Statistical, Historical and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales Part 10

Secondly, That the ticket of leave men, and all the convicts now in the service of individuals, whether victualled and clothed at the expence of the crown or not, should be called in and re-a.s.signed, either to their present masters or to others, and that these should be allowed with them the premium hereafter to be named; but that they should be previously in every instance required to give security to the government, that such convict servants should not on any account be permitted to be absent from their respective employments.

Thirdly, That instead of the present mode of victualling and clothing the convicts from the king's stores, the settlers should be allowed a stipulated premium with them, one fifth less than the actual cost of maintaining them, and that this premium should diminish one fifth yearly from the date of the changes in the colonial polity, which have been recommended.

Fourthly, That the price now directed to be paid convict servants for their extra time, should be reduced from 10 in the men, to 5; and from 7 to 3 10s. in the women: and that this reduction should be subtracted from the amount of the above premium, and carried to the credit of the government.

Fifthly, That all such convicts as may arrive in the colony within the five years next ensuing the above period, other than those who may be required for the government works, should be in like manner a.s.signed to deserving applicants, with the decreased premium of the year in which they may arrive.

Sixthly, That at the expiration of the above period of five years, the whole of the government works which are now for the most part carried on by convicts, victualled and clothed from the king's stores, should be performed by contract.

Seventhly, That the utmost encouragement should be held out by the government to the emigration of wealthy individuals to the colony; and that with a view to effect this object, not only a pa.s.sage should be furnished them free of expence in the various transports, which are annually sent thither, but that also the quant.i.ty of land to be hereafter granted them, should be increased in proportion to their capital, from eight hundred acres (the present customary grant) up to five thousand.

Lastly, That the unappropriated lands most eligibly situated for the purposes of colonization, should be surveyed and marked out into sections, each containing one square mile, or six hundred and forty acres; that each of these sections should be again subdivided into four parts; that thirty-six of these sections should as in America form a towns.h.i.+p; that at stated periods the lands so surveyed should be set up to auction, and sold to the best bidder, provided the price offered for them should exceed one dollar per acre; if not, that they should be retained until they could be sold for such price at some subsequent period; that the same credit should be given for the purchase of these lands as is given in America, and the same discount on ready money; and that the amount of such sales should go to the Police Fund, and be employed in defraying the expences of the colony.

