The scourge of Australia is drought; and when a native of the British Islands has lived a few years in that part of the world, he begins to understand and feel better than he ever before did, the frequent allusions in the holy Scriptures to water as an emblem and sign of the greatest blessings. The Englishman in Australia soon learns what is meant by the blessings of Christ's kingdom being compared to "rivers of water in a dry place," or to "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,"[167] when that rock promises a spring of living water, a comfort which in New Holland is occasionally found upon the bare top of a mountain, where no other supply is to be had within thirty miles round.[168] And the thankfulness of the inhabitants of our own green islands may be awakened, the undue expectations of the English emigrant may be checked, by reading complaints like the following, which are, at intervals, only too well founded in many parts of the Australian colonies. "We have now for upwards of four months been watching with anxious interest the progress of every cloudy sky; but, overcast as the heavens most usually are towards evening, the clouds have appeared to consist more of smoky exhalations than moist vapours; and even when at times they have seemed to break darkly over us, their liquid contents have apparently evaporated in the middle air. The various arrivals in our port (Port Macquarie) have brought us accounts of genial showers and refreshing dews, which have visited the neighbouring districts; and even the silence of our own parched coast has been broken by the sound of distant thunderstorms, exhausting themselves on the eastern waves while the sun has been setting in scorching splendour upon the horizon of our western hills. Since the 30th of June last to the present date, October 28th, there have been but thirteen days with rain, and then the showers were but trifling. In consequence, the surface of the ground, in large tracts of the district, is so parched and withered, that all minor vegetation has nearly ceased, and the wheat-crops that were sown in June, are, we fear, doomed to perish."[169]

[167] See Isaiah xxxii. 2. The following proverbial saying in India may serve to show how natural such comparisons are in the mouths of the inhabitants of hot climates: "Ah, that benevolent man, he has long been my shelter from the wind; he is a river to the dry country." See Roberts' Oriental Illustrations of Scripture, ad. loc. p. 429. How different an idea do the words "shelter from the wind" convey to the inhabitant of England's bleak shores, and Asia's parching deserts!

[168] See an interesting passage in Major Mitchell's Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 28. See likewise Oxley's First Journal, p. 75.

[169] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. iv. p. 234.

How expressive, after reading descriptions like this, do those complaints of one of the inspired writers appear: "The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto Thee, for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." (Joel i. 17-20.)

Most of the productions of the soil which are to be found in the mother country are raised likewise in the Australian settlements. The wheat-harvest commences in New South Wales in the middle of November, and is generally over by Christmas, so that to this festive season a fresh cause of rejoicing is added, and men are called upon to be thankful at once for the greatest temporal and spiritual blessings; the same time of year supplies them with the meat that perisheth, and reminds them of the coming down from heaven of Him who is the bread of life. But, besides the ordinary produce of our English fields, many productions of the soil are raised in Australia which will not grow in the northern climate of Britain. The fruits of Italy and Spain, the tobacco of Virginia, and the Indian corn of the southern states of America, are all produced in the Australian colonies. And one fruit may be particularly noticed, which is in England justly reckoned a delicacy, but which in New South Wales is so abundant, that the very swine are feasted upon it: peaches are to be had in full perfection for full four months in the year, the later varieties regularly succeeding to those that are earlier. This fruit grows everywhere, it matters not whether the soil be rich or poor; and if a peach-stone is planted it will in three years afterwards bear an abundant crop of fruit. So plentifully do they grow, that they are commonly used to fatten hogs, for which purpose they answer very well, after having been laid in heaps, and allowed to ferment a little; cider also of a pleasant and wholesome quality is made from the same fruit.

The chief wealth of Australia consists in its flocks and herds, and nothing in the progress of our settlements there is more astonishing than the rapidity with which these primitive riches have increased. Sixty years ago there was not a single sheep in the vast island of New Holland; and now, from a few narrow strips of land upon some of its coasts, millions of pounds of wool are annually exported to England. The fine climate of Australia is especially suited for sheep, and it would appear to have an improving effect upon the quality of that animal's fleece, which nowhere reaches greater perfection than in New South Wales. Cattle also thrive and increase very much in the Australian settlements, and animals of all kinds in New South Wales are exceedingly dainty: if shut up in a field of good grass they will starve themselves with fretting rather than eat it, they are so anxious to get out upon the sweet natural pastures. Although it is to be hoped and expected that, under judicious management, these colonies will always be able to supply their inhabitants with bread, still it is confessed on all sides that pastoral riches form their natural source of wealth, and that it is to these chiefly, together with their mineral productions and commerce, that they must look for a foundation of permanent and continued worldly prosperity.

The form of government is the same in all the British Australasian colonies, and while the governor's authority is supreme, by virtue of his being the representative of the British crown, his power is restrained by an executive council and by a legislative council. The former body, whose office is to assist the governor in carrying the laws into execution, is composed of the colonial secretary and treasurer, the bishop and lieutenant-governor, (if the last-named office is not abolished,) under the presidency of the governor himself. The legislative council consists of the same persons, with the addition of the chief justice, the attorney-general, the chief officer of the customs, the auditor-general, and seven private gentlemen of the colony, who are appointed by the crown for life, and for whom, in case of death or removal, the governor may choose a substitute, until the Queen's pleasure be known. The office of this legislative council is, as its name implies, that of making laws, in which, however, at least two-thirds of the members must agree, and which must not be contrary to the charter, or letters patent, or orders in council, or laws of England. The proposal of new laws always belongs to the governor, who must, however, give eight clear days' notice in the public papers, stating the general objects of the intended enactments; nor can this rule be dispensed with, except in cases of very great emergency. Such is briefly the outline of the constitution at present established in the Australian settlements, and under this form of government they have, most of them, already run a race of prosperity, which, allowing for the recent dates of their foundation, can scarcely be matched in the annals of any nation. Nevertheless, the present form of government is a very great subject of discontent among many of the colonists, and the want of a representative house of assembly in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land appears to give as little satisfaction to many persons there, as the presence of such an assembly does here in England.[170] It may easily be imagined what a fine subject for oratory is thus furnished among a mass of people, who, whatever elements of good may exist among them, may, generally speaking, be too truly said to have derived their birth and education from criminals and outcasts. In the midst of a people thus constituted, a press "unshackled by stamps, paper-excise, advertisement duty, or censorship," is doing its daily or weekly work of enlightening the minds of the people respecting their grievances; and where, as in Van Diemen's Land, there is said to be a newspaper for every 1666 free persons,[171] the people must indeed bask in the sunshine of political illumination. "The press," it is asserted on good authority respecting Van Diemen's Land, and it is not less true of New South Wales, "The press, with few exceptions, finds ample support in holding up to derision the authorities of the land, and even in the invasion of the sanctity of domestic privacy."[172] The result, however, of this state of things is that, actually, in the colonies of Australia the grievances appear worse, the "wrongs" more galling, and the "rights" less regarded, than even in England itself; and judging from the crabbed tone of discontent prevailing in most of the colonial newspapers, the people who live in a land almost free from taxes, and quite exempt from tithes and poor-rates, can without much difficulty conjure up complaints of taxation and oppression not less piercing than those which are to be heard in a kingdom where taxgatherers, tithe-proctors, and aristocrats, still exist. Perhaps, there is nothing more calculated to make an Englishman tolerably satisfied with the state of things in his own country than the occasional perusal of the newspapers of lands so "highly favoured" in the way of "taxation" or "liberal institutions," as the Australian colonies and the United States of America. The christian patriot looks down with pity upon the strife of tongues and the turmoil of party-spirit which Satan contrives to raise in almost every country under the sun; and while the believer can always bless God's providence for many good things, he expects not perfection in the institutions of mortal men; it is true that

"Worldly reformers, while they chafe and curse, Themselves and others change from bad to worse; While christian souls for blessings past can praise, And mend their own and others' future ways."

[170] A glance over the two ponderous volumes of the evidence before the Transportation Committee in 1837 and 1838 will satisfy every unprejudiced person that our penal colonies are not yet ripe for a representative government. It is curious enough to compare the fearful picture of these settlements drawn by one section of the so-called Liberal party, which wages war against transportation, with the more pleasing and flattering description of their social condition which is given by that other section of the same party which claims for the colonists "constitutional rights."

[171] See Mr. Montgomery Martin's New South Wales, p. 353.

[172] See Report of Transportation Committee in 1838, p. 32.

