Many years elapsed, ere the re-action of his system attracted the attention of parliament; until then, it was approved or tolerated by the crown. The pressure of a strong and united party, what ministers have the courage to withstand? They were willing that the Governor should bear the odium of measures, long subject to their cognizance, which they had passed by unreproved, and sometimes even applauded. Macquarie thought he had gained a triumph, when he raised emancipists to social distinction, and detained a mass of transgressors within the rules of obedience; and, for a time, so thought the ministers. They desired to establish a city, out of the materials of the gaol; but when they saw the success of their plans—half civic, half felonious—they were terrified at their own creation, and wished the city had remained a prison. In this feeling, Macquarie did not participate: he delighted in the result of his policy; and wondered at the inexorable cruelty of those who grudged an asylum to their unfortunate countrymen—who attempted to dash from their lips the liberty and hope they began to taste.

Whether it were possible, without a free community, to retain ten thousand persons in perpetual vassalage, or to uphold a system of simple coercion and social exclusion, in a colony so remote, remains a question; but it is none, that the name of Macquarie will become more illustrious, as the traditions of faction subside, and classes are blended in the unity of a people. It will be said that he found a garrison and a gaol, and left the deep and broad foundations of an empire!

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 97: The instructions to Macquarie (1809) were—grants at 6d. quit rent. Thirty acres to an expiree, twenty for a wife, and ten each child.]

[Footnote 98: Collins's New South Wales.]

[Footnote 99: The Life of George Barrington, written by himself, a respectable volume in size and typography, was published in 1810: nearly every paragraph is copied from Collins, the style being first debased; and the colored sketches are a mere piracy from other volumes. It was thought fair, by the ingenious booksellers to use the name of a popular pickpocket, rather than one so little known as a Lieutenant-Governor. Of posthumous agency in thus picking the pockets of the prigging race, George Barrington's memory must be acquitted.]

[Footnote 100: Life of Barrington.]

[Footnote 101: Tench.]

[Footnote 102: Heath: Par. Pap.]

[Footnote 103: Terry kept blank deeds ready at his public-house.—Bigge's Report.]

[Footnote 104: "Eighteen years ago (1802), the period when I arrived in this colony, it was lamentable to behold the excess to which drunkenness was carried. It was no uncommon occurrence for men to sit round a bucket of spirits, and drink it with quart pots, until they were unable to stir from the spot."—Dr. Redfern's replies to Macquarie; published by Parliament.

This reference to the past was intended to contrast favorably with the present (1820), but drunkenness was not greatly diminished: the bucket and pannikin still were in request at more remote parts of the colonies, and their use was recommended as a "measure of police," to prevent the drunkards from robbing each other. Poured into a bucket, none could be unfairly abstracted—all shared alike; but had it not been so arranged, some rogue of the party would have removed some bottles, when the rest were off their guard; and thus reserved for himself the pleasures of intoxication, when the others were obliged, for lack of spirits, to be sober!]

[Footnote 105: Bigge, however, states, that Marsden himself was a trafficker in spirits, and felt naturally opposed to the profuse competition he encountered; yet the reader will recollect that this was the common article of barter—its use universal, in even the most correct society; and that it was rather to the disorderly habits of the houses which vended it, than to its consumption, that the most rigid moralists of the day would object.]

[Footnote 106: Letter to Lord Sidmouth.]

[Footnote 107: Surgeon-superintendent Reid's Voyages to New South Wales.]

[Footnote 108: Cunningham.

The following is a picture of things as they were:—"The madames on board, occupy the few days which elapse before landing in preparing the most dazzling effect, on their descent upon the Australian shore." "With rich silk dresses, bonnets a la mode, ear pendants, brooches long, gorgeous shawls and splendid veils, silk stockings, kid gloves, and parasols in hand, dispensing sweet odours from their profusely perfumed forms—they are assigned as servants. The settler expected a servant, but receives a princess."—Mudie's Felonry.

This is doubtless the language of caricature; but the extravagant pretensions of many, could be scarcely exaggerated.]

[Footnote 109: Bigge.]

[Footnote 110: Bigge.]

[Footnote 111: Bennet, p. 77.]

[Footnote 112: Phillip's Voyages, 1789.]

[Footnote 113: Macquarie's commission.]

[Footnote 114: Abstract of the Emigrant and Emancipist Population in the year 1820, with a schedule of Property belonging to them: compiled from the statements of the Emancipists.

-+ 1820. Emancipists. Emigrants + - POPULATION Adults 7,556 1158 Children 5,859 878 - 13,415 2,436 2,436 ============= + Excess of Emancipists 10,979 ================ PROPERTY Acres in cultivation 29,023 10,737 Ditto in pasture 212,335 198,369 Houses in towns 1,200 300 Cattle 42,988 28,582 Sheep 174,179 8,739 Horses 2,415 1,553 Swine 18,563 6,804 Vessels 15 8 Capital in trade L150,000 L100,000 ================ ============= Total estimated Property L1,123,600 L526,136 526,136 ============= + + Excess in favor of Emancipists: L597,464 rather more than as 2 to 1] ================ + -

[Footnote 115: "Now, in matters of opinion, man is like a pig: if you force him on he retrogrades. If you are really serious in attaining a point, make him believe the reverse is your object in view. Governor Macquarie, finding a number of demurrers to his opinion, instead of coaxing them into his views, looked upon them as his personal enemies, and often treated them as such."—Cunningham, vol. ii. p. 112.]

[Footnote 116: Bigge's Report.]

[Footnote 117: Ibid.]

[Footnote 118: Mr. Hall, a free immigrant editor, addressed a meeting of emancipists (1822), and regretted he was not one of their number!—his sincere regret that he was not an emancipist! This, it must be recollected, was after dinner.]

[Footnote 119: Wentworth, 2nd edit.]

[Footnote 120: Bigge's Report.]

[Footnote 121: When addressing the Secretary of State, Macquarie observes—"In my opinion (speaking of the voluntary settlers), they should consider they are coming to a convict country, and if they are too proud or too delicate in their feelings to associate with the population of this country, they should consider in time, and bend their course to some other country, in which prejudices in this respect would meet with no opposition. No country in the world has been so advantageous to adventurers as New South Wales: the free settlers, coming out as such, have never felt their dignity hurt by trading with convicts, even when they were such." Again—"It has been my invariable opinion, that a freeman, by pardon or emancipation, should be in all respects considered on a footing with every other man in the colony, according to his rank in life and character; in short, that no retrospect should, in any case, be had to his ever having been otherwise."—Letter to Earl Bathurst, 1813.]

[Footnote 122: Reid's Voyage.]

[Footnote 123: This was afterwards prevented.]

[Footnote 124: Macarthur's Present State.]

[Footnote 125: "Men are governed by words: under the infamous term convict, are comprehended offenders of the most different degrees and species of guilt. One man is transported for stealing three hams and a pot of sausages; in the next berth to him, is a young surgeon engaged in mutiny at the Nore; another, was so ill read in history, as to imagine that Ireland was ill-treated, and too bad a reasoner to suppose that nine catholics ought not to pay tithes to one protestant. Then comes a man who set his house on fire; another, the most glaring of all human villains, a poacher; driven from Europe, wife and child, by thirty lords of the manor, for killing a partridge. Now, all these are crimes, no doubt; but surely to which attach different degrees of contempt and horror. A warrant granted by a reformed bacon stealer would be absurd; but a hot brained young blockhead, who chose to favor the mutiny at the Nore, may, when he is forty years of age, and has cast his jacobin teeth, make a useful magistrate and loyal subject.

The most inflexible were some of the regiments stationed at Botany Bay—men, of course, who had uniformly shunned the society of gamesters, prostitutes, and drunkards; who had ruined no tailors, corrupted no wives, and had entitled themselves, by a long course of solemnity and decorum, to indulge in all the insolence of purity and virtue."—Rev. S. Smith, 1823.]

[Footnote 126: Doe, on demise of Jenkins, v. Pearce and wife.]

[Footnote 127: 1814: 54 Geo. iii, took away the corruption of blood, from children born after conviction, except in case of treason and murder.—Sydney Gazette, 1818.]

[Footnote 128: Bigge's Report.]

[Footnote 129: Collins's New South Wales.]

[Footnote 130: Acts.]

[Footnote 131: 4 Geo. iv.]

[Footnote 132: Mr. Wentworth states the trials in the criminal court in 1806, as 117, in 1817, at 92; but then he asserts, that offences had increased, subject to summary jurisdiction, from 300 to 1,000, while the population (20,000) had only doubled. He was not, however, ignorant, that many of those offences were not such in law or morals, but merely violations of local regulations (Wentworth, 2nd edit.). The colonial convictions were, with few exceptions, of persons who had been transported before: of 116 persons for trial at Hobart (1821), 79 were then under sentence, and 37 expirees—the entire number.—Bigge.]

[Footnote 133: "With regard to character and respectability allow me to observe briefly, that while some are in general well-conducted persons, little that is praiseworthy can be advanced: there is not much religion among the best, and the far greater part have not the appearance of it."—Rev. Mr. Cowper, 1820.]

[Footnote 134: Edinburgh Review, 1803.]

[Footnote 135: "His sentences are not only more severe than those of other magistrates, but the general opinion of the colony is, that his character, as displayed in the administration of the penal law in New South Wales, is stamped with severity."—Bigge's Report.

Such was the idea of the people on the spot; but Mr. Wilberforce observed, in the House of Commons, he was—"a man who acquired the admiration of all who knew his merits; a man who shone as a bright example to the moral world—who deserved the title of a moral hero: who had overcome difficulties for the amelioration of his species, in the most unfavorable circumstances; which would always endear his name to the friends of humanity."—Wentworth, 3rd edit.]