The object of the foregoing propositions must be too evident from the preliminary remarks which I have made, to need any extended ill.u.s.tration; nevertheless, it may not be altogether inexpedient to say a few words in further explanation of them to such persons as have bestowed no portion of their attention on the circ.u.mstances and situation of this colony. The first, second, and third articles speak for themselves. The remedy here proposed for the alarming evils, which I have so copiously traced to the causes of their origin and continuance, will certainly occasion the government for the next five years a very great additional expence; but after the most mature reflection on the present impoverished state of this colony, and the deeply rooted habits of idleness and vice, which a fifteen years' deprivation of the most important civil and political rights has occasioned, I can devise none besides that could be applied with any probability of effecting a radical and permanent cure. The arrangement recommended in the third article, I mean the subst.i.tution of a premium for the present mode of clothing and victualling the convicts, would be highly favourable to the agricultural interests, both by limiting to the cultivators of the soil, the supply of the food consumed by their servants, and by sparing them the trouble and expence of sending their carts for it to the king's stores, an exemption which would be attended with a considerable saving to such of them as inhabit districts remote from the towns: it would also be a source of economy to the government, by enabling them to make a great reduction in the commissariat department. The only objection I can antic.i.p.ate to this article, is, that it fixes an arbitrary rate of reduction on the premium to be allowed the settlers with the convicts; and that this rate may prove greater than the advance which the colony may make in the various avenues of internal industry. This may possibly be the case, although I consider the period I have named sufficiently protracted to allow the colonists due time to ascertain the nature and extent of their newly acquired privileges, and to profit by them. If, however, it were practicable, it would certainly be more eligible that they themselves should become the arbiters of the abatement which should annually take place in the premium to be given with the convicts. I do not, however, well know how this desideratum could be effected, unless the grand juries during the circuit of the courts in the different districts, could be empowered to inquire into and determine the increase that may take place in the demand for labour, and regulate the price of it, or in other words the premium to be given with it accordingly. To detract as far as possible from the increased expence which would follow the adoption of the measures recommended in the first, second, and third articles, is the object of the fourth. By making the abatement here proposed in the amount of the wages now directed to be paid by the settlers to their convict servants, and carrying it to the credit of the government, an immediate saving of 5 per man, and 3 10s. per woman would be effected. And if the calculation be accurate that each male convict victualled and clothed at the expence of the crown costs 18, and each female 12 10s. it will be seen that above one fourth more might be supported by the government in the manner here recommended, and that likewise a fifth might be annually added to the number, without occasioning any increase whatever in the colonial expenditure. The weight too of this mode of retrenchment would not fall on the settler, and by operating as a check to agriculture perhaps prolong the period when the various departments of industry will be enabled to absorb the large ma.s.s of labour which is annually regurgitated on the sh.o.r.es of this colony, but on the convicts themselves, to whose reformation indeed, (the primary object of its foundation) it is essential that every incentive to the renewal of their ancient disorderly and profligate habits should be withdrawn. Even with this diminished scale of wages, the situation of the convicts would be far preferable to that of the labouring cla.s.s in this country. 2 10s. to the men, and 1 10s. to the women, would then remain, independently of their food and clothing, which is surely quite sufficient for the "_menus plaisirs_" of a set of persons who are supposed to be smarting under the lash of the law. Article fifth needs no explanation. Article sixth, contemplates the saving that might be effected in the public works of the government, by exchanging at the expiration of the period, when the bounty to be allowed to settlers with convicts shall cease, the present mode of carrying them on by a body of men, victualled and clothed at the expence of the crown, for the more economical plan of contracting for them with the lowest bidder. I limit the commencement of this method of retrenchment to the above period, because so long as a necessity exists for giving a bounty with convicts, there can be no doubt that it would be judicious for the government to profit as far as possible by the labour of persons whom even in the employment of individuals, they would be in a great measure obliged to support. But the moment this necessity shall cease, it is equally indubitable that a considerable saving might be effected by carrying on the public works by contract. Where a body of fourteen or fifteen hundred convicts are employed under the superintendence of the most active and upright man, there will always be a system of idleness and plunder, which his a.s.siduity will never be able entirely to baffle. Out of the immense number of minor agents on whose intelligence and integrity he would be obliged to place a considerable degree of dependence, it is not readily to be believed, however great may be his activity and discrimination, that he would not be frequently deceived, and that those very men on whom he most relied to suppress the dishonest inclinations of others, would not themselves occasionally profit by the facilities to plunder and peculation, which the confidence they enjoyed might throw in their way. That such is, and always has been the case in this colony, no person at all conversant with its real state, can have any hesitation in a.s.serting; and consequently that the subst.i.tution of contracts in the place of the present mode of conducting the public works, would become a very important source of economy at the period in question. Article the seventh, is intended to encourage emigration to the colony, and to turn to its sh.o.r.es some portion of the immense numbers who are annually withdrawing from this country to the United States of America. It appears almost inexplicable how the government can look on, and behold the thousands who are propelled by various causes to quit their native land, and not make some vigorous efforts, if not to check this strong tide of emigration, at least to divert it to our colonies, where in general it is so much required, and might become of such immense and permanent utility to the empire. It is true that of those who thus abandon the land of their forefathers, many are actuated by political animosities, and could not by any means be induced to settle in any of our colonies. But it is not less certain that there are others, and that the majority are of this cla.s.s, whom mere distress and inability to provide for the growing wants of their families, unalloyed with any political feelings whatever, most reluctantly drive to seek an asylum in America, and who deeply lament the necessity of betaking themselves to a country where they and their children may one day be compelled to draw their paricidal swords against the mother that gave them birth. It cannot indeed be denied that the government to prevent this horrible alternative, have for a long time held out considerable encouragements to persons emigrating to Canada; but besides that the policy of thus peopling at so considerable an expence a country which in the natural course of events must become an integral member of the American union, is at least questionable, it is well known that three-fourths of those who are thus induced to settle in Canada, end by removing to the United States. The intense severity of the winters, and the unavoidable suspension of the pursuits of agriculture during six months in the year, with the habits and language of the Canadians, so repulsive and annoying to the generality of Englishmen, sufficiently account for this circ.u.mstance, without taking into computation the superior advantages of climate and soil which the greater part of the United States is represented as possessing. If the impolicy, therefore, of encouraging emigration to Canada be disputed, still the inefficiency of the means employed to attain the end contemplated by the government ought to decide them to try some other expedient to prevent so large a stock of British industry and capital from thus adding to the resources of a nation, who is already the most formidable, as she is the most rancorous on the list of our enemies. No measure, perhaps, that could be adopted would tend so effectually to the accomplishment of this object, as holding out the great encouragement specified in this article to all such as may settle in this colony. Possessed as it is of a most salubrious and diversified climate, fertile soil, and unbounded extent of territory, it evidently contains every requisite for the formation of a great and flouris.h.i.+ng community; and whenever it shall be blessed with a free government will offer much greater facilities for the development of industry and the acquisition of wealth, than are to be found in the United States. Until the colony, however, shall possess this fundamental privilege, every attempt of the government to divert the current of emigration thither from America must prove in a great measure unavailing. A free const.i.tution is the first want of those who have known the blessings of one; and no prospects of profit to an honourable and independent mind can compensate for its loss.

