to the settler, and is by no means productive. 4th. That the general treatment of the convict has tended, in conjunction with other circumstances, materially to deprave the British character in these colonies; restraining the energies of the settler, and often throwing obstruction in the way of the local government. 5th. That the effects on the convict population, by admixture with the free, has been by no means proportional to the sacrifice of character made by the latter; also, that although removal from the scene of their crimes, to be placed in situations of comparative comfort and abundance, has had a salutary effect on a number of the convicts, the total want of check in the first steps towards relapse, and the sentiments of freedom and equality, inculcated by the legislature, have been most injurious to their general welfare, have caused an increase of crimes with their corresponding punishments, and a waste of human blood by the hands of the executioner. 6th. That the modes of managing the convict population have, both directly and indirectly, occasioned an increase of crime in Great Britain.

The details given by Mr. Henderson, in support of the conclusions he has formed, are valuable, but they are necessarily too minute to admit of being epitomized or examined in this notice of his book.

"where has this

When he visited New South Wales, the colony was suffering under general distress, which has since, in a great measure, disappeared. In his work, Mr. Henderson investigates the causes of that distress. He observes that the capital invested in the colony, during the last forty years, adding the government expenditure to individual capital, may be estimated at six millions sterling, at the very least; perhaps twelve. The produce in exports may be taken at £80,000 per annum, which, leaving out the whale-fishery, is little more than one per cent. for the capital invested. "Now, were we to suppose those six millions to have been sunk," he asks, sum gone, since it must be either in or out of the colony? What has gone out? The quantity expended is the excess of imports above exports. Now, it will appear, by looking to the state of imports of last year, that £500,000 of these has been received into the colony, whereas only £80,000 of exports has gone out to pay for it; consequently, the colony has lost £420,000;" and he remarks that the natural conclusion, without close inquiry, would be, that "it would have been much better that the colony had not sunk these six millions, but that they had lived upon the interest, doing nothing."

We apprehend that there must be a great fallacy in assimilating a settlement, and especially a penal settlement, in a vacant territory, to an estate in England, a civilized country. The profits yielded by capital (to speak in approved terms) so invested, must not be estimated by its money-returns. Neither is it correct to take the exports as the measure of the "rent of the capital invested in agriculture" in the colony; nor can the difference between the exports and imports be assumed to be the sum "lost by the colony." All these would be fundamental errors, if made the indispensable basis of Mr. Henderson's arguments.

He has, however, very accurately exposed some of the sources of the distress felt in the colony, by shewing the impolitic mode in which capital has been employed there, whereby colonists with capital have rendered it less productive than if they had done nothing.

As a remedy for the state of things, resulting from the transposition of produce into money, Mr. Henderson suggests the establishment of cornbanks, the currency of which should be corn, that is, instead of promising to pay one pound, the bank should agree to pay a bushel of wheat; the operation of this would, he argues, multiply the colonial wealth, and regulate the price of labour and of commodities by an unvarying standard. Convict labour, he observes, is dear, because convicts perform little work and consume a great deal; but free labour will become cheaper, as soon as the colony can supply its own necessaries, instead of expending real capital for them: "the free man will work for what he may consume, together with his share of increased produce; or, in other words, labour is exchanged for labour, the profits of the colonists being their share of the production over his consumption."

We are aware that we do some injury to Mr. Henderson's theory in not developing it minutely by the train of facts and arguments which he adduces in support of it; but we have not space for so elaborate an exposition; and we are convinced that we have said sufficient to attract to his work the attention of those who feel an interest in the subject, and who, if unconvinced, will nevertheless admire the lucid and able manner in which the author has treated it.

Mr. Henderson follows out his theory in the next chapter, wherein he lays down rules of procedure for the settler. The following picture, in which he describes the purchaser of a new territory proceeding to "locate," after being supplied with convicts, provisions, and implements, discloses some of the opinions of the author, as to the policy of the existing system, and is drawn in a light and pleasing style :

We shall choose a morning in spring, the sweetest in the year; our place the banks of a dark rolling stream, where our settler and his establishment have bivouacked, for the advantage of the water. A slight sheet for a tent protects them from the midnight dew, and under its scanty canopy are laid the settler, his wife, and three children. Notwithstanding the fatigues of the preceding stage they have slept but little, and are now all awake with the first dawn of day. The sky is without a cloud; the air bracing and delightful. The notes of the early thrush have given place to those of the Derwent magpie, who, perched on a lofty gum-tree, is chaunting in rich full notes his natural melody. The restless and noisy minas are disputing amidst the bright yellow blossoms of a neighbouring wattle, while many a smaller warbler is breathing forth, in cheering tones, his early matins.

