[100] See Collins’ Account of New South Wales, pp. 223-4.

[101] A similar scheme was to have been practised by some Irish convict women, who were to have taken their part in a proposed mutiny on board the Marquis Cornwallis during the passage out, by mixing pulverized glass with the flour of which the seamen made their puddings! See Collins, p. 324.

[102] Whatever may be the improvement of the middling and upper classes, nationally speaking the passion for strong liquor continues to bear sway in the British islands to a deplorable extent. Lord Ashley has stated in the House of Commons during the present session, 1843, that there is good authority for estimating our annual consumption of spirituous liquors at twenty-five millions sterling! Compare the gross amount of the revenues of the English Church, about four millions, and those of the poor Kirk of Scotland, the plundered Church of Ireland, and the “voluntary” efforts of the hundred and one sects of Dissenters, together with those of the Romish Church:—and what is the result? Probably, nearly three times as much is spent in these islands upon spirituous liquors as the whole cost of religious instruction of every kind amounts to!

[103] Dr. Lang’s opinion here is, however, confirmed by Judge Burton; see p. 7 of his work on Education and Religion in New South Wales.

[104] Account of Colony of New South Wales, p. 235.

[105] 1 Tim. vi. 10.

[106] Collins’ Account of New South Wales, pp. 243, 244.

[107] The crops of the first settlers were paid for by the Government in spirits, but Captain Hunter endeavoured to put an end to this practice, for it was not possible that a farmer who should be idle enough to throw away the labour of twelve months, for the purchase of a few gallons of injurious liquors, could expect to thrive, or enjoy those comforts which sobriety and industry can alone procure.

[108] It may not be out of place to quote in support of this opinion the sensible words of an Australian writer. “I confess I like to hear of high wages, and of good prices of provisions—of the productions of the country,—for where they prevail for any length of time, the country must be prosperous. Paradoxical as it may seem, it is no less true, that the poorest country is always that where provisions are sold at the cheapest rate. To the same purpose is the testimony of Sir G. Gipps, the present Governor of New South Wales, appointed by Lord Melbourne in 1837, who says:—‘The total amount of the grain’ (imported) ‘even at these prices, amounted to the fearful sum of 246,000l.; but that, it must be remembered, was only the prime cost in the countries where the wheat was grown, and to that must be added the charges for freight, insurance, and commission, probably as much more, so that in two years the colony would expend upwards of half a million of money for foreign bread. The distress of the colony was owing to these immense importations.”—See Speech of Governor Gipps in Council. Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. iii. p. 163. See also Ross’s Van Diemen’s Land Almanac and Annual, 1836, p. 177.

[109] About the time of Captain Hunter’s taking the reins of government a cow was sold for 80l., a horse cost 90l., and a Cape sheep 7l. 10s. Other prices were in proportion; fresh meat was very scarce, and the various attempts to import live stock had been far from successful. Still a beginning had been made, and it is astonishing how rapidly rural wealth began to multiply in New South Wales, after the difficulties of the first eight or ten years had been overcome.

[110] Promissory notes were given, payable in rum instead of money.—Judge Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 7, note.

[111] Thus writes the Bishop of Australia in 1840.—“Neither can I comprehend or approve the policy which thus leaves multitudes without moral or religious guidance, under every inducement to commit acts of violence and rapine, which are not only the sources of infinite misery to the unhappy perpetrators, and to their wretched victims, but actually bring upon the government itself ten times the pecuniary charge which would be incurred by the erection of as many churches, and providing for the support of as many clergymen, as the necessities of every such district require.”

[112] “More labour would have been performed by one hundred free people from any part of England or Scotland, than had at any time been derived from three hundred of these (convicts), with all the attention that could be paid to them.”—Collins’ Account of the Colony of New South Wales, p. 415.

[113] Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 376.

