indicate the uniform direction of similar passions;
+yet how superior are our present resources to those of former times or
+of other countries. The governments organised and intelligent, and
+sustained by the strong moral support of four hundred Christian
+congregations. The social interests of perhaps not less than fifty
+thousand families will be able to check, and probably to master, the
+spirit of anarchy and violence. That any lives should be sacrificed is
+of course a matter of regret; but the politician and the philanthropist
+may pronounce in favor of a dispensation which though permitting the
+sacrifice of a few, will rapidly cover the regions around us with
+villages, towns, and homesteads.
+
+Though rich beyond example, the mines will be abandoned by the many for
+whom the pleasures and the rest of home, the calm and even pursuits of
+industry, and the intercourse of civil and religious life have permanent
+attractions. Yet the unexampled profusion of the precious metal must
+rapidly augment our commerce and supply the means of mercantile
+enterprise. The capital we have so often coveted is now within our
+reach. The farmer desired a market; he has it in his neighbourhood, at
+his very door. The demand for foreign articles will give employment to
+shipping directly trading from the Australian to the producing market.
+The increase of commerce will thus lead to its independence. The
+Australian merchant will acquire the same relation to the general trade
+of the world as the American possesses. The ships of America carry her
+passengers and convey her produce. She divides the profits equally with
+her customer.[285]
+
+The happiness and prosperity of the people is by Divine Providence
+placed within their power. If they grasp at wealth to the neglect of
+their social and political duties; if, for the sake of selfish ease,
+they resign to ignorant and violent men the business of legislation; if
+they tolerate systematic debauchery, gambling and sharping; if they
+countenance the press when sporting with religion, or rendering private
+reputation worthless; if they neglect the education of the rising
+generation, and the instruction of the working classes; if the rich
+attempt to secure the privileges of rank by restricting the franchises
+of the less powerful; if worldly pleasure invade the seasons of
+devotion; and the worship of God be neglected by the masses of the
+people,--then will they become unfit for liberty; base and sensual, they
+will be loathed and despised; the moral Governor of the world will
+assert his sovereignty, and will visit a worthless and ungrateful race
+with the yoke of bondage, the scourge of anarchy, or the besom of
+destruction.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 281: A more venal and almost more desirable fault can scarcely
+be ascribed to a governor than a strong attachment to the people whom he
+is sent to govern.--_Coleridge's friend_, vol. 3, p. 325.]
+
+[Footnote 282: It is very difficult to make the mass of mankind believe
+that the state of things is ever to be otherwise than they have been
+accustomed to see it. I have very often heard old persons describe the
+impossibility of making any one believe that the American colonies could
+ever be separated from this country. It was always considered as an idle
+dream of discontented politicians, good enough to fill up the periods of
+a speech, but which no practical man, devoid of the spirit of party,
+considered to be within the limits of possibility. There was a period
+when the slightest concession would have satisfied the Americans; but
+all the world was in heroics; one set of gentlemen met at the Lamb, and
+another at the Lion: blood and treasure men, breathing war, vengeance,
+and contempt; and in eight years afterwards, an awkward looking
+gentleman in plain clothes walked up to the drawing-room of St. James's,
+in the midst of the gentlemen of the Lion and Lamb, and was introduced
+as the _ambassador from the United States of America_.--_Works of Sidney
+Smith, Vol. III., p. 336._
+
+"If you are told of the existence of discontent in any of your colonial
+possessions, do not believe it; and if any application be made to you
+for the redress of the grievances of any of your colonial possessions,
+reject the prayer at once; for if you grant that, you may be asked for
+something more. Redress no grievance, lest it should lead to a petition
+for the removal of another cause of complaint. Believe only the accounts
+which reach you from governors, and others officially connected with
+your colonies; and treat any statements in opposition to their accounts
+as the invention of demagogues, whom you should hang if you could catch
+them, and thus tranquillize the colony."--_Franklin._]
+
+[Footnote 283: "Just before I embarked at Plymouth, I visited my
+grandmother, in order to take leave of her for ever. Poor old soul! she
+was already dead to the concerns of this life: my departure could make
+but little difference in the time of our separation; and it was of no
+importance to her which of us should quit the other. My resolution,
+however, revived for a day all her woman's feelings: she shed abundance
+of tears, and then became extremely curious to know every particular
+about the place to which I was going. I rubbed her spectacles whilst she
+wiped her eyes, and, having placed before her a common English chart of
+the world, pointed out the situation of New Holland. She shook her head.
+'What displeases, you, my dear Madam P' said I. 'Why,' she answered, 'it
+is terribly out of the way; down in the very right-hand corner of the
+world.' The chart being mine, I cut it in two through the meridian of
+Iceland, transposed the parts laterally, and turned them upside down.
+'Now,' asked I, 'where is England P' 'Ah, boy,' she replied, 'you may do
+what you like with the map; but you can't twist the world about in that
+manner, though they _are_ making sad changes in it.'"--_A Letter from
+Sydney; the principal town of Australia. Edited by Robert Gouger_,
+1829.]
+
+[Footnote 284: United States Returns, 1791. Population. 3,921,352; revenue,
+$4,771 000; exports, $19,000,000; imports, $20,000,000.--_Tomlins' History
+of America._]
+
+[Footnote 285: At the close of the first year of our existence as a gold
+producing country, the mind naturally pauses and contemplates the past,
+the present, and the future--to those who look upon this land as their
+home and the scene upon which their children and children's children are
+to play their part, the year 1851 will ever be one of deep and solemn
+interest; the events have been of the most startling character, and its
+results no human intellect can fathom. The first hour of the present
+year was ushered in by a brilliant sun which rose above the horizon in
+all its majesty, shedding its gladsome rays over a happy and a
+prosperous people--every heart was gay--every industrious hand was
+employed, and our future prospects were as cheering as the most ardent
+mind could have desired. Our great staple was rapidly increasing, and
+had even then become an export which commanded the attention of the
+British nation. Our tallow was of considerable value--our copper mines
+were presenting indications of richness--our pastoral and agricultural
+interests were flourishing, and it was evident to all, that we must at
+no very distant period become a great and prosperous colony. In fact it
+could have been almost impossible to suggest a discovery that could add
+to our importance; but before this memorable year had half sped its
+course, a colonist returned from San Francisco, impressed with the
+similarity that existed between the geological formation of this land
+and that in which he had been sojourning, and determined to bring it to
+light if possible. No sooner was he on shore than he set boldly out on
+his great expedition, notwithstanding the ridicule of his friends, who
+promised him disappointment for his reward. What wonderful events have
+frequently sprung from simple causes! Our mountains and glens had been
+visited by scientific men of several nations, but they had failed to
+trace anything beyond mere indications. Such, however, was not the case
+with Edward Hammond Hargraves, who, after spending a few weeks in the
+bush, announced to his brother colonists that their hills and valleys
+contained in rich abundance the precious metal by which the commerce of
+the world is carried on. All honor be to the man whose keen observation
+has brought into practical operation so vast a gold field for the
+employment of British labour and British capital. May he enjoy not only
+the reward which conscience yields to those who perform a good action,
+but may his merits be duly appreciated by an Australian public, and that
+appreciation assume a form that shall descend from father to son, as
+long as the name of Hargraves exists! Such an addition to our already
+developed colonial resources cannot fail to add materially to our
+position, and raise us, in an incredibly short space of time, from a
+small colony into a noble and powerful nation. Our vast interior will be
+speedily populated; Britain will be relieved of her starving thousands;
+and Australia will stand prominently forward as the brightest jewel in
+Her Majesty's Crown.--_Lloyd's Gold Circular._]
+
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF TASMANIA.
+
+
+
+ALPHABETICAL ACCOUNT OF CHIEF PLACES.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF CHIEF PLACES.
