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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON:

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forward in the same cause.

He writes a valuable October 1851

letter in which he cites numerous facts within Parl. Paper, April 1852, p. 59. his own knowledge, and contrasts (as eye-witnesses often do) several of the moral features of Van Diemen's Land with those of England, by no means to the advantage of the latter. Perhaps, how- ever, the most original and vigorous champion who has appeared for the character of the Con-

vict Colonies is Mr. Hall, a gentleman who spent Commons Paper, 1850, p. 40.

some considerable period of his early life in prison

on account of libels on the Government, and who can by no one be accused of any undue bias in favour of authority. Provoked by what he con- sidered the hypocrisy and inhumanity of the violent opposition made in the colony where he resided (New South Wales) to the reception of convicts, he addressed to Lord Grey a striking letter, in which August 1849.

he recounted the observations made by him in a long life spent amongst convicts, and fearlessly asserted the wide extent of reformation amongst themselves, and the respectability and value of their descendants as general members of society.

An officer high in the civil service of the East Pari. Paper, May 1851, pp. 97. 98.

India Company, who had visited Van Diemen's

Land for his health, also bore strong testimony to the respectability of the population, in a letter from which it may not be occupying too much space to insert the following extract, since it affords a picture familiar indeed to those who are really conversant with the character of the Convict Colonies, but very opposite to the notion which is probably entertained by the majority of persons in this country:

I

"I came prepared to find you a colony of demons. find the best-ordered community it has ever been my lot to sojourn amongst. In no seaport on earth are there so few brawls, so little drunkenness, so great an appearance of decency, Day or night there is nothing to offend the most fastidious. In mixing, so far as have done in society, I hear no sentiments except what are current among all other societies I have met, certainly not worse. I see around, on every side, churches and chapels; I hear of munificent instances of charity. Of course many whom I see are or have been convicts; but there is nothing to betray their position. Nay, as a community, your lower classes must be positively honest. Whether that honesty results from the want of temptation, or neces- sity, or a dread of detection, or a vigilant police, I cannot

Pari. Paper, July 1849, p. 211.

Parl. Paper, May 1851, p. 188.

Parl. Paper, April 1852, p. 98.

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pretend to say. But surely in no town in England, or perhaps elsewhere, would property be so exposed or respected. When I remember the bolts, locks, bars, bells, window-shutters, at home, and the care taken to secure all kinds of property, and contrast it with the utter disregard of such things here, I confess I am puzzled with the im- pression that the convict country is the honest one."

These several papers have been noticed here, in case it should be found desirable to refer to any of them in the course of future discussions.

Another occurrence which ought not to be passed over, is the formation of the body called the "Australian League," for opposing by all means in their power, transportation to any part of the Australian Colonies. This association grew out of a project suggested in Van Diemen's Land in 1849, and out of the proceedings of a public meeting in New South Wales in 1850, but it does not seem to have been incorporated in its present shape until 1851. It has a council at Sydney, in New South Wales, with branches in Victoria, in South Australia, and in Van Diemen's Land. The members have entered into a solemn league and covenant not to employ any convict servants, and they pass a regular protest on the arrival of each successive convict ship. On the other hand, without stopping now to offer any opinion on the political importance of this demon- stration, it is right to mention that the services of the convicts have continued up to the last moment to be seized upon by the settlers with absolute avidity. It has already been mentioned (page 9) that on the arrival of the "Hashemy" at Sydney, the convicts on board obtained prompt engagements from private employers, although no less than four ships with 1000 free emigrants in them, were at that moment lying in the harbour: and the great majority of the prisoners arriving in each convict ship in Van Diemen's Land, up to the very latest one reported, had been engaged' on the first day of their arrival. So great has been the eagerness to secure their services, that it was mentioned in a

This was a private letter, and is unavoidably letter from one of the surgeons, that it was neces- quoted only from memory. Dr. Geddes, how-

sary to place a sentry over the cabin-door in order ever, of the "Cornwall," in a letter still pre- served. speaks of the crowds and the contention to preserve order amongst the contending applicants. for priority of selection, when the ship arrived It was against one of these very ships that a branch of the Australian League protested, in September

in June 1851.

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