Whatever details are omitted from the foregoing pages, nothing has been
withheld necessary to complete a colonial view of transportation. Errors
may doubtless be detected; but as they have not resulted from
carelessness or haste, it is hoped they will be found both unimportant
and rare.
The views expressed by various parties on the subject of transportation
are modified, or even wholly suggested by their interests. The English
peer rejoices that sixteen thousand miles of ocean divide him from the
"wretch" who entered on his preserves, or dragged his rivers, and is at
rest; the citizen is glad that one burglar less lives in his
neighbourhood, and considers that transportation is indispensible to the
safety of plate. The colonist farmer regards convictism as a labor
power; the working emigrant as a rival labor market; while the officers
in charge naturally cloak its evils and exalt its efficacy.
It is nearly impossible for a stranger to estimate the weight of
testimony, so prejudiced throughout, and nearly as impossible for a
writer, interested in the issue of its discussion, to preserve the
unclouded judgment required to arrive at truth. But little reliance can
be placed on official statistics: they give imperfect views of moral or
industrial results. They have often been compiled by government for
specific purposes, or by agents unworthy of confidence.
It may be proper to point out the chief difficulties which beset this
branch of penal jurisprudence. Some of these have been long noticed by
authorities on political philosophy. From Paley, to the latest
speculators on transportation, all have noticed its inequality. They
have dwelt on the uncertainty of its details--from the differing habits
and original condition of those subject to its infliction; and from the
absence of supervision, only to be expected where those who direct the
sentence secure its observance. The convict is condemned to a penalty
which may subject him to predial slavery, to capricious punishments; to
brutal taskmasters, and to the antipathies of a caste; or he may be
regarded with compassion, good-will, and even preference: the sting of
the law may be taken away, and what was a penalty may constitute a
brotherhood.
Thus it happens that no uniform description is a true one. What may
correctly delineate the aspect of transportation on one class, may be
false in reference to another; what may be facts one year, may be an
exaggeration in the year following. This inequality has been partly the
result of the law. The relation of the convict to the free has been
constantly changing. He was a bond servant; he was permitted to compound
his servitude by a daily payment; he was allowed to work partly for
himself and partly for the crown, at the same moment. He has been
restrained in government gangs; he has lodged in barracks, and worn the
coarsest dress, or he has lived in his own hired house. Sometimes
treated as a public enemy, chained, flogged, and over-worked; at others,
petted as a favorite or soothed like a child.
The public policy has depended on causes which have had little relation
to the individual character of convicts. A mild or severe governor, or
secretary of state; a great increase or decrease of numbers; the book of
some literary idler, or of an angry colonist; instances of extraordinary
good fortune, or an insurrection against tyranny; the fluctuations of
feeling at home, sometimes wrath against crime, sometimes compassion for
the criminal. Such are the causes, traced in the incessant agitation of
penal transportation.
Two incompatible objects have been always professedly
embraced--intimidation and reform; but while they have both animated the
scheme, they have struggled for the ascendancy, and the one or the other
has seemed to be the chief, if not sole, motive of government. The
Australian seal expressed the design of mercy: it was to oxen
ploughing--to bales of merchandise, and the various attributes of
industry, that Hope pointed the landing convict, when she broke off his
bonds. Fifty years after, Lord Stanley deemed many years spent in
chains, a just punishment for crimes against property, or others of no
deep dye.
The changes of systems have been usually based on facts and opinions,
elicited during those paroxysms of reform which occur generally once in
ten years. Thus the improvement of discipline; the efficiency of convict
labor; the several efforts to restrain its attendant vices; have
usually occurred when some old officer has been superseded; and others
have devoted to their novel duties the first vigour of their zeal.
The whole spirit and apparent object of convict discipline has been
revolutionised several times. In the vicissitudes of English factions a
new secretary of state has had power to sift and overturn the expedients
of a rival. It has rarely remained beyond a few months in one stay. For
four or six years, during the governorship of Colonel Arthur,
transportation reached its highest perfection. It was rendered uniform,
by the imperial confidence reposed in his judgment; more so by the
demand for labor, by the rapid influx of capital, and by the common
interest of the government, the colonist, and the well-doing prisoner.
It would be difficult to find half that period undisturbed under any
other ruler.
Many difficulties connected with transportation are created by natural
and social laws: full of mercy to the human race. The sufferings
inflicted by man cannot reform man: he cannot carry out the vengeance of
another, for wrongs he neither endured nor saw. His heart melts at the
sight of distress, and forgetting general principles, says, in the
absence of accusers, "neither do I condemn thee;" or if forgetful of a
common nature, he punishes with inflexible severity, while the iron
enters the soul of his brother his own heart is seared. Thus, again, a
nation cannot send away her criminals, and yet make their punishment
exemplary; she cannot detain them in masses, without rendering them a
scourge; she cannot discharge them to live under a clement sky and
amidst abundance, without meeting everywhere the reproaches of the
honest poor. Thus beset on every side, she is taught that crime is not
an excrescence to be cut off, but a disease to be cured; and that to
increase the comparative penalty of guilt, more than liberty must be
forfeited. She must offer something better to her paupers than the
benefits of disgraceful exile.
In reference to practical results, almost every theory may be sustained
by the records of transportation, if one class of facts only are
admitted into view. Thus it has been pronounced by men distinguished and
intelligent, as an expedient worthy an enlightened statesman, and
gratifying to the most ardent though scrupulous philanthropist; but they
have often omitted sections of facts which, resting on evidence not less
deserving regard, excite astonishment, disgust, and horror.
Whether the judgment of Governor Arthur was correct on the main
question, or not, he doubtless pointed out the great difficulty. His
words are well worthy remembrance:--"Sanguine as I am of the beneficial
results of transportation, and confident as I feel that it may be made
to surpass any other secondary punishment, both as relates to the
criminal and to the country from which he is banished,--I cannot lose
sight of many imperfections of our present system, some of which are
bottomed on a state of things which no human ingenuity can
rectify:--'you cannot make that straight which God hath made
crooked.'"[276]
A few men of the generation survive, which witnessed the departure of
the first fleet of convict vessels to a country then a wilderness, and
inhabited only by savages. The stranger, who lands where they first
pitched their tents, will survey the scene and consider the question of
transportation determined. The shipping which crowd the harbour; the
public and private buildings rivaling the architecture of Europe; the
spacious churches, filled with well-dressed families; the extensive
thoroughfare, thronged with business and equipages, and adorned with
elegant shops and offices; the courts of law; the public markets; the
London cries; the noise of the hustings; the debates of the assembly.
Such are the alleged results of transportation: as if by some vast
effort the people of an old country had transferred the seat of empire,
and were collecting all that art could devise and wealth could bring.