[Footnote 136: "For my part, my only wonder is, that Mr. Redfern did not apply some degrading chastisement to the nose or breech of this cowardly Commissioner."—Wentworth, 3rd edit.]

[Footnote 137: Henderson, 1832.]



SECTION IX.

The duty of the Commissioner being discharged, it devolved on the home government to gather, from the mass of facts he accumulated, those which discovered abuses remediable, and to select for adoption the recommendations of their chosen councillor. The changes he advised amounted to a total revolution in the system, subject to his censorship; but so obstinate are evils, fostered by local interest and lengthened indulgence, that years elapsed before the effects of his influence were powerfully realised. He, however, secured for the exclusionists the recognition of their favorite principle, and not only were emancipists pronounced ineligible for the future, but those already in the commission found it expedient to resign. Mr. Redfern was dismissed.

This determination of the imperial authorities, by whatever reasons supported, was a deviation from a practice which covered the entire period of Macquarie's government; therefore sanctioned, expressly, or by the silence of the crown. The degradation of those on the bench, could not have been politically important, and was one of those acts of power, which rather gratify the vengeance of caste, than vindicate the purity of government. The mortification of the emancipists, at this triumph, was intense: they justly felt, that the ministers, and not they, were responsible for measures which had recognised their eligibility to the usual honors of colonial opulence; and that, even were it expedient to abandon the former system, a less violent process might have been discovered.

It may not be amiss to describe the career of an emancipist, of whose elevation Mr. Bigge remarks, "that it had been most strongly urged against Macquarie by his enemies, and most questioned by his friends." This case (1810) formed the precedent for appointments from persons of his class, and, as selected by Mr. Bigge, may be considered a specimen of the most objectionable. The facts of the Commissioner are all here embodied; his detracting tone is abated.

Andrew Thomson was a native of Scotland: his relations of that class of traders, in their own country called merchants; who carry their goods from town to town. He was sixteen years of age on his arrival in the colony, and therefore, a boy of fourteen or fifteen when he forfeited his liberty. When free, he engaged in business as a retail shopkeeper, and traded to Sydney in boats built by himself: the defects of his education he partly cured by application, and acquired such knowledge as ordinary retail shopkeepers possess. He established a salt manufactory, a ship-building establishment, and it was rumoured, an illicit distillery. He was chief constable: kept a public-house—such was the common practice of traders. He acquired great influence among the settlers, by his forbearance and liberal credits; his business extended, and he became a considerable landholder. He supported the legal authority during the rebellion, and suffered for his loyalty; a just ground for the esteem of that Governor, who came to restore the authority of his sovereign. When an inundation of the Hawkesbury exposed the settlers to great suffering, he undertook their relief; supplied them with goods, and was happily a gainer by the risk which his humanity induced him to incur: so great was the importance of prompt exertions, he was permitted to employ both the men and boats, which were under his control as superintendent of convicts.

In his neighbourhood, there were but two persons suitable to the office of magistrate, and having filled that of chief constable with great approbation, the Governor, Macquarie, considering his youth at the time of his offence—the merit of his loyalty when few were loyal—his industry and opulence, and his reputation for humanity—did not think his former condition a bar to a commission of the peace. It is said that Lieut. Bell, who conducted the party by whom the government-house was surprised, and a Governor made prisoner, objected to his appointment; but his opposition was confined to murmurs, or if represented at home met with no sympathy from the ministers.

Mr. Thomson was admitted to the company of the Governor, and the parties of the military, who yet, it is said, were not pleased with the abrupt suppression of the absolute ban. He died within the year of his elevation to the bench. Governor Macquarie commanded an epitaph to be placed on his tomb, stating that "it was in consequence of his character and conduct, that he appointed him to the magistracy; and that, by the same act, he restored him to the rank in society he had lost." His death was regretted by his neighbours, who in a public address to his Excellency described him "as their common friend and patron." It must be added, he had participated in some of those immoralities, which, in the time of the Prince Regent, dishonored the residence of kings; and he escaped that just reproach which could not be expected where the selection of mistresses was the prerogative of military command. Such is a fair statement of Andrew Thomson's character, as given by Bigge, without his reflections.

The disclosures of the Commissioner terminated the indulgences given to expirees, with such "unsatisfactory results." The small portion of land granted them, without great industry, was incapable of supplying their wants, and they were the pests of their neighbours; or, when they settled on allotments in town, they obtained materials from the royal stores by the assistance of their fellows.[138] Land was still granted, but not as the indispensable consequence of transportation.

The plan of recompense to officers in kind, he also condemned: rations of food and rum, double and triple; and the assignment of men to earn wages, as the salaries of their masters, were gradually substituted by payments in money. The small sums formerly allowed, were rather the wages of servants who live on their fees: by a casuistry, never long wanting to those who earnestly seek it, even men beyond the rank of overseers, persuaded themselves that the recognised stipends were never intended to be reckoned as payment.[139] The tender of these supplies was a source of profit to the officers; like the butlers of noblemen, persons of the highest trust were not insensible to presents; and merchandise was accepted only when the "regulars" were duly paid. The waste of public property, occasioned by the system, was great. The loss and sacrifice of clothing and tools; the spoiling of food, and the wilful destruction of implements, proved how large may be the outlay of the crown, without much advantage to a colony. Years were required to reduce these evils; some of which are yet not unknown.

These were, however, small changes, compared with the total revolution in the spirit and details of convict management, suggested by the Commissioner. All those signs of advancement which he saw in the material state of the colonies, in connection with the objects of transportation, were anomalies in his eyes. He observed, that the prisoners were always anxious to reside in the towns, where they obtained, by casual labor, the price and opportunities of dissipation. By a peremptory exercise of his authority, Mr. Bigge stopped some of the public works, and promoted the dispersion of those multitudes who were employed in the improvement of the capital.

The Commissioner, strongly impressed with the mischief incident to the congregation of prisoners in the presence of a free community, proposed several remedies. Among the most important was the establishment of settlements, purely penal, at Port Curtis, Moreton Bay, and Port Bowen. These places were explored by Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general of the colonies. Moreton Bay is situated 480 miles from Port Jackson: this region, watered by the Brisbane, unequalled for climate and soil in any part of the globe of the same latitude; adorned with trees of magnificent growth,[140] had nothing in its natural features to repel. Though the days are warm in summer (80 deg. to 100 deg.), the nights are cool, and for several months fires are agreeable. Bananas, plantains, and pines—cotton, tobacco, maize, the sugar cane, and all the ordinary productions of a tropical climate, are cultivated with success. The atmosphere is soft and salubrious: of 1,200 persons, afterwards stationed there, sometimes not more than ten were sick at once; and during seven years, one soldier only died.[141]

Such was the site chosen by Mr. Bigge; but he endeavoured to render it suitable, by suggesting a code of regulations, in which may be discovered the outline of several schemes, since claiming originality. It was intended for those convicted of serious crimes, or such as committed offences in the colonies. The prisoners, two together, were to build their own huts; their sole implement the hatchet, and their material wood and nails: their only furniture, stools and bedding. Their labor graduated; from removing heavy weights, and sawing the hardest timber, to the easy occupation of the gardener, according to their behaviour or their crimes. They were to raise their own provisions, and the produce of their tillage for the crown, was to be sold in the colonies, and carried to the public account; except a sixteenth part, the moiety of which was to be paid to the commandant, and the rest proportionately to the overseers. No vessel, unauthorised, was to touch at the port: every precaution was projected to prevent escape, and the natives were expected to bring back, for rewards, such as might venture to stray. Every crime, short of murder, was to be punished on the spot. No spirits were to be sold; no money circulated; no private speculations in produce permitted. The wives of prisoners, when suffered to join them, were to sacrifice all but the necessaries of life. From the chief settlement others were to branch off; fifteen miles distant from each other. A church, a school, a library, were to promote the reformation of the prisoners—an object to be considered paramount to every other. Such were the plans for a City of Penitence, projected by Bigge; and by which he expected, in several directions, to dispose of 4,000 prisoners.

It was his hope, that their labor would discharge the chief cost of their control, and end the mockery, and the inequalities of punishment.

Before the arrival of the Commissioner, penal establishments existed, and prisoners were sequestered for violations of local regulations; or on extensive farms, where grain was grown for the royal stores. At Newcastle, on the Hunter River, were coal mines (1818), where those under colonial sentences, or those guilty of experience in mining, were subjected to a more rigorous servitude. By an onward progress of the settlers, this station was less adapted for its purpose, and (1821) a second was provided at Port Macquarie, 175 miles north of Port Jackson. The increase of population soon rendered a further movement requisite: it was not, however, until 1824, that Surveyor-general Oxley completed his report of Moreton Bay: pioneers were forwarded, and at length 1,000 prisoners were employed in that remote region. The plan thus narrowed, only partially succeeded, and the numbers at last dwindled to 300 men: the Commissioner's idea, therefore, was never fairly tested. An organisation of several thousands in a city of penitence; under a discipline, which, while excluding the worst temptations of regular society, might preserve many of its elementary forms; managed by permanent officers, in number and gradation, sufficient to form and preserve the tone of a profession—is unfortunately still a speculation: nor is it yet safe to assume, that the failure of stations, exhibiting several features of the Commissioner's scheme, but excluding others not less important, is a conclusive argument against the original design.[142]

In this colony, a penal station was projected during the residence of Bigge. While he approved the object, he did not cordially concur in the selected locality: he remarked several of those obstacles to access, which were not compensated by the difficulties of escape. The punishment of colonial offences, when persons were already in bonds, was attended with some difficulty; the law not authorising additions to a sentence, except by a court of criminal jurisdiction, regulated by the forms, and bounded by the limitations of English statutes. To punish a misdemeanour, and sometimes even capital offences, the culprit was brought before a justice of the peace, and sent to a penal settlement for the remainder of his sentence. Thus a widely different penalty attended the different parties to the same crime: one would scarcely touch the place of his second exile, before the termination of his British sentence restored him to full freedom; another, perhaps a prisoner for life, would linger out his wretched existence in the place of his seclusion, forgotten.[143]

The name of Macquarie Harbour is associated exclusively with remembrance of inexpressible depravity, degradation, and woe. Sacred to the genius of torture, nature concurred with the objects of its separation from the rest of the world; to exhibit some notion of a perfect misery. There, man lost the aspect, and the heart of man!

