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himself at midnight of his neglected bark, or rejoining the two concealed survivors of his crew. The tempests which the daring hardihood of guilt had often enabled them to baffle, were braved for once, and under holier auspices, on behalf of innocence; and a few short hours before that fixed for the ignominious fate of Moriarty Carroll, the order for the revision of his sentence and transfer of his person to the neighbouring island, was drawn from the bosom of the exulting Aileen. None, however-such was her exemplary discretion-knew either then or since in the colonies, that family connexion had aught to do with Governor Sydenham's righteous interposition-still less with the escape of the pirate, Pedro Garcias, who, warned by past perils and turned from the error of his ways by the eloquence of ex

ample in the Carrol's, lived to visit as an honest trader (when making a trip in quest of "baccaleo" to Galway) Moriarty and Aileen, then happy possessors, through Sir Guy's munificence of the farm of Letrewel.

And when, in due course of time, there were two Guy Sydenhams in the army list, and a fine young cornet, the image of Lady S- was introduced by her husband, on his return from service, as the heir to his honours(while a second Evelyn replaced to Aileen the babe she had early deplored) -few besides their immediate connexions were ever aware that a nephew's claim was all he possessedbut, oh! how strong were its extent and nature on the love, and pride, and protection of the parents whose name he worthily bore.

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AUSTRALIA.-FOURTH ARTICLE.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

It is one of the many advantages of a period of peace, that not only is the attention of the public more thoroughly directed to internal improvements, but a great amount of talent and enterprise is directed into useful channels, which might otherwise have been thrown away in the costly and pernicious occupation of fighting. In this respect, England at present teems not merely with labour seeking employment, and capital begging for profitable investment; but there is also an overflowing supply of energy, and desire of laudable distinction, which seeks to expend itself in exploring every part of the globe, in quest of geographical discovery, or of natural history, and antiquarian research. It is, no doubt, a matter of just exultation, that while Englishmen excel all other nations in enterprise and perseverance, these precious commodities are so abundant, that we can afford to expend them in the most absurd, and sometimes not very innocent objects. We throw away millions in the shape of loans to such worthless governments as those of Spanish America, and throw away lives on such worthless quarrels as those which distract Spain or Portugal. It is impossible to feel anything but regret when we reflect that if the millions of money and the thousands of lives thus recklessly lost had been

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employed in founding new colonies, or in improving old ones, extensive relief might have been afforded to our pauper population, and new markets opened up for the merchant and manufacturer. It appears, however, that we are getting somewhat wiser, and that our energies are beginning to be directed into a proper channel. When we undertake to found new colonies, which, even if they should incur a heavy loss of capital at the outset, may ultimately prosper, at all events, are not worse off than if we had invested our money in some absurd loan to some ephemeral government, situated in some obscure corner of America. The attention which the subject of colonization is exciting in every class, from the peer to the peasant, is not more than it deserves, either from the important influence which it may have on the fortunes of the emigrants, or from affording a noble opening to the exertions, and, we may add, philanthropy of the youth of the higher and educated classes of the community. When we see among the founders and projectors of new colonies, the names of those distinguished by rank and birth, we are carried back to the spirited times of old English colonization in the reigns of Elizabeth and James. There is, however, one important difference in the cir

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cumstances which gave rise to the founding of the old colonies of North America, and the new ones of Australia; that, in the former case, many of them originated like those of the ancient Greeks, in political disturbances, or religious commotions, while all such considerations are happily foreign to the new, where the motive to emigrate is disentangled from all such considerations. The colonists of New England were exiles; those of West and South Australia are simply emigrants. The subject of colonization is, happily, one of the few which may be discussed without any reference to political or religious parties, and is one in which men of every shade of political and religious faith may co-operate; and with the colonist, it is not an asylum, but an establishment for his family which he seeks. This circumstance alone, of the absence of all party feelings, in impelling the emigrant to settle in a new country, will give, from the beginning, a healthy tone to the state of society, while its presence, in the politicoreligious colonies of North America, has given them a one-sidedness of which two centuries have not obliterated the traces. The circumstances which led to the colonization of New England and Maryland are still to be traced in the present condition of their respective communities.