The great instruments by which the christian statesman will aim at reforming mankind, and making them happy, while at the same time he will be gaining the highest of all glory to himself, both in time and eternity, are christian instruction and religious education. A corrupted press and incessant agitation are instruments suitable enough to accomplish the works of darkness for which they are usually employed; nor are churches and schools less fit means of success in the better and more honourable task of bringing a nation to righteousness, respectability, and contentment. A short account of the establishment of the Bishopric of Australia, and a statement of the means of religious and sound education in that part of the world, will not be out of place here; and if, as before, we are driven to speak of the neglect of "the powers that be" upon these essential points, it is hoped that, since this is done unwillingly,—more in shame and sorrow than in anger and party-spirit,—it will not be done with a feeling at all contrary to the Divine precept: "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people."[173]

[173] Acts xxiii. 5.

"It is evident unto all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient authors, that from the Apostles' time there have been these orders of ministers in Christ's Church,—Bishops, Priests, and Deacons;"[174] and the Church of England has never yet made bold to dispense with what the Church of Christ did for 1500 years, without a single exception, deem it necessary everywhere to retain. Never in theory, indeed, has our Church made bold to work without the three orders of an apostolical ministry, but, alas! frequently has she done this in practice, and in no instance more openly or less successfully than in Australia. For upwards of thirty years, no superintendent at all was placed over the clergy and laity of our communion in New South Wales, and when a step was taken, it was not made in the right direction; an archdeacon was appointed, who, whatever might be his civil authority, was, respecting spiritual authority, exactly upon a level with his other brethren in the ministry; nor could he assume more than this without assuming to himself that to which he was not entitled,—the office of a bishop in the Church. Under these strange and irregular circumstances was the infant Church, brought from the British isles and planted in the wilderness of Australia, allowed to continue for about twelve years. The witness of a layman concerning this state of things may be here repeated: "I myself then saw a church without a bishop, and I trust in God I may never see it again."[175] In 1824, the Rev. T. H. Scott was appointed Archdeacon of New South Wales, and there were then eight chaplains in the colony, which covered a vast expanse of country, and contained, in 1821, (three years earlier,) 29,783 souls, of whom 13,814 were convicts. Thus was New South Wales provided with "a very liberal ecclesiastical establishment," according to the liberal views of one of its leading historians;[176] and as its population increased, so, in some degree, if not in an equal proportion, did the number of its clergy, so that, in September, 1833, the number of souls in the colony was 60,794,[177] (of whom 16,151 were convicts, and 17,238 Roman Catholics,) and the number of clergymen was fifteen, besides the archdeacon and four catechists. Archdeacon Scott was succeeded, in 1829, by the Rev. W. G. Broughton, whose zeal and activity reflect honour alike upon himself and upon the discernment of the noble patron, the Duke of Wellington, who, it is believed, first recommended him to that office. After enduring labour, and toil, and anxiety, such as those only know who have to bear the heat and burden of the day in the Lord's vineyard, at length the archdeacon was made, by permission of the English government under Lord Melbourne, in 1836, Bishop of Australia; and the foundation of an Apostolical and Scriptural Church in the Great Southern Land was at length duly laid, by the consecration of that prelate, at Lambeth, on February 14th, 1836. The old stipend assigned to the archdeacon was to be continued without any increase to the Bishop of Australia; and since 2000l. a-year was undoubtedly a very ample provision for the former, it was thought that it might be found sufficient for the latter; and so it would be, if the British government were willing to provide properly for the spiritual wants of the new diocese, and thus preserve the provision made for the bishop from being almost entirely swallowed up in endeavouring to satisfy the spiritual need of his people. This observation, however, justice compels us to make before we quit the present subject, namely, that, whatever opinion may be entertained of the dispositions of the British government, during the ten years following the passing of the Reform Bill, towards the English Church, for one fact every member of that church must feel deeply indebted to them. During the time of Lord Grey's and Lord Melbourne's holding office, no less than six new bishoprics were erected in the British colonies, and the first impulse was encouraged of that good spirit which has since sent forth into foreign parts five bishops in one day to "preach the word, to be instant in season, out of season, to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine."[178]

[174] See the Preface to the Form of Ordaining and Consecrating Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in the Book of Common Prayer.

[175] The subjection of New South Wales to the Bishopric of Calcutta was a mere absurdity; it might just as well have been under Canterbury at once.

[176] See Wentworth's Australasia, vol. i. p. 366.

[177] Elsewhere stated to be 60,861. Perfect accuracy in these matters appears almost unattainable.

[178] See St. Paul's charge to Timothy, the first Bishop of Ephesus, 2 Tim. iv. 2.

Among the five new sees thus recently established, the pressing necessities of Australia have not been overlooked; and Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land, an island equal in size to Ireland, has been thought to claim justly a separate bishop for itself. The capital of this island is not less than 600 miles distant from Sydney, the seat of the bishopric of Australia; and with a population of 50,000, rapidly increasing, a large majority of whom are churchmen, its claims to have a bishop of its own are undeniable. And to these just claims the British government have listened so far as to devote the 800l. per annum formerly assigned to an archdeacon of Van Diemen's Land towards the endowment of a bishop there, in addition to which sum 5000l. have been set apart from the Colonial Bishoprics Fund, and the remainder of what is necessary to provide the occupant of the new see with a decent maintenance is now being raised among those that feel interested in that particular colony, or in the general good work whereof this endowment forms only a part. Nor is it the intention of the promoters of this noble design of founding in our Australian and other colonies the complete framework of a Christian Church to stop short here. South Australia, a province even more thoroughly separated from Sydney than Tasmania is, has appeared well deserving of the attention of those that have the direction of this important work; and the zeal of some of the landed proprietors of the colony has already prepared the way for the establishment of a bishopric in South Australia. The following extract is from the letter of a layman residing in the last-mentioned colony:—"At present, we are pronounced to be in a diocese, whilst the head of that diocese is living nearly 1200 miles away, and has never been here, and, in all probability never will be." One person has offered to build, at his own cost, with the tenth part of his property in Australia, a church at Adelaide, to endow the see with land to the amount of 270l. per annum, and to furnish plans, &c. for a bishop's residence; other gifts of land have likewise been contributed to the amount of 100l. per annum more. A grant of 5000l. has been obtained from the Colonial Bishoprics Fund, and it is hoped that, by the efforts of the friends of sound religion, an endowment of 1000l. per annum may speedily be completed for the intended bishopric.[179] And since the experience of the past forms a stable foundation of hope for the future, we may form a judgment of what will be done, under the Divine blessing, in Tasmania and South Australia, by what has been done in the diocese of Australia. In the charge of the bishop of the last-named see, delivered by him to his clergy in 1841, it is stated, that, before 1836, the date of his consecration, there were in the colony of New South Wales nine churches, eight chapels, or school-houses used as such, and five parsonage-houses; whereas, in 1841, nine new churches had been completed, four had been opened by licence, fifteen more were in course of erection; and twelve new parsonages had been completed, while eight others were also in progress![180] So great a stimulus, during only five years, had the presence of the full and effective staff of an apostolical ministry added to the growth and increase of the Church in one single colony!

[179] See the Report of the Fund for providing Additional Colonial Bishoprics, dated June 25th, 1842. Should the particulars stated above induce any person to desire to lend a helping hand to so good, so glorious a work, any donations for that purpose, small or large, will be thankfully received at the office of the Committee, 79, Pall Mall, London; and a post-office order supplies a sure and easy means of conveyance for sums not exceeding five pounds.

[180] See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for 1842.