Macquarie Harbour was explored by Captain Kelly, at the expense of a merchant whose name is borne by Birch's River, and that of his wife by Sarah Island. It is an inlet of the sea, on the western coast: by water, about 200 miles from Hobart Town. It penetrates the country twenty miles to its junction with Gordon River, where, diverging to the right, Sarah Island becomes visible—once the principal station, now deserted and desolate. This region is lashed with tempests; the sky is cloudy, and the rain falls more frequently than elsewhere. In its chill and humid climate animal life is preserved with difficulty: half the goats died in one season, and sheep perish: vegetation, except in its coarsest or most massive forms, is stunted and precarious. The torrents, which pour down the mountains, mingle with decayed vegetable matter, and impregnated with its acids discolour the waters of the harbour; and the fish that approach the coast, often rise on the waves, and float poisoned to the shores.[144]

The passage to this dreary dwelling place was tedious, and often dangerous. The prisoners, confined in a narrow space, were tossed for weeks on an agitated sea. As they approached, they beheld a narrow opening choked with a bar of sand, and crossed with peril.[145] This they called "Hell's gates,"—not less appropriate to the place, than to the character and torment of the inhabitants: beyond, they saw impenetrable forests, skirted with an impervious thicket; and beyond still, enormous mountains covered with snow, which rose to the clouds like walls of adamant: every object wore the air of rigour, ferocity, and sadness.

The moment the prisoner landed, if the hours of labor had not expired, he joined his gang. The chief employment was felling the forest, and dragging timber to the shore: these gigantic trees, formed into rafts, were floated to the depot. In this service, life was sometimes lost; and the miserable workmen, diseased and weakened by hunger, while performing their tasks, often passed hours in the water. They were long denied vegetables and fresh food: they were exposed to those maladies which result from poverty of blood, and many remained victims long after their release. On a breakfast of flour and water, they started from their island prison to the main land, and pursued their toil, without food, till the hour of return: they then received their chief meal, and went to rest. Those who were separated to punishment still more severe, lodged on a rock: the surf dashed with perpetual violence on its base, and the men were compelled to pass through, wet to the waist, and even to the neck. They were destitute of bedding, sometimes in chains; their fires were extinguished, and they laid down in their clothes, in a cold and miserable resting place.[146]

They were subject to a single will; moved often by perjury, and sometimes by passion. One man, Alexander Anderson, a convict overseer,[147] delighted in human suffering—this was his qualification for office; yet seventeen persons have been flogged in one day, at his single report. The instrument of torture was special; double twisted and knotted cords: 100 lashes were given, and repeated at short intervals. Even to repine was criminal: an expression of anger from the sufferer, was a punishable offence: a second infliction has been known to follow, by a sentence on the spot.[148]

The alleviations of religious instruction were unknown. The commandant was found, by the earliest clerical visitor, living in profligacy, and he returned at once, despairing.[149] Women were, at first, sent there, and four were dispatched to gather shells, under the charge of one man, in whose hut they lodged. The forms of devotion depended on the surgeon, and were detested by the prisoners. They were, mostly, desperate men, and required a strong restraint; some were there, however, for offences of no deep die, who, while the least spark of humanity remained, felt the association more horrible than the place. To escape this dread abode, they gambled for life; and, with the deliberation of actors, divided the parts of a meditated murder, and sinister testimony. They loathed existence, and were willing to shorten its duration, if the excitement of a voyage and a trial might precede the execution. It was their proverb, that all who entered there, gave up for ever the hope of Heaven.[150] Death lost its terrors, and when some unhappy victims were brought down to terrify the rest, they saw them die as many see friends depart on a desirable but distant journey.[151] Some were detained for years by a succession of punishments; perhaps, for the possession of a fish-hook, of a potato, or an inch of tobacco. Some were flogged; until this species of punishment lost, not only its terror, but its power: the remnant of the understanding settled down into one single faculty—the ability to endure. It will be our painful task to turn to the results of this experiment, since elsewhere repeated, of what nations can inflict, and man can suffer: excusable, had the Rhadamanthus of those regions been always just, and those subject to his lash always the worst of criminals.[152]

The improvement of the assigned service, by raising the qualifications of the masters, and increasing the dependance of the men, was another great project of the Commissioner. There were, indeed, no employers, except those who had been convicts, or officers of government; and the first and larger class, possessed neither capital nor discretion. They were rather patrons than masters. There were but two changes practicable: the vast establishments projected at Moreton Bay, and introduction of a class of settlers, who might exercise the authority requisite to restrain the vagrant indolence of the men; and whose capital might give them constant employment and proper sustenance. Several military settlers, such as Macarthur, had large establishments, chiefly for cattle and sheep; and their management exemplified the superior facilities of control, where the men were both dispersed and guarded—divided in their occupations, but subject to a vigilant supervision.

It was the opinion of the Commissioner that none, having small estates and trivial resources, should be placed in the responsible position of masters; but that the inducements offered in former times should be renewed and extended. He calculated, that the employers of convict laborers, for each, relieved the treasury of England to the extent of L24 10s. per annum. Thus every consideration commended the system of assignment beyond any other. To attract the attention of settlers, he advised that the emigrant should be entitled to a grant, to purchase an addition at a low price, and to receive a bonus in land, for the stock he might rear, or according to the industry and skill he might otherwise exhibit.

It has been stated, that the ministers who founded these colonies, intended that free emigration should accompany transportation with equal steps. The despatches of Governor Phillip, addressed to the secretary of state[153] in 1790, proved that he felt the want, and perceived the value, of such auxiliaries; but the early determination to raise expirees to the condition of landholders, seems to imply the form the settlement at Port Jackson was expected to assume. It is obvious that the immediate design of the Governor, was to provide such free settlers, as might act in different official capacities, at little or no expense.[154] The reply to these communications was favorable, and the prospect of emigration cheering; but the result was insignificant. It is stated by Collins, that several families, members of the Society of Friends, proposed to accept the offers of government, but were deterred by the reputation of the colony, and the disorders which prevailed.[155]

The Bellona at length arrived, with free settlers and their families, including a millwright and blacksmith; one of whom had been already in the colony, under other auspices! An authority to the Governor was now conveyed, to establish such persons as were eligible on terms highly advantageous. They chose a fertile spot, and to mark their civil condition, called their locations "Liberty Plains" (February, 1793). The British government provided their passage, an assortment of tools and implements, provisions for two years; their lands free of expense; and the service of convicts, with two years' rations and one year's clothing. It is difficult to imagine a more alluring offer; yet, except a Dorsetshire farmer, the rest were not bona fide settlers: two formerly belonged to the Sirius, and a third to the Lady Juliana transport; in short, they were sailors. Concluding, then, the secretary of state had sought settlers in earnest, the presumption is strong that no considerable number of persons could be found to engage in such an enterprise: one which seemed to comprehend all the perils of distance, of official tyranny, and of social corruption.[156]

The additions, thus made to the free population, were generally of persons connected with the merchant service or the military profession; and who, by a residence intended only to be temporary and official, contracted a preference for the climate; where they found great respect and deference, by the paucity of their numbers. It was their example which finally overcame the reluctance to settle, which no mere offers of the crown were sufficient to conquer.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 138: Bigge's Report.]

[Footnote 139: Colonial Fund (1820): Quarter's salary, A. P. Humphrey, superintendent, L25; government printer, L7 10s.; Mr. Fitzgerald, schoolmaster, L6 5s.; G. Northam, chaplain's clerk, L3 5s.; James Charlton, executioner, L6 5s.!]

[Footnote 140: "Report of Oxley."—Barrow Field's Collection.]

[Footnote 141: Breton's New South Wales.]

[Footnote 142: The following "Instructions" were laid before parliament: being a return to an address to his Majesty, dated 2nd February, 1832; they were, however, only partially acted upon:—

"Copy of Instructions issued by the Governor of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, for the Regulation of Penal Settlements.

"As an aversion to honest industry and labor has been the chief cause of most of the convicts incurring the penalties of the law, they shall be employed at some species of labor, of an uniform kind, which they cannot evade, and by which they will have an opportunity of becoming habituated to regular employment.

"With this view, all labor of a complex nature, the quantity of which cannot be easily determined, is to be studiously avoided: and the convicts are to be employed exclusively in agricultural operations, when the public buildings or other works of the settlement do not absolutely require their labor.

"In these operations the use of the hoe and spade shall be as much as possible adopted; and where the number of men who can be employed in agriculture is sufficient to raise food for the settlement with these implements, the use of the plough shall be given up; and no working cattle are to be employed in operations which can be effected by men and hand carts.

"The principle of dividing the workmen at regular distances from each other, as established for field labor, is also to be adopted whenever it is found applicable; and with the view of affording a more complete and effective superintendence, the different gangs are, as much as possible, to be employed in one place.