+
+
+The island of Tasmania is situated between the 40th and 44th parallels
+of south latitude, and between the 144th and 149th degrees of east
+longitude. Its greatest length is 190 miles, and its breadth, 170. It
+contains 24,000 square miles, or 15,000,000 acres, having a surface
+nearly equal to that of Ireland. Its general character is mountainous,
+with numerous beautiful valleys, rendered fertile by numberless streams
+descending from the hills, and watering, in their course to the sea,
+large tracts of country. The south-western coast, washed by the Southern
+Ocean, is high and cold, but the climate of the northern and inland
+districts is one of the finest in the temperate zone, and produces in
+abundance and variety all the fruits which are found under the same
+latitude in Europe. The harbor of Hobart is one of the finest in the
+world. The principal rivers are the Derwent, Ouse, Clyde, Jordan, Coal,
+Huon, and Dee, in the south; and the Tamar, North and South Esk,
+Macquarie, Lake, Mersey, Leven, Arthur, Blyth, Forth, and Meander, in
+the north. The chief bays are Adventure Bay, in Bruni Island, so named
+after Captain Furneaux's discovery ship, and where Cook anchored in his
+third voyage; Fortescue, Port Arthur, Fredrick Hendrick's (so named by
+Tasman), Prosser's, Spring, Oyster, and George's Bays, and the Bay of
+Fires, on the eastern coast; Storm Bay (so named from the weather which
+Tasman experienced there), Bad Bay (in Bruni Island), Recherche (named
+after the ship in which D'Entrecasteaux sailed in search of La Perouse),
+Esperance (after the ship which accompanied the admiral), and Port
+Davey, on the southern coast; Macquarie Harbor, on the western; Port
+Sorell, Port Frederic, Emu Bay, and East and West Bay, at Circular Head,
+on the northern coast. The principal capes are Cape Grim, the
+north-western and most northern extremity of the island, in lat. 40 deg. 47'
+S., and long. 144 deg. 50' E.; Cape Portland, the north-eastern point; St.
+Helen's Head, the most easterly point, in long. 148 deg. 25' E.; South Cape,
+in lat. 43 deg. 35' S.; and West Cape, in long. 144 deg. 40' E.; St. Patrick's
+Head, Cape Pillar, and Cape Lodi, on the eastern coast; Tasman's Head,
+Cape Raoul, and South-west Cape, on the south; Rocky Point, Point Hibbs,
+and Cape Sorell, on the west; and Rocky Cape, Circular Head, Table Cape,
+and Stony Head, on the north. The settled part of the island is divided
+into eleven counties,--three northern, Devon, Dorset, and Cornwall; four
+midland--Westmoreland, Somerset, Glamorgan, and Cumberland; and four
+southern--Kent, Buckingham, Pembroke, and Monmouth; each having an area
+of 1,600 square miles. These counties are subdivided into hundreds and
+parishes, the former containing 100 and the latter 25 square miles. To
+most of these divisions, as well as to the fifteen electoral districts,
+British names have been given. The island is also divided into nineteen
+police districts, each having a resident police magistrate, chief
+constable, police clerk, and deputy registrar of births, deaths, and
+marriages. In the country districts, the police magistrates act as
+coroners, and in the districts of New Norfolk, Richmond, Oatlands,
+Campbell Town, Longford, Horton, and South Port, as commissioners of the
+court of requests. In the first five of these districts they are also
+deputy chairmen of courts of quarter sessions. The chief and best
+constructed road in the island is that which connects the towns of
+Hobart and Launceston. It is 121 miles in length, and 30 years were
+spent in its construction. The population, according to the census taken
+on 1st March, 1851, is 70,130; of this number 30,488 are free, 21,590
+were born in the colony, and the remainder are prisoners of the crown.
+The number of places of worship in the colony is 108, containing about
+23,000 sittings; the number of ordained ministers is 100; there are also
+missionaries, lay preachers, and other persons, who supply the remote
+stations. Of Sunday schools belonging to all denominations there are
+about 60; of public and denominational schools, 74; of private schools,
+about 100; besides these, there are a high school, and an episcopal
+college and two grammar schools. The total number of schools is above
+300. Of the public schools, 10 are wholly, and the remainder partly
+supported by voluntary contributions. There are 109 public institutions
+of various kinds, inclusive of 2 local and 2 English banks, 2 banks for
+savings, 4 joint-stock companies, and 3 English and 4 local insurance
+offices. Of these societies 10 are literary and scientific (including 2
+mechanics' institutes, with large libraries, and a school of arts), 17
+are agricultural and horticultural, 14 charitable, 9 missionary and
+religious instruction, 6 benefit, 10 temperance, 7 masonic and odd
+fellows, and 10 miscellaneous, including a mercantile assistants'
+association, a turf club, and united service club. Excepting 12, which
+are partly supported by government, the whole of these institutions are
+maintained by voluntary subscriptions. The number of houses is 11,844,
+of which 5,723 are of stone or brick, and the remainder of wood. The
+number of acres under cultivation is 177,600; the number of horses,
+17,200; of cattle, 85,490; of sheep, 1,752,900. The number of vessels
+belonging to the colony is 240, besides vessels under 40 tons, and their
+collective tonnage 18,500 tons. There are four northern and two southern
+light-houses, and about twenty vessels are employed in the whale
+fishery.
+
+
+_Abercrombie_--a township in the parish of Abercrombie and county of
+Somerset.
+
+_Adamson's Peak_--a mountain in the south-eastern corner of the island,
+said to be 4,000 feet high.
+
+_Alarm_--a river which falls into Bass' Strait on the western side of
+Rocky Cape.
+
+_Altamont_--a village on the Derwent, 20 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Andover_--a village on Little Swan Port River, in the parish of
+Brisbane and county of Somerset, about 50 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Antill Ponds_--so called by Governor Macquarie, in honor of Major
+Antill of the 48th regiment--a district in the county of Somerset, 60
+miles from Hobart, the road to which passes through it. There is a post
+station here.
+
+_Apsley_--a river in the county of Glamorgan, falling into Oyster Bay.
+
+_Apsley_--a township in the parish of Apsley and county of Monmouth,
+about 40 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Arthur_--a river, flowing into the sea on the western side of the
+island, about 30 miles south of Cape Grim. It receives in its course the
+waters of the Hellyer, Horton, Frankland, and Leigh rivers.
+
+_Arthur's Range_--a chain of mountains in the south-western part of the
+colony. The most elevated point is 3,900 feet above the sea.
+
+_Arve_--a branch of the river Huon.
+
+_Asbestos_--a range of hills extending inland from Port Sorell, in the
+county of Devon. Some of the elevations are 1,700 feet high.
+
+_Auburn_--a village on the Isis, in the parish of Hill and county of
+Somerset. It is about 10 miles from Campbell Town, 40 from Launceston,
+and 75 from Hobart. Not far from Auburn is the remarkable hill called
+Jacob's Sugar Loaf.
+
+_Avoca_--a township in the parish of Avoca and county of Cornwall, near
+the confluence of the St. Paul's and South Esk rivers. It is 99 miles
+from Hobart, 62 from Launceston, and 19 from Campbell Town. It is on the
+road from Campbell Town to the east coast, and contains a small
+episcopal church (St. Thomas') and school, a post and police station,
+and two inns. The police magistrate holds a court at Avoca once in a
+week. At the entrance of the township the St. Paul's river is crossed by
+a small substantial stone bridge of one arch.
+
+_Bagdad_--a small township in the parish of Strangford and county of
+Monmouth. It is on the main road, 20 miles from Hobart. The country near
+Bagdad is fertile, and the road passes by numerous farms. On the
+northern side is a beautiful valley, the cultivated part of which is two
+miles wide, bounded by lofty hills thickly wooded, and through which
+flows the Bagdad Creek.
+
+_Barrow_--a lofty hill, about 13 miles east of Launceston.
+
+_Bayford_--a village in the parish of Spring Hill and county of
+Monmouth, about 40 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Bellerive_--a township nearly opposite Hobart, in the parish of
+Clarence and county of Monmouth.
+
+_Ben Lomond_--a mountain in Cornwall, 5,000 feet high, about 45 miles
+from Launceston, and 15 from Fingal. A rivulet of the same name rises
+here, and falls into the South Esk, about 30 miles from Launceston.
+About 15 miles north of this mountain is Ben Nevis, 3,900 feet high.
+During winter these elevated points, which are named after celebrated
+mountains of Scotland, are covered with snow, and seen from a distance,
+they present a magnificent appearance. They form parts of a chain of
+mountains extending inland from St. Patrick's Head to the northern
+coast.
+
+_Beverley_--a township on the Ben Lomond Rivulet, in the parish of
+Beverley and county of Cornwall, about 30 miles from Launceston.
+
+_Bishopsbourne_--a village in Westmoreland, about 8 miles from Longford
+and 26 from Launceston. It contains a post station, an inn, and a
+school. Christ's College is situated here.
+
+_Boobyalla_--a small river in the county of Dorset, flowing into
+Ringarooma Bay, in the north-eastern corner of the island.