Close by the embers of a waning fire, are seen the figures of four convicts, the assigned servants, who are sleeping soundly and undisturbed. They are familiarised to such scenes,-old steady hands, who have passed through many a settler; have known a road-gang or two; and mayhap a penal settlement. No care occupies their bosoms; to them the present scene has no charms, and the future presents to their imagination nothing either pleasing or alarming. These sages have been consigned to the settler, in preference to less experienced hands, who might probably have been useless. Near them stands a a waggon, containing a portion of the furniture and provisions of the settler; his sea-stores, implements of husbandry, with useless and useful

articles indiscriminately combined. The implements have been purchased at -the highest price, and include, likewise, many things which the settler could have done without; besides which, as he has to build a house, a number of instruments, which are required for that purpose, have afterwards to be thrown aside.

Feeding in the vicinity are the remains of a flock of sheep, in the purchase of which the settler has been jockied, both as to the price and quality. His particular friend has, as a great favour, sold him some of his first-woolled ones, and only supplied him with the second sort, most of whom are scabby old ewes, for whose fleece the owner protested he had received three shillings per pound, by the latest return of sales. One-third of these have gone astray with another flock, on the road, and it has been deemed at length necessary to proceed without them.

The children are now dressed, healthy, blooming, and happy; eagerly pursuing, in company with the kangaroo bitch, some painted butterfly; true emblem of their future pursuits.

The mother is preparing the breakfast. On the ground are spread the remnants of cups and saucers, eked out by tin jugs. A large damper of unleavened bread, made of unsifted flour, has been baked on the previous evening. The tea is boiling in the kettle, and a sufficient quantity of mutton chops are grilling on the fire,—too much, in the idea of the uninitiated, for a party of twice their numbers; but proving, in the clearest terms, that the cares of the emigrants have had no effect in diminishing their appetites. One convict is assist-ing to get ready the breakfast, another has gone to look after the bullocks, a third is milking the cows, and a fourth is tending the sheep. So far all is well; a fearful havoc has been made in the mutton chops, with corresponding execution on the damper, ere the man returns to acquaint them that a pair of the working bullocks are missing. In these the settler has been equally fortunate, as with his sheep. Having paid for them a proper price, he has found, on his departure, that two of them are newly broken-in steers, which have taken the earliest opportunity of regaining their former liberty, and of rejoining their companions, the free-rangers of the forest.

A settler on the road has, however, taken pity on the destitute situation of the new comer, and has generously supplied him with another pair, for only double their proper value. These last, however, probably not understanding this arrangement, have, as in duty bound, returned to their former homes, after their first day's journey.

While, however, the man is gone in pursuit of the deserters, the principal hand of the set of convicts approaches the settler, twisting his cap in his hand, symptomatic of something wrong. He comes to inquire whether master has last night taken out any backa or sugar, because the cases seem, som't curious and disordered. On examination, it is found that a portion of those articles have indeed been purloined, evidently by a combination of the four, and that, most probably, the man despatched for the bullocks has gone likewise to convert the proceeds of this into liquor. The settler is seen blustering, threatening, and abusing, while the convicts are acting with stoical indifference, and inwardly enjoying the scene. The settler's anger, however, gives place to prudence, because he well knows he possesses no power to punish them himself, and should he complain to a magistrate, he would run the chance of losing his whole property, since, were they confined on suspicion, he would have no one to attend to his flock, his herd, his team ;-he would, in short, be left destitute.

We shall now take a second view of our acquaintance, after his location on his farm. Perhaps the scene is Van Diemen's Land; the time is a warm summer's evening. Decked in the remnants of former finery, may be seen the mother of the family, who sits nursing another child, being just recovered from her accouchement. I know the hut well, and see it now before me. It is divided into two; in the inner or sleeping apartment, are seen ranged the supplies for the year, flour, sugar, &c., which require to be locked up. The children's beds are roughly constructed; kangaroo skins, over straw, constitute the matrass, while blankets or oppossum-skin rugs form the coverlids. In the slabs of which the walls are composed, may be observed small holes for the purpose of pointing a musket, in case of sudden attack from the natives or bushrangers. The roof is not so close, but the rays of light, in fine weather, and the rain in bad, find each of them an easy entrance. The furniture is of the rudest description; forms, supplying the place of two broken chairs, are set round a table constructed with posts sunk in the ground, having split boards laid over them. By the fire are seen several generations of cats, by some means already collected, who are sitting sedately, as becomes a patriarchal family, the elder ones apparently pondering over their youthful follies. The kangaroo bitch, who has likewise been breeding, would fain take up her quarters by their side, drawn thither by the sweet scented savour of a huge damper, that is now baking in the ashes; but the fleas, which are already insupportable, render her presence by no means desirable; and she retires to herd with the less favoured curs.