Should the visitor extend his enquiries, he will find vessels trading to
many neighbouring and kindred cities. They all owe their existence to
that first fleet. Sometimes they repudiate their origin; but they bear
evidence that their giant youth has learned from the experience, and
risen in part under the auspices of the great convict country. Should
the traveller extend his travels to Van Diemen's Land, he will hear the
same tale of penal transportation, and its wondrous effects in former
times. He will pass over a road made after scientific plans, and bridges
of costly structure. He will see orchards, in which mingle the blossom
of the cherry, the apple, the pear, and the peach; and gardens green
with British vegetation. This successful spread of the English name,
language, commerce, and power, has required less than the life of man.
Many survive, who were born when the first sod of Australia was turned
by the hoe of a banished Briton. The man even now seen sauntering
along, chained and moving sullenly to labor, is but a continuation of
that army who first broke in on the solitude of a new world; laid the
first foundation, and planted the first field.
Should the traveller still extend his enquiry, his astonishment and
delight will not be diminished. The swarms of children rushing from a
village school participate the blood of men, some of whom were once a
terror to society, or of women who were its reproach. In the lists of
religious societies, commercial companies, jurors, magistrates, will be
found traces of their lineage. What could hope have anticipated beyond
these realities!
But the connection between these successes and transportation, is rather
co-incidental than of cause and effect. Were it supposed that seventy
years would have elapsed prior to the occupation of these countries, but
for transportation, the advantage must be calculated not by actual
achievements but the value of that advanced starting point, which
colonisation now possesses. It is not improbable that colonisation would
have commenced at a much earlier date: the first ships of free settlers
would have been more intelligent; their attention to the resources of
the country more earnest. The second quarter of a century had half
expired, when the Blue Mountains ceased to be a barrier to the colonists
of New South Wales. The dawning of a new world must have attracted the
national mind, had not an unexampled society, abandoned to vice and
crime, appeared to the people an object of dread and horror.
The progress of the colonies, until 1830, cannot be considered rapid.
The first settlers were, individually, prosperous: many emancipists were
wealthy; but for the rest, their houses were mean, their commercial
arrangements pedling and insignificant; their public buildings generally
miserable. It is from the date of emigration that progress has been
conspicuous: and that date is but recent--a progress in a ratio vastly
greater than any previous cycle. The great colonies of Port Phillip and
South Australia, before that time, were hardly in existence.
If, indeed, no capital had been introduced; no whalers collected the
treasures of the deep; no free emigrant arrived; no free colonies
erected; then the improvements of this quarter of the globe might be
ascribed to penal laws; but they have the same relation to its present
prosperity as the numerous parts of an edifice have to each other--not
such as of the oak to the acorn. When, therefore, it is stated that
transportation has been the making of these colonies, it should be
rather said it was the cause of their establishment. The outlay of the
crown, although great, has been small compared with the outlay of the
people. The chief settlers of the convict colonies were capitalists;
they gave themselves to cultivation, which, in most instances, has
involved them. Agriculturists are poor: it is the shepherd prince who is
rich. He may be benefited a few score pounds by labor artificially
supplied; but nature is the great patron of his house.
The chief connexion between transportation and progress is in the
government outlay; but that has been less than apparent; it has often
been the mere difference between an English and a colonial price; it has
been attended with great consumption without equal re-production. It has
sometimes had no other effect than foreign commerce on the places of
depot and transit. The price of labor, when labor was chiefly supplied
by transportation, was often very high. Thus a farmer found one man with
rations and clothing; but a person, working in the same field, received
L30, L40, or even L60 per annum. The price of labor was therefore often,
on the whole, sufficient to absorb the capital of the employer.
There are many wealthy landowners, who are, however, the sole
representatives of those numerous fortunes lost by London firms in these
colonies. The court of insolvency made that which was foreign, colonial
property. The rich freights sent from Europe, when not wasted by an
extravagant consumption, were really exchanged for land improved, and
finally disappeared from the ledger of the merchant. It remains--not as
the result of convict labor, but as the dividend of an expenditure which
shews more loss than gain.
The value of convict labor has been generally overestimated. "The day
that sees a man a slave, deprives him of half his worth." The employers,
as a class, are uniformly poor. Slave labor in America is dearer than
free, although it implies no moral degradation.[277] What then could be
expected from bondmen of the same colour as their lords; whose
resentment and indolence combined to prevent their usefulness. It may be
safely affirmed, that the employer who gained by his servants, not only
watched, but paid them.[278] Instances may be found in opposition to
this conclusion: the great employers, who reduced their men by an
unrelenting pressure, were few in number; and their advantages were of
brief duration.[279]
The ordinary settlers purchased convict labor at great sacrifices, which
they never estimated. They lived in woods, often without religious
instruction, medical attendance, and in want of those refinements which
can be realised only when the stern features of the wilderness are
softened by neighbourhood and civilisation. Who can value the toil and
time, and wear and tear of life, in bringing the stubborn, ignorant, and
vicious to drive the plough and reap the harvest. Other colonists, in
other lands, with less capital, but with free labor, have thriven
faster; and attained a prosperity far less compromised by debt, and far
more durable.
A very great quantity of property has been destroyed by crime and vice.
It is commonly said that theft merely changes ownership, and does not
detract from the aggregate of wealth; but the thief is not only idle,
his expenditure is reckless; he wastes more than he consumes.
Many colonists of former years spoke of the arrival of prisoners with
gladness, and seemed to regard the punctual supply of a certain but
increasing number as a boon. The minds of these persons usually dwelt
solely on the advantage of coercive labor, of military and prison
expenditure, and the prisoner was regarded as a "productive power."
When ashamed of sordid calculation, they discovered a defence in the
blessedness of expatriation to the offender. His food was greater in
quantity, and better in quality, than he could obtain by industry in a
crowded country. His liberty restored, fortune became often auspicious,
and the temptation, to rude roguery ceased. He took his side with the
laws; he married, and educated his children; he attended the house of
God, and became serious; he rivalled his master in liberality and public
spirit. Multitudes died in hospitals and in prisons; but they were
forgotten, and the fortunate only were conspicuous.
The public works performed by convict labor, though sometimes extensive
and important, will appear inconsiderable, if compared with the imperial
or colonial cost. The deep cuts and massive bridges, which please the
eye, are yet disproportionate to the traffic, and produce no adequate
return. The proportion between free and bond labor, is as 2 and 3 to 1.