+
+_Bothwell_--a town in the parish of Grantham, and county of Monmouth, 44
+miles from Hobart, and 104 from Launceston. It is situated on the
+eastern side of the Clyde, in the midst of a level and excellent
+pastoral country, well watered. There are a church, (occupied
+alternately by English and Scotch congregations), a church of England
+day school, a library society, three inns, some small shops, a police
+office, and post station in the town. It has a resident assistant police
+magistrate. The population of the town and police district is 1,045; the
+number of houses 200, of which 72 are of stone or brick.
+
+_Boyd_--a small river on the western side of the island, falling into
+the Gordon.
+
+_Blackman's River_--a stream which rises in Somerset and falls into the
+Macquarie, about 4 miles south of Ross.
+
+_Blythe_--a river rising in Devon and falling into Bass' Strait, about 5
+miles east of Emu Bay.
+
+_Break o'Day_--a stream watering plains of the same name, in the
+south-eastern part of the county of Cornwall. It joins the South Esk
+about 6 miles east of Fingal. The country here is from 500 to 800 feet
+above the sea, and is well adapted for grazing purposes.
+
+_Bridgewater_--a village and post station on the Derwent, in the parish
+of Wellington and county of Buckingham, 12 miles above Hobart. The
+Derwent, which is about three-quarters of a mile in width at this place,
+is crossed by a bridge of wood, which forms a part of the main road from
+Hobart to Launceston, and is said to be the largest work of the kind in
+the Australian colonies. The river is spanned to a length of 2,300 feet
+by an earthen causeway, and the length of the bridge from the end of
+this to the northern shore is 1,010 feet, with a breadth of roadway of
+24 feet; the whole length of the work being 3,310 feet, or nearly
+three-quarters of a mile. The navigation of the river is preserved by
+means of a moveable platform near the northern shore. The timber was
+procured from Mount Dromedary, 7 miles from the bridge, which was begun
+in January, '48, and opened in April, '49. The cost was L7,580.
+
+_Brighton_--a town in the parish of Drummond and county of Monmouth. It
+is on the eastern side of the Jordan, on the main road, 17 miles from
+Hobart, and 104 from Launceston. The country around Brighton is
+cultivated and fertile, and was early occupied. On the right is a branch
+road to Jerusalem and Jericho, districts on the Coal River. On the left
+is the district on the Jordan, called the Broadmarsh. Brighton has a
+resident magistrate, a post station, several inns, small stores, and
+retail shops. The church (St. Mark's) and police office are at
+Pontville, near the town. The population of the town and police district
+is 2,582, and the number of houses 427, half of which are of stone or
+brick. Brighton is also an electoral district, for which John Walker,
+Esq., is the first member.
+
+_Brown's River_--a stream rising near Mount Wellington, and falling into
+the Derwent about 10 miles below Hobart. The land on its banks is
+fertile, and is divided into many small farms. There is a village and
+post station here, 8 miles from Hobart, containing an episcopal church
+and day school, and a Wesleyan chapel. This district is celebrated for
+the fineness of its potatoes.
+
+_Brumby's Creek_--a small stream rising among the Westmoreland
+mountains, and joining the Lake River, about 12 miles south of Longford.
+Several streams rising near the Western Lagoon fall into it.
+
+_Bruni_--an island lying between D'Entrecasteaux Channel and Storm Bay,
+at the entrance of the Derwent. It was named after the French admiral
+who discovered it. It is about 50 miles long, and varies in breadth from
+4 to 15 miles. It consists of two parts, connected by a long and narrow
+neck of land. There are a township called Lonnon and several farms in
+the northern part of the island, and in most of the bays many fine kinds
+of fish are found in abundance. There is a light-house on Bruni Head,
+the south-western point of the island, and off one of the southern capes
+is a remarkable rock, closely resembling in its form the pedestal and
+shaft of a monumental pillar.
+
+_Buckingham_--a southern county and electoral district. Hobart is in
+this county. R. W. Nutt, Esq., is the first member for the district.
+
+_Buckland_--a village at Prosser's Plains, in the county of Pembroke, on
+the eastern coast, 34 miles from Hobart and 155 from Launceston. It has
+an episcopal church, and a police and post station. The assistant police
+magistrate of the district holds a court here once in a week.
+
+_Buffalo Brook_--a beautiful stream rising under Ben Lomond, and joining
+the South Esk near Eastbourne.
+
+_Burford_--a village in the parish of St. Alban and county of
+Cumberland, about 60 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Burgess_--a township at Port Sorell, in the county of Devon, on the
+northern coast, 157 miles from Hobart and 60 from Launceston. It has a
+resident police magistrate, a small episcopal church and school, and a
+post station.
+
+_Burghley_--a village on the Leven, near the Surrey Hills, in the county
+of Devon. It is on the road through the western district, about 60 miles
+from Launceston. The Van Diemen's Land Company has a station here.
+
+_Burnham_--a village in the parish of Cambridge and county of Monmouth,
+about 40 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Cam_--a river rising in the Hampshire Hills, and falling into Bass'
+Strait a few miles west of Emu Bay.
+
+_Campbell Town_--a town in the parish of Campbelton and county of
+Somerset, 89 miles from Hobart, and 42 from Launceston. It is situated
+in a level pastoral country, on the Elizabeth River, and the main road
+from Hobart to Launceston passes through it. The town consists chiefly
+of one long street, in which are four large inns, a brewery, some
+stores, small shops, and an assembly room. There are in the town an
+episcopal and presbyterian church (St. Luke's and St. Andrew's), a
+Wesleyan Chapel, and schools. The river is crossed by a bridge or
+causeway, 200 yards long, and on the southern side are numerous fine
+farms. The road to Avoca, Fingal, and the eastern coast here branches
+off from the main line. In the town there are also a gaol and police and
+post offices. There is a resident police magistrate. The population of
+the town and police district is 2,319, and the number of houses, 255 of
+which are of stone or brick, is 386. Campbell Town is also an electoral
+district. It is considered to be the middle district of the colony, and
+the Midland Agricultural Association originated here. R. Q. Kermode,
+Esq., is the first member for Campbell Town.
+
+_Carlton_--a village and post station on the stream of that name, in the
+parish of Carlton, and county of Pembroke, about 35 miles from Hobart.
+The Carlton falls into North Bay, below Pittwater.
+
+_Carrick_--a township and post-station on the west bank of the Liffey
+and western road, in the parish of Carrick and county of Westmoreland,
+113 miles from Hobart and 10 from Launceston. The Liffey is crossed by a
+bridge at the township. There are a small episcopal church and day
+school, a mill, a brewery, and three inns. Annual races are held near
+the township.
+
+_Catemara_--a small stream falling into Recherche Bay, in the county of
+Kent.
+
+_Circular Head_--a bold promontory, 500 feet high, forming part of a
+small peninsula in the north-west corner of the island, about 30 miles
+east of Cape Grim. It is seen at sea at the distance of 10 leagues. It
+is 280 miles from Hobart, and 160 from Launceston, and here the western
+road terminates. The town of Stanley, which stands on the eastern side,
+contains an episcopal church, a Roman catholic chapel, a post station, a
+custom-house, three inns, and some substantial buildings. It has also a
+benevolent society, and schools. There is a resident police magistrate.
+The Van Diemen's Land Company has an extensive establishment here, and a
+considerable trade is carried on between the settlers in the
+neighborhood and Victoria, to which large quantities of timber,
+potatoes, and other produce grown on the fertile farms on the coast, are
+shipped in small vessels belonging to the port. The town and district of
+Stanley have greatly advanced during the last ten years, under the
+intelligent management of Mr. Gibson, the company's agent. The failure
+of the previous management may be traced to those general causes which
+have always prevented the success of similar companies, when they have
+attempted cultivation and grazing. Mr. Gibson urged upon the company the
+importance of establishing a tenantry, and succeeded in attracting a
+considerable rural population by offering advantageous terms to small
+farmers. The arrangements made with them, from the depression of prices,
+proved unfavorable to the company, but the prosperity of their tenants
+has probably firmly fixed a population on their estates, which will
+ultimately indemnify them for all their losses. Occupying a geographical
+position highly favorable to trade, and in the vicinity of extensive
+forests of valuable timber, there can be no doubt that within a few
+years their settlements will become of great importance. Within a few
+hours' sail of Port Phillip and South Australia, their timber will find
+an increasing market, and enable their settlers to turn to good account
+what often elsewhere proves an incumbrance. The population of the
+district, which is called Horton, is about 900, and the number of houses
+137.