There can be little doubt, therefore, that as soon as this indispensable preliminary to general emigration shall be granted, thousands of persons will embark for this colony, and continue to contribute to the wealth and power of their native country, who would otherwise become citizens of her most formidable and inveterate rival.

The adoption also of the measures here recommended, would have a sensible effect in diminis.h.i.+ng the expenditure of this colony; and would amply compensate for any loss which the government might sustain by affording settlers a pa.s.sage thither, free of expence, in the transports. I commenced this section by an attempt to prove that the great immediate hindrance to the employment of the large ma.s.s of unoccupied labour in the various new departmeuts of internal industry that will be created by the establishment of a free government, will arise from the want of capital; and the premium I have recommended to be granted with convicts for the first five years ensuing the proposed change in the colonial polity, is intended to impart an _artificial_ vigour into the community, and to allow of that acc.u.mulation of wealth, which may afterwards suffice of itself to keep in solution all the disposable labour of the colony. Every accession, therefore, of capital that may take place, will contribute to swell the colonial stock to that extent which is necessary for the complete occupation of the convicts, and thus become the means of accelerating the period when the government will be entirely emanc.i.p.ated from the necessity of allowing the settlers a bounty with them.

The last article scarcely needs any explanation. Whenever that extensive emigration of capitalists which I confidently antic.i.p.ate would follow the establishment of a free government shall take place, the sale of the crown lands would evidently become a source of considerable profit, and would go a long way towards defraying the expences of the colony. It would also be the means of bringing numbers of rich speculators thither, who wonld not think of emigrating even for the increased indulgences which I have recommended in the foregoing article. A man of fortune would then be enabled to vest his money in land to the exact extent that he might desire; whereas at present, he must either be content with the portion a.s.signed him, or else purchase by _dribblets_ the _farms_ that may become vacant in the vicinity of his estate, and after all perhaps, be annoyed by having the possessions of others in the midst of his own. It is true that individuals, who do not possess sufficient land for the support of their flocks and herds, are allowed to feed them on the unappropriated lands, and can therefore increase their stock to any extent they may please. But the rapid progress of colonization places the crown lands every day at a greater distance from the original settlements, and occasions a constant necessity for receding, so that at last that part of his stock which the farmer cannot feed at home is gradually removed to an inconvenient distance, and no longer can have the benefit of his personal superintendence. With men of capital, therefore, the cla.s.s of whom it has been seen that the colony is most in need, this sale of the crown lands at half the price which is demanded for land in America, would prove a very powerful stimulus to emigration, and would consequently have a twofold operation in diminis.h.i.+ng the expenditure of this colony; viz. by filling the coffers of the Police Fund, and by occasioning that accession of capital, which I have before shewn to be essential before the government can be freed from the burden of supporting the convicts.

On the Advantages which the Colony offers for Emigration.