Task labor has been commonly found incompatible with discipline, or
liable to favoritism and official dishonesty: the overseer
"approximates" or guesses, when not inclined to reckon. Day work is
still less satisfactory: the pick is slowly uplifted, and descends
without effect. The body bends and goes through hours of ineffectual
motion; or if the rigour of discipline renders evasion penal, the
triangles disgrace a civilised nation, and the colony is filled with
violence and vengeance. Yet convict labor has, generally, been deemed
important to an infant settlement; to secure a combination, without
which preliminary stages of colonisation are slowly passed. Such has
been its undoubted use; but who, with the prodigies of modern enterprise
before him, will assign to bond labor a peculiar efficacy, or doubt that
well directed capital can ensure all that force can effect.
The industrial enterprises of the crown have been utterly unsuccessful:
they have been the laughter of the colony. Examples might be given in
abundance; but it is needless to prove what has been never disputed.
Convicts have been employed by the authorities as ship-builders, masons,
hop-growers, and cultivators; but the general results would have
involved any less opulent proprietor in ruin.
Nearly 120,000 prisoners have landed in these colonies; of these, the
major part have passed into eternity. Thousands have died in chains;
thousands and tens of thousands perished by strong drink. Their domestic
increase, compared with equal numbers of free persons, is
insignificant--partly by the effects of vice, and in part by the
impracticability of marriage: they melt from the earth, and pass away
like a mournful dream. In every parochial burial-ground there is a large
section of graves, where not a tomb records who slumber there.
The nursery is the natural hive of arts and agriculture. The sons of the
farmer, when they commit him to the dust, occupy his fields, and the
little one becomes a thousand. There are several families in this
colony, more than were the sons of Jacob when he lodged in Goshen; but
convicts, for the most part, die childless.
In delineating the character of an exile population, a broad line must
be drawn between the accidental offender and the hereditary robber. To
the first no special description will be applicable: they are often not
inferior to the ranks from which they sprung. Though a small section of
the whole, they present not the least affecting picture among the many
sad sights of a penal land. In the folly and recklessness of youth they
lost at once their fame, their honor, and their freedom. The statesman
may behold only a mass of outcasts; but among them are many whose names
are the burden of a father's prayer, or are traced in deep lines of
sorrow on a mother's breaking heart.
Transportation confounds men of entirely distinct character in one
common penalty. Thus every variety of disposition, and every grade in
life may be discovered. A proportion, certainly not considerable, obtain
the respect and influence due to benevolence, integrity, successful
toil: a much larger number exhibit only the common faults of uneducated
men, and acquire the common confidence suited to their original station.
The character of convicts cannot be safely inferred from their sentence.
Thus highway robbers were not unfrequently the best conducted men: they
exhibited a courage and resolution which, directed aright, became useful
to society and to themselves. The petty thief, often detected in his
least offence, proved incapable of shame or gratitude. To an English
reader, preference expressed by masters for persons under heavy
sentences, would appear inexplicable; but it was founded, not on length
of servitude alone, but a not uncommon superiority of disposition. Those
transported for agrarian offences and political crimes, were often
honest men. The rustic insurgents of 1832, were considered valuable
servants. The Canadian prisoners conducted themselves with exemplary
decorum.
Among those who belong to the class of habitual offenders, a large
proportion are intellectually deficient. These unfortunate beings
regularly return to crime on their discharge; incapable of resisting
temptation: while prisoners, they are perpetually involved in
difficulties. A very bad man will pass through the different stages of
his sentence without reproach, while the weak-minded are involved in
endless infractions of discipline and successive punishments. Nothing
retards the release of the artful villain when his time is expired,
while the warm and incautious, but better man, accumulates a catalogue
of prison penalties.
The most civil and useless prisoners are the Irish: the most base and
clever are the Scotch. They stand in different relations to the law: the
Scotchman violates his own judgment, and offends, against knowledge; the
Irish peasant unites a species of patriotism with his aggressions.
The modern convict is, in some respects, better than his predecessor;
less ruthless, or prone to atrocious violence. Civilisation has extended
its mollifying influence, even to the professional robber. On the other
hand, in former times, men were transported for very trivial offences:
poaching, with its consequences, formed the leading crimes of the
English counties; yet many poachers were otherwise first-rate men, both
in disposition and physical development. The modern convicts are, more
generally, criminals in the popular sense. The abolition of capital
punishments, and the erection of penitentiaries at home, left the
penalty of transportation chiefly to more serious offences.
The tendency to particular crimes is often curiously displayed.
Prisoners are safe amidst scenes which present no allurements adapted to
their former habits: the pickpocket is perfectly trusty as a shepherd;
the housebreaker makes a confidential dairy-man. Old temptations are
fatal: even the stealing particular goods seems a special propensity. A
woman, lately convicted of stealing blankets, who was originally
transported for blanket-stealing, had twice stolen the same article in
the colony. It is, of course, in the same department that the robber,
the coiner, or the receiver of Europe, resumes in Australia his
antagonism to the laws. These characteristics are happily often
obliterated and overpowered.
The Christian will not doubt that reformation is possible, and that many
once neglected and unfortunate, placed under the guidance and encouraged
by the countenance of benevolent men, acquire both the principles and
habits of ordinary society. The affections of domestic life are all
awakened. The parent feels a new interest in the world: his share in the
common prosperity excites the sentiment of patriotism. He promotes his
children's education with unusual care; but it is at this stage of life
that his heart endures a pang which legislators never contemplated.
The occasional prosperity of the transported person has been the
opprobrium of the laws. He rises above his former condition; becomes a
master where he was a bondman; patronises public amusements, and rides
in his chariot past the pedestrian who received him in bonds. Great
changes in condition are common everywhere: but transportation presents
the whole career of the exile, from the bar to the civic hall, as parts
of the one drama. A pardoned offender is lost in the population of Great
Britain. Were the changes in his fortune noticed, it would occasion no
reflection on the laws; but when numbers ascend under the same auspices,
their prosperity is flagrant, and stands in ludicrous contrast with the
predictions of the magistrate, who opened up a field of successful
enterprise when he pronounced the sentence of transportation.
The colonial aspect of transportation is, to a British statesman, a
secondary question: thus the injury of a distant community is of
inconsiderable importance. If the expatriated classes carry out with
them their ignorance, disorder, and crime, they retard the progress and
destroy the reputation of a distant country, but the nation may still be
satisfied: she may balance the evil and the good, and find herself the
gainer. The colony is injured; but the parent country is saved. Thus
transportation not only removes the habitual criminal, it extinguishes
the embers of insurrection: it prevents the dreaded war between property
and poverty, and silently withdraws a mass of dangerous discontent.
Of those transported a great proportion, if in England, would be in
prisons; or, if at large, preying on the world--following their old
calling, as burglars, coiners, and sheep-stealers. They would be active
incendiaries and anarchists: they would be out at every riot, and by
throwing their numbers into the scale of sedition, overturn all order,
and even change the constitution. Such have been the conclusions of
English statesmen: perhaps, partly founded on their fears, or stated for
effect; but not wholly unsupported by analogy.
