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ing discerned from the ship, a musket should be fired from on board as a signal for the immediate return of the party. Shortly after the boat had reached the shore, the natives were perceived from the vessel, the musket was fired, and the three men ran back to the boat. They succeeded in putting off from the shore, but were pursued by a flight of spears, thrown with such fatal dexterity as to transfix the victims at their oars. The savages immediately manned the boat, and, with a number of canoes, prepared to attack the vessel itself; which narrowly escaped by cutting the cable, and standing out to sea.

The population of the colony now exceeds ten thousand; of whom two-thirds support themselves, while the rest are victualled and clothed at the expense of the crown. The military force consists of the 102d regiment, and of two volunteer associations. The extent of land under corn-culture may be computed at 12,000. acres; the number of horses at 1000; oxen and cows, 10,000; sheep, 40,000; goats, 3000; pigs, 25,000;—a rapid increase, especially in domestic animals, since the year 1800. The current price of provisions in 1809 was, wheat, 12s. the bushel; maize, 5s. ; barley, 5s. ; oats, 4s. 6d. ; potatoes, 10s. the hundred-weight; peaches and apples, 2d. the dozen; French beans, 4d. the quart; pease, 1s. the quart; beef and mutton, 1s. 3d. the pound; pork, 1s.; kangaroo, (not unlike beef,) 8d; turkeys, 10s. each; geese, 8s. each; ducks, 4s. each; fowls, 2s. 6d. each. Butter is so high as 6s. the pound, and milk 1s. the quart: but fish is abundant and cheap. The wages of men-servants are 1s. a day, or 6s. a week, with board; without board, 2s. 6d. a day; by the year, 10l. or 121. with board. The hours of public labour are from sun-rise to eight o'clock, and afterwards from nine o'clock to three. Of late years, some progress has been made towards the establishment of manufactures, particularly coarse woollens and linens. The leather formed from the skins of cattle, kangaroos, seals, &c., is extremely good, and is easily tanned by a bark which grows in the settlement. Several potteries are also established, and four extensive breweries. The shops are fitted up ,with more taste than might be expected; and articles of female apparel and ornament are bought with great avidity. With regard to their money-system, the inhabitants of the colony have been as unlucky as those of the mother-country; their copper coin, though issued in 1800 at one hundred per cent. above its real value, having in a great measure disappeared. Many of the free settlers from home have disappointed expectation, and have proved only a serious expense to government.-The number of convicts in the government-service is liable to progressive diminution from deaths, from emancipation for good behaviour, and from expiration of servitude; as well as by removal from public work

to the employment of settlers in the country. In the course of eight years, from 1792 to 1800, three-fourths of the convicts employed by government at the beginning of the period had been, from these various causes, discharged; a drain which was inadeqately supplied by the new arrivals, which in the course of that interval amounted to 1259 male prisoners.

After these observations on the state of the settlement, we shall follow Mr. Mann in his inquiry (p. 62. and seq.) into the causes which still prevent New South Wales from being independent of the mother-country. We have heard it computed that each transported convict costs government nearly 3001; and this enormous charge continues, in a great measure, notwithstanding the growth of the colony. Mr. Mann ascribes the magnitude of this expenditure to various causes; to the mismanagement, under Governor Philip, from 1792 to 1795; to the practice of victualling, out of the public stores, the convicts employed in labour for the settlers; to a custom, too long prevalent, of imprisoning convicts for debt, and of depriving government of their labour; to the expense of supporting deserted children; to the introduction (partial, indeed,) of monopolies; to abuses in the medical department; and to the duties of police, severe and expensive in so restless a community. Another cause of continual expense will be found in the formation of new settlements at Newcastle, River Derwent, and Port Dalrymple; as well as at the distant and now abandoned establishment on Norfolk island. This long enumeration of particulars might be reduced, were Mr. Mann philosopher enough to generalize his views, under two heads; viz. the bad morals of the colonists, and the waste which is common to all government-speculations. America, without greater advantages than New South Wales, has afforded an example of colonies advancing rapidly in population, without burdening the mother-country: but there no impediment from vicious habits stood in the way; nor was any public fund created to meet the demand of individuals. Each was aware that as he sowed he would reap;' that he had no resource but his own industry, and that his wants must be rigidly accommodated to his means. That necessity of labour, which, evidently for the wisest purposes, has been imposed on our species, had thus its full operation, and led to the systematic observance of the cardinal virtues of industry in acquiring, and economy in consuming. The progress of these infant-establishments was very gradual; their capital receiving little aid from the parent-state, and owing its chief increase to its own re-productive power.-In New South Wales, on the other hand, the object was to accomplish the speedy formation of a colony; a power was granted to draw capital from England; and such power, in the case of a government