"When it becomes necessary to employ mechanics or tradesmen in their respective callings, such arrangements shall be made (by appointing as many as possible to the work) as will insure their strict superintendence, and a speedy return to the employment of common laborers.

"In order that the convicts may be deprived of all opportunities of procuring spirits, or any luxury or article beyond the government allowance, and with the view the more effectually to prevent their escape, it becomes necessary to establish the strictest regulations with regard to shipping.

"The commandant is vested with the control of every department on the settlement; every person, whether free or bond, being subject to his orders.

"No officer, or other free person, employed at the penal settlement, shall be permitted to derive any advantage from his situation, either directly or indirectly, beyond the amount of his salary and fixed allowances. Each individual will be required to furnish quarterly, a declaration upon honor to this effect, to the commandant, who will certify that the whole of the officers borne upon the salary abstract, have furnished the same.

"No officer, or other free person, shall be allowed to cultivate any ground on his own account, excepting for the purpose of a garden, for the exclusive supply of his own family.

"No officer shall be allowed to raise stock of any description for sale, or for any other purpose than the immediate use of his own family; such stock to consist exclusively of pigs and poultry, which shall be secured within the premises of the proprietor.

"No officer, or other person, shall be allowed to employ any convict at any time whatever for his personal advantage, or otherwise than on the public account, excepting always such men as may be appropriated to his service.

"No officer, or other free person, is on any account to leave the settlement, without the written sanction of the commandant.

"The commandant is vested with full authority to remove, at his discretion, any free person from the settlement, whose conduct shall appear to him to render this proceeding necessary for the due maintenance of discipline.

"The officers, and other free persons, shall be allowed to purchase grain from the public stores, to maintain the livestock they are permitted to keep, according to the following scale:—

"Commandant, not to exceed five bushels per month; civil and military officers, three bushels per month; inferior free persons, one bushel per month.

"To enable the officers of the settlement to cultivate their gardens, they shall be allowed to have convicts appropriated to their service in the following proportion:—

"Commandant, three men; military and civil officers, two ditto.

"These men are not to be mechanics or tradesmen, and are to be allowed in addition to any servants they may have been permitted to take with them to the settlement.

"When work is required to be done by the mechanics for the absolute comfort and convenience of any of the officers on the settlement, the following regulations shall be observed:—

"The officer to make a written requisition, which will, if approved by the commandant, be given to the overseer of the mechanics, who will receive the whole of the materials from the officer. The work to be performed in the lumber-yard during government hours.

"No remuneration of any kind is to be given the mechanic for his services. This indulgence is not to extend to any article of furniture, or any thing else that can be dispensed with, or procured in any other manner. A separate book is to be kept, and entries made of the work so done, and quarterly returns sent to the colonial secretary. It must be understood that no government materials, even of the most trifling nature, will be allowed for any such purpose.

"All trafficking and trading between the free and bond on the settlement, shall be strictly prohibited, and severely punished.

"The convicts under colonial sentence, shall be steadily and constantly employed at hard labor from sunrise till sunset, one hour being allowed for breakfast, and one hour for dinner, during the winter six months; but two hours will be allotted for dinner during the summer.

"The convicts shall be worked in field labor, with the hoe and spade, in gangs, not fewer than fifteen or more than twenty. No task work shall be allowed.

"There shall be an overseer attached to each gang, and to every five gangs a constable, who shall assist the overseers in the superintendence of the men.

"The constables and overseers, are not to push or strike the convicts, and no punishment is to be inflicted but by the express orders of the commandant.

"If a convict should have any thing to represent or complain of to the commandant, it shall be the duty of the constable to bring him before him.

"No prisoner is to be permitted to receive, or to procure, any article of luxury, or any addition to the established ration of the settlement.

"As a reward of and encouragement to good conduct, the prisoners shall be divided into two classes, to be called the first and second classes respectively.

"No prisoner is to be admitted into the first class, who shall not have served on the settlement for two years, if a prisoner for seven years; for four years, if for fourteen years; and for six years, if for life. But convicts, who have been respited from a capital sentence, shall in no case be admitted into this class until, upon the representation of the commandant, their sentence shall have been mitigated by the governor.

"The commandant will make a monthly return to the colonial secretary of the prisoners, whose conduct has induced him to admit them to the first class, and he will inform the officer of the commissariat officially.

"The prisoners in the first class will receive, in addition to the usual ration, one ounce of tobacco weekly.

"The prisoners of the first class are to be employed in the lighter and least laborious operations; and it is from this class exclusively that men are eligible to be selected for constables and overseers, to be employed as clerks, to be assigned as servants to the officers of the settlement, and to be entrusted with the charge of the live stock or working cattle, or with any other light employment.

"No convict shall be employed as a clerk in the commandant's office, or have access to any of the records kept there.

"No prisoner transported for life, or for any heinous or atrocious offence, shall be employed in any other way than as a common laborer, except, being a mechanic, his services may be urgently required. In this case the commandant will permit his being temporarily employed in his trade, or on any of the public works.

"Prisoners of the first class, who shall be selected by the commandant for constables or overseers, will be allowed the usual distinction of dress, and shall receive in addition to their rations, two pounds of flour per week, and one ounce of tobacco; but in no case shall any convict at a penal settlement be allowed to receive a pecuniary reward.

"As a further encouragement to constables and overseers to be faithful and diligent in the discharge of their duty, two years' service as a constable or overseer, shall be considered equivalent to three years' servitude on the settlement; but in case of misconduct, they shall forfeit all such benefit arising from their services as constables or overseers.

"As there may be found some individuals whose conduct may be deserving of reward, but who nevertheless may not be qualified to fill the situation of overseers, the commandant will transmit annually to the colonial secretary, a return of the names of such convicts who, having served two-thirds of the period of their sentence, may by a long continuance of good conduct, be considered to merit indulgence. To this return there shall be annexed a detailed statement of the circumstances which have induced the commandant to recommend the individuals respectively.

"A return will in like manner be transmitted by the commandant, of any prisoners under sentence for life, who shall have conducted themselves to his entire satisfaction for six years (or of capital respites for ten years) after their arrival in the settlement, annexing, as before, a detailed statement of the circumstances which have induced him to recommend the individuals respectively; and should the governor be satisfied that they are deserving of reward, his excellency will mitigate their sentence to that of seven or fourteen years, from the date of such mitigation; after which the individuals will, of course, be eligible to all the privileges of prisoners of the first class.

"The wife of a convict shall, in no case, be allowed to join her husband, until he shall have been placed in the first class, and the commandant shall have recommended him for this indulgence.

"The wives and children of convicts shall be allowed rations and slop clothing from the public stores.

"The wives and children of convicts are not to be allowed to convey money or property of any kind to the settlement, nor to possess any live stock or poultry, and they are strictly to be prohibited from carrying on any trade or traffic in the settlement; but they will be furnished with employment in spinning flax, making straw hats or bonnets, making up slops, and such other work as they may be capable of performing, the materials for which will be supplied from the government store. They will receive credit in the books of the settlement, at the market or factory prices, on such work being returned to the stores; and the amount of their earnings will be annually placed in the savings bank, to be received by them on their return from the settlement, as a means of support on their arrival.

"Married convicts, whose families have been permitted to join them, shall be allowed to live in separate huts.

"A portion of ground shall be allotted as a prisoners' garden, the extent of which shall be determined by the commandant.

"If any money or property shall be found in possession of a convict, or the family of a convict, it shall be seized and forfeited to the Benevolent Asylum.

"The labor of all convicts, excepting only those assigned to the officers, shall be wholly and exclusively applied to the service of the settlement generally, and the indulgence of working on their own account, after the usual hours of public labor, shall be strictly prohibited.

"No convict shall be allowed to wear any other clothing than that which is issued to him by the government; and the number of each convict on the settlement is to be painted on each article of his dress, before and behind.

"The commandant will see that due attention is paid to the cleanliness of the convicts, and that those whose state of health admit of it, bathe regularly.

"A separate barrack is to be provided for the female convicts; and if employed in field labor, they are to be kept separate from the men.

"A washing gang from among the female convicts shall be appointed, to wash and mend the clothes, and air the blankets and palliasses of the prisoners.

"The convicts are not to be allowed to possess knives or any sharp instruments; the knives, forks, and spoons, are to be under the charge of the barrack overseer, and he will be held responsible that they are duly collected from each convict before he is allowed to quit his seat at the mess table. This, however, is not to apply to those married convicts or overseers, who shall have been allowed to live in separate huts.

"The whole of the convicts will be mustered on Sunday morning, arranged in their several gangs, and attended by their respective overseers and constables, when they will be inspected by the commandant. The wives and families of the convicts will also be required to attend the Sunday morning musters.

"The prisoners will be mustered daily by the superintendent of convicts, at sunrise, before they proceed to labor, when they return to meals, and again when the work for the day is closed.

"No convict shall be allowed to receive or transmit any letter, excepting through the commandant, who is to exercise his discretion in opening such letters, and perusing their contents.

"The section regulating the discipline and employment of the convicts, is to be read once in every month to the troops and convicts on the settlement.

"These regulations shall be entered in the public order books of the settlement, and they are to be strictly and literally adhered to throughout; no deviation being permitted, except in cases of very great emergency, which are to be determined alone by the commandant, who will immediately report in detail his reasons for such deviation to the governor, in order that his excellency's sanction to the measure may be obtained."]

[Footnote 143: "The crimes for which they were sent down, were originally trifling: five or six for a robbery, petty theft, or disobedience to orders. One remained for a month, another for the term of his natural life,—for the same offence, and by the same sentence."—Barnes: Par. Pap.