While some exhibit a convict colony as depraved beyond all examples of
depravation, others lower the standard of human virtue, and not only
extenuate its evils but magnify its worth. It was asserted by Lord
Stanley, that the feeling of caste guarded the habits of the free. A
view so flattering to human pride could hardly fail to be confessed;
but, in fact, familiarity with crime, although it may not corrupt the
judgment, must abate the moral sensibility. No colonist can forget his
shudder at the first spectacle of men in chains: none can be unconscious
that the lapse of years has deadened the sense of social disorder. It
has, indeed, made many doubly circumspect, and awakened a peculiar
interest in the ordinances of religion. Nor is it to be doubted that
many expirees, disgusted with the enormities of vice, have, under the
same feeling, contributed to set up the indispensable land-marks of
honesty and religion.
Never were families guarded with more care, or efforts to educate the
population more earnest, than during the inundation of the probation
system. The external decorum of the Sabbath, the general attendance of
the free inhabitants on worship, would go far to countenance the idea
that the place of peril is the place of caution and prayer.
Ministers of the crown are, or profess to be, astonished that when the
freed population increases, and the territory is explored, a country,
still needing labor, should object to the prisoner supply; but the
slave-holding interest expires, when immense numbers can be held no
longer by a few: the common views of mankind re-assert their ascendancy.
All, save employers, are hostile to degraded labor; employers themselves
become less interested as masters than as colonists.
But transportation to one country cannot continue for ever. The causes
which suggest the exile of offenders will occasion their rejection:
money or labor may bribe the settler to become an overseer for the
crown; but from the beginning he will calculate on a nobler vocation. A
considerable community cannot be tempted by convict labor: and the
numbers who regain liberty are enemies to the social state they have
escaped. Fathers, who for themselves dreaded no dangers, tremble for
their children: the adventurer becomes a citizen; a merchant, a
politician: and the time approaches, when the same causes which induced
the parent country to send the first convict vessel, will impel the
colony to send back the last.
The late expedient of Earl Grey, is the trial of a scheme long present
before his imagination.[280] Its rejection by the Australian continent
has limited the experiment to Van Diemen's Land, where resistance is
unavailing. It is the last achievement of penal philosophy, and will
ascertain how long one small portion of the earth can receive the
liberated masses, gathered by the penal laws of a mighty empire!
The ticket man lands; the colony is crowded with his predecessors; the
colonists consider his arrival a grievance; the government, ignorant or
careless of his fate, cast him into new temptations. Under such a plan
the emigrant is gradually superseded by the exile population: the
emancipated laborer is expelled by a fresh ticket holder. The
country-born youth finds himself unable to live in his native land. The
tone of public morals follows the prevailing spirit: crime is currently
spoken of merely as a fault or a misfortune; the press teams with
vicious sentimentalism; the administration of justice becomes more
uncertain, perjury more common; the reputation of the colony is formed
from the census, and the land becomes a by-word and a hissing.
Such, then, is the scheme which originated in philanthropy; such the
practical result of years of laborious inquiry and official debate!
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 276: Despatch of Colonel Arthur to Right. Hon. E. G. Stanley,
March 10, 1834.]
[Footnote 277: "On the left bank of the Ohio the population is rare.
From time to time one descries a troop of slaves loitering in the
half-deserted fields, the primaeval forest recurs at every turn: society
seems to be asleep. From the right bank, on the contrary, a confused hum
is heard, which proclaims the presence of industry. The elegance of the
dwellings announces the taste and activity of the laborer: in the end,
the slave has cost more than the free man."--_Tocqueville_, vol. ii. p.
222.]
[Footnote 278: Murdoch's evidence, 1837.]
[Footnote 279: It is a curious fact that, generally, the most severe
government officials were reckoned the most indulgent of masters.]
[Footnote 280: The following question, put by Earl Grey (then Lord
Howick), and answer, given by James Macarthur, Esq., appears in the
evidence taken before a committee of the House of Commons, 1837:--
"Q. Suppose, instead of the present system of transportation, criminals
were to be punished in England with a certain number of years'
imprisonment, and after that to be banished to New South Wales, were
there to be placed under the surveillance of the police, in the same
manner as ticket-of-leave men, what do you think would be the effect of
such a system?
"A. I conceive that the effect would be, in a modified shape, the same
as that of continuing transportation."--_Report of Commons_, 1837, p.
218.]
HISTORY OF TASMANIA
CONCLUSION.
CONCLUSION.
The history of Tasmania is a type of the Australian world. The events
recorded in these volumes represent the policy, modified slightly, which
has everywhere prevailed. The author has however rarely attempted
generalization, and has represented every fact in its independent
colors. Thus an evil pursued to its source might have been avoidable by
greater forethought and care, or it may have been the inevitable issue
of a system upon the whole beneficial and therefore just.
For many years the government of these colonies was absolute: could it
be otherwise? A company of exiles, overawed by dissolute soldiery,
interspersed here and there with few persons of a superior class, could
only be governed by despotism. It might have been legalised instead of
tolerated by the parliament, and it might have been less offensive to
the spirit of liberty. But to have trusted a few proprietors with
legislation or a share of the executive authority, could have only
created a tyranny more grievous.
The comparison between the early colonists of America, at least those of
the northern states, and the founders of Australia, must quickly run off
into a contrast. The primary object of the Pilgrim Fathers, was the
enjoyment of opinions in peace. The early denizens of the southern world
burned their first church to escape the tedium of attendance. The first
pilgrims of New England attempted a community of goods on the plan of
the apostles. The first Australians drew their stores from the
commissariat, and adopted the traditions of Houndsditch and Wapping. The
leaders of the first Americans were their clergy,--the bible was their
political and civil standard. The rulers of the first Australians were
half marine, half soldiers, whose pay was supplemented by the sale of
spirits sold by convict women, their mistresses. Thus for many years
the government of these colonies was absolute, and the usual
consequences sometimes appeared.