If colonies are to be established, it is of the utmost importance, that the experience of past history should be generalized into a body of rules, to enable them to avoid the errors which have been committed, especially in the early progress of every colony. In 遞 this respect, however, the obvious principle in the management of a colony is that which eminently distinguishes the history of British colonies from those of every other modern country. The colonists were, in every instance, very much left to themselves, and to the management of their own local affairs, and were not teased by the interference of people at a distance of three thousand miles. The contrast between the growth of the English colonies and those of Spain, need not be drawn; for the latter country, with that strange perversity and mixture of nobleness and meanness which has ever characterised it, never attempted to govern their colonics, but always misgoverned them on purpose. In such colonies as were founded by the

Dutch or French, every order proceeded from the mother country, and nothing even of a local nature was left for the colonists to attempt; and hence such crippled and distorted colonies as Lower Canada or the Cape. The English, on the contrary, with that talent for co-operation which distinguishes their race, soon settled into organised societies, forming so many little miniature representations of the parent country, with all its institutions, in as far as adapted to a new colony.

It is not so much the constitution of the government that deserves attention in the founding of a colony, as the principle upon which land is disposed of; and in this respect the publications of Mr. Wakefield will form an important epoch in the art of colonization, which he has reduced to a system that appears destined to form the basis on which all future colonies will be established. In an old country, such as England, there is a disproportion between the three elements of wealth, where labour and capital are excessive, while the land is in a fixed quantity, which can only be virtually increased by the slow progress of improvements in agriculture and manufactures. In a young country, on the contrary, such as the United States, there is a deficiency in the supply of labour and capital, while there is a profusion of the finest land. So that the present condition of the two countries is the inverse of each other. In England, consequently, from the low price of labour and small profits, there must always be strong inducements to emigration; while in America, the wages and the rate of interest are high, and land abundant and cheap, and sold for a smaller price per acre than what an English farmer pays as his yearly rent. Such is the condition of a new colony, and the difficulty is to preserve a due proportion between land, labour, and capital-in short, to approximate the condition of society in a new country to what exists in an old one, in as far as it would be desirable, or to keep the colony in that cheerful and advancing state which is so well described by Smith.

If in a new colony land be too easily obtained, its progress is retarded; and paradoxical as it may appear, this very facility is the circumstance which, unless carefully attended to, will prove a cause of misfortune to the new settlement. The readiness with which land

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can be obtained, and the ambition of every individual to procure as large a share as possible of a species of property to which so much importance is attached in an old country, induce the settler to surround himself with a desert, in which he is deprived of all aid and co-operation from his neighbours. The tendency of such a state of things is, to produce a society where all are landlords, and some few in addition are capitalists, and none simple labourers; and if the country be adapted for cattle, they may subsist by this means, and in a few generations relapse into a state of semi-barbarism similar to that of the Cyclops, each attending to his own interest, and indifferent to the welfare of his neighbours. Of this state of society we have examples in the Dutch colony of the Cape, or in the Spanish ones, where we find ignorant and insulated cattle-owners spread over a surface which might support millions. In some countries the expenditure of land was kept in check by various causes, which had a salutary influence, as in the New England colonies, where the presence of an energetic enemy induced the settlers to keep together as a means of a safety.The dense forests could only be cleared with much labour; and also, as the winters were severe, the cattle required to be protected within doors, there was little risk of the colonists degenerating into nomad shepherds, as in South America or the Cape. In other colonies the importation of slaves afforded a most iniquitous but lucrative supply of labour, and the colony rapidly increased in wealth and population; while in the two older colonies of Australia we have originated and continued a method if possible still more wicked, of supplying labour, and have inverted the structure of society by bestowing as a punishment on a convict what ought to be the recompense of the poor and virtuous emigrant, namely, a most desirable market for his labour. It is obvious that such unnatural methods of procuring labour, whether by stealing dark-coloured men, or obtaining white criminals, can never be tolerated in a colony where morality is considered of any importance. In a colony where only free labour is employed, the high rate of wages soon changes the labourer into a landowner, and the population is dispersed over a wide surface, and of course civilization retrogrades, and capital is lost or expended in vain.