After the gloomy picture which I have drawn of the actual condition of the colony; after having represented both its agricultural and commercial interests as being already not only in a state of impair, but also of increasing dilapidation and ruin, it may appear somewhat paradoxical that I should attempt to wind up the account with an enumeration of the advantages which it holds out to emigration. If due consideration, however, be given to the nature of the ingredients of which the agricultural body is composed; if it be recollected that it consists princ.i.p.ally of persons, who have been since their earliest years habituated to every sort of vice and debauchery; of persons bred up in cities, and unacquainted with the arts of husbandry, who had, therefore, to contend against the combined force of an inveterate propensity to the profligate indulgences of their _ancient_ mode of life, and of utter ignorance of the laborious occupations and thrifty arts of their _new_: I say if all these serious impediments to success be impartially weighed, it will be seen that the _anomaly_ is rather _apparent_ than _real_. Nevertheless I do not mean to imply that this colony or its dependencies, present at this moment any very flattering prospects for the _mere agriculturist_. That the _skilful farmer_ would be enabled to obtain an _independent_ and _comfortable subsistence_ is, however, _indubitable_; and the larger his family, provided they were of sufficient age to afford him an effectual co-operation, the greater would be his chance of a successful establishment. Hundreds of this laborious cla.s.s of people, who in spite of unremitting toil and frugality, find themselves every day getting behind-hand with the world, would undoubtedly better their condition by emigrating to this colony, if there were only a probability that they would be enabled to go on from day to day as they are doing here. In this country they are at best but _tenants_ of the soil they cultivate; whereas there they would be _proprietors_, and the _mere advance_ which would be taking place in the value of their farms, would before many years not only render them _independent_ but even _wealthy_. Of the truth of this a.s.sertion, we shall be fully convinced by referring to the price of land on the banks of the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers, the only parts which can be said to be even tolerably colonized. It has already been stated that as far as the river Hawkesbury is navigable, the unimproved land is worth five pounds per acre, and improved land double this amount. This land was at first of no value whatever; because in the infancy of societies, so long as there is an unlimited scope of land of the first quality, which any one may occupy as far as his occasions require, it is evident that there would be no purchasers; since it is absurd to imagine that any one would buy that which he could obtain for nothing. It is only, as Mr. Ricardo has demonstrated, when land of an inferior quality is brought into cultivation, and when the difference in the produce of the two sorts gives the occupier of the one a superiority over the occupier of the other, and renders it as eligible for a person to cultivate land of the first description as a tenant, and to pay the proprietor the difference of produce by way of rent, as to be himself the proprietor of land of the second description; or when the situation of the different appropriated tracts of land does not admit of the conveyance of their produce to market at an equal cost; and thus again gives the owners of those farms which are more contiguous, an advantage over the owners of those which are more remote: I say it is only when societies have made that progress, which begets one or other of these contingencies, or both, that land is of any value whatever. In the course, therefore, of thirty-one years, the tract of land in question, taking the unimproved part as our criterion, since the improvements made in that portion of it, which is in a state of cultivation, may be considered tantamount to the difference in value between the one and the other, has evidently risen to this enormous price, from having been of no worth whatever: or in other words, each acre of land has increased in value during the interval that has elapsed since the foundation of the colony at the rate of 3s. 2 1/2d. per annum; and this too under the most impolitic and oppressive system, to which any colony, perhaps, was ever subjected. How much greater then, will be the future rise in the value of landed property, if, as there is now every reason to hope from the attention which the government are at this moment paying to the state of this colony, the whole of the disabilities under which its inhabitants have been so long groaning, should at length be abandoned? Without taking at all into the estimate the immediate amelioration which a radical change in the polity of this colony, would occasion in the condition of the agricultural body; without depending on the probability that it will soon be in the power of the laborious and frugal settler to rise rapidly to wealth and independence; it must be evident that the mere increase which is yearly taking place in the value of landed property, affords of itself the strongest inducement to emigration; since if it does not hold out to the industrious man the prospect of acquiring immediate wealth, it relieves him from all apprehensions for his family, should a premature destiny overtake himself. He at least knows that every succeeding year will be augmenting in a rapid manner the value of his farm, and that the same spot which administers to his and their present wants, cannot fail to suffice for their future. This is of itself a most consolatory prospect; it at all events prevents the present good from being embittered with any dread of future evil; it permits the industrious man the tranquil enjoyment of the fruits of his labours, and rescues him from the necessity of h.o.a.rding up against the approach of gathering calamity, against the stormy season of impending poverty.