Were a judgment to be formed however of the spirit of colonial
government by a severe examination of its early frame-work, erroneous
conclusions would be drawn. In the worst times the sentiments and habits
of Englishmen tempered the operation of power. Settlers fresh from
English society could not discard the opinions and principles cherished
in Great Britain; nor could the rulers of the day forget that their
conduct would be judged, not by the standard of continental despotisms,
but by British systems of government. The establishment of British
courts of justice and the protection of English laws have been found
with few exceptions an impenetrable shield. The chief examples of
official wrong have been generally connected with the misappropriation
of public resources rather than invasions of personal liberty. How
different the despotism of a Spanish viceroy and the sternest rule of a
British governor! For the last twenty years cases of aggravated
oppression have been exceedingly rare. The genius of British freedom has
ever overshadowed the British colony, and awed the despotic ruler, while
it has encouraged and sheltered the feeblest colonist. The great defect
in official men has been their superciliousness and indolence, rather
than their tyranny, and the popular governors of this hemisphere have
gained the public esteem by their manners rather than their ability. A
genial temper and a feeling heart rarely failed to conciliate the
multitude, while distinguished talents have lost their immediate
influence when in union with a harsh, contemptuous, and fiery
spirit.[281]
For many years the press has exercised a powerful influence on the
affairs of government, and left no avenue of escape to official
ignorance and corruption. Even when jurors were selected by governors,
the most unmeasured denunciations were poured forth without fear of
prosecution. Associations for the redress of grievances have carried
their organizations to the very verge of constitutional order. A
democratic state certainly would never have tolerated the discussion of
its principles and authority in feeble dependencies. But the British
government, secure in its power and serenely conscious of its ability to
check an intrusion on its just authority, has encouraged rather than
repressed the freedom of public discussion and combination. The local
rulers, instructed by their superiors, have long permitted even the
licentiousness of the press. The strength of the empire justified and
accounted for its tolerance. There is no tyranny so watchful as that of
fear, and no cruelty so relentless as that of factions who struggle for
existence.
The non-dependence of the government on the people has united the
colonists in one body. It has been the colony against England, and not
tories against whigs. In America the powers of self-government were too
often seized by a faction, and a political opposition, even in a most
moderate form, was stigmatised as felony and punished as treason. But in
the Australias the colonists have expended their rage on a distant
office, and in their real or imaginary sufferings have felt a sympathy
for each other. The ascendancy of a faction in a small community is the
reign of terror, and might soon lead those who value their personal
freedom to regret the most sensitive and unscrupulous vice-regal
despotism.
The spirit of colonial government, however, has been sensibly affected
by the policy of Great Britain. The enlargement of popular freedom at
home has relaxed the severity of colonial rule. For every considerable
amelioration the colony has been indebted to the whigs. They gave trial
by jury: they stopped white slavery in the Australian colonies, and thus
in the end transportation. They placed religious denominations on an
equal footing: they introduced the sale of land, for the purposes of
immigration: they granted first to New South Wales, and since to all the
colonies, the legislative assemblies which now watch over their rising
liberties. In the days of a Castlereagh or a Bathurst, England possessed
far less practical freedom than her colonies now enjoy. It is impossible
to prevent the contagion of opinions, and the colonies may see in the
growing intelligence and spirit of the United Kingdom the assurance of
their own gradual advancement in the ranks of freedom. In this respect
Australia is more happily conditioned than was once her American sister.
The colonies of that continent were in advance of the parent country.
The royal government not only detested their institutions as democratic,
but as a standing reproach to the maxims of domestic policy. Thus, the
appearance of a royal governor was ominous to their liberties. He came
to entrap, to report, and to betray them. They had to hide their
charters, to preserve them from violent abduction; and to threaten
insurrection as the alternative of liberty. Whatever Australasia gains
she will attain with the approbation of English statesmen. She will look
to the spirit of the times as the guardian of her rights. While
privileged exclusiveness is in Great Britain crumbling to the dust, it
cannot be that the middle classes will impose upon the necks of infant
colonies the burdens they themselves abhor.
In seeking the improvement of colonial government, a prudent colonist
will guard against the extravagance of theory. It is true that the
people are the best judges of their own interests, but not that the
interests of all colonists are uniform, or that they are capable of
impartially disposing of all the incipient interests of the colonial
state. Their covetousness as landholders might absorb the inheritance of
the nation--their ambition as citizens contract the franchises of the
humbler classes. The most strenuous opponents of Downing-street have
denounced most fiercely the extension of the popular power. Mr.
Wentworth, whose services in the cause of Australian freedom have
immortalized his name, is yet a lictor when he turns towards the
multitude, and a tribune only when he faces the seat of authority. His
defiance of Earl Grey was pronounced nearly the same time that he
imprecated vengeance on the Sydney democracy. The most strenuous
educated advocates of self-government are not yet prepared to carry out
their principles to their utmost limits. If the people have reason to
dislike the autocracy of Downing-street, they would find no amelioration
in the ascendency of an oligarchy which would divide the universe into
sheep walks for the benefit of flockmasters, and convert the residue of
mankind into shepherds. True liberty is a compromise, and if a small
community would prevent faction from establishing a tyranny, it must
exchange some advantages for a control which defends while it restrains.
Thus the claim of responsible government, and the appointment of
officers chosen from the colonial ranks, though favorite projects, and
certain finally to prevail, require a considerable growth before they
could be useful. Our functionaries hold their office at the pleasure of
the crown and thus survive the confidence of the assemblies; but evils
of another class would issue from an opposite system. Official men,
always fearful of defeat, would strengthen their position by the most
desperate use of their power, and a dozen voices would decide. Thus
family compacts would be formed, and cliques and cabals would finally
determine the distribution of office. For this the Americans have found
a remedy in the meagre pay of those who occupy their highest situations.
Ambition is moderated by its unrequited toils, and the public business
chiefly carried on by paid servants of humble designations. But were
thousands a year the prize of a successful opposition, not better men,
but worse than the nominees of the crown might be expected to climb or
creep into the seat of government.
In looking down the lists of colonists who have most largely benefited
their adopted country many would be found who were appointed from home
to fill offices they have long since quitted. Nor would it be just to
deny that they have largely contributed to whatever has elevated the
taste and improved the social condition of these countries. For some
time to come the appointment of well-educated Englishmen, though not to
the exclusion of Australians, would be desirable, unless the recent
discovery of gold should rapidly augment the population, and thus extend
the basis of government and the number from which its officers may be
chosen. The feelings of the colonists have, indeed, been too often
violated by the scandalous multiplication of offices and the utter
incompetence of those who have filled them. But a community little more
than half a century old cannot be entitled to denounce Englishmen as
foreigners, or to complain that strangers usurp the rights of the
country-born. A wise administration of local patronage, without
distinctions which are unnatural and absurd, would strengthen the hands
of the executive and satisfy the reason of the people.
The future independence of the Australian colonies is written in the
book of fate; but the inevitable change may be long postponed with
advantage to themselves. A superior power is desirable to regulate their
development, and to preserve at once their order and their freedom. The
reins of government, if snatched from vice-regal hands, would not
immediately fall into those more worthy. The love of order is too strong
in the English breast to tolerate anarchy, and whatever changes
transpire the public voice would pronounce in favor of a strong and
regular administration. But since life is short, no wise man would wish
to waste a considerable portion in passing through the disorders of a
revolution to gain the mere name of a State. The royal government may
redress every grievance, and the colonist may turn with confidence to
the seat of empire for the accomplishment of every municipal change
requisite to advance the country of his adoption. But were independence
desirable in itself, the colonists would, notwithstanding, calculate
its cost. Those who have pretended that England does not prize her
colonies, know little of her temper: her colonies are her pride, her
ornament, and her strength. One day she will lose them; but that day
will be a day of mourning and humiliation.