[114] At a time of great distress, when 270 additional inhabitants had just made good their landing at Norfolk Island, whilst the ships and provisions sent with them from Port Jackson were almost entirely lost, these birds of providence, as they were justly called, furnished a supply for the necessities of the people. Mount Pitt, the highest ground in the island, was observed to be crowded with these birds during the night, for in the day-time they go out to sea in search of food. They burrow in the ground, and the hill was as full of holes as a rabbit-warren; in size they were not bigger than pigeons, but they looked much larger in their feathers. Their eggs were well tasted enough, and though the birds themselves had a fishy flavour, hunger made them acceptable. They were easily taken, for when small fires were kindled to attract their notice, they would drop down faster than the people could seize them. For two months together, it is said, that not less than from two to three thousand of these birds were taken every night, so that it was with reason that the starving population of Norfolk Island called them birds of providence.

[115] A peculiar language prevailed in this horrid place. It is said that a bad man was called a good man, and that one who was ready to perform his duty was generally called a bad man; and so, in other respects, language was adapted to the complete subversion of the human heart there existing. See Ullathorne’s Evidence before the Committee on Transportation, 1838, No. 271, p. 27.

[116] See Montgomery Martin’s New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, p. 257.

[117] Compare Lang’s History of New South Wales, vol. i. p. 71, and Collins’ Account of New South Wales, p. 197 and 201. See also Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 115.

[118] “The first religious edifice that was ever reared in the great Terra Australis, by voluntary and private exertion.” See Lang’s Narrative of the Settlement of the Scots’ Church in New South Wales, p. 8. The Doctor, in his Presbyterian zeal, had forgotten Mr. Johnson’s church.

[119] One of the vain attempts of the present age is that of entirely preventing the various fluctuations to which, from accidents, bad seasons, &c., the price of bread is subject. It did appear as though a certain average of moderate prices was established in England; but, recently, the system has been again altered, and time must show how it works. Certainly the changes in the value of corn in New South Wales have formerly been violent enough, supposing the following statement to be correct: “I have nine years been a landholder in this colony, and seven years have cultivated my own farm. In this time I have twice given wheat to my pigs, because I did not know what else to do with it; twice I have known wheat selling at fifteen shillings per bushel, and once at twenty shillings!”—Atkinson on the Encouragement of Distilling and Brewing in New South Wales, p. 3, ed. 1829.

[120] It is said that the natives foresaw the approach of this calamity, and advised the colonists of it, but their warning was not regarded.—See Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 310.

[121] For the particulars here related of the floods of the river Hawkesbury, see Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. pp. 98-101; and also Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. p. 67 and 448-9. The latter writer speaks of wheat and maize being sold at 5l. or 6l. per bushel, but that seems to be a mistake.

[122] Still later the following evidence was given upon a trial: “The governor, clergy, officers, civil and military, all ranks and descriptions of people bartered spirits when I left Sydney,—in May, 1810.” What a handle do such practices give to those that love to “despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.”—Jude 8.

[123] Here is an example of the need of a bishop in every colony of any size or importance. What right or power had a usurping military officer to suspend from clerical duties one of the two or three clergymen who were then in the settlement, and that without any crime alleged, any trial, or proof of his misdemeanour? Would not a bishop, to stand between the mighty major and the poor chaplain on this occasion, have been a guardian of “civil and religious liberty?”

[124] Respecting these, see the assertions in Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, page 6.

[125] See Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. pp. 168, 169.

[126] See Titus i. 3.

[127] Ezekiel iii. 18.

[128] How could public religious worship be attended to, when, in the year after Governor Macquarie’s arrival, 1810, a widely-scattered population of 10,452 souls, mostly convicts, were left in the charge of four clergymen? And in what respect were things improved at the time of that Governor’s departure in 1821, when, to a similarly situated population of 29,783 souls there were seven clergymen assigned: and the Romish church had one priest for New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, while the Presbyterians at Portland Head had their lay-catechist?—See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, pp. 8, 9, 12, 16.

We may add, by way of illustrating the regard paid to religious worship, even in Governor Macquarie’s time, that Oxley’s first expedition into the interior was permitted to set out from Bathurst on a Sunday! See his Journal, p. 3. Sunday, indeed, seems to have been a favourite starting-day with Mr. Oxley. See p. 37.

[129] See Governor Macquarie’s Report to Earl Bathurst, in Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. Appendix, No. 8, p. 447.