"Bryan Taylor, a convict holding a ticket-of-leave, having taken the Lord's name in vain, was ordered to be confined in his majesty's gaol for one week.

"Thomas Higgins, a constable, was found guilty of a rape, and was sentenced to be dismissed from his office, and transported for the remainder of his original term.

"Ralph Jacobs, found guilty of stealing one sheep; sentenced to receive fifty lashes, and to be returned to government.

"William Blunt, and another, for burglary and violence; sentenced one hundred lashes, and transported for their original term."—Gazette, Dec. 1821.]

[Footnote 144: Ross's Almanack, 1831.]

[Footnote 145: "The sight was awfully grand. The pilot commanded all below, but I said I should like to see the end of it: they counted off eleven feet; we drew seven and a half: there were but seven in the hollow of the sea! At this moment a large billow carried us forward on its raging head. The pilot's countenance relaxed: he looked like a man reprieved under the gallows."—Backhouse's Narrative.]

[Footnote 146: Barnes: Par. Pap., 1837.]

[Footnote 147: Ibid.]

[Footnote 148: Tasmanian Journal, vol. ii. p. 205.]

[Footnote 149: Backhouse's Narrative.]

[Footnote 150: Ibid.]

[Footnote 151: They called to the men, as they ascended the scaffold—"Good-by, Bob; good-by, Jack."—Par. Pap.]

[Footnote 152: To describe this region, requires the awful coloring of Milton:—

"Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, Where all life dies; death lives; and nature breeds Perverse; all monstrous, all prodigious things; Abominable; UNUTTERABLE!"

Paradise Lost, book ii.]

[Footnote 153: Sydney Cove, 17th July, 1790.

"The consequence of a failure of a crop, when we no longer depend upon any supplies from Great Britain, will be obvious; and to guard against which is one reason for my being so desirous of having a few settlers, to whom, as the first, I think every possible encouragement should be given. In them I should have some resource, and amongst them proper people might be found to act in different capacities, at little or no expense to government; for, as the number of convicts and others increase, civil magistrates, &c. will be necessary."]

[Footnote 154: Par. Papers, 1792; quoted by Saxe Bannister, Esq.]

[Footnote 155: Besides the reference in Collins, several modern writers have alluded to this fact; but in conversation with Mr. G. W. Walker, the author has been given to understand, that neither he nor his colleague, Mr. Backhouse, ever heard of this projected emigration. The correspondence upon the subject would probably disclose more clearly the ultimate views of the imperial government. Dr. Laing assigns, for the relinquishment of the project, a refusal to extend the laws of England to the settlement,—but gives no authority.]



SECTION X.

The spirit of the Commissioner's propositions was embodied by the home government, and its offers were published in various forms; chiefly, indeed, by the diligence of adventurers who, to freight their ships, filled volumes, and depicted in lively colors the beauty of the colonies. The intending settler was told, that not only would he find cheap land and cheap labor, but a large return for his produce.

By the grants of Sir Thomas Brisbane, bonds were required to be given for the support and employment of prisoners, until their detention expired—calculated at the average term of ten years. For every hundred acres, the settler engaged to provide one convict with food and clothing, in return for his labor; and to contribute 18s. per annum towards the expense of medicine, police, and religious instruction (1822). Still further to encourage such contracts, the settlers were furnished with a cow, for every convict attached to their grants, to continue in their possession during the term of his servitude![157]

The regulation issued at Downing-street in 1824, engaged that the purchaser of land—who within ten years might save ten times the amount of his payment, by the employment of convicts, reckoning each at L16 per annum—should receive back his money, though without interest; but when the land was conditionally given, one-fifth part of that saving would pass to account of quit-rent, and thus probably entitle the employer to entire relief.

The Van Diemen's Land Company, by agreement with Earl Bathurst, entered into similar covenants, and received their land subject to a quit-rent, redeemable by the sustentation and employment of prisoners—to them a fortunate stipulation,[158] and which has relieved their vast territory from a heavy pressure. These various plans indicate the difficulties of finding masters, which once prevailed.

The government having roused the spirit of emigration, were soon enabled to grant a favor when they assigned a workman, and rapidly withdrew from engagements no longer necessary. Hundreds of families arrived in a succession of vessels, and speedily fixed themselves in the interior: flocks were contracted, herds were slaughtered; fences, homesteads, and fields of corn divided and dotted the land. The least capital admitted was L500; and though several evaded the condition, many of the settlers brought much larger sums. They pursued their improvements, with all the vigour awakened by novelty, and stimulated by the prospect of considerable gains. The competition for labor increased, until it created in the minds of the settlers a feeling of dependance and obligation—to refuse a supply, had been ruin. It placed before the prisoners, once again, the examples of emancipist opulence: mechanics earned more wages than officers of the army; again transportation was represented as a boon; and then came other changes.

In the official newspaper of 1827, it is stated that 1,000 applications were registered at Hobart Town. To an English reader, and to a modern colonist, the notices of this period seem like satire. "Better," remarks this organ of the higher classes, "better send petitions for more prisoners—now that applications have lain dormant for twelve months: some for four, eight, and ten men—than trouble about trial by jury and representative government. The disappointment, we trust, will be temporary: when the last vessel sailed, the York was freighting. We trust the home secretary will consider the deficiency"! The extremely earnest manner in which these felonious additions were implored, is a curious relic of a bygone era.[159]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 156: Collins, vol. i. p. 267.]

[Footnote 157: Gazette, 11th July, 1822.]

[Footnote 158: Bischcoff.]



SECTION XI.

The system of assignment was first established in America (1718), and continued for fifty-six years: the rigid discipline permitted by the colonial law, the kind of labor usually performed by the servants, and their diffusion over an extensive surface, tended alike to restrain, to reform, and ultimately to merge them undistinguished. Many, endowed with good natural abilities, such as an accomplished thief usually possesses, succeeded in their pursuits, and became masters themselves, by the purchase of the servitude of those afterwards sent out for sale.[160] Thus, whatever complaints were raised against transportation itself, none objected to assignment; and the long period of its duration, proves that the home government cared little for the state of prisoners, while there was no local press to vindicate their rights, and few readers of books to encourage romantic delineations of their felicity.

On the arrival of a vessel, the chief officers of the government examined the prisoners, and the Governor himself addressed them. He pointed out their future position, their duties, and their dangers; the tone of promise usual in times past was considerably abated, but the awful rigours of their servitude were explained, often to their astonishment and horror.[161] Often the private examination of the prisoner confounded him with amazement: a gentleman, whom he had never seen before, unravelled with facility the mystery of his life. If he had been often in prison; if his brother had been transported; if his sweetheart had been deserted; whether he had been a pest to the lords of the manor, or to the parish, by poaching or bastardy: his whole life was read by his inquisitor, with supernatural clearness. The raw countryman did not know how far his course had been subject to the gaze of the stranger: denial gave way rapidly; he assented, and explained, and enlarged—and thus the office of the superintendent answered the purpose of a confessional. It was the practice to furnish all possible information to the local government, and to keep its details a secret from the prisoners: such had been the advice of the Commissioner. Thus the wonder of the country transport, to find that the picture of his life had preceded him—that all was known at the world's end.

Though no persons could have greater cause to confuse their identity, the prisoners often stamped on their persons indelible distinctions; a custom, perhaps, introduced by the sailors, and encouraged by the officers, but which prevailed among London thieves. Those who suffered these figures to be pierced, were usually the most simple minded, or the most depraved. The figures themselves were sometimes obscene, but not commonly: often mermaids, still more frequently hearts and darts; sometimes the name, or the initials of the prisoner. Thus, in the runaway notices (1825), one had a hope and anchor; another, a castle, flower pots, hearts and darts; another, a man and woman, a heart and a laurel; another, a masonic arch, and moon and stars, and initials in abundance. An Irishman had a crucifix on the arm, a cross on the right hand, and the figure of a woman on the breast! Such were the ingenious methods which, induced by indolence and vanity, these men permitted, to lessen the chances of escape. The initials generally differed from those of the known name, and indicated that the wearer, some time or other, had occasion for disguise: others were obviously memorials of past affection, and of names perhaps associated with blighted hopes and better days. Besides these marks, were others; scars, usually the result of a life of mingled intemperance and violence: thus, almost in succession, the list of absconders gives the following—"a scar on the forehead;" "scar on the right eye;" "his arm has been broken;" "his nose inclines to the left cheek;" "a broken nose."[162]

All that might assist the police was registered: their native place, their age, their crime, and sentence. They were then detached to their masters; marched, sometimes, in considerable bodies, from Kangaroo Point to Launceston, 120 miles. The mechanics were reserved for government employ, and the concealment of a trade, was visited as a crime; yet convicts did conceal their trade, instructed by former experience, or a hint from a veteran predecessor. They knew that mechanical knowledge might prolong their detention, and deprive them of many present advantages. They knew that, though rated as laborers, they might obtain a master who would pay them. This was effected, sometimes, at once, or by the agency of a friend; or oftener by the prisoner, who, on his first opportunity, would hint to a builder or carpenter, that he knew something of a trade. An order was obtained for a laborer, which would not have been spared for a mechanic: a fee to the clerk, secured the intended selection; and the man assigned to carry the materials of a building, was taught, in a time which seemed incredibly short, all the mysteries of line and rule. It is thus that weakness ever arms itself against might.