The discussion of this question by the metropolitan press, and the
predictions of parliamentary statesmen, have induced many ardent minds
to anticipate an early realization. These prophecies are but the weapons
of party which would disappear in the presence of real danger; one voice
would be heard proclaiming the rights of Great Britain. To her power
what could Australia at present oppose? The American revolutionists had
an army: they had thrust out the Indians and beaten the French, and
their national character was deepened by the political and religious
sentiments in which they had been cradled. But Australia has not a
soldier or a gun. Her population may quickly reach the three millions
numbered by the Americans at the era of independence; but she has not
the habits of Americans--she has not their country, their forests, their
frozen rivers, their terrible snows. England, when America resisted,
hired a few German troops to assist her own feeble army. Since then she
has conquered Napoleon, subdued India, and established her military
power in every region of the world. Whether the mutual interests of
Great Britain and her colonies are sufficient to bind them together may
be a question at issue. Independence may be desired; but it is well to
remember that those who will attain it must fight for it, and that in
this war they will not only contend with the most benign and just, but
with the most powerful government on the earth. England will not permit
her ministers to oppress the colonies; but would hazard the last
regiment rather than lose the colonial empire.
The British government will not, if wise, rely on any abstract
principles of loyalty, or conclude too confidently that no attempt will
be successful. The distance of the central power; the peculiar structure
of colonial societies; the mountainous regions of Van Diemen's Land and
New Holland, where small bodies could resist all the armies of the
world; the possibility of foreign sympathy: all these are considerations
proper to moderate imperial confidence, and to teach that the integrity
of the empire is only safe in the unity of interest and affection.[282]
The colonies have every motive for preferring the British rule to any
other; yet the contingencies of war may expose them to extraordinary
sufferings. Foreign nations would scarcely attempt a permanent
occupation; but the cities which contain half the inhabitants, and more
than half the moveable wealth, might be successfully assailed, pillaged,
and easily destroyed. Thus, a powerful European state may expose her
distant colonies to the calamities once endured by those of Spain. Such
may be the expectation of the Australias. When they are required to
support armies for their defence it will be felt that these are
necessary chiefly because they are united with an empire whose interests
are complicated with every government in the world.
To strengthen the authority of the British crown no measure would be
more effectual than a federal union of these colonies. They require a
senate exalted by station above the influences of mere localism, and
capable of holding in check individual ambition. Statesmen, gathered
from the various colonies, would restrain and moderate each other. The
highest questions of colonial government being confided to their care,
they would leave the internal improvement of the districts to be pursued
by the local legislative assemblies. The state and expense of colonial
governments, which now maintain distinct departments in each colony,
assuming all but imperial style, might then be abated. Monetary
establishments find no difficulty in conducting their affairs under a
general inspectorship assisted by a local direction. The American
states, by remitting all great questions to the federal government, are
sustained at less cost than the branch establishments of the Bank of
Australasia. It is true that a federal union would increase the
importance of the colonies among nations, and contract the power of the
ministry to a distant superintendence: it would, however, prevent many
of the evils of political dependence, and secure to Great Britain all
the advantages of imperial authority so long as it shall last.
It is infinitely important that intelligent and upright men should
occupy their true position in public affairs. A reluctance to face the
virulent and brutal opposition of low adventurers must be naturally felt
by every refined and educated man. The future character of these
colonies will, however, depend on the courage and perseverance of the
respectable classes. The widest extension of suffrage cannot be long
resisted, and qualifications for office founded on property will
inevitably break down. But the reputable and intelligent will be able to
command the public mind if they think it worth while to instruct and
conciliate it. Religious men must no longer avoid the strife of the
hustings as inconsistent with piety, or set the claims of religion in
opposition to the obligation of the citizen. Both are in reality one;
and while churches in their corporate capacity stand best when they are
most distant from the arena of politics, it is the duty of all who
reverence the Almighty's will and regard the welfare of mankind, to
devote themselves to the social and political amelioration of society.
Personal character and social position are distinct elements of
political power. The Queen of England and her illustrious husband are
instead of armies: wherever they have moved they shed light and
pleasure, not only through the mansions of the rich but the cottages of
the poor. The theoretical republican is compelled to doubt whether an
example so valuable may not be worth all the cost and prerogatives of
royalty.
The settlers of Australia are as diversified in their habits as in their
origin. Many in Van Diemen's Land are retired officers of the army and
navy, masters of merchantmen, and persons of respectable connexions. The
squatters of Port Phillip are a superior class, although their habits
will require time to recover from the deteriorating action of bush life.
The middle classes constitute the most influential body in South
Australia. The German race are largely interspersed in the colonies of
South Australia and Port Phillip. As they acquire the language they
separate. Their condition improves more rapidly by diffusion, and their
villages are rather asylums than homes. As might be expected the
prevailing spirit of the colonies is democratic: the democracy of the
middle classes, not of the mob. There are no permanent springs of crime:
the instinct of order, everywhere powerful, cannot but be strong where
society is prosperous.
The social prospects of the colonists, though not without omens of ill,
will not discourage the political philosopher. The various races are not
sufficiently distinct to prevent an easy amalgamation. Nationality,
whether of Germans, Irish, Scotch, or English, insensibly loses its
political character. Hostile traditions cannot be naturalised in a new
land: all respectable men condemn the revival of ancient feuds, and they
will soon disappear for ever.
More fortunate in this respect than America, in these regions no African
slavery exists--the brother will not sell his sister, or the father his
son. The temporary inconvenience of transportation will leave no deep
indent on colonial society; but the black brand of slavery is indelible.
The liberality and generosity of the Australians has been remarked by
every stranger. In prosperous times money is at command for every
project which professes to do good, and suffering is instantly relieved
by bounty which is sometimes extravagant. The loss of a vessel a few
years ago afforded an instance of this. The utmost latitude of
beneficence could not exhaust the immense sum (L1,200) contributed to
make good the personal losses of a few passengers and seamen. The
liberality of the hand is here unrestrained by religious antipathies.
Bigotry assumes the character of ill temper and puffing. Two parrots in
Philadelphia trained to polemics were set over against each other, one
crying all day, "there can be no church without a prelate;" the other,
"there can be a church without a prelate;" the passengers were divided
in opinion, but laughing walked on. Such is colonial life.