The amelioration, that would take place in the condition of the mere labourer, who should emigrate to this colony, without funds adequate to the formation of an agricultural establishment, would not be so considerable. Still there can be no doubt that the honest and industrious man would always be able to provide for himself and his family a sufficiency of food and clothing; comforts which with his utmost endeavours he can hardly obtain in this country without having recourse to parochial relief. He would, therefore, at all events emanc.i.p.ate himself from this humiliating,--this demoralizing necessity; for although there is confessedly a greater portion of labour in the colony than can at present be maintained in activity, any person who might emigrate thither voluntarily would easily find employment, when those who are, or have been under the operation of the law would seek for it in vain. A good character is a jewel of greater value there than in this country, because it is more difficult to be met with; and consequently all the advantages which it procures its possessor in the one place, it will insure him at least in a two-fold measure in the other.

The colony offers very little encouragement to the manufacturer. The manufacturing interests are not at present in the most prosperous situation; and if the government should, as there is every probability, at length adopt those measures which are called for by every consideration of justice and expediency, a few years will annihilate them entirely. To this cla.s.s therefore, with reference both to the proprietor and workman, a removal to this colony would undoubtedly be prejudicial.

For the artisan and mechanic, who are skilled in the works of utility, rather than of luxury, there is, as it has been already remarked, no part of the world, perhaps, which affords an equal chance of success. To any, therefore, who have the means of transporting themselves and families to this colony, the removal would be in the highest degree advantageous. They could not fail to find immediate employment, and receive a more liberal return for their labour, than they would be able to procure elsewhere.

The blacksmith, carpenter, cooper, stone-mason, brick-layer, brick-maker, wheel and plough-wright, harness-maker, tanner, shoe-maker, taylor, cabinet-maker, s.h.i.+p-wright, sawyer, etc. etc.

would very soon become independent, if they possessed sufficient prudence to save the money which they would earn. For the master artisan and mechanic, the prospect of course is still more cheering; since the labour they would be enabled to command would be proportioned to the extent of their capital.

The advantages, however, which the colony offers to this cla.s.s of emigrants, _great_ as they undoubtedly are, when considered in an isolated point of view, are absolutely of _no weight_ when placed in the balance of comparison against those which it offers to the capitalist, who has the means to embark largely in the breeding of fine woolled sheep. It may be safely a.s.serted that of _all_ the _various openings_ which the world at this moment affords for the _profitable investment_ of money, there is not _one equally inviting_ as this _single channel_ of _enterprize_ offered by the colony.

The proof of this a.s.sertion I shall rest on a calculation so plain and intelligible, as I hope to be within the scope of the comprehension of all. Before we proceed, however, it is necessary to settle a few points, as the data on which this calculation is to be founded; viz. the value of wool, the weight of the fleece, and the number of sheep to be kept in a flock. With regard to the value of the wool grown in this colony, the last importations of the best quality averaged five s.h.i.+llings and sixpence per pound in the fleece. This was sold last month; [March, 1819] and as the market was at that time overcharged, and as moreover the best description of wool yet produced in this colony, is far from having attained the perfection of which it is capable, and which a few more crosses with the pure breed will undoubtedly effect in it, it may be safely concluded, that this is the lowest price at which this sort of wool will ever be sold. This will be more evident, if we contemplate the gradual rise in value, which the wool from the same gentleman's flocks has been experiencing during the last four years. In 1816, it was sold for 2s.

6d. per pound in the fleece; in March, 1818, for 3s. 6d. per pound; in July, 1818, for 4s.

4d. per pound; and in March, 1819, for 5s.

6d. per pound in the fleece. For some of this last quant.i.ty of wool, properly sorted and washed, Mr. Hurst of Leeds was offered 9s. per pound, and refused it. To take the future average price of wool at 5s. 6d. per pound, is, therefore, forming an estimate, which in all probability will fall far short of the truth. However, let this be one of our data; and let us allow three pounds, which is also an estimate equally moderate, as the average weight of each fleece. The weight of a yearling's fleece may be taken at three quarters of a pound, and the value of the wool at 2s. 9d. per pound. The number of ewes generally kept in a flock by the best breeders are about 330, and we will suppose that the emigrant has the means of purchasing a flock of this size of the most improved breed: this with a sufficient number of tups may be had for 1000. These points being determined, let us now proceed to our calculation.