+
+_Clarence Plains_--a cultivated and fertile district on the east bank of
+the Derwent, nearly opposite Hobart. It contains the villages of
+Rokeby, Kangaroo Point, and Bellerive.
+
+_Cleveland_--a village in the parish of Cleveland and county of
+Somerset, on the main road, 91 miles from Hobart, and 30 from
+Launceston. There are a small chapel, two inns, a post and police
+station, with a district constable. The police magistrate of Campbell
+Town holds a court here once in a week. A branch road to the eastern
+coast breaks off at the township, and Epping Forest is a short distance
+on the Launceston side of it. The country near Cleveland consists
+chiefly of grazing farms.
+
+_Clyde_--a river which divides the county of Monmouth from Cumberland,
+and falls into the Derwent above the township of Macquarie, about 40
+miles from Hobart. It waters, together with the Dee, Ouse, Shannon, and
+Jordan, a fine district of the same name.
+
+_Coal River_--a stream rising in the northern part of the county of
+Monmouth, and falling into the bay of Pittwater, at Richmond. The
+Wallaby and Kangaroo rivers fall into it.
+
+_Cocked Hat Hill_--a name given to a hill on the side of the main road,
+8 miles from Launceston. A fine view of the Tamar is obtained from its
+top. There are a post and police station, a small church, and an inn in
+the village at this place, where the roads to Perth and Evandale
+separate.
+
+_Colebrooke_--a village in the parish of Ormaig, and county of Monmouth,
+about 30 miles from Hobart. It has a small episcopal church and school.
+
+_Cornwallis_--a village in the parish of Cornwallis and county of
+Somerset, about 80 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Cornwall_--a northern county and electoral district. Launceston is in
+this county. J. W. Gleadow, Esq., is the first member for the district.
+
+_Cullenswood_--a small village and post station at St. Paul's Plains. It
+has a small episcopal church.
+
+_Cumberland_--a midland county and electoral district. Bothwell is the
+principal town. W. S. Sharland, Esq., is the first member for the
+district.
+
+_Deloraine_--a township and post station on the Meander, in the parish
+of Calstock, and county of Westmoreland, 132 miles from Hobart, and 30
+from Launceston. It contains a small episcopal church and a Wesleyan
+chapel, and three inns. There is a police station with a district
+constable, and the assistant police magistrate of Westbury holds a court
+twice in a week. About 15 miles from Deloraine, in the Western
+Mountains, are situated the great caves, which, in extent and beauty,
+perhaps equal subterranean wonders of more celebrity. They have not
+often been visited; but those who have seen them describe them as being
+extremely grand and beautiful. The entrance of the principal cave, which
+is considerably more than two miles in length, is in the limestone rock,
+at the upper extremity of a narrow ravine, down which flows the stream
+which issues from the mouth of the cave, and extends throughout its
+whole length. The opening is thirty feet high, and fifty or sixty in
+width. At a considerable distance from the entrance light is admitted by
+two openings in the roof, the only ones throughout the whole extent of
+the cave, and when these are passed the full beauty of the scene breaks
+upon the view of the visitor. Stalactites of every form, hang like
+icicles from the roof; some presenting the appearance of inverted cones,
+others that of glistening semi-transparent tubes, about the thickness of
+a pipe stem, and several yards in length. In some parts, the
+stalactites, meeting with their opposite stalagmites, form pillars in
+appearance supporting a roof of immense height. In other places they
+assume the form of elegant and flowing drapery thrown over the huge
+rocks that project from the sides of the cavern. The fringes of this
+drapery, when struck by any hard substance, give forth a ringing sound,
+and every variety of note, high or low, according to their respective
+lengths. The floor is covered with stalagmites of every form, and it
+sparkles as if paved with diamonds. If the visitor extinguish his torch,
+myriads of glow-worms are seen to cover the roof and walls, emitting a
+faint blue light, and making the surrounding stalactites appear like
+spectres in the gloom. As the spectator proceeds, new objects of wonder
+appear. In some places the stalactites, shooting out in all directions,
+into innumerable small fibres, appear like fret-work along the roof; in
+others like masses of elegant drapery, extending fold above fold, to the
+height of thirty or forty feet, from the floor to the roof. Near the
+entrance of the cave they are of a grey or brownish color, but in the
+interior they are of a pure white. There are several chambers, some of
+great beauty, which branch off from the main passage, and have been
+formed by the rivulet which passes through the cave. Others will
+probably yet be discovered in the Western Mountains.
+
+_Denbigh_--a township in the parish of that name, and county of
+Somerset, on the Lake River, about 80 miles from Hobart.
+
+_D'Entrecasteaux_--the name of the channel between the main land and
+Bruni Island, so called after the French admiral who first sailed
+through it. A small river of the same name flows into Recherche Bay. On
+the western side of the entrance of the channel is the reef on which the
+_Acteon_ was wrecked, in 1822.
+
+_Derwent_--a river which rises at Lake St. Clair, in the western
+mountains, and flows through the county of Buckingham, which is well
+watered by it and its numerous tributaries. The land on the banks of the
+Derwent is fertile, with occasional tracts well adapted for grazing and
+pastoral purposes. In the upper Derwent there is a fall of some
+magnificence, and the scenery on the banks of the river is various and
+beautiful. The Derwent receives in its course the waters of the Dee,
+(flowing from Lake Esk) Clyde, Jones, Ouse, Styx, Plenty, and Thames.
+From its source to Hobart it is about 70 miles long, and to its entrance
+at Storm Bay 85 miles.
+
+_Devon_--a northern county.
+
+_Douglass_--a river in Glamorgan, on the eastern coast. Excellent coal
+is procured in its neighborhood.
+
+_Dulcott_--a township in the parish of Forbes, and county of Monmouth,
+about 60 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Eastbourne_--a township in the parish of Eastbourne, and county of
+Cornwall, near the South Esk.
+
+_East Grinstead_--a township in Somerset, about 80 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Ebrington_--a township in Cumberland.
+
+_Elderslie_--a village near the Jordan, in the parish of Wallace and
+county of Monmouth, about 40 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Eldon_--a range of hills on the western side of the island, southward
+of the river Macintosh.
+
+_Emu Bay_--a harbor on the northern coast, about 45 miles west of the
+Tamar heads. The Van Diemen's Land Company has an establishment at Emu
+Bay, and there is also a police and post station and an inn. The road to
+Circular Head passes by the bay. The country here abounds with timber,
+of which large quantities are exported. A stream called the Emu falls
+into the bay.
+
+_Enfield_--a township in the parish of Staffa and county of Monmouth,
+about 20 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Esperance_--a harbor on the south-eastern coast, into which falls a
+river of the same name.
+
+_Evandale_--a town in the parish of that name and county of Cornwall,
+115 miles from Hobart and 11 from Launceston. It is prettily situated
+on the eastern side of the South Esk, and contains several substantial
+brick buildings, three large inns, and a steam flour mill. It has a
+resident magistrate and a post station. There are two well-built, neat,
+and commodious churches (episcopalian and presbyterian), a Wesleyan
+chapel, and a good subscription library.
+
+_Evercreech_--a township in the parish of that name, and county of
+Cornwall, about 120 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Exeter_--a village on the west bank of the Tamar, about 15 miles below
+Launceston.
+
+_Falmouth_--a township near St Patrick's Head, in Cornwall, on the
+eastern coast, 141 miles from Hobart and 104 from Launceston. There is a
+post station here and an inn. The produce of some of the farms on the
+coast is forwarded to Hobart by sea from this place.
+
+_Fingal_--a township in the parish of Fingal and county of Cornwall, on
+the southern side of the South Esk. It is 100 miles from Hobart and 70
+from Launceston. The road from Campbell Town to the east coast passes
+through it. On the banks of the Esk in this district are many fine
+farms, as well as tracts of pasture land. There is a resident police
+magistrate and a post station at Fingal, and two inns. There are 877
+persons in the township and district, and 134 houses. About 11 miles
+beyond Fingal the road has been carried with immense labor, to a
+distance of 5 miles round the face of a high, rocky, and almost
+perpendicular hill, called St. Mary's Pass. On one side the hill towers
+above the traveller, and on the other he sees a precipice of many
+hundred feet. Gold has been discovered in the neighborhood.
+
+_Forth_--a fine river in Devon, falling into Bass' Strait, between the
+Mersey and the Leven.