No believer in the glorious destinies of the Anglo-Saxon race can look
upon the events of the last three years without wonder and hope. The
American and British empires are seated on all waters; the old and new
worlds are filled with the name and fame of England and her children.
The lands conquered by Caesar, those discovered by Columbus, and those
explored by Cook, are now joined together in one destiny. There are
indeed peculiarities in the various branches of the Anglo-Saxon race;
but they are only the varieties of the same family, conscious of eternal
unities. How awfully grand are their prospects. America attracted by
gold has pushed forward her commercial pioneers, not only to the
extremity of her territories, but to all the islands of the Pacific. The
discovery of gold in California was scarcely less momentous to the
Australasian than to the American continent. They are now our nearest
neighbours: their markets are affected by our own; their territory
offers the quickest transit to Europe; every hour will develop the
immense importance of this contiguity--that passage across the isthmus
of Panama, once represented as the last achievement reserved for
commerce and science in their highest maturity, has already been
assured. The common interest of trading nations will strengthen the
securities of peace, diffuse civilisation among the thousand islands of
the Pacific, and facilitate the extension of Christian knowledge in the
remotest portions of the earth. England, the parent--no longer the
exclusive centre of Anglo-Saxon civilisation--will find auxiliaries only
less powerful than herself in a work once entirely her own.
An impetus has been given to the Australian colonies by the discovery of
still richer gold fields than those of California. In six months, more
than two millions in value has been taken from the surface of the earth
by laborers unskilled in the process, and who have perhaps wasted more
than they have secured. The riches which remain scattered over many
hundred miles can only be appropriated by the state as they flow through
the coffers of commerce. A period cannot be imagined when the precious
metal will be exhausted.
The interest excited in Europe by the discovery of new mineral wealth,
is chiefly important from its tendency to change the current of
emigration to these regions--certainly unsurpassed and scarcely equalled
in the world. Here, under a tropical sun, no fever rages; here
indigenous diseases are unknown; even those so fatal in Europe rarely
visit this hemisphere. The small pox, the measles, and various other
disorders fatal to infancy are only occasionally seen, and are scarcely
ever mortal. No miasma arises from the marshes: no decaying vegetation
poisons the virgin soil. The clement skies and light atmosphere
stimulate and confirm the health. Whether long life is the gift of this
quarter of the globe is hardly yet determined. Those of middle age who
land here find their constitutions recruited; but the country-born come
more quickly to maturity. It is probable, however, that the highest
average of human life will be attained: fewer will die in infancy,
perhaps a smaller proportionate number reach old age.
If the productions of these countries are considered, they will be still
more attractive than other unoccupied regions. Nature has multiplied her
gifts with a liberal hand. It were more easy to enumerate those that are
wanting than those that exist. Gold, silver, iron, copper, coal, and
every variety of stone are included in our geological wealth. All the
fruits of the tropics and of the most temperate lands may be easily
brought to the same table. Taking Tasmania and Port Phillip as the
central regions; on the right and on the left the fertile earth yields
every variety of European fruits, until the meridian is reached where
the sugar cane and cotton tree flourish. It is true, that some other
lands present more comparative fertility, but the Australias contain
sufficient alluvial soils to satisfy the wants of millions. Washington
raised but twenty bushels of wheat per acre in his paternal lands of
Virginia. The intelligent Australian farmer often far exceeds that
quantity even with imperfect cultivation. Nor is there a season of the
year when he cannot toil, or one when the garden is wholly unproductive.
But if the position of Australia in relation to the rest of the world be
surveyed, the prospect is still more brilliant. An Englishman measures
distance from his native land, and thus his pardonable vanity fixes the
Australias at the extremity of the earth. But such is not the real
position of New Holland. In reference to the most populous and fertile,
or the most ancient and opulent,[283] it has been compared to the frog
or soft part of a horse's foot in relation to the outline of the hoof.
With the face turning to the north, America is on the right, Asia and
Africa on the left. Great Britain, the parent land, is far more distant
from most of those mighty regions which feed her commerce and sustain
her strength than her Australian colonies. They will soon meet her
vessels on every shore. Steam navigation will flourish on the Pacific
ocean not less than on the rivers of America. The eye that scans the
future, guided by calculation rather than fancy, sees the ports of
Australia thronged with steamers, or follows them traversing every sea
and ocean, and bringing from every city of the civilised world both
merchandise and men.
Thus the progress of the next quarter of a century will be multiplied by
its years.
When North America separated from Great Britain, she exported not much
more than four millions in value per annum. Australia already exports
not less.[284] The commerce of England with her Australian colonies is
without parallel. History affords no example of such rapid advancement;
and this not as the result of protective laws, or of remarkable
intelligence or enterprise, but as the fruit of that boundless opulence
scattered by the hand of nature and gathered with unexampled facility.
The merchant laments the paucity of navigable streams. Yet there are
rivers of many hundred miles extent, which will ultimately be available
to commerce. The engineer of Europe would laugh at difficulties opposed
by stones, and trees, and marshes. Population will one day justify the
improvement by art of what nature has only partially accomplished. But
in the level plains of the Australias there is a compensation for this
deficiency. Hundreds of miles are almost prepared for the rail road; and
as the cheap methods adopted in America become known, the inland
communication will be rapidly enlarged.
The late date of the discovery of gold in Australasia has created much
astonishment. It seems to have been concealed by Providence, or rather
the signs of its existence were not permitted to arrest attention, until
the colonies could endure the shock. A shepherd publicly sold at Sydney
several ounces of gold in 1844. Years after a still larger quantity was
exposed in Victoria (1849). These facts were recorded in the journals of
the time; in the first instance scarcely awakening the slightest
interest, and the last producing little but distrust and derision. The
delay has probably upon the whole benefited both the colonies and the
human race. Had gold been discovered before the era of free immigration
it must have led to frightful disorders. California has added another
to those warnings presented in the history of gold mining, that the
absorbing pursuit, for a time, suspends the voice of reason and
morality. The multitudes who have precipitated themselves on the gold
fields of Victoria indicate the uniform direction of similar passions;
yet how superior are our present resources to those of former times or
of other countries. The governments organised and intelligent, and
sustained by the strong moral support of four hundred Christian
congregations. The social interests of perhaps not less than fifty
thousand families will be able to check, and probably to master, the
spirit of anarchy and violence. That any lives should be sacrificed is
of course a matter of regret; but the politician and the philanthropist
may pronounce in favor of a dispensation which though permitting the
sacrifice of a few, will rapidly cover the regions around us with
villages, towns, and homesteads.