In a new colony, and in a fine climate we can imagine the young society to advance a second time through all the stages of barbarism back to civilization. They may commence by subsisting on game, or in the hunting state, and when their cattle increase, they may become shepherds; and in this pastoral state they may remain for centuries, unless colonists be found in vast numbers, or the country be of limited extent. Thus we may imagine a young colony reared like a tree from the seed state; or we might adopt the more expeditious method of transplanting an ample community at the beginningjust as a mature tree may be carried from the forest, and planted in some desirable situation. In other words, we may imitate the Greeks, and transport a miniature state, with all its essentials into a new country, instead of creating one from its first elements. Such society, however, cannot transplanted to a new country with any fair prospect of its cohering, unless means be taken to prevent the dispersion of its members, which, however, comes finally to the regulations which may be instituted respecting the disposal of land. In none of our colonies, till very recently, has this difficulty been attended to; but, on the contrary, every sort of absurdity which fraud or folly could suggest has been displayed respecting this most essential condition for the success of a colony. In New South Wales, where convict labour has counterbalanced every disadvantage in the physical prosperity of the colony, land was formerly granted on the easiest conditions. Any one who applied for land might have it, and convicts to cultivate it, free of all expense and from all stipulations. Dr. Long informs us of an Indian invalid, who, during his residence in Sydney, applied for a grant of land, and obtained two thousand acres, which he disposed of on leaving the country. It is needless to insist on the still more serious evil of the jobbing in land, which must have been most annoying to the independent settler, who thus had to compete with others who enjoyed undue and unfair advantages over him. In Upper Canada these evils were still more acutely felt, and now in this vast and fine province, with its yet scanty population, only a very small proportion of the land remains unalienated, and the prin ciples, or, rather, want of principle, followed in the disposal of land, not only tended to scatter the population,

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but excited much discontent, which common prudence might have taught the necessity of avoiding. The colonists of the upper province were usually of the poorer classes, and from their poverty ought to have remained in the class of labourers, where they might have obtained excellent wages, and acquired the most important knowledge with respect to the management of farms, and when their savings enabled them, might become proprietors of an adequate extent of land. On the contrary, the emigrant to the upper province had a large farm of perhaps three hundred acres assigned to him upon condition that within a given time a certain proportion should have been brought under cultivation. It usually happened that the poor emigrant, after a manly struggle for two or three years, was obliged to sell his farm to some land-jobber, and in despair took to intoxication, or, if of firmer nerves, emigrated to the United States, where his labour was more valuable.

a landholder until he becomes a capitalist; and what is of far more importance, the price of the land, under a proper system of management, becomes a precious source of revenue, which may all be expended in importing labourers, who in their turn may aspire to become landholders: and thus the purchase-money is to be viewed rather in light of a portion of capital expended in the importation of labour. In short, as has been often remarked by all who have written on this topic, the price of the land is a subscription to a labour fund, much more useful and effective than if each individual were to expend his money in importing servants for himself. There will also be a fair competition in the labour market, unfettered by the annoyance of indentured servants. Nor does the advantage of this system cease here, for the purchasers, or the commissioners who act for them, have the power of selecting young married couples, and thus bringing a most important prospective accession to the population of the colony. Had some such system of emigration as this been coupled with our Irish poor law, we might anticipate the most essential benefits to the country; but a class of intelligent statesmen is a blessing which falls to the lot of few countries. Under such a system the pauper population of Ireland might have been the wealth of the North American colonies, and the price of lands sold in Canada might have been rendered available for the relief of this part of the empire, without the aid of taxes or loans. When we know that the government of the United States derives a revenue of nearly a million per annum from the sale of lands, we may form some idea of the importance of rendering the funds so raised in the British colonies available for an extensive and efficient system of emigration, and thus to purchase up a portion of the superfluous labour of the home market. It is, however, only in the new colony of South Australia that the full capabilities of this system have been tried; and to ascertain how far the experiment has been successful, it will be necessary to enter into some details respecting the progress of the settlement.

