The History of Tasmania (Vol. 1&2). John West
impenitent and unreformed. In such language we discern the sentiments which prevailed: banishment, not punishment for past crimes, was implied in the cheering alternative. From that moment he possessed authority to manumit not less absolute than the sovereign, but immeasurably more power to avenge.
Those who first entered New Holland, and witnessed the elevation of the royal standard on the shores of Port Jackson, described in terms of despondency its barren soil, barely compensated by its salubrious atmosphere. Contemporary political writers looked coldly on the infant establishment, as the diseased and hopeless progeny of crime: one, which could never recompense the outlay of the crown, either by its vigour or its gratitude. The projects entertained, in connection with commerce, were the growth of flax and the supply of naval timber, both of which had been reported by Cook as indigenous to Norfolk Island. "When viewed in a commercial light," Captain Tench observes (writing in 1789), "the insignificance of the settlement is very striking." "Admitting the possibility," he continues, "that the country will hereafter yield a sufficiency of grain, the parent state must long supply the necessaries of life. The idea of breeding cattle sufficient to meet the consumption, must be considered very chimerical." Such desponding sentiments mostly attend the first stages of colonisation; but in a much later period, the enterprise was regarded with scarcely less suspicion: "Why," said a celebrated critic, "we are to erect penitentiaries and prisons, at the distance of half the diameter of the globe, and to incur the enormous expense of feeding and transporting its inhabitants, it is extremely difficult to discover. It is foolishly believed, that the colony of Botany Bay unites our moral and commercial interests, and that we shall receive, hereafter, an ample equivalent in the bales of goods, for all the vices we export."[27] With what obstinacy an idea once mooted is cherished, may be inferred from an opinion afterwards expressed by an authority of still greater pretension:—"The most sanguine supporter of New South Wales system of colonisation, will hardly promise himself any advantage from the produce it may be able to supply."[28] Its corn and wool, its timber and hemp, he excludes from the chances of European commerce, and declares that the whale fishery, after repeated failures, had been relinquished!
It is not less instructive than pleasing, to notice the past epochs of opinion: we find consolation against the dark clouds overshadowing the future, by discovering how many forebodings of ancient seers have vanished before the light of the event.
These discouraging views were not, however, universal. Many distinguished men imagined an advancement, which our age has been sufficient to realise. To commemorate the foundation of the colony the celebrated artist, Wedgewood, modelled, from clay brought from the neighbourhood of Sydney, an allegorical medallion, which represented Hope encouraging Art and Labor, under the influence of Peace.[29]
The French, however, always represented this colony as a masterpiece of policy; an element of Anglican power, pregnant with events. Peron, when dwelling on the moral prodigies of the settlement, declared that these but disguised the real objects of its founders, which, however, could not escape the discernment of statesmen: they saw the formidable germ of great revolutions.[30]
The expedition of Baudin was connected by English politicians[31] with a project of French colonisation. His instructions directed him to inspect narrowly the places eligible for occupation, and it was expected that an Australian Pondichery would become a new focus of rivalry and intrigue. The special injunctions to survey the inlets of Van Diemen's Land, seemed to indicate the probable site of an establishment so obnoxious.
Dr. Bass had, however, already examined this country with similar views, especially the margin of the rivers. To him no spot on the eastern side of the Derwent appeared to equal the neighbourhood of Risdon Creek, around which he observed an expanding area of fertile land. He delineated not less favorably the valley of the Tamar. This country he considered preferable to New South Wales: with a greater proportion of fertile soil, more amply supplied with water, and well adapted for colonisation.[32]
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Introduction. p. 120.
[25] Literary Chronicle, 1822.
[26] The incidents of the voyage are related by Captain Tench.
[27] Edinburgh Review, 1803.
[28] Quarterly Review, 1814.
[29] On this medal an author, quoted in Phillip's Voyages, ventured a poetical prophecy, which has at least the merit of truthfulness:—
VISIT OF HOPE TO SYDNEY COVE.
Written by the author of the Botanic Garden, 1791.
Where Sydney Cove her lucid bosom swells,
Courts her young navies, and the storm repels;>
High on a rock, amid the troubled air,
Hope stood sublime, and wav'd her golden hair.
"Hear me," she cried, "ye rising realms record
Time's opening scenes, and Truth's unerring word:
There shall broad streets their stately walls extend,>
The circus widen, and the crescent bend;
There, ray'd from cities o'er the cultur'd land,
Shall bright canals and solid roads expand.
Embellish'd villas crown the landscape scene,
Farms wave with gold, and orchards blush between;
While with each breeze approaching vessels glide,
And northern treasures dance on every tide!"
Then ceas'd the nymph: tumultuous echoes roar,
And Joy's loud voice was heard from shore to shore.
Her graceful stops descending press'd the plain,
And Peace, and Art, and Labor, joined the train.
—Governor Phillip's Voyage to Botany Bay.
[30] Vol. i. p. 12.
[31] Quarterly Review.
[32] Collins's New South Wales, vol. i. p. 180.
FROM 1803 TO 1824
SECTION I
The establishment of a settlement in Van Diemen's Land, perhaps thus hastened by the jealousy of a rival power, was at first chiefly intended to relieve