D. D. Mann

“ The continual disorders amongst the convicts, which no lenity could assuage, no severity effectually check, were injurious to the well-doing of the colony, whose true interests required a combination of reciprocal confidence and mutual exertion; but on men inured to crime, and hardened in guilt--on men almost divested of the common principles and feelings of their species--on those whom a course of depravity had rendered obnoxious to every other pursuit, it was not possible to make impressions of a liberal and enlightened nature. ”

“ The usual weather in New South Wales is uncommonly bright and clear, and the common weather there, in spring and autumn, is equal to the finest summer day in England. This purity and warmth of atmosphere, it may be naturally inferred, must be particularly favourable to the growth of shrubs and plants, which flourish exceedingly, and attain to a degree of perfection and beauty which is unknown to the inhabitants of this country. The woods and fields present a boundless variety of the choicest productions of nature, which gratify the senses with their fragrance and magnificence ”

“ To prevent, therefore, the recurrence of any circumstance so flagrant and unjust, it is absolutely necessary to take some measures to render the criminal and civil courts free from every kind of prejudice; for what argument can justify the committal of the existence or the fortunes of individuals, to the mercy or the caprice of men who are blinded by prejudice.--Prejudice and party must be fatal to the progress of justice ”

“ Were it not for the existence of such insurmountable obstacles, is it to be supposed that persons who have resided above twenty years within sight of this Alpine chain of hills, would have so long suppressed a a curiosity, of the existence of which every day gives some evidence, and have remained so totally uninformed as to the nature of a country, from which the most distant part of the settlement is far from being remote? ”

“ Much evil has already been done in the settlement, but it is not yet too late to apply the remedy; the malady which threatens the existence of the colony has not yet attained to an incurable height, and if the proper measures are adopted, prosperity and happiness may yet be seen, where adversity and apprehension are at present discovered; and the seeds of a new and powerful nation may not be doomed to perish, before they have scarcely broken the ground which was intended for the scene of their growth and expansion. ”

“ To expatiate largely on the benefits which would result from the establishment of a free trade, is altogether superfluous to men whose minds can embrace the increased stimulus which would be given to industry, the influx of wealth and population, the improvements in agriculture, commerce, and the arts and sciences, and the rapid advancement of the best interests of the colony, which must result from such a measure. ”

“ In addition to this council composed of the chief officers of the government, I consider it essentially requisite that a barrister should be appointed as a counsellor to the governor, at all times when his excellency is referred to in matter of doubtful disputation, which must oftentimes occur in the colony, and which frequently reduces him to an unpleasant dilemma. Aided by a legal adviser, however, his judgment must be strengthened, and his decision would be more weighty, without creating in his breast those uneasy sensations which must arise under different circumstances. ”

“ There are many also amongst the prisoners themselves, who are now striking examples of probity, industry, temperance, and virtue; and some have obtained a remission of the punishment which occasioned their residence in the settlement, in consequence of the signal and radical change which had taken place in their inclinations and behaviour. Where there is society their must exist offences; but, on the whole, considering the nature of the colony of New South Wales, the morals of the people are as free from glaring defects, as those of any other tract of equal population in the habitable world ”

“ I speak this from the general knowledge I have of the country, having taken every settler's and other muster there for a number of years, and from the concurrent opinions of several of the first and most independent farmers throughout the settlement; nor can any man who is acquainted with the exorbitant wages demanded by every class of labourers, who are not prisoners assigned by the crown to their employers, in that part of the world, and the great difficulties attending the various occupations he has to encounter before his grain can be brought to the market, judge otherwise. ”

“ Such a conduct as this is truly not to be wondered at, when the behaviour of some criminals at the bar of their country is recalled to mind, where they have declined that mercy which has been extended to them, and preferred death to a perpetual banishment from that society which they had injured. If any of the liberated convicts should afterwards attempt to make their escape from the colony, they might be returned to the public labour, or be sentenced to such other punishment as may be thought adequate to the importance of their offence. ”