[Table not included in this text version--see html version. Ed.]

It would be useless to prosecute this calculation, since any person who may be anxious to ascertain its further results, may easily follow it up himself. It will be seen that with the most liberal allowances for all manner of expenses, casualties and deteriorations, capital invested in this channel will yield the first year an interest of 13 per cent. besides experiencing itself an increase of nearly 24 per cent.; that the second year it will yield an interest of nearly 25 per cent.

besides experiencing itself a further increase of rather more than 37 per cent.; and that the third year it will yield an interest of nearly 37 per cent. besides experiencing itself an additional increase of about 42 per cent. or, in other words, money sunk in the rearing of sheep in this colony will, besides paying an interest of about 75 _per cent_.

in the _course_ of _three years_, _rather more than double itself_. Here then is a mode of investing capital by which the proprietor may insure himself not only an annual interest, the ratio of which would augment every year in the most astonis.h.i.+ng progression, but by which the capital itself also would experience an advance still more rapid and extraordinary.

Any person, therefore, who has the means of embarking in this speculation, could not fail with common attention to realize a large fortune in a few years. His chance of so doing would be still greater if he should happen to be acquainted with the management of sheep; but this is by no means an _indispensable_ qualification; for such is the fineness of the climate, both in the settlements in New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, that all those precautions which are necessary to be observed in this country, in order to shelter this animal from the inclemency of the seasons, are there, quite superfluous: sheds, indeed, are not only useless, but injurious; the flocks never do so well as when they are continually exposed to the weather. It is only necessary that the folds should be s.h.i.+fted every other day, or if the sheep are kept by night in yards, to take care that _these_ are daily swept out.

The extent to which capital might thus be invested is boundless; since if the breeder did not possess as much land as would feed the number of sheep that he might wish to keep, he would only have to send his flocks beyond the limits of colonization, and retire with them as the tide of population approached. His hurdles, and the rude huts or tents of his shepherds, might always be removed with very little difficulty and expense; and if his and his neighbours' flocks should happen to come into contact, such is the immensity of the wilderness which would lie before him, that he might exclaim in the language of Abram to Lot: "Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herds-men; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before us? Separate thyself I pray thee from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." Such, should any of these disputes occur, might always be their amicable termination. There is, and will be for ages to come, whatever may be the extent of emigration, more land than can possibly be required. The speculation, therefore, of growing wool can meet with no checks from the want of pasturage in the colony, and it is equally improbable that it can be impeded by the want of a market in this country. It is well known that the Saxon wool cannot be sold under the present prices without loss to the growers. The severity of the climate of Saxony, renders it indispensable for the sheep-holders to take a variety of precautions which are not only useless in this colony, but would even prove highly detrimental to the const.i.tution of this valuable animal. In the former country, the flocks are kept almost invariably in sheds of a very costly construction both by day and night, and are fed almost wholly upon hay; in the latter, they are always better when kept in the open air and fed on the spontaneous herbage of the forest. The mildness of the seasons, therefore, spares the colonists two immense sources of expence, and will without doubt in the end, enable them to undersell and ruin the Saxon wool growers; since the only point of superiority these latter can pretend to is their greater contiguity to the market, and this, in consequence of the extreme value of the commodity, is of too trifling import to demand consideration. The freight of wool from the colony, has already been reduced to three pence per pound, which is very little more than is paid for the transport of wool from Saxony; and all the other expences, with the exception of insurance, as brokerage, store-room, etc.

are precisely the same. Upon these grounds, therefore, I am contented to rest the support of my a.s.sertion, that the world does not at present contain so advantageous, and I might also add, so extensive an opening for the investment of capital as the one in question.