The history of education in the colony of New South Wales is an important and deeply interesting subject;—indeed, in what country is it not so?—but the struggles and disappointments of the friends of sound religious education,—of that education which an Englishman may be thankful to be permitted to call National,—have been very severe and trying. To borrow the language of an able statesman and eloquent writer, "not contented with excluding religion from the province of government, the spirit of the age struggles with not less zeal to introduce, as its substitute, education; that is to say, the cultivation of the intellect of the natural man instead of the heart and affections of the spiritual man—the abiding in the life of Adam, instead of passing into the life of Christ."[181] This is precisely what has taken place in Australia. Only two years after the foundations of the colony had been laid, George III. was pleased to provide for the Church and for schools, by ordering the governor to allot in every township 400 acres of land for the maintenance of a minister, and 200 acres for the support of a schoolmaster. This provision continued to be assigned, and in many cases the portion of allotted glebe became of considerable value; but, in 1826, a yet more extensive and promising support was afforded by the British government to the cause of religious instruction in New South Wales. The nature of this assistance may be detailed first in the words of a violent and not very sensible or consistent enemy of the Church of England, and then the reader may turn to the account given by one of its ablest and best friends. "I was utterly astounded," says Dr. Lang, "in common with most of the colonists, at the promulgation of a royal charter appointing a Church and School Corporation for the religious instruction, and for the general education of the youth of the colony, on the principles of the Church of England, exclusively, and allotting a seventh of the whole territory, for that purpose, to the Episcopalian clergy, with free access, in the meantime, to the colonial treasury-chest. It will scarcely be believed that so wanton an insult as this precious document implied, could have been offered to the common sense of a whole community, even by the late tory administration; or that men could have been found in the nineteenth century to perpetrate so gross an outrage on the best feelings of a numerous body of reputable men." During the ensuing four or five years, we are told by the same authority that it was completely in the power of the archdeacon and clergy "to have formed a noble institution for the general education of the youth of Australia with the very crumbs that fell from their corporation-table."[182] They might, "if they had only been possessed of the smallest modicum of common sense, have secured the exclusive predominance of episcopacy in the management of the education of the whole colony, for all time coming." And yet, adds the sagacious Scotchman, in the very next paragraph, "the yoke must have proved intolerable in the end, and would sooner or later have been violently broken asunder during some general burst of public indignation." After a grievous misrepresentation of the expenses incurred by the Church and School Corporation,[183] and a sneer at the want of education which is said to prevail among its members,[184] Dr. Lang contrives at last to land himself, if not his readers, at the desired conclusion, namely, that "ignorance is the mother of devotion" to colonial episcopacy!

[181] Gladstone's "The State in its Relations with the Church," chap. viii. p. 315.

[182] Lang's New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 317, &c. See also, at 265-6, a series of similar statements. A good specimen of Dr. Lang's veracity occurs at p. 267, where the Church and School Corporation is said to have consisted chiefly of clergymen, whereas the majority were laymen. See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 21, and Appendix, No. 1.

[183] They are accused of spending 20,000l. a-year of public money, under pretence of providing for religious instruction and education, while nothing was really done; whereas, out of this sum, nearly 17,000l. were already appropriated for the existing ecclesiastical establishment; and, during the continuance of the Corporation, the schools increased from 16 to 40, and the number of children educated in them from 1,037 to 2,426. See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, pp. 24 and 32.

[184] See the book just quoted for a list of the members of the Church and School Corporation, p. 21. Whatever might be the education of these gentlemen, it is evident that better educated men were not very likely to be found in the colony than the great law officers of the crown, the members of the legislative council, and the nine senior chaplains.

But it is time to turn away from the pitiable spectacle of a man calling himself a minister of God's word, but far better qualified for his other occupation, that of editing a party newspaper in a penal colony, and taking our leave of Dr. Lang with feelings of regret that he has not made a better use of those talents which have been given him: let us turn to the statement given by Judge Burton, of the Church and School Corporation in New South Wales. It is correct that one-seventh part in extent and value of the land in New South Wales, was intended to be set apart for the supply of religious instruction and education to the whole colony. It is true, likewise, that the English government, in 1826, entrusted this endowment for these good purposes entirely to the Church of England; and to what other body could a thoroughly English government have entrusted it? What course could be more suitable to the principles of the English constitution? Or who in those days suspected the very dissenters, who in England regard the help of the state as an abomination, of being anxious themselves to partake freely of that help in Australia? However, the arrangements were completed, and the charter of the Church and School Corporation was signed in 1826; and at the same time the burden of defraying the regular expenses of the existing clergy and schools, was immediately transferred from the parliamentary grants and the colonial revenue to the newly formed corporation. But, whatever might have been the future value of the endowment thus bestowed upon the Australian Church, its immediate produce was little or nothing; the reserves are stated to have not been fairly portioned out, many of them were allotted in inconvenient or distant situations and unprofitable soils; private interest was allowed to take the first place in the division of land, and persons who would have scorned to defraud men, were happy to be allowed to rob God of his rights and the poor of the means of having the gospel preached to them. Nor, even although these hindrances had not arisen, would there have been any sufficient income arising during the first years from the property of the corporation, unless they had sold this with utter recklessness of the means of securing a future permanent endowment. That portion of their lands which was most improved, was either judiciously sold, or else let; and other parts of it were gradually being brought under cultivation, and improved in value; but meanwhile the increasing yearly expenses of the ecclesiastical establishment were to be met. For this purpose, some money was borrowed on debentures, and an advance was made to the corporation from the colonial treasury; and thus, during three years, were the exertions of the corporation crippled and restrained. When they were beginning to get somewhat clear of these first difficulties, when their estates were becoming profitable, and their flocks and herds increasing, they were directed to suspend any further proceedings, no more lands were granted them, and they were informed that their charter was to be revoked. This notification was made in 1829, though the revocation did not actually take place till 1833.

In reply to the inquiry, why the Church and School Corporation in New South Wales should have been thus suddenly dissolved, and that, too, at the very time when its means were beginning to be available for the fulfilment of the intentions of its foundation, no other answer can be found besides that suggested by Judge Burton. It was done, no doubt, by way of yielding to the clamour of the secret and open enemies of the Church of England; and the very opposition of Infidels, Romanists, and Dissenters, combined, in jarring harmony, together, bears a strong witness of the value of the object of attack. The sop that was thus thrown to the greedy demon of religious strife, was by no means successful in satisfying or appeasing him; like most other similar concessions, it served only to whet the appetite for more; and it is to God's undeserved mercies, not to her own efforts, or to the wisdom of her rulers, that England herself owes the preservation at that time of her national Church. And now that the Church and School Corporation in Australia has been abolished these ten years, what are the results; who is the better for its destruction? If this establishment had been permitted to remain, "certainly, at this day its funds would have been sufficient to relieve the government altogether of the charge of maintaining the clergy and schools of the colony."[185] The estimated expenses of "Church establishments," and "school establishments," for New South Wales in 1842, were respectively, 35,981l. 10s., and 16,322l. 10s.,[186] so that by this time the saving to government, arising from the continuance of the corporation, would have amounted to no trifling annual sum. But, what is of far more importance, and what was foreseen by the enemies of the Church of England when they compassed the ruin of the corporation, the means of "lengthening its cords and strengthening its stakes," would have been placed within the power of the Australian Church. And since, under every disadvantage, during the short time in which the charter continued to be in force, "the churches were increased in number and better provided, the schools were considerably more than doubled in number, and their effectiveness increased, while their expenses were lessened,"[187] what might have been expected from the same instrument in a longer period of time, and after the first difficulties had been overcome? However, for wise and good purposes, no doubt, it was not permitted that the experiment should be tried; and while we regret that the Church in Australia is not more efficient and better supported than it is, we may yet feel thankful that, by the grace of God, it is as it is.

[185] See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 31.

[186] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. i. p. 45. The sums mentioned above include all the expense of grants to other bodies of Christians besides churchmen, but the greater portion of the money is expended upon the great majority of the population who are members of the Church of England.

[187] See Burton, p. 37.

It affords a sad proof of the continued enmity of the world against Christ, to turn from the noisy outcries of the children of Mammon about economy and ecclesiastical expenses, and to fix our eyes upon the plain matter of fact. When it was confidently asserted, by the highest colonial authority, that the wants of the Australian Church were fairly supplied, the Bishop, in 1837, mentioned by name no less than fifteen places where clergymen were immediately needed. And it is no uncommon occurrence, as in the church at Mudgee, (quite in the wilderness,) for a consecration to take place, the church to be filled, the inhabitants around delighted, their children baptized, and then the building is closed for an indefinite period, until some clergyman be found to officiate! Some persons may hold that to save money is better than to save souls, but let not these men aspire to the name of Christians.

But, in spite of such enemies, whether endowed or not, whether supported or spurned by the state authorities, the Church is likely to prove a blessing and a safeguard to our Australian colonies. The absence of endowment, the want of worldly means of extension, these are losses not to the Church, but to the state. And while each individual member is bound to spare of his abundance, or even of his poverty, for a work so good and holy as that of propagating the gospel in foreign parts, especially in our colonies;[188] while every lawful effort is to be made to do what we can to resist the progress of evil, we may be satisfied to wait quietly the result. Nor, among other acts of christian charity, will a faithful member of Christ's visible Church ever forget to pray for those unhappy men whose extraordinary professions of religion are too often found to end in fruits like these,—in opposing all extension of what they deny not to be, in the main, a scriptural Church, in straining at the smallest particle of endowment, or public assistance for religious objects at home, whilst abroad they can swallow a whole camel's load of public money or church plunder, when it serves their occasion! May God, in his wisdom, overrule the mischief, and in his mercy forgive the evils of which men of this description have recently been the occasion, both in England and in its colonies!