“ From all these practices it has resulted, that numerous settlers have been induced to neglect or quit their farms, which, with industrious management, were competent to the supply of all their necessary wants, and thus to diminish the means of procuring subsistence for the colony; and they have become dissatisfied with a country, which is capable of being made the most lovely and prolific in the world. Amongst the inhabitants, also, was introduced the vice of gaming--a natural consequence of the astonishing increase of wealth in men of little principle and no economy ”

“ That the trial by jury should be introduced into the colony, has long been a desideratum amongst the best-informed inhabitants of the colony; since its effects could not be otherwise than beneficial where such universal iniquity prevails, and where even in the courts of law many enter with impure motives and unclean hands; since the greater part of the community are more or less implicated in the notorious and impoverishing impositions which are continually practised amongst all classes. ”

“ The vessels of neutral powers ought to be encouraged, in my opinion, to trade to the settlement; they would serve the colony, by giving encouragement to the settlers; there would once again be a beneficial competition; there would be a channel for the carrying off the surplus produce of the country, and industry might again look forward with joyous expectation to the harvest of its toil. ”

“ The incorruptibility which ought to characterise the conduct of a magistrate should be so fortified by every prudent precaution, that it may at no time, however remote, be in danger of agitation; nor would it be prudent, in another point of view, to permit these gentlemen to mingle in occupations which must have an evident tendency to distract their attention from those arduous tasks which they would be called upon to fulfil, in a country where criminals must naturally abound. ”

“ Many of the convicts soon acquired property in this way, and some of those who had been in that unfortunate situation, by their good conduct are now considered as respectable characters, and are in possession of horses, carriages, and servants, with a sufficiency to secure their independence during the remainder of their lives. The military have also made considerable wealth by the same course, and the consequence was the instilment into every bosom of a consciousness of independence, which was fatal to that strict subordination which ought to be maintained and enforced. ”

“ To encourage gentlemen of education and ability to make this attempt, it might not be an improper extension of liberality to allow them a free passage back to England, if, upon a fair and sufficient trial, it should be discovered that the speculation which induced them to embark for the colony should not turn out productive enough to reward them for their exertion, and to offer them that genteel support to which they would be entitled, on account of the superiority of their situation, and according with the habits of their former life. ”

“ The admission of the bankrupt laws into the colony would tend still more to the perfecting of the system of jurisprudence, and appears to be a very desirable object of solicitude. For want of some legal system of this kind, many families have been reduced to the lowest extremes of misery and want, the heads being immured in prison, without the ability to liquidate the claims of their unfeeling creditors, or to provide support for their perishing families. The necessary consequence was, the individuals fell to the charge of the government, since they must not be suffered to starve. ”

“ In the midst of his expectations, just as he has impoverished himself with the hope of reaping a future recompense, he may, by the sudden whims or caprice of an individual, be deprived at once of the means of gaining future subsistence, and plundered of every thing which he may have done with a view to his own benefit, and the bettering of the estate. ”

“ Allowing liberty to a prisoner to pursue this kind of avocation is productive of another evil; it leads him, by gradual steps, from becoming careless of his proper duty, to the assumption of a degree of importance and independence which induces him to place himself above his master, and thus controverts the natural and necessary distinctions of society. ”

“ It was not to the commission of depredations upon each other that the restless and dishonest dispositions of the convicts confined themselves, even the poor and miserable natives of the country were made the dupes of a system of knavery which they could not penetrate; and their spears, their shields, their canoes, and their persons, were equally exposed to the violence of the new settlers. ”

“ On the 9th, martial law was repealed; and from that moment no disturbance has again broken in upon the peace of the settlement of a serious nature, although it would be too much to suppose that the seeds of insubordination and disorder were entirely eradicated by the frustrated event of the first endeavour. Men of such desperate characters as are to be found in this colony, are not to be intimidated by punishment, nor discouraged by failure from the pursuit of that career of depravity, which is become dear to them from habit ”

“ The whole of the military in the colony consists of the New South Wales corps (now the 102d regiment) , two volunteer associations, and a body-guard of troopers for the governor, commanded by a serjeant. In fact, the inutility of a larger military force must be obvious to every man of common reflection, since it is merely required for the purposes of preserving domestic peace, which might be in danger of continual interruptions, in case of the absence of military power altogether, from the turbulent dispositions of many of the convicts. ”