With reference to the commercial prospects presented by this colony, they are certainly much more limited, but still of very considerable scope. The extraordinary fluctuations which are incessantly taking place in the prices of all sorts of merchandize, are evidently capable of being turned to great account by a skilful and cool calculator. Any person of this character possessed of sufficient capital to enable him to buy goods when the market should happen to be in a state of depression, and to keep them in his store till the glut should pa.s.s by, could not fail to realize a rapid fortune. The only event that could prevent his success, would be an imprudent avidity. If he should be once tempted to go out of his depth, so that he would be compelled to sell whether at gain or loss, in order to make good his payments, he would most probably sink never more to rise. But if he would never speculate beyond the compa.s.s of his actual means, he might easily clear fifty per cent. per annum on the amount of his trading capital.

Were I asked to particularize any avenue of industry not strictly included in any of the foregoing general cla.s.ses, in which persons inclined to emigrate to this colony, might embark with a fair chance of success, I should say that any one who had the means of taking out a steam engine of six or eight-horse-power with the requisite machinery for sawing boards, would make it answer his purposes very well; that a timber merchant also, possessing a capital of three or four thousand pounds, might employ his funds very advantageously by establis.h.i.+ng a timber yard; and that a skilful brewer who could command five thousand pounds and upwards, would succeed either at Sydney or Hobart Town. It would be necessary, however, that he should understand the process of making malt, since there are no regular maltsters yet in the colony, and that he should also grow his own hops.* Until, therefore, he had established a hop plantation sufficient for his concern it would be requisite that he should make arrangements to be supplied with hops from this country. There are already several breweries in New South Wales, but the beer which is made in them is so bad, that many thousand pounds worth of porter and ale imported from this country, is annually consumed in these settlements. This is in some measure occasioned by the inferiority of the barley grown at Port Jackson; but more, I am inclined to believe, by the want of skill in the brewers. If the indifferent quality of the beer, however, be attributable to the badness of the barley, this impediment to success would be removed by emigrating to Van Diemen's Land; since the barley raised in both the settlements in this island is equal to the best produced in this country. I should also say, that the skilful dairyman who could take out with him a capital of from one to two thousand pounds, would do well in any of these settlements, but more particularly in New South Wales. b.u.t.ter, as it has been already remarked, is still as high as 2s.

6d. per pound, notwithstanding the immense increase which has taken place in the black cattle. The extreme dearness of this article arises princ.i.p.ally from the natural gra.s.ses not being sufficiently nutritive to keep milch cattle in good heart, and from the colonists not having yet got into the proper method of providing artificial food. Any one, therefore, who would introduce the dairy system practised in this country, could hardly fail of finding his account in it.

[* The hop thrives very well at Port Jackson: there are several flouris.h.i.+ng plantations owned by the brewers. This plant has not, I believe, yet been introduced into the southern settlements; but as they bear a much greater affinity to this country in point of climate than Port Jackson, no doubt can be entertained that it might at least be cultivated there with equal certainty of success.]

These various advantages which this colony and its dependencies offer for emigration, have many points of superiority over any to which the United States of America can lay claim; if we even admit the truth of all that the most enthusiastic admirers of that country have written, respecting its flouris.h.i.+ng condition. Mr. Birbeck*, whose "Letters," if not "Notes," contain strong marks of an exaggerated antic.i.p.ation of their resources and capabilities, has not, though evidently under the influence of feelings quite incompatible with a correct and disinterested judgment, ventured to rate his imaginary maximum of the profit to be derived from farming in the Illinois, (which appears to be the princ.i.p.al magnet of attraction possessed by the United States,) so high as I have proved by a calculation, to which I defy any one to attach the character of hyperbolical, that the investment of capital in the growth of fine wool in this colony will infallibly produce. This too, although certainly the most inviting and extensive channel of enterprize which it contains, is not its only ground of preference: it has many temptations besides for emigration, of which the United States are wholly dest.i.tute: among these the following are perhaps the most considerable.

[* See Mr. Cobbett's Letter to Mr. Birbeck on his "Letters from the Illinois."]

First, Any person of respectability upon emigrating to this colony, is given as much land as would cost him four hundred pounds in the United States.

Secondly, He is allowed as many servants as he may require; and the wages which he is bound to pay them, are not one third the amount of the price of labour in America.

Thirdly, He, his family and servants, are victualled at the expence of the government for six months.