[130] See Grey’s Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. pp. 29, 30. For the particulars of Mr. Smith’s death, see page 27.

[131] See Major Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 317.

[132] See Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 119.

[133] The difference of temperature in twelve hours’ journey is stated to be upwards of twenty degrees.—Oxley’s Journal of his First Expedition, p. 4.

[134] This account of the navigation of Hunter’s River is taken from Martin’s New South Wales, p. 75. Dr. Lang, vol. ii. p. 64, gives a somewhat different account of it.

[135] It was introduced in 1831.

[136] Bishop of Australia’s Letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dated September 12th, 1839.

[137] See Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. pp. 52-55.

[138] There are several other parishes in the suburbs of Sydney. A third new church is likewise mentioned, among those in progress at Sydney, in the Bishop of Australia’s Charge, delivered in 1841. See Appendix A, p. 36.

[139] Compare p. 115 of Judge Burton’s work on Education and Religion in New South Wales, with Appendix No. 12 of the same work. It may be noticed, that the sum mentioned applies only to stipends and allowances of the Clergy, and does not include sums voted for building purposes.

[140] See the Morning Herald, July 5, 1842.

[141] This is flourishing, for the deposits are stated in recent accounts from Sydney to have increased, between June 30, 1840, and the same date in 1842, from 143,000l. to 178,000l., and the number of accounts opened was much greater than in former years.

[142] Extract from a private letter.

[143] See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 174.

[144] According to Mr. Montgomery Martin, (Van Diemen’s Land, p. 266,) Cornwall and Buckinghamshire continue to be its only counties, and it is subdivided into nine police districts; but Dr. Ross’s Almanac for 1836 contains, at p. 238, the governor’s proclamation for the division mentioned above; whilst a third division of the island into the counties of Argyle and Launceston is followed in the Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, for 1842. The above may serve for a specimen of the obscurity and confusion upon these trifling matters, respecting which accuracy seems almost unattainable.

[145] See Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. p. 51.

[146] See Mr. M. Martin’s Van Diemen’s Land, p. 274.

[147] The following specimen of the evil art of stirring up the discontent of those that are suffering under the dispensations of Providence, is taken from an old newspaper, published in Hobart Town in 1835. It may be stated, that in the very same paper we are informed that the drought had recently been so great that scarcely a cabbage, or any other vegetable but potato, was to be obtained in the town. Of course water was scarce, and precautions had been taken by the Governor to preserve some at a place whence the shipping were supplied; but this careful conduct of their ruler is thus held up to the abhorrence of the people. “Why,” it is asked, “do not the people drink the ditchwater and be poisoned quietly; it is quite enough that their betters should enjoy such a luxury as pure water.” And how often in England do we see this sort of trash printed by those dealers in knowledge, the newspaper-writers, who sometimes argue as though all the credit of prosperous occurrences belonged to the people of a country, and all the disgrace and responsibility of misfortunes and trials were to be put off upon its rulers! How often are we reminded of the Israelites murmuring against Moses on account of the miseries of that wilderness in which their own sins condemned them to wander!

[148] From a letter dated March 4, 1841, and written by the late lamented Archdeacon Hutchins, it would appear that two new churches, St. Giles’s and Trinity, are likely to be erected in Hobart Town. See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, for 1841, p. 61.

[149] Bishop of Australia’s letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dated May 22, 1838.

[150] See Rev. iii. 17.

[151] See Bishop of Australia’s Letter, dated June 1840, in the Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for 1841, pp. 148-9.

[152] For the particulars here stated see the Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1, p. 51, and No. 2, pp. 111, 112.

[153] See Report of Committee on South Australia, p. 78. Evidence of T. F. Elliot, Esq. Answer 733. From the same source, the report of this Parliamentary Committee in 1841, much of the information respecting Southern Australia is derived.

[154] In these matters it is impossible to get at truth. Each man judges upon certain data, but though the conclusion of each may be correct, yet because the data were partial and imperfect, so likewise will the conclusions be. Mr. Mann, who was examined by the Committee upon South Australia, gives it as his opinion that about four-fifths of the land in that colony were bad. However, he had never been more than three weeks in it nor above fourteen miles from its chief town, so his judgment was formed principally upon hearsay. Others, probably, have gone into the contrary extreme of praising the soil too highly, and truth may, as usual, lie between the two extremes.