[188] The following striking testimony in favour of the system of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts comes from a quarter by no means unduly biassed in its favour. "How have thousands and tens of thousands been raised in Scotland, for the last forty years, to fit out and to maintain beyond seas whomsoever the dissenting ministers of London chose to ordain as missionaries to the heathen? God forbid, that I should ever whisper a syllable against missions to the heathen! But I have seen too many missionaries, not to have seen more than I choose to mention, whom men possessed of the least discernment would never have presumed to send forth on such an errand! The colonies, however, were the first field to be occupied; and if that field had been properly occupied, it would have afforded much assistance to missions to the heathen."—LANG'S New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 260.

If any reader of this passage should feel disposed in his heart to help in a good work, which greatly needs his assistance, let him take at once his humble mite, or his large offering, as the case may be, to the clergyman of his parish, or to the office, 79, Pall Mall, London, for the use of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.



CHAPTER XII.

CONVICT POPULATION.

Whatever may be the natural charms or advantages of any region, these are nothing without inhabitants; and however abundantly the means of riches, the comforts, luxuries, or necessaries of life may be scattered around, these are comparatively lost without man to enjoy and to use them. The garden of Eden itself was not perfected until beings were placed in it capable of admiring its beauties and rejoicing in its blessings. And in every country, especially in a civilised country, when we have gone through the length and breadth of the land, examining its natural features and speculating upon its capabilities and future destiny, there is still left a most interesting and important subject of consideration, nor can our knowledge of any region be reckoned complete, until we are acquainted with the present condition of its inhabitants. In the preceding pages it has been found impossible, indeed, to avoid frequently touching upon a topic, which is so closely interwoven with the whole subject; but there still remains abundance of miscellaneous information concerning the present state of the inhabitants of the Australian colonies to be detailed, without which, indeed, the task we have undertaken would be left altogether incomplete.

Though intellectual man is the principal object in God's creation upon earth, yet it is not the mere "march of intellect," but it is the advancement of truth and righteousness,—the gradual outpouring of that knowledge of God which shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas,—that can cause "the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose." The recollection, therefore, of the sort of men with whom Great Britain has partly peopled the lonely shores of Australia,—the remembrance that these men, too morally diseased to be allowed to remain among ourselves, have been cast forth to die, with little or no thought about bringing them to the Great Physician of souls to be made whole,—these reflections have before been offered, and must here be repeated again. We read with pleasure and interest of benevolent travellers, anxious to benefit the countries which they are exploring, scattering around them in favourable spots the seeds of useful plants and noble trees, in the hope that these may hereafter prove beneficial to generations yet unborn. And in like manner may the mother country be said to scatter abroad in her colonies the seeds not only of good, but of evil also. Many admirable institutions, not a few excellent individuals and christian families, have been planted in Australian lands; a branch of Christ's Church has been placed there, and has taken firm hold of the soil, and numberless other promises of future excellence may be traced by the thankful and inquiring mind. But then, on the contrary, we must not lose sight of the tares that are so abundantly springing up together with the wheat; it is impossible to deny that rank and poisonous weeds have there been scattered along with the good seed, nay, instead of it. What might have been the present state of Australia, if all, or almost all, its free inhabitants had been faithful Christians, steadfast "in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers?" How great an effect might the "salt," thus placed in those remote parts of the earth, have had in rescuing from corruption that mass of uncleanness, which has been removed thither from our own shores! Now, alas! nowhere more than in some of the Australian settlements "are the works of the flesh manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like."[189]

[189] Gal. v. 19-21.

One cause, unquestionably, of the peculiar prevalence of many of these evil works is the strange elements of which society in Australia is composed. In its lowest rank is found the unhappy criminal, whose liberty has been forfeited, and who is, for a time at least, reduced to a state of servitude in punishment of his offences. Next to this last-named class come the emancipists, as they are called, who have once been in bondage, but by working out their time, or by good conduct, have become free; these and their descendants constitute a distinct and very wealthy class in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. The third and highest class is formed of men who have settled as free persons in the colonies, and of their descendants; and between this last class and the two first a considerable distinction is kept up, from which, (it has already been noticed,) miserable dissensions, jealousies, and heartburnings, have frequently arisen. To an impartial person, beholding these petty discords from the contrary side of the globe, it is pretty plain that both classes are in fault.

It is well known that the system of assigning convicts to various masters has been practised ever since the colony at Port Jackson was first established, and thus the expense of maintaining so many thousands of people has been thrown upon the settlers, who were amply repaid by the value of their labour; by means of which, likewise, the land was brought into cultivation, and the produce of the soil increased. One great argument against the system of transportation, as a punishment, is drawn from this practice of assignment, which, it is asserted, makes the penalty "as uncertain as the diversity of temper, character, and occupation amongst human beings can render it." Certain rules and conditions were laid down for the treatment of convict servants, and if these behave themselves well, they are allowed "a ticket of leave," extending over a certain district, within which the holder of the ticket becomes, in fact, a free person; subject, however, to the loss of this privilege in case of his committing any offence. After a certain number of years, the holder of the ticket of leave is allowed to receive a "conditional pardon," which extends only to the limits of the colony, but is no longer liable to be withdrawn at the will of government. The "absolute pardon," of course, extends everywhere, and restores the party receiving it to all the rights and privileges of a British subject.[190] The custom of assigning male convicts has, however, been discontinued lately in the elder colony, although women are still assigned to the settlers by government, or at least were so until very recently. But besides the employment of the convicts by private persons, a vast number of these are constantly engaged in public works, and to the facility of obtaining labour thus afforded does New South Wales owe some of its greatest improvements, especially in roads, bridges, public buildings, and the like undertakings. It is scarcely to be supposed that employment of this kind, when the men must necessarily work in gangs, is so favourable for their moral improvement and reformation as residence in a private family and occupation in rural pursuits is generally likely to prove; though the contrary notion is supported in the recent Report of the Transportation Committee, since, in the former case, they are under stricter discipline. However, it has always been customary to make the public works a sort of punishment, and private service a reward for convicts; and those that have been returned from the latter with complaints, are usually put upon the roads for at least six months; so that, if this system really stands in the way of the improvement of offenders, it keeps those that conduct themselves well from the beginning quite clear of the bad example of less hopeful characters. It is a sad truth, however, in Australia, as it often is found to be in England, that "the most skilful mechanics are generally the worst behaved and most drunken," and, consequently, most liable to punishment in the public gangs.

[190] See Mr. Montgomery Martin's New South Wales for further particulars on this subject, pp. 168-177.

By way of introducing the reader to the kind of life led by those unhappy beings who labour in Australia at the public roads, and to give him also some idea of the spiritual work which the ministers of Christ's Church in a penal colony may be called upon to perform, the following sketch from a private letter will be not unacceptable:—"In a few minutes I am at the stockade where more than 60 men are immediately mustered; the [Roman] 'Catholics'[191] are sent back to their boxes, the 'Protestants' assemble under a shed, open on two sides, and filled with a few coarse boards for tables and forms, where the men get their meals. Their boxes are wooden buildings of uniform structure, in which the prisoners are locked up from sundown to sunrise. The roof is shingled, the sides are weather-board, the door in the middle is secured by a padlock, and above the door is a grating to admit the light and air, a similar grating being placed exactly opposite to it. The internal arrangements are simple in the extreme, where you see a gangway in the middle, and two tiers of hard planks or dressers for the men to lie upon; their bedding being, I believe, only a blanket. As there is no division to form separate bed-places, the four-and-twenty or thirty men who share these boxes lie like the pigs, and make the best of it they can. When a prisoner has served his time in irons, he is removed to a probationary gang; that which I am describing is an ironed gang. These men are dressed in a motley suit of grey and yellow alternately, each seam being of a different colour; and the irons being secured to each ancle, and, for the relief of the wearer, made fast from the legs to the waist. The whole stockade is sometimes enclosed with high palings, and sometimes open. The service of the Church is performed under the shed where the men assemble for meals. The men behave well or ill as the sergeant in charge takes an interest in it or not. Here the sergeant and a dozen young soldiers are constant at prayers. The responses are given by all that can read, our blessed societies having furnished Bibles and Prayer-books for all. Every change of position is attended with the clank of chains, which at first harrows your soul: but time does wonders, you know; you forget the irons after a while. A full service and a sermon. You hear an application or two from prisoners about their worldly matters,—chiefly from the craftiest, oldest hands; wish them good morning, and away.

[191] "Catholic," a most honoured term in ancient times, has in modern days been very unfortunate. Even now the Romanists misuse it for "Papistical," the Dissenters occasionally use it to signify "Latitudinarian," and the members of the Church of England are either afraid to use it at all, or else are perpetually harping upon it, as though it were a mere party-word.