+
+_Frankland_--the name of a range of hills on the western side of the
+island. A mountain called the Frenchman's Cap, 3,800 feet high, is near
+this range.
+
+_Franklin_--a township on the river Huon, in the county of Buckingham,
+about 28 miles from Hobart and 149 from Launceston. It has an assistant
+police magistrate, an episcopal church and school, and a post station.
+
+_Franklin_--a village on the main road, 117 miles from Hobart and 3 from
+Launceston. It contains a small church, an excellent private school, and
+two inns. About half a mile on the south side of the village there is a
+substantial stone bridge crossing a deep ravine.
+
+_George Town_--a town in the parish of George Town and county of Dorset,
+153 miles from Hobart, and 32 from Launceston. It is situated on the
+shore of a small bay of the Tamar, about 4 miles from the entrance. It
+was originally intended to fix the northern head-quarters at George
+Town, but the scarcity of water, and some other local disadvantages,
+caused the abandonment of the plan. The town is now chiefly supplied
+from Launceston, many inhabitants of which resort to it as a summer
+residence. It contains a small church, a school, three inns, and has a
+resident magistrate and a post station. The population of the town and
+district is 601, the number of houses 115. There is a road to George
+Town down the eastern side of the Tamar, but communication is chiefly
+carried on by water.... Outward-bound vessels waiting for a fair wind
+usually anchor off George Town, where there is a convenient bay.
+
+_Glenorchy_--a township and post station in the parish of Glenorchy and
+county of Buckingham, 7 miles from Hobart, near New Town.
+
+_Gordon_--a river on the western coast. It passes through a wild and
+romantic country, and falls into Macquarie Harbor.
+
+_Great Swan Port_--a bay on the eastern coast. A river of the same name
+falls into it. The district has a police magistrate, an episcopal and a
+presbyterian church, and a post station. The population of the town and
+district is 1,684, and the number of houses 274, 105 being of stone or
+brick.
+
+_Green Ponds_--a district and township 29 miles north of Hobart, on the
+main road. It is situated in a fine valley, at the southern entrance of
+which is Constitution Hill. There is a church (St. Mary's) and school, a
+congregational chapel, two inns, and a police and post station. The
+assistant police magistrate of Brighton holds a court at Green Ponds
+twice in a week.
+
+_Grindlewald_--a township in the parish of Denbigh and county of
+Somerset, about 80 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Hadspen_--a village on the Westbury road, in the parish of Launceston,
+128 miles from Hobart. There is a small church, a Wesleyan chapel, an
+inn and a post station. The South Esk is crossed by a wooden bridge at
+this place.
+
+_Hamilton_--a town on the Clyde in the parish of Hamilton and county of
+Monmouth, 43 miles from Hobart and 93 from Launceston. There is a church
+(St. Peter's) and school, two inns, and other buildings in the township,
+which has also a resident police magistrate and a post station. The
+population, including that of the district, is 1,415, and the number of
+houses 281.
+
+_Hobart_--in the parish of Hobarton, and county of Buckingham, is the
+chief town of the colony, and is in lat. 42 deg.. 53'. S., and long. 147 deg..
+21'. E. It was named after Lord Hobart, once secretary for the colonies;
+and stands on the shores of Sullivan's Cove, about 15 miles from the
+entrance of the Derwent. It is finely situated on a rising ground, and
+covers a surface of nearly two square miles. On the western side it is
+bounded by a range of wooded hills, with Mount Wellington, a snow-capped
+mountain, 4,000 feet high, in the back-ground. On the southern side of
+the harbor there are many beautiful residences, and, on a commanding
+eminence, fine military barracks. Close to the harbor, on the western
+side, stands the government-house, an extensive range of wooden
+buildings, erected at different times. Mulgrave Battery is on the
+southern side of the harbor. The streets are regular and well made; and
+many of the buildings--some built of freestone--are commodious and
+handsome. The wharves are extensive and well constructed, and are lined
+with numerous large stone warehouses and stores. St. David's church is a
+large well-built brick edifice, in the Gothic style, stuccoed, and well
+fitted up. The court house, nearly opposite the church, is a large stone
+building, containing various offices. The hospital and prisoners'
+barracks, on the north-eastern side, are extensive buildings. The police
+office is a substantial edifice. The female factory and orphan schools,
+a short distance from the town, on the western side, are commodious
+buildings. The commissariat stores, the treasury, the bonded stores, the
+custom-house, and other public buildings are built of freestone. The
+legislative council chamber is included in the custom-house. On the
+north side of the harbor are situated the engineer stores and other
+government buildings. On this side also is the government domain, a
+large open piece of ground, used as a place of amusement and exercise.
+The magnetical observatory is erected here. Many of the shops are large
+and handsome. Besides St. David's (the cathedral church), there are
+three handsome episcopalian churches--Trinity, St. George's, and St.
+John's. There are two presbyterian churches--St. Andrew's and St.
+John's--both commodious buildings--one Roman catholic church, two
+Wesleyan chapels, three congregational churches, a baptist chapel, a
+free presbyterian church, and a synagogue. There are four banks and a
+bank for savings, three local and two English insurance companies, and
+a company to establish steam communication with the adjoining colonies.
+The educational establishments are the High School and Hutchins' School,
+besides private schools. The public institutions are the Mechanics'
+Institute, the Tasmanian Society of Natural Science, the Royal Society,
+the Public Library, Gardeners' and Amateurs' Horticultural Society, St.
+Mary's Hospital, Dispensary and Humane Society, Dorcas Society, Hebrew
+Benevolent Institution, Asylum for the protection of destitute and
+unfortunate females, Branch Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
+and for the Propagation of the Gospel, Auxiliary Bible Society, Wesleyan
+Library and Tract Society, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
+Foreign Parts, Auxiliary London Missionary Society, Wesleyan Missionary
+Society, Colonial Missionary and Christian Instruction Society, Infant
+School, Auxiliary of British and Foreign School Society, Wesleyan
+Strangers' Friend Society, Sunday School Union (including eight
+schools), three Masonic Lodges, Masonic Benevolent Fund, three
+Odd-fellow's Lodges, with Widows' and Orphans' Funds attached,
+Independent Order of Rechabites, Hibernian Benefit Society, four
+Temperance Societies, Society of Licensed Victuallers, Choral Society,
+Mercantile Assistants' Association, Turf Club, Bathing Association.
+There are a wet dock and a patent slip, and 170 vessels belonging to the
+port, their collective tonnage being 14,640. The population is 23,107,
+and the number of houses 4,050; 2,932 of which are of stone or brick.
+Five bi-weekly newspapers and a Government _Gazette_ are published in
+Hobart. T. D. Chapman, Esq., and J. Dunn, jun., Esq., are the first
+members of council for the city.
+
+_Huon_--a river which falls into the sea about 30 miles below Hobart. At
+its mouth there is a pretty island of 300 acres, also called Huon. On
+the northern side of the river, about 5 miles from the entrance, there
+is a beautiful bay, named by the French discoverers the Port of Swans.
+The banks of the stream are finely wooded, and the timber, of which
+immense quantities are cut, is of great value. Fine spars for
+shipbuilding purposes are found here, as well as the mimosa bark. Ships
+of considerable tonnage can ascend the river for a distance of many
+miles. In the upper part of the river grows the valuable pine, to which
+the name of the district has been given. Many of the trees attain to a
+gigantic size, and some have measured ninety feet in circumference. The
+district contains on the banks of the Huon many fine farms, and the
+population is 2,988; the number of houses, 570. Richard Cleburne, Esq.,
+is the first member for the district.
+
+_Hythe_--a township at South Port, a harbor on the western side of
+Entrecasteaux's Channel. The township stands on the South Port river,
+which falls into the bay, and is about 50 miles from Hobart.
+
+_Ilfracombe_--a village on the west bank of the Tamar, 25 miles from
+Launceston.
+
+_Invermay_--a village near Launceston, on the road to George Town.
+
+_Isis_--a beautiful river in Somerset, falling into the Macquarie, about
+6 miles north of the village of Lincoln, which, with Auburn, stands on
+its banks.
+
+_Jericho_--a township and post station on the Jordan, in the parish of
+Spring Hill and county of Monmouth, 43 miles from Hobart, and 78 from
+Launceston. On the southern side is the district called Lovely Banks.
+
+_Jerusalem_--a township in the parish of Ormaig and county of Monmouth,
+28 miles from Hobart, near the source of the Coal River. A police
+magistrate's court is held here once in a week, and there is a post
+station. An episcopalian clergyman is stationed at this place, and
+ministers of other denominations occasionally officiate in the district.