[155] It is noticed as a matter of surprise, that on August 6th, 1841, Mount Lofty, a hill 2400 feet in height, was covered with snow, and that the small river, called the Torrens, had been partly frozen.

[156] During the first six months of 1841, seventy vessels, comprising a burden of 11,139 tons, arrived at Port Adelaide. See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 2, p. 114.

[157] Here again reports differ. See Mr. T. Driver’s Evidence before the Committee on South Australia, p. 221, Answer, 2498, and following ones.

[158] See “South Australia in 1842,” p. 19, published by Hailes, London.

[159] For the facts here noticed, see the Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1. p. 53.

[160] See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for 1842, p. 57.

[161] See Flinders’ Voyage, Introduction, vol. i. p. 60.

[162] There is a vine in the government garden (at Perth) which, planted as a cutting, sent out shoots 16½ feet long in the second year, and yielded more than 4 cwt. of grapes. Another, belonging to Mr. C. Brown of the same place, had a stem, which, in only five years’ growth, was 14½ feet in circumference. See “A Short Account of the Settlement in Swan River,” p. 15, published by Cross, Holborn, 1842.

[163] See “A Short Account of the Settlement of Swan River,” p. 33.

[164] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1, p. 28.

[165] See Rev. ii. 15.

[166] Thus, as recently as the year 1838, two ships were sent from Christian England to found a colony; having on board upwards of 500 souls, but unprovided with any minister of religion! How strange a method, if we really believe God’s word, of gaining a blessing from Heaven, either for ourselves or our colonies!

[167] See Isaiah xxxii. 2. The following proverbial saying in India may serve to show how natural such comparisons are in the mouths of the inhabitants of hot climates: “Ah, that benevolent man, he has long been my shelter from the wind; he is a river to the dry country.“ See Roberts’ Oriental Illustrations of Scripture, ad. loc. p. 429. How different an idea do the words “shelter from the wind” convey to the inhabitant of England’s bleak shores, and Asia’s parching deserts!

[168] See an interesting passage in Major Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 28. See likewise Oxley’s First Journal, p. 75.

[169] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. iv. p. 234.

[170] A glance over the two ponderous volumes of the evidence before the Transportation Committee in 1837 and 1838 will satisfy every unprejudiced person that our penal colonies are not yet ripe for a representative government. It is curious enough to compare the fearful picture of these settlements drawn by one section of the so-called Liberal party, which wages war against transportation, with the more pleasing and flattering description of their social condition which is given by that other section of the same party which claims for the colonists “constitutional rights.”

[171] See Mr. Montgomery Martin“s New South Wales, p. 353.

[172] See Report of Transportation Committee in 1838, p. 32.

[173] Acts xxiii. 5.

[174] See the Preface to the Form of Ordaining and Consecrating Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in the Book of Common Prayer.

[175] The subjection of New South Wales to the Bishopric of Calcutta was a mere absurdity; it might just as well have been under Canterbury at once.

[176] See Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. p. 366.

[177] Elsewhere stated to be 60,861. Perfect accuracy in these matters appears almost unattainable.

[178] See St. Paul’s charge to Timothy, the first Bishop of Ephesus, 2 Tim. iv. 2.

[179] See the Report of the Fund for providing Additional Colonial Bishoprics, dated June 25th, 1842. Should the particulars stated above induce any person to desire to lend a helping hand to so good, so glorious a work, any donations for that purpose, small or large, will be thankfully received at the office of the Committee, 79, Pall Mall, London; and a post-office order supplies a sure and easy means of conveyance for sums not exceeding five pounds.

[180] See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for 1842.

[181] Gladstone’s “The State in its Relations with the Church,” chap. viii. p. 315.

[182] Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 317, &c. See also, at 265-6, a series of similar statements. A good specimen of Dr. Lang’s veracity occurs at p. 267, where the Church and School Corporation is said to have consisted chiefly of clergymen, whereas the majority were laymen. See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 21, and Appendix, No. 1.