"It is now half-past ten: there lies the hot and dusty road before you, without shelter of any kind, and the sun pours down his fiery beams; no cloud, no intermission. If a breeze blows, it may be hotter than from the mouth of a furnace. Well, courage; step out, it is five miles to the other stockade. A flock of sheep,—the dog baying, the driver blaspheming; a dray or two of hay; a few carts loaded with oranges. Up the hill, down the hill, and so on, till, a little after twelve, you arrive at the other stockade. This is a probationary gang, that is to say, it is composed of those against whom complaints have been made by their respective masters, and who are not assignable to other individuals for six months. In this gang are six-and-twenty persons, of whom two are [Roman] 'Catholics.' No motley dress, but all in dark grey; no irons. A corporal and one private for a guard, and both of them exemplary at prayers. Here I have the afternoon service. Generally about this time the wind is up; and here, in a state of perspiration, the breeze gives me a thorough chilling under the open shed; and often clouds of dust come rushing through upon us, as bad as the worst days in March along one of the great roads in England. But the service is attended in a gratifying manner, insomuch that it would shame many home congregations. The corporal here teaches the poor fellows who require it to read and write, so that even here we find instances of christian charity, without sinister or vain motives, which may well stimulate us and provoke our exertions."

From this picture of the condition of some of those convicts that are undergoing punishment, we may turn to the more pleasing view, which a gentleman of large property in Australia, Mr. Potter Macqueen, has drawn of the condition of his own assigned servants. Of course, much of the chance of the servant's improvement must depend, humanly speaking, upon the sort of master into whose hands he is thrown, and Mr. Macqueen would appear to have behaved kindly and judiciously to those entrusted to his care. Occasionally a severe example of punishment was made, and extra labour or stoppage of indulgences, as milk, tea, sugar, or tobacco, were found effectual correction for most faults, whilst additional industry was rewarded by fresh indulgences. Of some deserving men Mr. Macqueen had even brought over the wives and families at his own expense. And what, in this world, could be a greater instance of the luxury of doing good than to behold the family and partner of one who has, though a convict, conducted himself well, restored once more to their long-lost parent and husband, and settled in his new country as pledges of his future continuance in well-doing? Marriage, altogether, was encouraged on the estate of the gentleman already mentioned, as a means of recalling the convicts from bad habits, and urging them to industry and good behaviour; and this wise course has been generally rewarded by witnessing their happiness, and receiving their gratitude. During five years of residence in Australia about two hundred convicts and ticket-of-leave men passed through Mr. Macqueen's establishment, and the following account is interesting, since it serves to show what may be done, even with a convict population:—

Free, or enjoying their ticket, married and thoroughly reclaimed 14 Ditto, ditto, single men 49 Free from expiration of sentence, but worthless 7 Returned home to England after becoming free 1 Well-conducted men, as yet under sentence 62 Indifferent, not trustworthy 29 Depraved characters, irreclaimable 7 Sent to iron gangs and penal settlements 11 Escaped 1 Died 3 Given up at request of Government 2 Returned to Government hospital from ill health 4 190

To encourage reformation, and check that spirit of idleness which is the mother of mischief, alike in convicts and free people, it is strongly recommended to allow the well-disposed men to profit by their own industry. It is forbidden to pay money to prisoners, at least before they obtain their ticket, but they may be rewarded by tea, sugar, tobacco, Cape wine, extra clothing, &c. Mr. Macqueen had one Scotchman, who, under this system, actually sheared 101 sheep in the day, being allowed at the rate of 2s. 6d. per score upon all above 25, which is the quantity fixed by the government rule for a man to do in a single day. And in the same establishment, acting upon like inducements, might be seen sawyers and fencers working by moonlight; and others making tin vessels for utensils, bows for bullocks, &c., in their huts at night. From this method of management a very great degree of comfort arises, of which Mr. Macqueen gives the following instance in a convict's feast, which he once witnessed. At Christmas, 1837, one of his assigned servants, (who had a narrow escape from capital conviction at home,) requested leave to draw the amount of some extra labour from the stores, since he wished to give an entertainment to a few of his colleagues, all of whom were named and were well conducted men. The party making this application had been industrious and well-behaved, being besides very cleanly in his hut, and attentive to his garden and poultry, so the request was granted, and his master had the curiosity to observe the style of the festival. The supper consisted of good soup, a dish of fine mullet out of the adjoining river, two large fowls, a piece of bacon, roast beef, a couple of wild ducks and a plum-pudding, accompanied by cauliflower, French beans, and various productions of his garden, together with the delicious water-melon of the country; they had a reasonable quantity of Cape wine with their meal, and closed their evening with punch and smoking.[192]

[192] See a pamphlet entitled "Australia as she is and as she may be," by T. Potter Macqueen, Esq., published by Cross, Holborn, pp. 12-14.

But the picture of the peculiar class by which a penal colony is distinguished from all others will not be complete without a darker shade of colouring than those upon which we have been gazing. It is a painful feeling to contemplate the past condition of one portion of the convict population, but it is a wholesome exercise of the mind, and has already produced an improvement in that wretched state. Besides, it surely is only fitting that a great, a free, and enlightened nation should know what is the ultimate fate of a part of its outcast population; nor need Englishmen shrink from hearing the history, whilst England herself shrinks not from inflicting the reality of those horrors which have defiled the beautiful shores of Norfolk Island.[193] In 1834 Judge Burton visited this spot, the penal settlement of a penal settlement, for the purpose of trying 130 prisoners, who had very nearly succeeded in overpowering and murdering the military, after which they intended to make their escape. Eight years before this time, Norfolk Island had been first made a penal settlement; and never during all that period had its wretched inhabitants received any such reproof, consolation, or instruction as the Church gives to its members. The picture presented before the mind of the judge was an appalling one, and he can speak of Norfolk Island only in general terms, as being "a cage full of unclean birds, full of crimes against God and man, murders and blasphemies, and all uncleanness." We know well what bad men are in England. Take some of the worst of these, let them be sent to New South Wales, and then let some of the very worst of these worst men be again removed to another spot, where they may herd together, and where there are no pains taken about their moral or religious improvement, where, literally speaking, no man careth for their souls:—such was Norfolk Island. And what right had England to cast these souls, as it were, beyond the reach of salvation? Where was the vaunted christian feeling of our proud nation when she delivered these poor creatures over to the hands of Satan, in the hope that her worldly peace, and comfort, and property might be no longer disturbed by their crimes? Had she ordered her fleet to put these men ashore on some desolate island to starve and to die, the whole world would have rung with her cruelty. But now, when it is merely their souls that are left to starve, when it is only the means of eternal life that they are defrauded of, how few notice it, nay, how few have ever heard of the sin in which the whole nation is thus involved!

[193] It is right to state here that the cause of a supply of religious instruction having been so long delayed in Norfolk Island is said, by a Roman Catholic writer, to have been the impossibility of finding a clergyman to undertake the charge. See Ullathorne's Reply to Burton, pp. 39, 40. Supposing this account to be correct then, undoubtedly, the English Church must share the blame of neglecting Norfolk Island along with the government, and it is not the wish of the writer of these pages to deny the applicability of the prophet's confession to ourselves: "O God, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee." (Dan. ix. 8.) Still, even according to Dr. Ullathorne, the penal settlement was established six years before its religious instruction was thought of by the government.

One of the prisoners tried in 1834 was a man of singular ability and great presence of mind, and by him Norfolk Island was represented to be a "hell upon earth;" and so it was as far as the company of evil spirits glorying in evil deeds could make it. "Let a man's heart," he added, "be what it will, when he comes here, his man's heart is taken from him, and there is given to him the heart of a beast." Another said, "It was no mercy to send us to this place; I do not ask life, I do not want to be spared, on condition of remaining here; life is not worth having on such terms." Another unhappy being was sentenced to die, and began passionately to exclaim and entreat that he might not die without confession. "Oh, your honour," he said, "as you hope to be saved yourself, do not let me die without seeing my priest. I have been a very wicked man indeed, I have committed many other crimes for which I ought to die, but do not send me out of the world without seeing my priest!" This poor man was a Roman Catholic; he seems not to have known that he might go at once to his Heavenly Father with a heartfelt acknowledgment of his faults, and so he obtained a rude figure of the cross, and in miserable agony pronounced before that, as he embraced it, his brief exclamations for mercy. Others mentioned in moving terms the hopelessness of their lot, and another of them spoke also of what rendered the state they were in one of utter despair; and the statement which he made was perfectly true: he said, addressing the judge, "What is done, your honour, to make us better? once a week we are drawn up in the square opposite the military barrack, and the military are drawn up in front of us with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, and a young officer then comes to the fence, and reads part of the prayers, and that takes, may be, about a quarter of an hour, and that is all the religion that we see."[194]

[194] Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 260.