The increased demand for assigned servants, enabled Governor Arthur to enforce the regulations which had been often promulgated in vain. It ceased to be necessary to pay wages, and the master was bound to provide sufficient food and clothing for his men: the scale was determined. The practice of lending out servants was restricted, and finally abolished. All those means of stimulating labor, which had tended to suggest the rights of property, were forbidden. It had been the custom to permit assigned servants to receive a share in the increase of stock; allotments of land had been separated to their exclusive use; they had been suffered to trade upon their own account. These arrangements were calculated to stimulate industry, but they also generated disputes, and led to petty theft. Thus reduced to an absolute dependance upon the liberality of their masters, they had no reward but as a boon: many of whom, however, evaded the regulations, and paid their servants the ordinary wages of free men.

No rule can be devised, that is not liable to objection. The men were discontented with a service, in which money was refused them: it was illegally possessed, and therefore rapidly spent in debauchery and drunkenness. The settlers usually allowed some luxuries; but these, discretionally given, were a tax to the liberal, often more onerous than reasonable wages. Domestic servants, and those entrusted with important concerns, were paid by all, from the Governor downwards, and that while regulations were promulgated against such violations of order.[163] It was doubtless not at his direction, but at his cost!

A decision at Sydney, explained the nature of the claim for wages granted by former regulations of government. A female, at the close of a long servitude, sued her master for arrears: the judge advocate declared "his court one of equity and right," not of law; that the spirit of public orders, not their letter, was the rule of judgment; that the allowance of money required by the crown, was intended to secure the plaintiff certain comforts: those comforts she had already enjoyed, and thus her claim in equity had been already satisfied (1823). The wages of a man servant were stopped by the magistrates, because he had been accused of stealing from his master (1821)!

The right of a master in the services of his assigned servant, was incidentally raised in the celebrated case of Jane New. She arrived in Van Diemen's Land under a sentence of transportation, and, according to the prevailing custom, was assigned to her husband; who was allowed, by Governor Arthur, to remove her to New South Wales: she was charged there with a capital felony, and death was recorded against her. The prosecutrix, Madle. Senns, a French mantua-maker, gave her evidence by an interpreter: afterwards, it was discovered, that the conviction was erroneous, both in substance and in law: released on the recommendation of the judges, by order of the sheriff she was committed to the female factory at Parramatta. Her husband then sued out a writ of habeas corpus, to which the return, as amended by the direction of the court, alleged under the hand of the colonial secretary, that her detention was by authority of Governor Darling, she being a prisoner of the crown. The question seemed to depend on the nature of the rights conveyed by assignment; but a second arose: whether those rights could be exercised beyond the limits of the territory appointed for the transportation; or whether Governor Arthur was authorised to permit the removal. The judges, Forbes, Stephen, and Dowling, decided that the prisoner having been transported to Van Diemen's Land, was, by removal to Port Jackson, no longer under the provisions of the act of parliament; that neither the magistrates nor Governor of New South Wales, could make her the subject of summary treatment; but as a prisoner illegally at large, must remand her to the place of her original and unsatisfied term of transportation.

In giving this decision, the judges announced their opinion upon the rights of assignment in general, as regulated by the 9th Geo. iv. cap. 83. The Act required the consent of the governor in the assignment of a prisoner, and authorised the revocation of that assignment: this power to revoke, was however, to enable the governor to grant remission—to change the civil condition of the servant; and thus, by his restoration to liberty, to extinguish the rights of the assignee. The law officers, on the part of government, alleged that the discretion was absolute, and authorised a summary disposal of the services of the prisoner; whether under, or independent of, a magisterial decision.

The chief justice, however, maintained that such a right in the executive might be ruin to the people. He asserted, that the duty and right of the governor was limited to the execution of a public trust, as between the crown on one side and the prisoner on the other; to minister to a covenant, subject only to those stipulations, the neglect of which might, by the common rights of humanity, dissolve the engagement. "If," he remarked, "the governor, at discretion, may revoke the assignment of prisoners, as a consequence he may render the estates of landholders of no value; nor does it appear that this power of revocation is sustainable under any circumstances in the large and discretionary form claimed by the law officers of the crown."[164]

The government endeavoured to contest this right (1829), in the instance of Mr. Hall, publisher of the Monitor, whose strictures had provoked official hostility. His men were recalled by the superintendent; he, however, paid no attention to the notice, and continued to employ them: for this he was summoned before the bench of magistrates, who, influenced by the known opinions of the government, fined him, under the act against harbouring. Mr. Wentworth moved for a criminal information against Messrs. Berry, Wollstoncraft, and others, for contempt: a rule was granted, but afterwards dismissed; the judges expressing the strongest indignation that the magistrates had dared to set aside the solemn decision of the court on a point of law, and in reference to the most important rights of the colonists; and to mark their displeasure, they saddled them with all the costs. Mr. Hayes, of the Australian, was involved in a similar contest; but to break the bond, the governor granted a ticket-of-leave—thus releasing the prisoner from his assignment. The printer, notwithstanding, brought his action against the superintendent for abduction, and gained damages; the judges holding, that the sudden deprivation of the master, by an arbitrary and unusual indulgence—granted only to deprive him of his rights as assignee—was not contemplated in the law, which modified those rights by the prerogative of mercy.

The following are the chief provisions of the Parliamentary Acts on the subject of assignment:—

The 4th Geo. i. (1717) conveyed an absolute property to the shipper, who again assigned to the master.

An opinion was obtained from the law officers of the crown (about 1818), that the state of convict servitude was created by the 4th Geo. i. and subsequent statutes, under which a property in the servant was reserved to the master, whether captain or colonist: the power to punish was assumed as a necessary consequence.[165]

The 5th Geo. iv. gave a right to the governors to release the convict from assignment, by a pardon, &c. A subsequent Act, for abolishing the punishment of death in certain cases, limited the exercise of mercy.

The 9th Geo. iv. gave the governor power to revoke assignment; and made the master entirely dependant on the government.

The local government rarely interfered with the prescriptive rights of the masters, nor did it often object to the transfer of servants when the value of an estate depended on the possession of bond labor. The most remarkable deviation from this policy was in the instance of Mr. William Bryan, a gentleman of considerable wealth, who was dismissed from the magistracy, and deprived of all his servants in one day (1833). Relying on the decision of the judges of New South Wales, he threatened an action, but the law of assignment being changed,[166] it was quite within the province of the Governor to recall a servant at any hour. The discretion of the executive was never brought into legal question; but the deprivation of a colonist in the midst of harvest, without public inquiry into any alleged malversation, taught the settlers that their fortunes were in the hands of the Governor. A London pickpocket required a long course of instruction; but his services were no longer secure to his master—a serious drawback from their worth.

The transfer of servants, once convenient to the government, lasted until 1838, when it was finally abolished. It had been agreed by a settler, named Silcock, to transfer a servant to Mr. Theodore Bartley: on the application an endorsement was written—"the consent of the servant is, in all cases, necessary." This led to a long correspondence, in which several colonists took part. The settlers contended that, to require the servant's consent, was inconsistent with his civil condition; "tended to weaken the sense of submission and control," and raise him into a dispenser of favors. A large amount of polite recrimination enlivened this dispute, which perhaps ended as was best—the last bond was broken.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 159: Courier, 1829.]

[Footnote 160: Colquhoun.]

[Footnote 161: Arthur's evidence: Par. Pap.]

[Footnote 162: Gazette, 1825.]

[Footnote 163: Murdoch's evidence: Par. Pap.]

[Footnote 164: Sydney Gazette, 1829.]

[Footnote 165: Bigge's Report.]

[Footnote 166: The 9th Geo. iv. enacted (omitting superfluous words), "That any offender assigned under 5th Geo. iv. shall not be assigned by the master to any other person without the consent of the Governor, who may as shall seem meet revoke such assignment and grant remissions, as may be best adapted to the reformation of offenders, and revoke and renew them as occasion may require, any act of parliament notwithstanding."]



SECTION XII.

One of the earliest (1824) and chief difficulties of Governor Arthur's administration sprang from an out-break of prisoners at Macquarie Harbour, who divided in their progress, and collected several formidable bands. The efforts to escape from that dreary region had been numerous, but unsuccessful: the unhappy beings who wandered into the woods, found no sustenance, and died either from exhaustion or by the hands of each other; or when they endeavoured to ford the Gordon, and attain by a more direct course the settled districts, they were either drowned or taken. During the first five years, when not more than two hundred were confined there, one hundred ventured on this dangerous enterprise, notwithstanding their ignorance of the route, and the almost certain starvation which awaited them. Prisoners arriving from Hobart Town gave them erroneous tidings respecting the absconders, and delusive hopes of success, and thus the foolish and desperate were prompted to hazard the perils of flight.

The first (1822) adventurers were John Green and Joseph Sanders; never heard of more: six others followed a few days after, and encountered a similar fate. They were pursued by two soldiers and three prisoners, who took with them a fortnight's provision and hunting dogs. The rain continued for seven weeks after their departure, and it was presumed they perished from exhaustion.[167] Another party formed a catamaran, but it parted when they had proceeded a short distance; and they were rescued from its fragments by the soldiers. Eight others left in the following September, and all lost their lives, except Pearce, whose narrative will be noticed hereafter.