The husband has returned from his daily labours, the furrows of care engraven on his sun-burnt but healthy countenance. He carefully deposits his gun, which he carried with him to the plough, to protect himself against the insidious attacks of the natives, while his children all flock around him, dirty, fat, blooming, and noisy. The wife is just making her complaints to the husband, that the servant woman has been insolent, and that her conduct has become so intolerable, that she begs him to send her away, rather than be longer troubled with her. The Abigail being called for, without waiting the attack, presently begins the battle, by abusing the settler and his wife in no measured terms; and on its being arranged that she is to proceed to a magistrate, her friend John comes to request a pass to go also, in order to complain that his victuals are not good, his slops are not properly furnished, his work is too much, or perhaps that he is sick. Thomas, the ploughman, may, for the same cause, have adroitly broken the plough, and now likewise requests leave to go to the blacksmith, who lives forty miles distant, to escort his companion, to meet his friend, or any other cause; the plough with the bullocks remaining at rest until his return. Or, perhaps, the shepherd may have just arrived with the intelligence, that a portion of the flock has, through his carelessness, strayed upon the uninclosed ground of his next neighbour, and that his friend has been kind enough to send them to pound, where they will be sold on a certain day, to the highest bidder, if the expenses, amounting sometimes to the half, or to the whole of their value, be not defrayed within that period.

Mr. Henderson, with patient and philosophical assiduity, inquires "the causes of these things." He finds no physical reason why these colonies should be thus" idle, unimproved, semi-barbarous and groaning under selfconstituted burthens," in which, a settler from England, though transplanted to a country peopled by British subjects, invariably descends towards the savage. "Whatever be the causes," he says, "the fact is

plain and undeniable, that the British character, in both colonies, is deteriorated; nor do I perceive any probable reason why it should not continue still further to retrograde." The deterioration of the social character of the colonists Mr. Henderson ascribes to the want of care in the govern ment in selecting and adjusting the elements of the society. "Government," he observes, "has raised a competition between two classes, which should have been inseparable; and the effects are felt, not in the increase of production, but in its diminution. A class of men are raised above their proper condition, without any previous alteration to prepare and qualify them for such a change. Is it not natural that they should look with a giddy eye around, and frequently mistake the meaning of the words, liberty and licentiousness? Why should the government then view, with surprise and` indignation, those beings, whom they have rendered free and independent, when they find them armed, and ready to attack those from whom they first derived their powers to be injurious, but who have omitted, preparatorily, to teach them their proper application? By giving small grants of land, the kernel of the soil is placed in unproductive hands, while the giving. grants of land at all to an inferior rank, lets loose upon the better settler a class of men highly prejudicial to good order, and who are at all times inclined, when they have the power, to consider his property as their peculiar prey." The convicts, he thinks, might easily be improved and rendered productive by a better mode of management, under a superior system of superintendence and of appointment to government-situations in the colony, which should be filled by persons of talent and education, instead of being monopolized by mere dependents on the ministry.

The government, the character, qualifications, and duty of the governor, legislation, laws, and the subordinate objects of administration connected with local improvements, the encouragement of scientific pursuits, &c., are the matters treated of in the next chapter, and the true theory of colonization, with respect to agriculture, trade, &c., constitutes the subject of the last.

The Observations on the Natural History of the Colonies contain some curious facts in geology, botany, and zoology. Respecting the organic remains found deposited in limestone, he observes:→

These are observed in various situations: first, in red earth; secondly, in red rock; thirdly, in a volcanic sort of earth, intermixed with other alluvial matter; and fourthly, exposed alone upon the limestone rock. In whichever of these positions they may, however, be detected, they at all times evince an inclination to form strata. The bones are of different descriptions, varying from such as might be supposed to have been shortly since deposited, to such as have acquired the character of stone, in consequence of the influence of stalactic waters. They are met with of all sizes; but each size of bone displays a tendency to arrange itself along with others, which had originally possessed a similar specific gravity. Those found in greatest abundance appeared to me to have belonged to the rat, oppossum, duck, and to the smaller varieties of the kangaroo.

These strata have no reference whatever to the genera; they are merely arAsiat Journ. N.S. VOL.14.No.54.

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