Urged by appeals like these, which no heart could well resist, Judge Burton reprieved the convicted prisoners, until the whole case should be laid before the government, and at least religious consolation and assistance might be obtained for those who were to suffer capital punishment. Eleven of the prisoners were afterwards executed, but not without having been visited by ministers of religion, who were sent for that express purpose from Sydney. The kind and christian judge exerted himself in behalf of the outcast population of Norfolk Island, "that modern Gomorrah," as it has been called; and, as usual, improvement in bodily comforts or morals was much more willingly undertaken by those in authority than spiritual reformation. His advice respecting the propriety of diminishing the number of prisoners confined together was speedily attended to. His efforts to procure religious reproof, instruction, and consolation were not so soon successful; they were, however, nobly continued, and at length both Protestant and Roman Catholic chaplains were appointed to the island. But this great object was not gained without giving offence. Strange that any party could take offence at efforts of this description, and stranger still that men professing a general regard for religion, and avowedly possessed of consciences exquisitely tender, and of charity unbounded, should, notwithstanding, object to the conscientious and charitable efforts in the cause of religion of which we have just been speaking! However, these impotent struggles have signally failed, and now there are clergy both of the English and Roman Church in Norfolk Island, while the moral condition of the prisoners there is stated to have improved greatly. In 1837 the Rev. Mr. Sharpe was removed thither, at his own request, from Pitt Town in New South Wales, and his labours and ministrations are said to have been useful and effectual. But even here, in this effort to save some of Christ's lost sheep, the unhappy circumstances of our penal colonies were manifested. When Mr. Sharpe was removed to Norfolk Island, a larger and more important sphere of usefulness, his little parish on the Hawkesbury, was for a time left without a pastor. And this distressing trial is frequently occurring; when illness, or death, or removal, deprives a parish of its spiritual shepherd, for a time at least his place is liable to be left vacant, and his people likely to become as sheep going astray. It appears likewise, from the Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, that an assistant-chaplain for Norfolk Island was appointed in 1841. There have been two clergymen of the Church of Rome in the island ever since 1838, an arrangement which was alleged to be necessary, in order that the chaplain himself might not be deprived of private confession and absolution.[195] There was no church in the island a few years ago, but a room in one settlement and a barn in the other were the places where divine service was regularly attended. Besides the Morning and Evening Prayers on Sunday, divine service takes place five times during the week, twice in the gaol, twice in the hospital, and once a week for those men who are exempt from work, their sentences having expired. There may, as has been stated, be much hypocrisy in Norfolk Island,[196] but surely the spirit which was offended at efforts that have wrought even these changes in a spot of extreme moral and religious desolation, may, without breach of charity, be pronounced to have been an unclean and evil spirit. Can this language be justly deemed too strong, when the facts already stated are borne in mind; when, (to sum up the whole case in a single example,) it is remembered that in one year, 1838, the colonial government of New South Wales paid 57,740l. 11s. 3d. for its police establishment and gaols, while the very utmost that was spent in providing religious instruction for all the prisoners within the limits of the colony amounted, during the same period, to less than 1000l.?[197]

[195] The reason given by the Roman Catholic, Dr. Ullathorne, is that the two priests divide the salary, and receive together no more than the one chaplain.—ULLATHORNE'S Reply to Burton, p. 76. The reader must bear in mind the different scale of expenses required by a person who must be single, and that of a person who may be, and generally is, a married man.

[196] See Committee on Transportation, 1838, pp. 137, 138.

[197] See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, pp. 287-289. The actual sum there stated is either 725l. or 855l., according as certain expenses connected with the establishment are included or not.

It is stated on good authority,—that of Sir George Arthur, who was formerly governor of Van Diemen's Land,—that not more than two convicts in every hundred quit the colony and return to England.[198] The expense and difficulty of procuring a passage home operates as a sufficient check to prevent this being frequently obtained; nor, supposing that the English people would act in a kind and christian spirit towards the most deserving men of this class, would either they or the nation be losers. If the wives and families of the most meritorious men could be brought out to them at the public cost, what reasonable cause of regret would an emancipated convict feel for his home,—the scene of his crimes and of his disgrace,—in the mother country? And with respect to the great objection,—the cost of such a system,—what would that be compared with the advantage which the rapid increase of an English population in Australia is sure to bring, by creating fresh demands for our goods and manufactures? If ours were a wise and understanding nation, if we would spend a portion of our riches in promoting the morals, the comfort, and the religious instruction of our outcast population, we might, in numberless instances, turn the very dregs of our people into means of increasing our prosperity; we might frequently render those that are now the mere refuse of the earth, happy, contented, loyal subjects; and the blessings of them that were ready to perish spiritually would be continually resounding from the far distant shores of Australia upon that Divine Mercy which would have all men to be saved, and upon that nation which would thus have offered itself to be a willing agent and instrument for the furtherance of this gracious design.

[198] "I think the longer the sentence, the better will be the conduct of the individual," because his only chance of obtaining any degree of liberty is from good conduct. See Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq., before the Committee on Transportation in 1837. No. 3350-3, p. 218. Dr. Ullathorne expresses a contrary opinion.

In the present condition of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, with so large a proportion of their population in bondage, and such slender means of moral improvement and religious instruction provided for them by the mother country, it would be unreasonable to hope that the convict population can be otherwise than very bad. There may be many exceptions; and at the end of all things here below, it may be found that some of those poor outcasts, and some of the men who have cast them forth to perish, and now despise them, may fill, respectively, the places of the Publican and Pharisee in our Lord's parable; the convict may leave the throne of judgment justified rather than his master; the poor repentant criminal may be pardoned, while the proud one,—the self-sufficiency of the nation, by which he was transported, and left without further care,—may be condemned. Still, however, the general character of the convicts is undoubtedly bad; and the various modes of deceit and dishonesty practised upon their masters, the love of gambling, of strong liquors, and of every kind of licentiousness prevailing in the penal colonies, would fill a volume of equal size and interest with that which is said to be a favourite book in New South Wales,—the Newgate Calendar. Those that are curious upon these subjects may be referred to the thick volume in blue cover, which contains an account of the labours of the Committee upon Transportation, 1837; but when the evidence therein contained is read, it must be with some grains of allowance; the avowed object of Sir W. Molesworth's motion for the committee, was enmity against the whole system of transportation; and a large majority of those that sat in the committee were, it is believed, of his opinion; at all events, they belonged to his party in politics. So that, before justice can be done to the real state of the convicts, we want to have evidence of an opposite tendency, like that of Mr. Potter Macqueen, already quoted; and before the question, whether transportation is a desirable mode of punishing, or a likely means of reforming criminals, can be fairly decided, inquiry must be made, not respecting what has been done, but respecting what might have been done, or may even yet be done, in our penal colonies.

Before the subject of the convict population is dismissed, it may be well to notice those called specials; that is, men of education, and of a somewhat higher rank in life than the generality of exiles in New South Wales. These were formerly treated with great consideration; for, after having passed a short period of probation, they were employed as clerks to auctioneers or attornies; nay, the instruction of youth was too often, in default of better teachers, committed into their hands. Nor was this all. In former times, persons of this description have been very much connected with the public press; and the enlightened people of New South Wales have sometimes, it may be feared, been blindly led by an unprincipled convict, when they imagined that they were wisely judging for themselves. The reformation of these specials is said to be more hopeless than that of other prisoners; and very commonly they are confirmed drunkards. Strange materials these from which to form instructors for youth, trustworthy agents of private property, or leaders of public opinion! However, by the progress of emigration, the influence of these men is now superseded; besides which, they have been gradually removed from the government offices, and those that now arrive are employed in hard labour.



CHAPTER XIII.

EMANCIPISTS AND FREE POPULATION.