[183] They are accused of spending 20,000l. a-year of public money, under pretence of providing for religious instruction and education, while nothing was really done; whereas, out of this sum, nearly 17,000l. were already appropriated for the existing ecclesiastical establishment; and, during the continuance of the Corporation, the schools increased from 16 to 40, and the number of children educated in them from 1,037 to 2,426. See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, pp. 24 and 32.

[184] See the book just quoted for a list of the members of the Church and School Corporation, p. 21. Whatever might be the education of these gentlemen, it is evident that better educated men were not very likely to be found in the colony than the great law officers of the crown, the members of the legislative council, and the nine senior chaplains.

[185] See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 31.

[186] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. i. p. 45. The sums mentioned above include all the expense of grants to other bodies of Christians besides churchmen, but the greater portion of the money is expended upon the great majority of the population who are members of the Church of England.

[187] See Burton, p. 37.

[188] The following striking testimony in favour of the system of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts comes from a quarter by no means unduly biassed in its favour. “How have thousands and tens of thousands been raised in Scotland, for the last forty years, to fit out and to maintain beyond seas whomsoever the dissenting ministers of London chose to ordain as missionaries to the heathen? God forbid, that I should ever whisper a syllable against missions to the heathen! But I have seen too many missionaries, not to have seen more than I choose to mention, whom men possessed of the least discernment would never have presumed to send forth on such an errand! The colonies, however, were the first field to be occupied; and if that field had been properly occupied, it would have afforded much assistance to missions to the heathen.“—Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 260.

If any reader of this passage should feel disposed in his heart to help in a good work, which greatly needs his assistance, let him take at once his humble mite, or his large offering, as the case may be, to the clergyman of his parish, or to the office, 79, Pall Mall, London, for the use of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

[189] Gal. v. 19-21.

[190] See Mr. Montgomery Martin’s New South Wales for further particulars on this subject, pp. 168-177.

[191] “Catholic,” a most honoured term in ancient times, has in modern days been very unfortunate. Even now the Romanists misuse it for “Papistical,” the Dissenters occasionally use it to signify “Latitudinarian,” and the members of the Church of England are either afraid to use it at all, or else are perpetually harping upon it, as though it were a mere party-word.

[192] See a pamphlet entitled “Australia as she is and as she may be,” by T. Potter Macqueen, Esq., published by Cross, Holborn, pp. 12-14.

[193] It is right to state here that the cause of a supply of religious instruction having been so long delayed in Norfolk Island is said, by a Roman Catholic writer, to have been the impossibility of finding a clergyman to undertake the charge. See Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, pp. 39, 40. Supposing this account to be correct then, undoubtedly, the English Church must share the blame of neglecting Norfolk Island along with the government, and it is not the wish of the writer of these pages to deny the applicability of the prophet’s confession to ourselves: “O God, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.” (Dan. ix. 8.) Still, even according to Dr. Ullathorne, the penal settlement was established six years before its religious instruction was thought of by the government.

[194] Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 260.

[195] The reason given by the Roman Catholic, Dr. Ullathorne, is that the two priests divide the salary, and receive together no more than the one chaplain.—Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, p. 76. The reader must bear in mind the different scale of expenses required by a person who must be single, and that of a person who may be, and generally is, a married man.

[196] See Committee on Transportation, 1838, pp. 137, 138.

[197] See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, pp. 287-289. The actual sum there stated is either 725l. or 855l., according as certain expenses connected with the establishment are included or not.

[198] “I think the longer the sentence, the better will be the conduct of the individual,” because his only chance of obtaining any degree of liberty is from good conduct. See Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq., before the Committee on Transportation in 1837. No. 3350-3, p. 218. Dr. Ullathorne expresses a contrary opinion.

[199] Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq., before the Committee on Transportation, in 1837, No. 3371-2, p. 220. The richest man in the colony, an emancipist, was said, in 1837, to be worth 40,000l. or 45,000l. a year. For an account of the shameless roguery, and drunken folly, by means of which so vast an income was amassed, see Report of Transp. Com. 1837, p. 14 and 104.