At Macquarie Harbour, the first commandant was Lieutenant Cuthbertson, a soldier who had been in eighteen general engagements; yet was glad of an appointment, to supplement the deficiency of his pay. His discipline was severe, but of brief duration. A small vessel, built at the harbour, was in danger, and Cuthbertson ordered out his own boat to its relief; this he effected: on returning, his boat was upset, and all, except two, were drowned. Cuthbertson was thrice raised by one of the crew; but finding his strength unequal to retain his hold, he said, "man, save yourself; never mind me—it is no use." On the death of the commandant, the chief authority devolved on a non-commissioned officer. The prisoners were disposed to question his right to obedience: his government was vigorous, and he flogged with redoubled frequency.[168]

In June, 1824, two parties absconded from Macquarie Harbour: one, consisting of three persons only, who seized the soldiers' boat, provisions, and arms. They proceeded about twelve miles, when they moored the boat to a stump of a tree, and wrote on its stern with chalk, "to be sold:" of this party no tidings were ever heard, and it is supposed that they perished. The second left five days afterwards, and were, for a time, more fortunate. Having resolved to escape, they proposed to capture the barge of commandant Wright; but suspecting their intention, he pushed off before they could reach it, leaving behind the surgeon. This gentleman they threatened to flog, and prepared the instrument of punishment; Brady interposed, and thus began his fatal career by an act of gratitude. He had experienced some kindness from the surgeon when a patient, and forgave his official attendance at the triangles. These men were usually friendly to the doctors: another medical gentleman, afterwards taken prisoner by Brady and his gang, was allowed to retain his lancet, and treated with respect, although robbed of his money. A few days before, he had released one of the party from punishment, by alleging his physical inability. It was thus in the power of the surgeons to favor the prisoners, and to mitigate the sentence of a rigorous magistrate.

The party having obtained a boat, proceeded towards the Derwent, and were pursued by Lucas, the pilot, without success. They left on the 9th, and appeared on the east coast of the Derwent on the 18th June, at the residence of Mr. Mason: having beaten him with great violence and cruelty, they next robbed a servant of Mr. Gunn of fire-arms. They were pursued by this officer, and five were captured. These were instantly placed on their trial, and were desirous of pleading guilty; but courts have always manifested dislike to such evasions of trial, and they retracted, on the persuasion of the chief justice. They attempted to extenuate their crimes by the hardships they had suffered, but in vain.

The advice to a person accused to plead not guilty, though anomalous in its aspect, is yet usually a proper protection to the ignorant and defenceless: such, under an impression of general guilt, might admit an aggravated indictment, and lose the advantage of those distinctions made by legislators on public grounds, between crime and crime; or the executive might delude a prisoner with fallacious hopes of mercy, to prevent the disclosure of extenuating facts to conceal official wrong; while ignorance of the details of a crime, might destroy the moral weight of exemplary punishment.

With these men was executed Alexander Pearce, whose confessions to the priest were, by his consent, published at his death. He formed one of the second party who absconded from Macquarie Harbour (1822). They had planned their escape with considerable skill: one was a sailor, and able to direct their course: they possessed themselves of a boat, and proposed to capture the vessel of the pilot, then laden for town. It was the custom, when a prisoner was missing, to kindle signal fires along the coast, thus giving notice to the sentinels: to prevent such information, the absconders poured water on the embers kept in readiness. This was not effectually done: and thus, when they had proceeded half-a-mile, they saw the smoke rising, and their passage cut off; they therefore landed, destroyed the boat, and entered the bush. They now commenced a course of fatigue and horror: they began to murmur, and then to discuss the terrible alternative of general starvation: two, who overheard the proposition, returned to the settlement, but died almost immediately, from exhaustion. The rest travelled on, lessened at various stages in their course by their fatal necessity, till two only survived; these were, Pearce and Greenhill—the last, the victim. They spent two days and nights watching each other! Greenhill, who laid his axe under his head, to guard against surprise, first slept! Pearce was now alone, and destitute; but at length he came to a fire of the natives, and obtained some fragments of the opossum: at last he reached a flock of sheep, and seized on a lamb, which he proceeded to devour undressed. He was discovered by a stock-keeper, and when he surrendered was received with great kindness and sympathy. His host introduced him to the bushrangers then abroad; but being afterwards captured, he was again forwarded to Macquarie Harbour.

Such suffering might have been expected to overcome all future desire to abscond; yet, in company with Cox, Pearce again left the settlement: they remained several days in the neighbourhood, and then attempted to reach the northern part of the island. Pearce slew his unsuspecting comrade. Horror took possession of his mind; or, despairing to effect his escape, he returned and made signals to the Waterloo, then passing the coast. He confessed his crime, and professed a wish to die.[169]

These cases indicate the rapid process by which the habits of cannibalism are formed: the details of his trial were given in the Gazettes of the period, and are contained in the parliamentary papers; but who could bear to examine the diary of such a journey, or to describe the particulars of those sacrifices which fill the soul with unutterable loathing!

Arrests were constantly made, but did not diminish the number, or daring of new adventurers. Their exploits were contagious: many fled from the employ of government, and the service of settlers, and forfeited their lives after a short career. An instance will show the extent of their operations. By his spies the police magistrate was aware that a large quantity of goods would be offered to a certain person for sale, whom he instructed to purchase, and to pay partly by check and partly in cash. At midnight he surrounded a house in Hobart Town, with soldiers and constables: there he found the men he sought—their arms, their plunder, and the check. They had pillaged the dwelling of Mr. Haywood at the Macquarie, a district rarely free from depredations. One of the robbers was formerly, and a second more lately, in the service of the prosecutor, and a third was a neighbour. They had entered, by pretending to deliver a message, and assaulted both Mr. Haywood and his wife: they fired several shots, and left them with threats. They were promptly tried and executed.

Not long after, the same establishment was visited by Brady: he took but little, and assured the prosecutor he need not fear retaliation, for Broadhead, the leader of the last party, was not a bushranger! Eighteen were taken in one week, but they increased with equal rapidity.

The Governor, baffled by their lengthened defiance of the efforts to quell them, attributed cowardice and corruption with an unsparing bitterness; yet the difficulties even of the well-disposed were great, and they were often ignorant of the movements of the robbers. Their retreats were often in the forests, and known only to themselves; and at some future time property will be detected, the relics of early robbers, who carried with them to the grave the secret of their hidden spoil. Occasionally, the hut of a bushranger has been observed: one, curiously formed, was found by soldiers on the brow of Mount Wellington; and before the door, a salting apparatus. The servants of the Van Diemen's Land Company saw a hut at St. Patrick's Plains, beyond the Great Lake (1826). At a distance it resembled a gigantic fallen tree, and in its centre and side were doors, from which the whole plain could be surveyed and surprise prevented.

The Governor denounced the miserable fear of personal danger—certainly more natural in the bush than the council chamber. Doubtless many, equal to the bravery of an actual conflict, preferred to pay black mail to robbers, rather than risk their sudden inroads and secret vengeance. Nor was it at all certain that a marauder, when captured, would be detained: some broke from their prisons; from Launceston, a band together, who renewed their pillage with increasing diligence. Among others, they attacked the house of Mr. Harrison, and maintained a fire which riddled his premises. These men attempted to fortify themselves by erecting stone fences on the peak of a hill at the Macquarie: there they were surprised and taken. The insecurity of the prisons, and the mode of disposing of respited offenders, made it not unlikely that an officious witness would be called to a future account: thus an old man, who prosecuted a burglar, was visited by the culprit when he returned from Macquarie Harbour; violently beaten, robbed, and threatened with death.

To distinguish these men was no slight difficulty: they often pretended to be constables, and were in possession before the error was discovered. One, still more serious, sometimes happened: thus two constables saw two armed men enter a hut, and approaching challenged them; answer not being promptly given, they fired, and severely wounded both the astonished policemen. Nor were the settlers exempt from such perils. The bushrangers, often well dressed and mounted, made every traveller an object of suspicion: when riding over the Cross Marsh, Mr. Hodgson was challenged by the military stationed there; his motions of recognition they understood as defiance, and fired. To his remonstrances they answered with insolence, and expressed a wish that the shot had proved fatal. On a prosecution the rash soldier was acquitted, no malice being presumed (1826); and the attack was deemed a contingency of colonial life.

Among those whose crimes obtained them the greater notoriety, were Brady, M'Cabe, Jeffries, and Dunne: well mounted upon horses, and armed with muskets, they scoured the colony: murder, pillage, and arson, rendered every homestead the scene of terror and dismay. Those settlers most exposed, often abandoned the business of their farms: their dwellings were perforated with loop-holes, their men were posted as sentinels, and all the precautions adopted, necessary in a state of war. But though not without supporters and accomplices, the bushrangers were in far greater danger of betrayal and capture than at a former period. The settlers, much more numerous, and of a higher class, felt that the suppression of the robbers, or the desertion of the colony, were the only alternatives. Governor Arthur exerted all the powers of government against them. Thus the issue was not long doubtful, although the contest cost many lives.

In July, 1824, a party under James Crawford, appeared on the river, and having robbed the house of Mrs. Smith, they loaded her servants with their plunder, and drove them towards the establishment of Mr. Robert Taylor: meeting his son, they compelled him to bear part of the burden. The family observed the party approach, and armed to meet them. Young Taylor called to his father not to fire; and when he came near his friends, he managed to escape from the robbers: a general skirmish ensued. The young man seeing a piece levelled at his father, seized the assassin by the throat, and pulled him down: this brought a comrade to the robber's assistance: one of the servants became alarmed for young Taylor, and fired; unhappily, the shot was fatal to the youth for whose protection it was intended. The robbers now made their escape, leaving behind, beside two of their companions, their arms and plunder. Governor Arthur addressed a letter of condolence and praise to the sorrowing family: their neighbours expressed admiration of their courage, and presented a piece of plate to them, in testimony of their sympathy and esteem. Their example was exhibited by the Governor to the imitation of the colonists, notwithstanding its terrible issue.

