conversation about Ireland passed. At length I wished to retire, and Mr. A. said he never allowed any bottle off his table till he saw it emptied. We finished the half gallon bottle, and of course were not a little elevated. Mr. A. acted as a kind of deputy, when Judge Dore was not able, which not unfrequently happened: when spirits were plenty in the colony, he was generally indisposed." Mr. Croker adds, that "Atkins was appointed as a substitute to Collins in 1796, by the secretary of state, until the arrival of Mr. Dore in 1797."
[82] Bigge's Jud. Report, p. 2.
At Norfolk Island a court of criminal jurisdiction departed still further from the precedents of civil justice. An act authorised the government to convene a court of four military or naval officers, to decide on questions of life and death, even when free men were implicated.
[83] "Yesterday, the bench assembled, when a free man, formerly belonging to Fort Dalrymple, was found guilty of stealing a silver watch from George Guest, jun., his property, and sentenced to labor for the government for the term of five years, and moreover to receive 500 lashes."—Derwent Star, Feb. 6th, 1810.
[84] Holt's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 202.
[85] Such punishments were not always unmerited, but they were capricious. A magistrate tied a carter to the wheel of his waggon, and inflicted 300 lashes for cruelty to his bullocks; but Dr. Montgarret ordered the blacksmith to be flogged, for presenting his bill!
[86] Mann's Picture of New South Wales, 1811.
[87] Bentham's Plea.
[88] Bigge's Jud. Report, p. 17.
[89] Ibid.
[90] Bigge's Jud. Report, p. 6. Wentworth, p. 43. edit. of 1820.
[91] Bigge's Report, p. 48.
[92] Macarthur's New South Wales: its present state and future prospects, 1837.
[93] Bigge's Report.
[94] 59 Geo. iii. 1819.
[95] "This sentence was put in execution before the provision store, when the mob, either to display their aversion to the crime, or what might be more probable, to catch anything that wore the form of amusement, pelted him with rotten eggs and dirt."—Collins, vol. ii. p. 54.
[96] Gazette, 1823.
[97] Maconochie, in his supplement to Australiana, extracts the following passages from one of Sir James Mackintosh's private letters, published in his Memoirs, p. 342–3:—"Even out of England there are many places which I should prefer to this (Bombay). You will smile at the mention of Botany Bay; but I am most serious, and I assure you that next to a parliamentary situation, to which either nature or early ambition has constantly directed my views, I should prefer, without much regarding pecuniary advantages, that of being the lawgiver of Botany Bay. … England, in rearing such a community, is preparing not only conquerors of India, but enemies to herself and to all mankind. While on the one side the experiment of a reforming penal colony is, perhaps, the grandest ever tried in morals, it is one which is perfectly safe; for the settlement never can be worse than it is now, when no attempt towards reformation is dreamed of, and when it is governed on principles of political economy more barbarous than those which prevailed under Queen Bess. Every day the difficulties of the experiment grow with the increase of the (criminal) population. … I have heard, read, and thought so much about this extraordinary colony, that I am very confident in my general opinions; and I confess, between ourselves, that I am a piece of an enthusiast in my reforming projects," &c.
[98] 43 Geo. iii.
[99] "Not a governor, not a magistrate, that has acted thus, but has exposed himself to prosecutions upon prosecutions, to actions upon actions, from which not even the crown can save him."—Bentham's Plea for the Constitution, 1804.
[100] Wentworth, p. 389. 1820.
[101] Collins, vol. ii. p. 214.
[102] Collins, vol. i. p. 268.
[103] Bigge's Jud. Report, p. 76.
[104] Collins.
[105] Bigge's Jud. Report.
[106] Ibid.
[107] Ibid.
SECTION V
William Sorell, Esq., third Lieutenant-governor, landed 8th April, 1817. To restore safety to the colony was the first duty of the governor: on his assumption of office he called the inhabitants together, and enabled by their subscriptions he offered large rewards, and thus inspirited both the soldiers and the constables. In less than three months the greater portion of the bushrangers were destroyed or captured. During Sorell's administration the colony suffered no serious disturbance from outlaws. This display of rigour was followed by judicious precautions: he ascertained more frequently the distribution and employment of the prisoners of the crown, and removed many temptations to disorder and crime.
It was the practice, established first a few months after his arrival, to muster the whole population annually. Notice was sent through the districts, requiring the attendance of the several classes, who accounted for their families and their stock: the name, the residence, and civil condition of every inhabitant became known. Sorell thus ascertained the increase of cultivation and cattle, and whatever indicated progress.
The landing of settlers direct from Great Britain was an important event: their efforts were experiments, and their achievements were prophetic. The political philosopher may trace in their errors, trials, and successes, the lessons afforded by experience for the instruction of nations. The rapid advance of modern colonisation