“ If government were also to decline farming, it would excite a greater degree of perseverance in the settlers, and would, in my opinion, eventually disburden the crown of a very considerable expense, as those employed in agriculture, on the government account, are generally that description of persons who only care how little they work, and are equally as indifferent as to the manner in which their labour is performed ”

“ The principle of allowing a servant to enter into traffic, is fraught with the most serious mischief; since he is not only led to neglect the duties he has undertaken to perform, but gradually becomes independent in his feelings and opinions, and substitutes insolence of conduct for the respect which ought to mark his behaviour. The value of an article also becomes greatly enhanced to the consumer, when it is permitted to pass through so many hands, each individual of whom must place upon it a profit which he deems adequate to his labour or his ingenuity. ”

“ Much good cannot be derived from the efforts of men, who are chiefly engaged in farming and traffic, and who will sell a bottle of spirits, or oblige some of those very persons with it, to whom they have just before been preaching the duty of temperance, and whose learning and appearance are better adapted to less important avocations, than fulfilling the sacred functions it is intended they should perform.--The future prosperity of the settlement also greatly depends upon the manner in which the rising generation are instructed. ”

“ Under such a man, the industrious settlers should receive the most liberal encouragement to induce them to pay every attention to the cultivation of their lands and to the rearing of stock; and I am of opinion, that when the price of grain has been reduced under ten shillings per bushel for wheat, five shillings for maize and barley, and four shillings and sixpence for oats, the grower has very frequently been a loser, without admitting that in the course of the season there had been any flood, blight, insect, or rust, to injure the growing crops. ”

“ On the 12th of August, 1806, Governor King was succeeded in his command at the settlement by Governor Bligh, who arrived from England for that purpose; at which period the colony was in a state of growing prosperity, notwithstanding the progress of cultivation was considerably retarded by the frequent overflowings of the Hawkesbury, which never failed to produce such extensive injury to the settlers on its banks, as would have been sufficient to discourage men of much more industry and perseverance than many amongst them. ”

“ In fact, such is the terror of this disorder amongst these untutored sons of nature, that, on its appearance, they forsake those who are infected with it, leaving them to die, without a friend at hand, or assistance to smooth the aspect of death, and fly into the thickest of the woods. ”

“ Another evil to which the colony was subjected, arose from the pressure of occasional scarcity, which relaxed the sinews of industry, where it did exist, or strengthened the pretexts of indolence: when men were reduced from a plentiful allowance, to a weekly ration, which scarcely sufficed to preserve existence; when the storehouses were almost empty of provisions, and the boundless ocean presented no object of relief to the aching and strained eyes of the sufferers ”

“ At the head of this court ought to be placed a chief justice, who, by the respectability of his salary, should be effectually placed above the reach of every motive of an improper or injurious nature; and in order to lighten this expense to the crown, certain court fees might be established which would materially assist to swell the amount of the remuneration which ought to be attached to this high office, so as to render it worthy the notice of men who are fitted, by habit and education, to execute its duties in a correct and honourable manner. ”

“ Sometimes, indeed, he holds intercourse with the colony; but every effort uniformly fails to draw him once again into the circle of polished society, since he prefers to taste of liberty amongst his native scenes, to the unsatisfactory gratification which arises from an association with strangers, however kind their treatment of him, and however superior to his own enjoyments. ”

“ Men who have obtained a proficiency in crime, and are callous to the voice of conscience, science, are seldom very choice as to the degree of the criminality which they are inclined to commit; and it is highly creditable to Governor Hunter's prudence and skilful management, that the settlement was at this moment preserved from the horrors and consequences of internal commotion.
In September, 1800, Governor Hunter quitted the colony, having exercised the functions of government for the space of five years ”

“ The best method which suggests itself to me, is that of employing prisoners for life on government labour for a limited time only, at the expiration of which period they should be made free of the country, and, in case their conduct had been such as to merit approbation, should be allowed to become settlers, with the usual indulgences, and thus have the means once again placed before them of raising themselves to a respectable rank in society, in that country to which they had been banished. ”