The overseer of Mr. Kemp was met by Brady and his party, and taken to his master's house; there he was ordered to gain admission, which he did by answering the challenge of his employer: the bushrangers having possession, robbed the house, in the presence of seven assigned servants and two free persons. Yet it was not a small risk to begin the melee; and it was not reasonable to expect men, in their civil condition, to hazard life to protect the property of a master, for whom, perhaps, they did not entertain much love. Thus the settlers could not always depend upon their men: many of whom saw, with pleasure, the vengeance inflicted on masters who had sometimes procured their punishment; and, partly by sympathy and partly by fear, they were deterred from rendering effectual assistance. Three men, with blackened faces, visited the residence of Captain Allison at Sandy Bay: he met them with uncommon courage, but was struck down and beaten; he appealed to his servants, who only muttered a reply to his calls for aid. Mrs. Allison joined her entreaties, when at length an atrocious woman (Hannah Bell, afterwards notorious) said to the robbers, in a tone of sarcasm,—"Come men, don't kill him quite out."

One of their most daring exploits was the taking of the town of Sorell, and the capture of the gaol. They entered the premises of Mr. Bethune, of which they kept possession until dusk on the following evening. Two gentlemen, who arrived there during the day, they detained: they stripped them of their clothing, and tendered the prisoner dress in exchange; this being, however, declined, one of the gentlemen wore no other covering than a blanket. These, and others, eighteen in number, they compelled to accompany them to Sorell. A party of soldiers, who had been employed in pursuit all the day, and who were worn out with fatigue, while cleaning their guns, were surprised in the gaol. Brady locked them up in a cell, and offered liberty to the prisoners he found there; one of whom, who was charged with a capital offence, for which he was afterwards executed, declined the opportunity to escape. The gaoler hastened to inform Lieutenant Gunn, who was in the neighbourhood, and thus prepared for the arrival of the robbers: while raising his arm, he received a shot above the elbow, which rendered amputation necessary. This officer had been employed in the pursuit of the marauders for a considerable time, and his gigantic stature, courage, and energy, rendered his name formidable: he received from the public a valuable present, and a pension from the colonial fund.

The roads were infested, and communication was dangerous: travellers were arrested and tied to trees; and sometimes, though not frequently, treated with cruelty. To preserve their property, the settlers resorted to concealment and stratagem: among the rest, the contrivance and coolness of an old woman, merits remembrance, who knowing that the robbers were on the road provided a paper of blank notes, which she delivered to them, and thus saved a considerable sum, the result of her marketing.

Their close pursuit at length filled them with a spirit of mischief, and they perpetrated various acts of cruelty and wanton devastation. Among their most ordinary pleasantries, was forcing the people of an establishment to drink to drunkenness: thus their recollection became confused; they could not follow, and the robbers enjoyed the scene of their helpless intoxication. They held a pistol to a servant of Mr. Hance, of the river Plenty, and compelled him to drink a large quantity of rum: they then led him off the farm and left him. He was discovered some time after by a shepherd, his dog fondly licking his face: when raised up, he called for water, and died. Inflammation caused mortification of the intestines;—the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel! Not content with pillage, they destroyed the wool of three years' clip, the corn stacks, and the barns on the establishment of Mr. Lawrence, by fire. Several other settlers experienced similar visitations. The Governor issued a proclamation, five hundred copies of which were scattered through the colony. He threatened with death all persons who might afford them countenance. He offered rewards to a large amount: for every bushranger mentioned in the notice one hundred guineas, or three hundred acres of land; or to prisoners, money and a free pardon, whether directly or indirectly engaged in the capture; and to the chief constable in whose district the robber should be taken, one hundred acres. He complained that sufficient energy and co-operation had not been employed, and called upon the magistrates and other persons to combine for the liberation of the country. He himself resolved to fix his residence at Jericho, to direct the operations; and the inhabitants of Hobart Town formed themselves into a guard, that thus the soldiers and constabulary might be wholly employed in this important service. The robbers, however, being mounted, were enabled to move with considerable rapidity, and carried on their depredations in every part of the island.

By acts of wantonness and vengeful barbarity, they intended to intimidate the prisoners. They called Thomas Preston from his hut, on the South Esk, and deliberately shot him. They took Captains White and Smith prisoners: the last, they made to kneel—their usual preparation for murder; but were induced to spare his life, by the intercession of his companion, who appealed to their humanity on behalf of his wife and children! They endeavoured to capture the Glory, belonging to one of these gentlemen; but finding the wind unfavorable, they relinquished that purpose. While Brady was on a hill, watching that vessel, a confederate escaped, intending to betray them to Colonel Balfour: one of the party, stationed as sentinel, was tried by a sort of court martial, for permitting his elopement; he was shot, and flung into the Tamar. They sent word that they would visit Launceston gaol, carry off Jeffries, and put him to death. Their message was of course treated with contempt, but they landed and advanced to the residence of Mr. Dry, who was then entertaining a number of his friends. The banditti plundered the house, and were packing up their booty when Colonel Balfour, to whom a messenger had been dispatched, arrived with ten soldiers and surrounded the house: the robbers retreated to the back part of the premises, and fired into the rooms. It was dark, and when the firing ceased, they were supposed to have retreated. The colonel, with four of his men, hastened to protect the town, to which a division of the robbers had been sent by Brady. As soon as he departed, some of the party again showed themselves: Dr. Priest joined Mr. Theodore Bartley, and the remaining soldiers; unfortunately, his clothing being partly white, enabled the robbers to take aim. His horse was shot dead: he himself received a musket ball, which wounded him above his knee; and refusing to submit to amputation he lost his life.

Exasperated by these crimes, the whole country rose against them: they were sought in every quarter. The settlers, and soldiers scattered over the colony, at the first notice of their appearance, were prepared to follow them. The Governor himself took the field, and infused vigour into the pursuit; and in less than a month the chief robbers were in the hands of justice. Brady, wounded in the leg, was overtaken by the soldiers, and surrendered without a struggle. With Jeffries, he was conveyed to Hobart Town. A large crowd assembled to see robbers, who were admired for their boldness by many, as much as they were detested for their crimes.

The most ferocious of the bushrangers was Jeffries: he obtained his reprieve in Scotland, to act as executioner.[170] Being transported to this country, he was employed as a scourger, and thus trained to cruelty, entered the bush. He robbed the house of Tibbs, a small settler, and after wounding, compelled him, with his wife, to proceed to the forest. The woman carried her infant: Jeffries was disturbed by its cries; perhaps, fearful that the sound might conduct his pursuers. He took the child from the arms of its mother and dashed out its brains against a tree! When captured, he was taken to Launceston, where the people, exasperated by his unusual guilt, were scarcely restrained, from summary vengeance, by the presence of a strong guard. While in prison he made sketches of his murders, and wrote memoirs of his life! His countenance was an index of his character. Not so with Brady; who, though guilty of heavy crimes, pretended to something like magnanimity: he was drawn into the plan to escape, contrary to his own judgment, and then said the die was cast. His robberies were skilfully planned and deliberately executed: he often restored such articles as the sufferers specially valued. To every indictment he pleaded guilty: it was thought in contempt of justice; but certainly in the full conviction that it was useless to expect either mercy or acquittal.

An instance of his persevering vengeance, which rests on the authority of a magistrate, may be worth remembering. A man, who had been a confederate, determined to entrap him: Brady on approaching his hut felt a presentiment of treachery; but at length was persuaded to advance. The constables were in ambush: they fired, and both himself and his companion were arrested. Brady, wounded, was left bound in the hut with his betrayer, while the constables conducted his comrade to a place of confinement. He now requested to lie on the bed, and that a kangaroo rug might be thrown over him: this done, he disentangled his arms and asked for water. The guard laid aside his gun to procure it; this Brady seized, and in his turn became captor. While bound, he reproached the man for his perfidy, who said that he could but die; and that there was neither God nor devil! But being now in Brady's power, he fell upon his knees, and prayed him, for God's sake, to spare his life. Brady reminded him, that he had just said, "there was no God;" but added, that the report of the gun might give warning of the state of affairs. He bade him beware of their next meeting, and departed. Afterwards, in company with his gang, he met this man, and holding a pistol to his head, told him to say his prayers: the man, finding remonstrance useless, coolly placed his head against the door of the hut, and said, "fire!" and was shot dead.

Permission being given for prisoners to unite with the bushrangers, to betray them, men in irons left the town secretly, joined the gang, and gave intelligence to the police. This manoeuvre was soon worn out. A prisoner, who escaped from gaol, desired to join them in good faith; but believing him a decoy, the gang adjudged him to suffer death. He was compelled to drink a quantity of laudanum: they then left him; but his stomach rejected the drug, and after a sound sleep he recovered. He again met Brady and his gang: two pistols were discharged at him: he fell, and was left for dead; but the wound was not mortal, and reviving he determined to deliver himself up. He was, however, again unfortunate: he met Brady and his companions once more, who again fired; but the bullet, instead of entering the skull, glanced round it. He fell senseless to the ground, and was thrown into a dry creek; he, however, recovered, and long survived these adventures.[171] The high authority on which this anecdote rests, is quite necessary to suppress the question of its truth.

During two years ending with 1826, one hundred and three persons suffered death, being 3 8-15ths in proportion to one thousand of the population: more than in Great Britain. He who looks at these statistics alone, will conclude not only that the people were wicked, but that the government was cruel. At one sitting of the court thirty-seven persons were sentenced to death; and of these, twenty-three were executed in the course of a fortnight: nine suffering together, and fourteen others on two days closely following. A sacrifice of life so unusual, could only be justified by the peculiar circumstances of the colony, and the character of the criminals; and the notions which then prevailed respecting the punishment of death.