+
+_Jordan_--a river flowing from a lagoon near Oatlands, and falling into
+the Derwent at Herdsman's Cove. It passes by Brighton.
+
+_Kangaroo Point_--a village on the eastern side of the Derwent, opposite
+Hobart. A police magistrate's court is held there twice in a week, and
+there is a post station, a chapel, and a school. After crossing the
+Derwent, the road from Hobart to Richmond and Sorell begins at this
+place.
+
+_Kelso Bay_--a small bay on the western side of the Tamar, opposite
+George Town. There are several marine residences on its shores.
+
+_King_--a small river rising near Mount Sorell, on the western side of
+the island, and falling into Macquarie Harbor.
+
+_Kingston_--a town at the entrance of Brown's River, about 10 miles
+south of Hobart, and 130 from Launceston. It has an episcopal church and
+school, and a post station.
+
+_Lakes_--In the south-eastern part of the county of Westmoreland lay
+several large lakes,--Great Lake, Crescent Lake, Arthur's Lake, Lake
+Sorell, and Lake Echo. The first has a circumference of about 90 miles;
+the others vary from 10 to 30 miles round. They are situated on high
+land, amidst magnificent and picturesque scenery. They are frequented by
+innumerable quantities of black swans, and game of every kind, and large
+flocks of kangaroos and emus are found in their vicinity.
+
+_Lake River_--a considerable stream which rises among the lakes in the
+south-eastern part of Westmoreland, and joins the South Esk at Longford.
+
+_Launceston_--in the parish of Launceston and county of Cornwall, is the
+second town of the colony, and is in lat. 41 deg.. 24'. S., and lon. 147 deg..
+10'. E. It stands at the confluence of the North and South Esk rivers,
+which here discharge their waters into the Tamar. It is 121 miles from
+Hobart, and 40 from the sea at Port Dalrymple. On the east and west it
+is bounded by hills, and on the north stretches the valley of the Tamar.
+The town is well laid out, and viewed from the hills which overlook it,
+or from the Tamar, it has a picturesque appearance. The wharves, which
+afford accommodation to vessels of large tonnage, extend along the river
+which forms the northern boundary. Farther up are numerous spacious
+stores and other commercial buildings. There are two large episcopalian
+churches, a handsome presbyterian church, a Roman catholic church (all
+built in the Gothic style), a Wesleyan chapel, two congregational
+chapels, a free church, a baptist chapel, and a synagogue, all neat and
+commodious buildings. The court house, the gaol, the house of
+correction, female factory, and several other government establishments,
+are large and well-built. Many of the shops, offices, inns, and private
+buildings are of considerable size and respectable appearance. On the
+hill which bounds the town on the eastern side, and commands a splendid
+view of the town and river, are many private residences and gardens.
+There are four banks, four insurance offices, three printing
+establishments, and two bi-weekly newspapers. The principal public
+offices are the police office, the custom-house, the post office, and
+the port office. The population of the town is 10,855, the number of
+houses, 2,181; 798 of which are of stone or brick. There are an
+episcopal grammar school, a Wesleyan day school, an infant school, three
+episcopal day schools, a catholic school, seven Sunday schools, and
+numerous private schools. The public institutions, besides the banks and
+insurance offices, are a mechanics' institute and reading room, a
+library society, several circulating libraries, two horticultural
+societies, a benevolent society, auxiliary bible society, two masonic
+lodges, odd fellows society, rechabite society, and a teetotal society.
+There are 70 vessels belonging to the port, their collective tonnage
+being 8,564 tons. There is also a floating dock. Richard Dry, Esq., the
+hon. the speaker of the Legislative Council, is the first member for the
+electoral district of Launceston.
+
+_Leipsic_--a township in Cornwall, at the St. Paul's River.
+
+_Leven_--a river which rises near Mount Gipps in the county of Devon,
+and falls into Bass' Strait, about 10 miles east of Emu Bay.
+
+_Liffey_--a small stream in Westmoreland which falls into the Meander or
+Western river, a short distance north of Carrick, which stands on its
+banks.
+
+_Lincoln_--a village in Somerset at the junction of the rivers Macquarie
+and Isis, about 95 miles from Hobart, and 30 from Launceston. It
+contains an inn and a few houses.
+
+_Little Swan Port_--a boat harbor at Oyster Bay, on the eastern coast. A
+stream of the same name falls into it.
+
+_Llewellyn_--a small village in Somerset, on the road from Campbell Town
+to the eastern coast, near the South Esk.
+
+_Longford_--a town prettily situated at the junction of the rivers Lake
+and South Esk, in the parish of Longford and county of Westmoreland, 115
+miles from Hobart, and 14 from Launceston. The population of the town
+and district is 3,829, and the number of houses 595, half of which are
+of stone or brick. It has a resident police magistrate, (who is also
+deputy chairman of quarter sessions and the court of requests,) a
+postmaster, and other officers. It contains a neat episcopal church,
+built in the Gothic style, several schools, a Wesleyan chapel, a court
+house and gaol, several large inns, a brewery, a mill, and many
+substantial buildings. Longford is also an electoral district, for which
+Joseph Archer, Esq., is the first member.
+
+_Macquarie_--a river which rises in the northern part of the county of
+Monmouth, and flowing through Somerset, by Ross and Lincoln, joins the
+Lake after receiving the waters of the Elizabeth, Blackman's, and Isis.
+The district through which the Macquarie flows, is one of the finest in
+the island, and on its banks are the residences of numerous settlers. On
+the eastern bank, about five miles from Campbell Town, there is a
+presbyterian church, having a resident minister. There is also a post
+station.
+
+_Macquarie Harbor_--a large bay on the western coast, into which fall
+the rivers King and Gordon. There was once a penal settlement here, but
+it has long been abandoned. The country along this part of the coast,
+and to a considerable distance inland, has not yet been opened up, and
+is little known. It is high, and in some places rocky and mountainous.
+Pine of good quality is procured in the neighbourhood.
+
+_Macquarie Plains_--a district in Cumberland, on the northern side of
+the Derwent. It contains several sheep and agricultural farms, and the
+village of Macquarie, 39 miles from Hobart, which contains a church and
+post station.
+
+_Maitland_--a township on the Isis.
+
+_Maria Island_--(so named by Tasman), an island off the eastern coast of
+the county of Pembroke, about 7 miles from the main land. A narrow sandy
+isthmus connects the northern and southern parts of the island, and has
+on its western side Oyster Bay, and on the eastern Reidle Bay. The
+scenery is romantic and picturesque. The northern and southern coasts
+are high and rocky. In the northern part there is a remarkable mountain,
+3,000 feet high, on the summit of which are two rocks projecting one
+above the other, called the Bishop and Clerk. The base is composed of
+petrified shells. Near here on a small stream is the penal settlement of
+Darlington, at which are several government buildings, the residences of
+a commandant, magistrate, religious instructors, and other officers, and
+a post station.
+
+_Marlborough_--a village in Cumberland, near the Ouse. The assistant
+police magistrate of Hamilton holds a court here, and at the bridge on
+the Ouse once in a week.
+
+_Meander_--a small stream which rises in the western mountains, and,
+passing Deloraine, falls into the South Esk at Hadspen. The Dairy,
+Quamby, and Liffey rivulets fall into it.
+
+_Mersey_--a considerable river in Westmoreland, which rises in the
+western mountains, and falls into Bass' Strait, about 10 miles west of
+Port Sorell. Its mouth forms a small harbour, called Port Frederic.
+There is a village called Frogmore at this place, where timber is cut
+and exported. Coal has been found in the neighbourhood.
+
+_Montague_--a small stream falling into Bass' Strait, in the north west
+corner of the island.
+
+_Morven_--a northern electoral district. It consists of agricultural
+farms, and Evandale is the chief town. The town and district contain
+2,311 inhabitants, and 372 houses. James Cox, Esq., is the first member
+for the district.
+
+_Mountains_--The principal mountains are the western range in
+Westmoreland, of which the highest point is Quamby's or Dry's Bluff,
+4,590 feet above the sea; a high rocky range in Cornwall, of which Ben
+Lomond and Ben Nevis are the highest points, and the Eldon range. A
+range extends along the western coast, and another farther inland, of
+which the highest points are the Frenchman's Cap, 3,800 feet above the
+sea; Mount Arrowsmith, east of the former, 4,075 feet high; Mount
+Humboldt, 5,520 feet; Cradle Mountain, 4,700 feet. St. Valentine's Peak,
+on the Van Diemen's Land Company's estate, is 4,000 feet high; Mount
+Wellington, near Hobart Town, 4,195 feet.