These are three considerations of great importance to the emigrant, and quite peculiar to this colony: added to which the value of the produce of this gratuitous land and labour is three times as great as in the Illinois, as will be seen by a comparison of the prices of produce there as given by Messrs.

Birbeck and Fearon, and the prices of similar produce as stated in the first part of this work. It is true that there is not the same unlimited market as in America; but it must be evident, that, if the price of labour were even equal, the colonist who could dispose of one third of his crops, would be in a better condition than if he were established in the Illinois, and could find vent for the whole. The market, however, has never been circ.u.mscribed to this degree in periods of the greatest abundance; and the immense arrivals of convicts, that have been daily taking place for the last three years, have increased the consumptive powers of the colony so considerably, that there has at most been but a very trifling surplus in the barns of the farmers at the close of the year. On the other hand, all articles of foreign growth and manufacture are in general much cheaper than in the Illinois, and the other remote parts of the American Union, provided the purchaser has ready money, and is not under the necessity of having recourse to secondary agents for goods on long credit.

Here, then, are many powerful reasons why persons bent on emigration should prefer this colony to America. The only point is whether the latter can throw any weightier arguments into the opposite _scale_. What may be urged on the other side of the question, may, I apprehend, be comprised under these two heads: first, the greater contiguity of the United States to this country, and the consequent ease and cheapness with which emigration thither may be effected; and, secondly, the superiority of their government.

The first of these points merits very little consideration, except in the instance of those who have not the means of choosing between the two countries. If a person only possess the power of removing to that which is the more contiguous, eligibility is out of the question: he is no longer a free agent.

But the difference in the cost of emigrating is far from being so considerable as might be imagined on a mere view of their comparative distances from this country. I understand that a gentleman of great experience and respectability in the commercial world, has presented a calculation to the committee of the House of Commons, which is now occupied with an inquiry into the state of this colony, from which it appears that a family, consisting of a man, his wife and two children, with five tons for their accommodation and for the reception of their baggage, might emigrate to the colony for one hundred pounds, inclusive of every contingent expense, provided a sufficient number of families could be collected to freight a s.h.i.+p. The same gentleman calculates that a single man might be taken out thither for thirty pounds.* The difference, therefore, in the mere cost of emigrating to the two places is so trifling, that the superior locality of the one cannot be admitted as any sort of set off against the superior advantages of the other. With respect, however, to the last plea, that has been adduced in favour of emigration to the United States, the superiority which they possess in a free government, it must be admitted, that this is a decisive ground of preference, and a blessing to which the greatest pecuniary advantages cannot be considered a sufficient counterpoise. And if it be imagined that the present arbitrary system of government is not drawing to a conclusion; if it be apprehended that it has not yet reached its climax of oppression and iniquity, and that it will be enforced until all who are within the sphere of its influence are reduced to a state of moral degradation and infamy, and the colony becomes one vast stye of abomination and depravity; the emigrant will do well to discard from his mind every mercenary consideration, and to turn away with disgust from all prospects of gain; so long as they are only to be realized by entering into so contagious and demoralizing an a.s.sociation. But if he believe that the hour is at hand when the present system is to be abolished; when oppression is to be hurled from the car in which it has driven triumphantly over prostrate justice, virtue, and religion; and when the dominion of right and morality is to be a.s.serted and established; then I have no hesitation in recommending him to give a preference to this colony. In the agonies of approaching dissolution, the efforts of tyranny will be feeble and impotent.

Moral corruption, though the inevitable result of a voluntary submission to the will, is not the consequence of an indignant and impatient sufferance of its rule for a season; and the chance of personal injury would be still more precarious and uncertain.

Under the most arbitrary governments the vengeance of the despot has seldom been known to extend beyond the circle of his court; his victims have been among the ambitious candidates for power and distinction. The retired pursuits of un.o.btrusive industry have proved a sanctuary, which has remained inviolate in all ages.

[* See a calculation in the Appendix made by an eminent merchant in the city; from which it appears that a single man, on the ration allowed sailors on board of a king's s.h.i.+p, might be conveyed to the colony at a still cheaper rate.]

"The lifted axe, the agonizing wheel, Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel, To men remote from pow'r but rarely known, Leave reason, faith, and conscience all our own."