Respecting the next class of which the population consists in our penal colonies,—that of emancipists, or persons formerly in bondage as convicts, they appear to be pretty nearly what might be expected of a body of men under such circumstances. Although there are many honourable exceptions to the general rule, yet it would seem to be a general rule that roguery and industry are usually connected among them; and that where an emancipist is less inclined to be dishonest, he is more inclined to be idle and improvident; while it often occurs that both faults are found together in one person. Of course, it would be vain to hope that all convicts, or even the majority, perhaps, should become completely reformed; but it is sickening to the heart that has any christian feeling, to find descriptions like the following, given by one amply qualified to judge, of the deplorable moral and social state of many of those unhappy men after their time of service has expired. "The newly-arrived convict" (Mr. MacArthur states) "sees examples immediately before him of men, formerly in the same condition with himself, wallowing in licentiousness, and possessed of wealth, amassed generally by dishonest means, which they continue, in many instances, still to augment, by keeping grog-shops and gambling-houses, by receiving stolen goods, and by other nefarious practices. This is the general conduct of the class of emancipated convicts who acquire property, as well as of some unprincipled adventurers in the class of free emigrants. There are, however, among the emancipated convicts of property exceptions from this prevalent depravity; rare, indeed, and on that account the more honourable."[199] And numberless, in the earlier history of New South Wales, are the evil consequences which are recorded to have arisen from the necessity which then existed of employing either convicts, or else men recently emancipated, in places of the highest trust and importance. One striking example may suffice; and it is believed that no injustice is done to the class of men now alluded to, when it is stated that the guilty parties were persons belonging to that body. Soon after the departure of Governor Hunter, in 1800, it was discovered that the clerks who were admitted to the registers of the terms of the transportation of the convicts, had altered the sentences of nearly 200 prisoners, on receiving from each a sum equal in value to ten or twelve pounds.[200] Of these examples the early history of the colony is full; but, in later years, it may be hoped, that time, and public opinion, and the tide of emigration, have combined to render the conduct of persons belonging to this class less generally objectionable than it formerly was. The greater portion of the shop-keepers, and what may be called the middling classes in Sydney, were emancipists; and their wealth and influence were so great, that, during the years 1834, 1835, and 1836, one-fourth of the jurors who served in the civil and criminal courts belonged to that body. These persons are often very little educated; and young men possessed of from 1000l. to 2000l. a-year in stock, can sometimes neither read nor write. Cock-fighting, driving, and badger-baiting, are pursuits that occupy youths of this class very frequently; and a showy, tawdry style of dress, engages the attention of the young women. Certainly, it is not of materials of this kind, that the English constitution would have juries composed; and it is not surprising that so large a proportion of jurors, who have themselves once stood at the bar of justice, should be the means of carrying undue partiality for the guilty into the jurors' box, and also of keeping out of that responsible station all those who can in any way escape its duties.[201] Respectable men will not, if they can avoid it, sit in the same box with men who go in with their minds entirely made up to acquit the guilty, whatever may be the tenor of the evidence to which they have just been listening, whatever the sacredness of the oath they have recently taken. If practical experience is of any real value, then it may safely be pronounced that men, who are scarcely fit to enjoy the privilege of sitting upon juries, are certainly at present unprepared for the introduction of a representative form of legislation and government. The civil juries of New South Wales have held the scales of justice uncommonly even, for they have managed to acquit about 50 per cent. of the persons tried; whereas in Great Britain, and even in Ireland, the acquittals are 19 per cent., and the convictions 81 per cent. A strange, but not unaccountable difference, which, so long as it may continue, will furnish a strong argument of the unfitness of the colony for a representative assembly. Men that have not the principle to put good laws into execution, are very ill qualified to make good laws, or to elect good legislators. And when, to suit party purposes, a clamour is raised about the injustice of denying fresh "constitutional rights" to our fellow-subjects in Australia, we may quietly dispose of this (hitherto absurd and mischievous) claim by referring the very parties raising it to the accounts published, under the sanction chiefly of men of their own opinions, respecting the use made of those rights with which the inhabitants of the penal colonies are already invested. When the evils of the system of transportation are to be exposed, the truth may be told respecting the state of the Australian juries;[202] but why should it not be still declared,—why should not truth always be told,—even at the hazard of checking "liberal principles," and delaying representative houses of assembly for the Australian colonies, until the time when they may know how to use them, so that these may prove a benefit instead of an evil to them?

[199] Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq., before the Committee on Transportation, in 1837, No. 3371-2, p. 220. The richest man in the colony, an emancipist, was said, in 1837, to be worth 40,000l. or 45,000l. a year. For an account of the shameless roguery, and drunken folly, by means of which so vast an income was amassed, see Report of Transp. Com. 1837, p. 14 and 104.

[200] Barrington's History of New South Wales, p. 421.

[201] For the mode in which the law admitting emancipists into the jurors' box was passed, see Lang's New South Wales, vol. i. p. 317-320. "Two absent members of the Legislative Council were known to be opposed to it. Of those present, the governor (Bourke) and five others were in favour of it, while six were against it. The governor gave a second and casting vote."

[202] See Report of Transportation Committee, 1838, p. 31. "A large proportion of the persons who have appeared and served," as jurors, "are publicans," to whose houses prosecutors, parties on bail, or witnesses, resort, for the purpose of drinking, while in attendance upon the court. Once, when a jury was locked up all night, much foul and disgusting language was used; and to gain a release from this association, the disputed point was yielded; "no greater punishment can be inflicted upon a respectable person than to be shut up with such people for a few hours, or for the night."

See Burton's Letter, Appendix to Transportation Committee's Report, 1837, p. 301-2. Dr. Lang's book on New South Wales abounds in wretched puns, but one rather favourable specimen may be given, when, in allusion to the Englishman's right of being tried by his peers, the Doctor styles the jurors above described "the Colonial Peerage!"

Respecting the last and highest class of society in our penal colonies, the free population, no great deal need be said in particular, since, except from peculiar circumstances, they are pretty much the same in character with the bulk of the population in any other country. But their peculiar circumstances must, in fairness to the class last mentioned, be briefly noticed. Undoubtedly, without any disrespect to emigrants, it may be laid down as an acknowledged fact, that hitherto this class, though it has comprised many excellent, clever, and good men, has not usually been composed of the flower of the English nation. Supposing that things are now altered for the better, time was—and that not many years ago—when "every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented," was apt to swell the tide of emigration to our British colonies in Australia. Upon arriving there they found a regular system of caste established; and since as members of the free population they were at once exalted to the highest places, this was a system which in most cases flattered the pride of the settlers. Possibly many of the faults of the emancipist class might be traced to the treatment they have received at the hands of the free, and these faults react again as causes and excuses for keeping them at still greater distance than ever. And however natural, however necessary, a distinction of ranks is and must be in every society of men, yet nothing can be more unnatural or mischievous than a system of dividing men into castes. Unhappily, this division, the fruitful source of all kinds of evil feeling, has to a great extent prevailed in our penal colonies; and nothing, it may be boldly asserted, except religion will ever root it out. Attempt to continue the exclusive privilege of caste to the free population, and you sow the seeds of a servile rebellion. Open your hands to give concessions and privileges to the emancipists, and you scatter good seed upon the stony rock, you vainly endeavour to satisfy the daughters of the horse-leech. But infuse a christian feeling into all classes, get them to meet in the same church, to kneel at the same table, to partake in the same spiritual blessings, and then you may hope that all, whether free or emancipists, will feel themselves to be members of one another, portions of the same body, held in union of heart and soul by means of the same head; "for by One Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into One Spirit."[203]

[203] 1 Cor. xii. 13.

After all that has been stated respecting the three great classes into which society in Australia is divided, it need scarcely be added that the taste displayed by many of the inhabitants of the metropolis of New South Wales is none of the purest or best. Gay equipages, dashing horses, tandems, and racers, are among the favourite exhibitions of the wealth of the emancipist. For music or paintings but little taste prevails in Sydney, and for books, except those of a very low and worthless character, there is no great demand. A fine house, a fine carriage, fine horses, plenty of spirits to drink, appear to be thought the chief goods of human life; and among persons in every class, the acquisition of money is the one great object. Indeed this last passion, the love of gain, can scarcely be mentioned among the perverted habits by which the Australian colonies are infested, since it seems scarcely possible that the worship of Mammon can be practised more openly or carried much further than it is in the mother country. Yet the temptations to prefer gain to every thing else are unusually strong in these settlements. Professions have been abandoned because they are laborious and unprofitable, while clergymen, medical gentlemen, soldiers, government officers, in short, all classes of men, have made haste to get rich by holding land and stock. An estate, which originally cost little or nothing, grows yearly in value, without a penny being spent upon it; stock speedily increases at very small cost, for there is abundance of pasture for it; and when the settler finds these means of gaining wealth opened to him, he is too apt to devote all his thoughts and energies to this one object. "I have known," says Captain Grey, "an honourable member of council, and leading magistrate in a colony, take out a retail licence, and add to his already vast wealth from the profits of a gin-shop."[204]

[204] Grey's Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. pp. 192-3.