or of a public company, can scarcely fail to become the subject of abuse. Moreover, the labourers in this new colony, instead of possessing those qualities which, by promoting individual affluence, constitute the basis of public prosperity, were of such unsettled habits as to require a constant and expensive superintendance. The wonder, therefore, is not that New South Wales should have cost such extraordinary sums, but that our government should have been so badly informed as not to foresee such a result. In pursuance of this reasoning, we agree with Mr. Mann that an end should be put to all farming for governmentaccount; and that the ships of neutrals (indeed of all countries in the time of peace,) ought to have free admission to the colony. Among the abuses inseparable from the improvidence of government-traffic, the unfitness of the clothing sent out is one of the most inconvenient. It has hitherto been made up at home, without regard to quality or comfort; and, when distributed in the colony, the delivery has been the same to all, without attending to the unfortunate propensity, on the part of many, to sell those articles which they do not immediately want. Another serious cause of waste is the damage of stores on the passage, or their loss by plunder on board. The remedy recommended by Mr. Mann for these abuses is to make the contractors in England responsible for the condition of the stores, till they are landed. -Another and a more crying grievance is the inhumanity shewn to convicts in their passage out. It is a melancholy fact that, in several ships which have carried convicts by contract, not more than two-thirds of the number put on board have reached their place of destination; a mortality which may be attributed in a great measure, to the embezzlement of the provisions intended for their use. Under the pretext of attempts to mutiny and escape, an undue degree of severity has also frequently been exercised towards these unfortunate captives; and the bad effects of such treatment are strikingly exemplified by the contrast afforded in the health and cleanliness of the prisoners who were carried out in a king's ship.

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For a colony in which the interference of an arbiter and judge is so often necessary, it might be advisable, in the opinion of the author, to look out at home for several persons to act as justices of peace. He is aware that men who are comfortable at home will not willingly go to New South Wales; and he suggests that fit persons should be sought in the respectable but disappointed class of society. Let their salaries, he adds, if not large, be such at least as to render them independent of every other avocation, and to make them place a value on their appointment. Mr. Mann is zealous also for the nomination of a council, composed of several of the principal officers of government; and to the

want of such a body he ascribes, in a great measure, the present unsettled state of the colony. We acknowledge, that the edict of a collective body would carry greater weight with it than the mandate of an individual, and we have no objection to the Governor being thus assisted: but the power of decision should, in our opinion, remain exclusively in him. In so turbulent a community, the existence of controul is indispensable; and unity, be it remembered, is the perfection of command. The criminal court is composed at present of the judge-advocate, and six naval and military officers, with an appeal to the Governor: a form of procedure more calculated for the infancy than progress of the colony. Martial law was appropriate as long as the settlement consisted of convicts on the one hand, and of the servants of government on the other: but the case is very different since the increase of population and of commercial transactions. Mr. Mann is solicitous for the institution of the trial by jury, and for the appointment of a chief justice, with emoluments not below 1200l. a year. Whatever difference of opinion may subsist with regard to the difficulty of finding fit jurors among the inhabitants of New South Wales, none can prevail against the nomination of a respectable judge; and were his proceedings fashioned on the principles of the eminent jurist, one of whose works has lately passed through our hands,* it may safely be assumed that his single court would execute, and execute well, the whole legal business of the colony. The labour of those justices of peace, for whom Mr. Mann calls so eagerly, might thus be in a great measure saved. We see no reason that the expense of a trial in a court of justice should materially exceed that of an appeal to a magistrate; and we can have little doubt of the superior weight and influence of the verdict. The administration of equity is a simple and expeditious business; and the range, in regard to number of causes, which may thus be embraced, is highly favourable to the maintenance of impartiality. By extending the jurisdiction of the judge over a wide sphere, we relieve him from the influence of local considerations and individual connextions; conferring, in a great degree, those advantages which we reap at home from the presence of travelling judges in our smaller towns, as well as from the magnitude of the community in the district (the metropolis) in which they are stationary.

Another point, for which the author contends, is the admission of the bankrupt-laws into the colony. Those of our readers, who have observed how large a portion of the calamity of the West India planters we are disposed to ascribe to that mistaken policy which prevents the affairs of an embarrassed debtor from being brought to a definite point, will readily conclude that we

Mr. Bentham.

concur with Mr. M. in the propriety of the introduction of the bankrupt-laws into New South Wales; since, though the circumstances of the two countries are materially different, the application of the principle holds as to both. The author is of opinion that the Governor would be much benefited in his decisions by the assistance of a lawyer; and he also recommends that several of our barristers should receive encouragement to go out, and plead in the courts. Whatever may be thought of the former recommendation, it cannot be doubted that government should decline all interference as to the latter.-A more interesting subject is brought forwards, when Mr. M. treats of the fate of those unhappy persons whose sentence of transportation lasts for life. They become, in general, careless of their conduct and indifferent to their future fate, seeing nothing in prospect but banishment and servitude. Mr. Mann recommends that their labour for government should terminate after the expiration of a certain period of good behaviour; that they should then be made free of the colony, and eventually become settlers. Even the most unpromising characters should be allowed to look forwards to some ultimate amelioration of their lot, and perpetual imprisonment should be excluded from the list of colonial punishments.-The farther recommendations of the author relate to the appointment of clergymen and school-masters; and to the sending out of superintending mechanics: in all of which, as well as with regard to the greater security of the leases of government ground, he will not fail to receive the concurrence of his readers.

FROM THE SAME.

The Scottish Adventurers, or The Way to Rise; an Historical Tale. By Hec. tor Macneil, Esq. 2 vols. 12mo. 88. Murray, 1812.

THIS is erroneously called an Historical Tale, since the principal characters are imaginary, and are supposed to be the sons of tradesman in Edinburgh, who find 'The way to rise' through application and industry. The first part of their story displays much ingenuity; and the author's ideas on the subject of education for the middle and lower classes of society are rational, and deserve attention: but we cannot perceive the absolute necessity for interlarding professional language with characteristic swearing;' and we think that Mr. Macneil is mistaksn in fancying that the eccentricity and humour of his sailors would be lost, unless

"They fixed attention, heedless of your pain,
"With oaths, like rivets, forced into the brain."

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