+
+_Neville_--a township in the parish of Abergavenny and county of
+Cumberland, on the Clyde.
+
+_New Norfolk_--a town in the parish of New Norfolk and county of
+Buckingham, on the Derwent and Lachlan rivulet, 21 miles from Hobart,
+and 119 from Launceston. It has a resident police magistrate and post
+master, and contains an episcopal church (St. Matthew's) and school, a
+Wesleyan chapel, and another place of worship, a police office, a
+government house, an asylum for insane persons, and several inns. The
+population of the town and district is 2,226, and the number of houses,
+389. The district contains several fine farms. Coaches run daily to New
+Norfolk from Hobart, and communication between the two places is also
+carried on by means of boats on the Derwent. New Norfolk is also an
+electoral district, for which M. Fenton, Esq., is the first member.
+
+_Newtown_--a town in the parish of Hobart and county of Buckingham, 2
+miles north of Hobart, and 119 from Launceston. It contains an episcopal
+church (St. John's) and school, a handsome congregational chapel, the
+Queen's orphan schools, two inns, a post station, and several handsome
+private residences.
+
+_Nile_--a small river which rises near Ben Lomond and falls into the
+South Esk, about 10 miles south of Evandale.
+
+_Nive_--a river which forms the western boundary of the county of
+Cumberland, and falls into the Derwent.
+
+_Norfolk Plains_--a fine district in the north-eastern part of
+Westmoreland, between the rivers Lake, South Esk, and Liffey. It
+consists chiefly of small agricultural farms, and contains the towns of
+Longford and Carrick, and the villages of Bishopsbourne and Cressy.
+Cressy is on the estate of the Van Diemen's Land Establishment, and has
+a small episcopal church, a Wesleyan chapel, and an inn.
+
+_North Esk_--a river which rises in the Ben Lomond range, in the eastern
+part of the county of Cornwall, and falls into the Tamar at Launceston.
+The St. Patrick's river, a small stream, falls into it.
+
+_Oatlands_--a considerable town in the parish of Oatlands and county of
+Monmouth, 51 miles from Hobart, and 70 from Launceston. It contains an
+episcopal (St. Matthew's) and Roman catholic church, a Wesleyan chapel,
+several schools, a gaol, police and post offices, a military station,
+several inns, and other large buildings. It has a resident police
+magistrate, and courts of request and quarter sessions are held in the
+town. The supreme court sits twice in a year. The population of the town
+and police district is 1,873, and the number of houses 279. Oatlands is
+also an electoral district, for which H. F. Anstey, Esq., is the first
+member.
+
+_Orielton_--a village in the parish of Sorell, and county of Pembroke,
+on the eastern side of Pittwater Bay.
+
+_Ouse_--a considerable river which rises in the western side of the
+county of Westmoreland, and falls into the Derwent in the southern part
+of Cumberland. At the bridge on the upper part of the river, there is a
+village, containing a church and school house, and a post and police
+station. The assistant police magistrate of Hamilton holds a court here
+once in a week.
+
+_Oyster Bay_--a harbor on the eastern coast. The rivers Swan and Little
+Swan Port and other streams fall into it. The road from Prossor's to St.
+Paul's Plains is along its western side, and on the eastern side is
+Shouten's Island, where coal of good quality is procured. The bay has
+several boat harbors. There are several farms on the western side. There
+is a bay of the same name on the western side of Maria Island.
+
+_Patterson's Plains_--a district in Cornwall, lying south-west of
+Launceston. It is watered by the North Esk, on which are two flour
+mills, and a bridge. The district has a small episcopal church and
+school, and a Wesleyan chapel.
+
+_Pedder_--a lake and river on the western side of the island, named
+after the Chief Justice.
+
+_Perth_--a town on the northern bank of the South Esk, in the parish of
+Perth and county of Cornwall, 110 miles from Hobart, and 11 from
+Launceston. It has an episcopal church and school, a Wesleyan chapel,
+three inns, and a police and post station. The South Esk is crossed at
+this place by one of the best stone bridges in the island.
+
+_Picton_--a township in the parish of Dysart and county of Monmouth.
+
+_Piper's_--a small river in Dorset, which falls into Bass' Strait, near
+Stony Head.
+
+_Plenty_--a small stream in Buckingham, falling into the Derwent above
+New Norfolk.
+
+_Port Arthur_--one of the penal settlements on Tasman's Peninsula.
+
+_Port Dalrymple_--the entrance of the Tamar, so called by Captain
+Flinders, in honor of the hydrographer to the admiralty.
+
+_Port Davey_--a large harbor, lying on the south-western coast.
+
+_Ramsgate_--a village on the shore of D'Entrecasteaux's channel, in
+Kent.
+
+_Richmond_--a town at the mouth of the Coal River, in the parish of Ulva
+and county of Monmouth, 15 miles from Hobart, and 100 from Launceston.
+It contains an episcopal and a catholic church, a congregational chapel,
+a police office, post station, a gaol, and court house, and several
+inns. It has a resident police magistrate, and the population of the
+town and district, which consists of farms, is 3,144, and the number of
+houses 545, nearly half of which are of stone or brick. The Coal River,
+which here falls into the bay of Pittwater, is crossed at the town by an
+excellent stone bridge of six arches. Richmond is an electoral district,
+for which T. G. Gregson, Esq., is the first member.
+
+_Risdon_--a village at Clarence Plains, nearly opposite Hobart. There is
+a ferry at this place, which was the site of the first settlement in the
+colony.
+
+_Rochford_--a township in Cumberland.
+
+_Ross_--a township on the Macquarie, in the parish of Ross and county of
+Somerset, 73 miles from Hobart, 47 from Launceston, and 6 from Campbell
+Town. It contains an episcopal church and school, a chapel, a police and
+post station, and two inns. The police magistrate of Campbell Town holds
+a court here once in a week. There is a bridge across the Macquarie at
+this township. The district is chiefly agricultural.
+
+_Rugby_--a township on the Derwent, in the parish of Sutherland and
+county of Buckingham.
+
+_Shannon_--a river which rises at the Great Lake in Westmoreland, and
+falls into the Ouse.
+
+_Shepton Montacute_--a township in Monmouth.
+
+_Sidmouth_--a village on the west bank of the Tamar, about 20 miles
+from Launceston. There is a presbyterian church here, and a resident
+minister.
+
+_Sorell_--a town in the parish of Sorell and county of Pembroke, 23
+miles from Hobart, and 144 from Launceston. It has an episcopal church
+(St. George's) and school, a presbyterian church, a police and post
+office, and other public buildings. There is a resident police
+magistrate. The population of the town and district is 3,354, and the
+number of houses 370. A small stream falls into the bay of Pittwater,
+close to the town. The district is electoral; Askin Morrison, Esq., is
+the first member.
+
+_South Esk_--a considerable river which rises in the eastern part of the
+county of Dorset, and after a circuitous course, in which it passes the
+towns of Fingal, Avoca, Evandale, Perth, and Longford, falls into the
+Tamar at Launceston. About half a mile from the place where it joins the
+Tamar, the river forms a considerable basin, surrounded by lofty hills,
+and having a water-fall at the upper part. A few yards lower down, there
+is another cataract--one of the most magnificent in the island--and the
+river continues its course to the Tamar between two high and almost
+perpendicular hills. Along one of these hills a wooden aqueduct is
+carried, which conveys water to turn a mill and supply the town. The
+river is crossed here by a ferry, which leads to the road down the
+western side of the Tamar. The view up the Esk at this place is one of
+the most picturesque in the colony.
+
+_South Port_--a harbor on the western side of D'Entrecasteaux Channel.
+
+_Styx_--a branch of the river Derwent in Buckingham.
+
+_Summerleas_--a township in the parish of Kingborough and county of
+Buckingham.
+
+_Swansea_--a township in Glamorgan on the western side of Oyster Bay, 74
+miles from Hobart, and 194 from Launceston. It has a police and post
+station.
+
+_Tamar_--a fine river in Cornwall, at the head of which stands the town
+of Launceston. It is navigable from its entrance to the town--about
+forty miles--for ships of 600 tons, and is of considerable width--in
+some places of three miles. At the wharves at Launceston the tide rises
+from twelve to fourteen feet. On the banks of the river are some good
+farms, and the scenery is generally picturesque.