Though rich beyond example, the mines will be abandoned by the many for
whom the pleasures and the rest of home, the calm and even pursuits of
industry, and the intercourse of civil and religious life have permanent
attractions. Yet the unexampled profusion of the precious metal must
rapidly augment our commerce and supply the means of mercantile
enterprise. The capital we have so often coveted is now within our
reach. The farmer desired a market; he has it in his neighbourhood, at
his very door. The demand for foreign articles will give employment to
shipping directly trading from the Australian to the producing market.
The increase of commerce will thus lead to its independence. The
Australian merchant will acquire the same relation to the general trade
of the world as the American possesses. The ships of America carry her
passengers and convey her produce. She divides the profits equally with
her customer.[285]
The happiness and prosperity of the people is by Divine Providence
placed within their power. If they grasp at wealth to the neglect of
their social and political duties; if, for the sake of selfish ease,
they resign to ignorant and violent men the business of legislation; if
they tolerate systematic debauchery, gambling and sharping; if they
countenance the press when sporting with religion, or rendering private
reputation worthless; if they neglect the education of the rising
generation, and the instruction of the working classes; if the rich
attempt to secure the privileges of rank by restricting the franchises
of the less powerful; if worldly pleasure invade the seasons of
devotion; and the worship of God be neglected by the masses of the
people,--then will they become unfit for liberty; base and sensual, they
will be loathed and despised; the moral Governor of the world will
assert his sovereignty, and will visit a worthless and ungrateful race
with the yoke of bondage, the scourge of anarchy, or the besom of
destruction.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 281: A more venal and almost more desirable fault can scarcely
be ascribed to a governor than a strong attachment to the people whom he
is sent to govern.--_Coleridge's friend_, vol. 3, p. 325.]
[Footnote 282: It is very difficult to make the mass of mankind believe
that the state of things is ever to be otherwise than they have been
accustomed to see it. I have very often heard old persons describe the
impossibility of making any one believe that the American colonies could
ever be separated from this country. It was always considered as an idle
dream of discontented politicians, good enough to fill up the periods of
a speech, but which no practical man, devoid of the spirit of party,
considered to be within the limits of possibility. There was a period
when the slightest concession would have satisfied the Americans; but
all the world was in heroics; one set of gentlemen met at the Lamb, and
another at the Lion: blood and treasure men, breathing war, vengeance,
and contempt; and in eight years afterwards, an awkward looking
gentleman in plain clothes walked up to the drawing-room of St. James's,
in the midst of the gentlemen of the Lion and Lamb, and was introduced
as the _ambassador from the United States of America_.--_Works of Sidney
Smith, Vol. III., p. 336._
"If you are told of the existence of discontent in any of your colonial
possessions, do not believe it; and if any application be made to you
for the redress of the grievances of any of your colonial possessions,
reject the prayer at once; for if you grant that, you may be asked for
something more. Redress no grievance, lest it should lead to a petition
for the removal of another cause of complaint. Believe only the accounts
which reach you from governors, and others officially connected with
your colonies; and treat any statements in opposition to their accounts
as the invention of demagogues, whom you should hang if you could catch
them, and thus tranquillize the colony."--_Franklin._]
[Footnote 283: "Just before I embarked at Plymouth, I visited my
grandmother, in order to take leave of her for ever. Poor old soul! she
was already dead to the concerns of this life: my departure could make
but little difference in the time of our separation; and it was of no
importance to her which of us should quit the other. My resolution,
however, revived for a day all her woman's feelings: she shed abundance
of tears, and then became extremely curious to know every particular
about the place to which I was going. I rubbed her spectacles whilst she
wiped her eyes, and, having placed before her a common English chart of
the world, pointed out the situation of New Holland. She shook her head.
'What displeases, you, my dear Madam P' said I. 'Why,' she answered, 'it
is terribly out of the way; down in the very right-hand corner of the
world.' The chart being mine, I cut it in two through the meridian of
Iceland, transposed the parts laterally, and turned them upside down.
'Now,' asked I, 'where is England P' 'Ah, boy,' she replied, 'you may do
what you like with the map; but you can't twist the world about in that
manner, though they _are_ making sad changes in it.'"--_A Letter from
Sydney; the principal town of Australia. Edited by Robert Gouger_,
1829.]
[Footnote 284: United States Returns, 1791. Population. 3,921,352; revenue,
$4,771 000; exports, $19,000,000; imports, $20,000,000.--_Tomlins' History
of America._]
[Footnote 285: At the close of the first year of our existence as a gold
producing country, the mind naturally pauses and contemplates the past,
the present, and the future--to those who look upon this land as their
home and the scene upon which their children and children's children are
to play their part, the year 1851 will ever be one of deep and solemn
interest; the events have been of the most startling character, and its
results no human intellect can fathom. The first hour of the present
year was ushered in by a brilliant sun which rose above the horizon in
all its majesty, shedding its gladsome rays over a happy and a
prosperous people--every heart was gay--every industrious hand was
employed, and our future prospects were as cheering as the most ardent
mind could have desired. Our great staple was rapidly increasing, and
had even then become an export which commanded the attention of the
British nation. Our tallow was of considerable value--our copper mines
were presenting indications of richness--our pastoral and agricultural
interests were flourishing, and it was evident to all, that we must at
no very distant period become a great and prosperous colony. In fact it
could have been almost impossible to suggest a discovery that could add
to our importance; but before this memorable year had half sped its
course, a colonist returned from San Francisco, impressed with the
similarity that existed between the geological formation of this land
and that in which he had been sojourning, and determined to bring it to
light if possible. No sooner was he on shore than he set boldly out on
his great expedition, notwithstanding the ridicule of his friends, who
promised him disappointment for his reward. What wonderful events have
frequently sprung from simple causes! Our mountains and glens had been
visited by scientific men of several nations, but they had failed to
trace anything beyond mere indications. Such, however, was not the case
with Edward Hammond Hargraves, who, after spending a few weeks in the
bush, announced to his brother colonists that their hills and valleys
contained in rich abundance the precious metal by which the commerce of
the world is carried on. All honor be to the man whose keen observation
has brought into practical operation so vast a gold field for the
employment of British labour and British capital. May he enjoy not only
the reward which conscience yields to those who perform a good action,
but may his merits be duly appreciated by an Australian public, and that
appreciation assume a form that shall descend from father to son, as
long as the name of Hargraves exists! Such an addition to our already
developed colonial resources cannot fail to add materially to our
position, and raise us, in an incredibly short space of time, from a
small colony into a noble and powerful nation. Our vast interior will be
speedily populated; Britain will be relieved of her starving thousands;
and Australia will stand prominently forward as the brightest jewel in
Her Majesty's Crown.--_Lloyd's Gold Circular._]
HISTORY OF TASMANIA.
ALPHABETICAL ACCOUNT OF CHIEF PLACES.
LIST OF CHIEF PLACES.