In founding a colony, the chief problem, therefore, is, to prevent labour from being thrown away, and capital from being dissipated by an undue dispersion of the settlers, or, in other words, by maintaining as nearly as possible the proper relations between capital, labour, and land. The obvious method to accomplish this is by affixing a minimum price to the land, and disposing of every acre without exception by sale, and by totally excluding the system of grants whether free or conditional. By such a system every idea of unfair dealing and favouritism is precluded, and the feeling of perfect reliance on the justice of the administration is engendered, which will exert a happy effect in maintaining coufidence among all classes of emigrants. In this mode of disposing of land, any one may purchase as much as he pleases, and in any locality he pleases, as soon as the survey is completed; and in this manner the formality of public auction may be very properly dispensed with; and, indeed, such a forin might often be injurious to the bona fide purchaser, as fraudulent or disingenuous individuals might give much vexation by outbidding the person who was known to have incurred much trouble and expense in traversing the country to select a proper tract of

land.

By demanding a fair price for the land the tendency to dispersion is prevented. The labourer cannot become

The new colony of South Australia differs little in physical character from the other known portions of this insular continent, and, like the neigh bouring settlements, is better adapted for sheep farming than for corn grow

ing. There is this unfortunate circumstance in the physical geography of South Australia, that it possesses scarcely any lofty mountain range, and, with the exception of the Murray, scarcely any stream of note, or fit for any other purpose than supplying a sufficiency of water for domestic uses. The line of coast possesses but few harbours of great value, with the exception of Port Lincoln, which is of unrivalled excellence, and capable of affording shelter in all weather, and to any number of vessels. Another advantage possessed by the new colony is, that it is traversed by the Murray, the only known river of Australia which is of great value as affording a long course of inland navigation. This fine river, which was first explored by Captain Sturt, receives the waters of the Macquarrie, Marrumbidgee, and Darling, and for at least two hundred miles of its course is as broad as the Thames at London. It has been stated that the lands on the lower part of the Murray are of very inferior value, or rather quite useless; but as the country has as yet been but very imperfectly explored, it is premature to speak decisively on the subject. Another circumstance which considerably impairs the value of the Murray is, that it is inaccessible from the sea by the barrier which the breakers have thrown up at its mouth, and which have caused its obstructed waters to expand into the fresh water lagoon to which the name of Lake Alexandrina has been given. Along the coast there are several islands, but few of them of any importance. Kangaroo Island labours under the double disadvantage of being very thickly wooded, with a very small supply of water.The new colony possesses an extent of surface nearly as great as that of France and Spain together; and in as far as it has hitherto been explored, it has been found that the proportion of good land is much greater than in any of the other Australian settlements. The great physical advantages of the colony of South Australia are the superior quality of its land, or rather that the quantity of good land is greater in a given surface than in Western Australia or New South Wales-the excellence of its harbour, and the means of inland communication afforded by the Murray. With respect to position, it is inferior to Western Australia, where the wind is favourable during every season for sailing to India or England.

In constructing a system of rules for the management of the new colony, the projectors availed themselves, to the utmost, of all previous experience in such undertakings, and certainly the utmost praise is due to them for the foresight with which every anticipated evil was provided against. In the whole transaction, there is a mixture of bold reliance on the soundness of their principles, and, at the same time, of caution in carrying them out, which is highly creditable to the projectors, and which merited the success which has attended it. The first principle adopted as a basis of the new colony, is the self-supporting one, in accordance with which, every farthing of the expense of the colony, from its birth, is defrayed from its own resources. We need not seek the contrast in the convict colonies, where a large military and police establishment is required, but in the case of Swan River settlement, we find that that unfortunate colony, although more than double the age of South Australia, requires an annual parliamentary grant of £6,000. This system of defraying its own expenses, cannot fail to have an admirable effect, both by encouraging the self-respect of the colonists, and infusing energy and confidence into their exertions; and, above all, in preventing them from being teased by idle and useless officials. By thus defraying the entire expense of their government, and also of the protection of the colony, the settlers have a just right to claim exemption from all unnecessary interference in their affairs, and that the system under which they are advancing to prosperity, should be left to its own workings. This self-supporting plan, on which the institution of the colony is based, if new, is only so in its theoretical expression; for in fact most of the flourishing colonies either of Greece in ancient times, or of the early colonies of England, in modern times, were established without drawing upon the parent countries, either for support or protection. all such cases, the hardy off-shoot of a vigorous stem required only to be transplanted to a favourable soil, and a healthy vegetation shows the natural result. It was only in the case of such monstrous abortions as a convict tlement, ог some foreign colony, the sickly child of some continental government, that a heavy expense has been incurred by the governing state. In all the previous examples, however, of a colony prospering from its own

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