+
+_Tasman's_--a large peninsula forming the south-eastern part of the
+county of Pembroke. There is a smaller one, called Forrester's, between
+it and the main land. Tasman's Peninsula has several fine bays, and
+contains some penal stations.
+
+_Tenby_--a township at Spring Bay in the county of Pembroke.
+
+_Tierney_--a township in the Lake River.
+
+_Trent_--a small river in Devon, which falls into Bass' Strait, near
+Rocky Cape.
+
+_Triabunna_--a village at Prossor's Bay.
+
+_Tunbridge_--a town in the parish of Maxwell and county of Somerset, a
+few miles south of Ross, on a small stream called Blackman's River,
+which falls into the Macquarie.
+
+_Victoria_--a village on the river Huon.
+
+_Westbury_--a town in the parish of Westbury and county of Westmoreland,
+140 miles from Hobart, and 20 from Launceston. It has a resident police
+magistrate, a postmaster, and other officers, and contains an episcopal
+church and school, a Roman catholic church and school, a Wesleyan
+chapel, and three inns. The town and district has a population of 2,842,
+and 420 houses. William Archer, jun., Esq., is the first member for the
+electoral district.
+
+_Windermere_--a village on the eastern bank of the Tamar, about 15 miles
+from Launceston. It has an episcopal church and a mill.
+
+_Wye_--a branch of the Swan Port River.
+
+
+
+
+TASMANIA:
+PRINTED BY J. S. WADDELL, LAUNCESTON.
+
+
+
+             *     *     *     *     *
+
+
+
+NOTES AND ERRATA.
+
+Transcriber's Note: the following errata have been corrected in the text
+above.
+
+     Page 14. Black Tom, executed, was not the murderer of Mr. Osborne,
+     but a servant of Mrs. Birch of the same name.
+
+     Page 27, for "north-east belonging," read "north-west."
+
+     Page 71, for "1839," read "1830."
+
+     Page 71, for "Oyster Bay," read "Oyster Cove."
+
+     Page 90, for "Monododo," read "Monboddo."
+
+     Page 92, for "aborigina," read "aborigine."
+
+     _Note_, page 101. Conditional servitude, under indentures or
+     covenants, had from the first existed in Virginia. The servant
+     stood to his master in the relation of a debtor bound to repay the
+     cost of his emigration by employing his powers for the benefit of
+     his creditors--oppression easily ensued. Men who had been
+     transported to Virginia at the expense of L10, were sometimes sold
+     for L40 or L50, or even for L60. The supply of white servants
+     became a regular business, and a class of men, nick-named
+     "spirits," used to delude young persons and idlers into embarking
+     for America as to a land of plenty. White servants came to be a
+     usual article of traffic. They were sold in England to be
+     transported, and in Virginia, were resold to the highest bidder. In
+     1672, the average prices for five years service when due, was about
+     L10.--_Bancroft_, vol. i. p. 175.
+
+     "The Scots, whom God delivered into your bands at Durbar, whereof
+     sundry were sent here, we have been desirous as we could, to make
+     their yoke easy. Such as were sick of the scurvy or other diseases,
+     have not wanted physic and surgery. They have not been sold for
+     slaves, to perpetual servitude, but for six, or seven, or eight
+     years, as we do our own; and he that bought the most of them I
+     hear, buildeth for every four of them a house, and layeth some
+     acres of ground thereto, which he giveth them as their own,
+     requiring them three days of the week to work for him by turns, and
+     four days for themselves, and promises as soon as they can repay
+     him the money laid out for them, he will set them at
+     liberty."--_Letter to Cromwell, by Mather Cotton: Carlyle's Letters
+     and Speeches_, vol. ii. p. 349.
+
+     Page 102. "I beseech your Majesty that I may inform that each
+     person will be worth ten pounds, if not fifteen pounds a-piece.
+     And, sir, if your majesty orders that as you have already designed,
+     persons that have not suffered in the service, will run away with
+     the booty."--_Letter from Jefferies, Sep., 1685._
+
+     "Take all care they continue to serve for ten years at least, and
+     that they be not permitted in any manner to redeem themselves by
+     money or otherwise until that term be fully expired. Prepare a bill
+     for the assembly of our colony, with such clauses as shall be
+     necessary for this purpose."--James II. Letters (countersigned by
+     Sunderland) to the Governor of Virginia, Oct., 1685--_Bancroft_,
+     vol. ii. p. 25.
+
+     Page 102. "Good God! where am I? In Bristol! This city it seems,
+     claims the privilege of hanging and drawing among themselves. I
+     find you have more need of a special commission once a month at
+     least. The very magistrates that should be ministers of justice,
+     fall out with one another to that degree, that they will scarcely
+     dine together, and yet I find they can agree for their interests if
+     there be _a kid_ in the case, for I hear that kidnapping is much in
+     request in this city. You discharge a felon or traitor, provided he
+     will go to Mr. Alderman's plantations in the West
+     Indies."--_Jefferies Speech: Life of Lord Keeper Guilford, by Roger
+     North_, vol. ii. p. 113.
+
+     _Note_, page 121. A commission was appointed to enquire into those
+     allegations, and their report fell into the hands of the author
+     after the account of the _Amphitrite_ was printed. It does not
+     appear, that the imputations of sordid calculation were well
+     grounded, and no bond would have been enforced for an unavoidable
+     breach of contract.
+
+     Page 148, for "_free_ women," read "_freed_ women."
+
+     Page 149, for "_Macarthur's New South Wales_," read "_Mudie's
+     Felonry_."
+
+     Page 151, for "12,000," read "1,200 houses."
+
+     Page 155, for "regarded by," read "appeared to."
+
+     Page 166. Rev. S. Marsden. A pamphlet was published by Mr. Marsden,
+     called _A Statement Relative to Illegal Punishment_ (1828). A
+     warrant to this effect was produced:--"Sitting magistrates--Henry
+     Grattan Douglas, Esq., and Rev. S. Marsden. James Blackburn,
+     attached to the prisoners' barracks, ordered to receive twenty-five
+     lashes every morning until he tells who were the four men in
+     company with him gambling." This warrant, Mr. Marsden
+     declared a forgery. Other charges were made of the same character,
+     but they were refuted by Mr. Marsden. He proved his absence from
+     the bench when sentences of torture were passed. In the text there
+     is an apparent leaning to the charge, but there appears no fair
+     ground to reject Mr. Marsden's refutation, which is most decisive
+     as to his own participation in this revolting practice.
+
+     Page 189, for "real name," read "known name."
+
+     Page 271, for "primitive," read "punitive."
+
+     Page 321, for "Report of Institutions," read "Report of Hanwell
+     Institution."
+
+     Page 335. The long delay in the publication of this work has given
+     time for several important changes in the aspect of convict
+     discipline. The local government of Van Diemen's Land, resolved in
+     November, 1850, to restore the practice of assignment, and notices
+     for this purpose were issued.
+
+     Thus the convict was bound to serve his master according to the
+     duration of his sentence, and to accept such wages as the convict
+     department might sanction. The object of this change was to
+     reconcile the settlers to the continuance of transportation, by
+     restoring an interest and authority which the probation system
+     subverted.
+
+     The men who had been promised comparative liberty on their arrival,
+     complained bitterly of this change, and claimed to work as free
+     servants with masters of their own choice. Earl Grey expressed
+     strong disapproval of this return to a system expressly repudiated
+     by his party, and condemned by himself, and ordered the governor to
+     compensate the men for breach of faith. August 4. 1851; No. 156.
+
+     The discovery of gold has altered the prospects of laborers. The
+     amazing productiveness of the gold fields has withdrawn almost all
+     good free labor from the colony. The active convict has the means
+     of earning large wages, or of reaching the gold fields at an
+     expense estimated at L5, including hush money. Thus the _Gazette_,
+     from January 6, to March 30, 1852, shows the absconding of 492, and
+     the arrest of 254. Yet many are not reported, and are therefore not
+     included in these lists.
+
+     The incessant agitation of the colonies has produced considerable
+     activity in the department, and external decency is respected. The
+     more prominent establishments--both male and female, are creditably
+     kept, and probably the internal evils are abated; and yet what can
+     be hoped for men who, on their discharge from detention, recognise
+     everywhere the associations and the haunts of convictism?
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF TASMANIA , VOLUME II
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