The evil spirit of covetousness assumes to itself various shapes and appearances according to varying circumstances; and among the characters which it calls into life in Australia, that of a land shark is one of the most remarkable and hateful. When an emigrant arrives at Sydney, he is able, perhaps after considerable delay, to give notice to Government of his wish to purchase some desirable spot of land, which is then selected to be put up to auction; and when it has been duly surveyed, the sale at last takes place. But to the poor emigrant's astonishment and disappointment the land, which he has chosen so as not to interfere with other property, which is unoccupied, and entirely useless both in a public and private sense,—is bid for, and finally knocked down to another at an unreasonable price.[205] This other person is a "land shark," who has gained, perchance, a fortune by regularly attending sales and buying up land that is known to be desired by another. The "shark," true to his name, wishes either to get his opposition bought off by a bribe, or else hopes to sell his bargain at a profit from the unwillingness of his victim to lose any more time or money in gaining a settlement, with the risk of meeting, after all, with a second disappointment. In case of the "shark's" scheme proving unsuccessful, there is only the small trifle required as earnest of the purchase to be paid; of course he never completes the engagement, and in due time, in a year possibly, the land is declared forfeited to the crown again. Such is the occupation of a "land shark," and it would be well if these and similar pests of society were confined, like their namesakes of the ocean, to the more sultry latitudes, but unfortunately they are not altogether without their antitypes and imitators in Great Britain.

[205] The system of starting from a certain fixed sum per acre, named "the upset price," and selling land at whatever it will fetch beyond this, is established in most of the Australian colonies. The fund thus produced is spent in encouraging emigration and providing labourers.

There is another character, which, if not peculiar to Australia, is called into being only in those colonies where a large extent of land in its natural state remains unappropriated to any individuals. The squatters, as they are called, are men who occupy with their cattle, or their habitations, those spots on the confines of a colony or estate, which have not as yet become any person's private property. By the natural increase of their flocks and herds, many of these squatters have enriched themselves; and having been allowed to enjoy the advantages of as much pasture as they wanted in the bush, without paying any rent for it to the government, they have removed elsewhere when the spot was sold, and have not unfrequently gained enough to purchase that or some other property. Thus the loneliness, the privations, and the perils of a pastoral life in the bush, have often gained at length their recompense, and the squatter has been converted into a respectable settler. But this is too bright a picture to form an average specimen of the class which we are describing. Unfortunately, many of these squatters have been persons originally of depraved and lawless habits, and they have made their residence at the very outskirts of civilization a means of carrying on all manner of mischief. Or sometimes they choose spots of waste land near a high road, where the drays halt to get water for the night, and there the squatters knock up what is called "a hut." In such places stolen goods are easily disposed of, spirits and tobacco are procured in return for these at "the sly grog shops," as they are called; and in short they combine the evils of a gypsy encampment and a lonely beer-shop in England, only from the scattered population, the absence of influential inhabitants, and the deplorably bad characters of the men keeping them, these spirit shops are worse places than would be tolerated in this country. It is stated that almost all the men by whom these resorts of iniquity are kept, are either ticket-of-leave men or emancipists. It is no easy thing to suppress these people, for the squatters, like the black natives, can find a home wherever they betake themselves. And it must be owned, that considerable good has resulted in many instances from these forerunners of civilization having penetrated into a district, and learned some of its peculiarities and capabilities before a settlement in it has been regularly formed. Indeed, it would have been unjust to have been severe with the poor squatter, and his two or three sheep and cattle, when it had long been the practice of the most wealthy landowners in the colony, to send their stock-man with their hundreds of heads of cattle into the bush, to find support exactly in the same way, and without paying anything to government. The rich proprietors have a great aversion to the class of squatters, and not unreasonably, yet they are thus, many of them, squatters themselves, only on a much larger scale; nor are they more inclined, in many instances, to pay rent for their privileges than their more humble brethren. It would appear to be the fairest and best way of dealing with these various descriptions of squatters, to endeavour to cut up, root and branch, the "sly grog shops," and road-side gentry, while the owner of one sheep, or he that possesses 10,000, should be equally compelled to pay a trifle to government, in proportion to the number of his stock grazing in the bush, and should likewise have his location registered. Some regulations of this kind are, it is believed, proposed, if they have not by this time been brought into operation; and thus we may hope, that whatever benefits the system of squatting may have produced, either as an outlet for restless spirits, or as a means of extending colonization, may still be retained, while the numerous evils that have sprung up along with it may be checked or got rid of. Respecting one thing connected with this subject,—the religious knowledge and spiritual condition of these inhabitants of the wilderness and their children, the christian inquirer cannot but feel anxious. The result of christian anxiety upon this matter cannot be better stated than in the words of one deeply interested about it, and well qualified to weigh the subject with all its bearings. After expressing his thanks to that Divine Providence, which had enabled him, quite alone, to travel through many miles of country almost without cultivation or visible dwellings, the Bishop of Australia finishes his account of his visitation westward, in the year 1841, with the following reflections:—"It would be impossible for any one, without personal observation, to comprehend from mere description what a field for future labour is now opening in these as yet uncultivated, unpeopled tracts which I am continually traversing. But the time is not far distant when many portions of them will be thronged with multitudes; and in what manner those multitudes are to be provided with means of instruction sufficient to retain them in the christian faith, I am not able to foresee; as yet, no such provision is made or promised. But when, in passing through these scenes, reflections such as these have crowded upon me, and I am unable to return a satisfactory answer to the question, 'How shall this be accomplished?' I can find no better resource than to silence myself with 'Deus providebit;'[206] my trust shall be in the tender mercy of God for ever and ever."

[206] Jehovah Jireh, that is, "the Lord will see or provide." See translation in margin of Gen. xxii. 14.

Among the beings which, although not natives of the bush, appear to be peculiar to the wilds of Australia, the class of men called Overlanders must not be omitted. Their occupation is to convey stock from market to market, and from one colony to another. They require, of course, a certain capital to commence business with, and the courage and skill that are needful in these enterprises must be very great, so that many of the overlanders are said to be really men of a superior class. The love of a roving life, the excitement of overcoming dangers both from natural causes and from the fierce attacks of the natives, and the romantic and novel situations in which they are frequently placed, all combine to render some men exceedingly fond of this occupation, which has also another strong recommendation, that it is often very profitable. The magnitude of the adventures thus undertaken would scarcely be credited, and often a whole fortune is risked in the shape of cattle driven across the wilderness. One very important route pursued by the overlanders recently has been in the same direction with Captain Sturt's daring voyage, namely, from New South Wales to South Australia by the course of the Murray. An instance is mentioned by Captain Grey of an overlander who arrived at Adelaide in March 1840 from Illawarra, and his stock at the end of his journey is reckoned up, and found at a moderate computation to be worth no less than 13,845l.[207] And during fifteen months, including the whole of 1839 and part of 1840, there were brought by the overlanders from New South Wales into South Australia 11,200 head of horned cattle, 230 horses, and 60,000 sheep, the value of the whole of which amounted to about 230,800l. Importations of stock immediately add a value to land, for what is the use of pasture without animals to feed upon it? And indeed so large an introduction of those primitive riches, flocks and herds, is almost sure to give a spur to industry, and to assist the increasing prosperity of a rising colony. Under the influence of this cause it is related that land in Western Australia, which was bought for 23l. an acre in December, 1839, was sold for 60l. an acre in February, 1840. And in other colonies where overland communication takes place, instead of the cattle being brought by sea, as in Western Australia, the effect is yet more astonishing. There is much that is noble to admire in the character of the overlanders, and their efforts have been productive of great advantage to our recent colonies; indeed, it is perhaps in a great measure to their exertions that the very rapid progress of Port Phillip and South Australia may be ascribed. But there appears to be a certain wildness about their character, which, while it fits them admirably for the pursuit which they have chosen, renders them restless and uneasy in more quiet and domestic spheres. The love of gain, too, is rather more of a ruling passion with them than it ought to be, but that is a fault by no means peculiar to the overlanders. Yet it affords a curious comparison and a fresh proof of our nature being a fallen one, when we come quietly to contrast the pains taken, the toils endured, and the risks encountered, in order to supply a colony with "the meat that perisheth," against the indifference, feebleness, and apathy, which are exhibited about the spiritual necessities of its inhabitants. Erect the standard of worldly profit, and thousands will flock to it, unscared by danger, unwearied by labour. But, meanwhile, how slow is the banner of the Church in being unfurled, how few rally around it, when it is displayed; in short, how much wiser in their generation are the children of this world than the children of light!