NEW SOUTH WALES. 43 



upon it both long and deeply. To the advantages which the work 

 derives from the intimate acquaintance which the author has with 

 his subject, it adds the additional one of having emanated from a na- 

 turally strong mind, endowed with great powers of observation. To 

 the perferv idum ingenium of his countrymen, the author adds a per- 

 fermdum ingenium of his own, there being a degree of healthy vigour 

 about the whole book, which, in this age of weakly authors, is really 

 refreshing. He appears to be a man of a bold and independent mind - 

 in every instance proceeding straight forward to his subject, with a 

 sturdy determination to speak what he thinks, and to state his opinion 

 both of men and of measures, as he himself expresses it, " without 

 fear and without favour." 



In the former of these two very valuable volumes the author has 

 given us a history of the colony of New South Wales from the earliest 

 period to the present time. He commences this part of his work 

 with an account of its first discovery by the Spaniards in J609; and 

 after a full and interesting detail of the subsequent discoveries of the 

 Dutch navigators, of the establishment of a British colony at Port 

 Jackson under Captain Phillip, in 1788, and of the object in which 

 our Government aimed in the formation of that establishment, he pro- 

 ! ceeds with an account of its situation under the two successive gover- 

 nors, Hunter and King. The state of the colony during the unfor- 

 tunate administration of Governor Bligh, and the origin and result of 

 the colonial rebellion of 1 808 (perhaps one of the most extraordinary 

 recorded in history), are also fully detailed. He then proceeds with 

 the history of the colony during the successive administrations of 

 Governors Macquarrie, Brisbane, and Darling, carefully noting, as 

 he goes along, the various measures which they severally introduced 

 for the benefit of the convict part of the population, and the ultimate 

 results of these measures, and concludes with an account of the state 

 of the colony under the present Governor, Major-General Bourbo. 



In this part of his work Dr. Lang has canvassed the conduct of a 

 number of individuals in high places with a considerable degree of 

 freedom ; and we have no doubt that his work will excite a strong 

 sensation in certain quarters at home, and also among sundry of 

 the magnates of the colony. We do not know that he has not been 

 too severe in some of his censures; and we doubt whether he has, 

 in his accounts of the conduct and measures of the different gover- 

 nors, made sufficient allowance for the very peculiar nature of the 

 charge entrusted to the ruler of a penal colony. The charge of 

 such a nest of " evil doers," as the first settlers must necessarily have 

 been, cannot have been either an easy or agreeable one. The first 

 establishment of the colony was confessedly of the nature of an 

 experiment; and it must have been difficult for the governor to 

 foresee the ultimate result of the measures which they severally intro- 

 duced for the amelioration and improvement of the convict population 

 of the colony. 



We are glad to find that the colony appears to be more happily 

 placed under the present governor than it has been under any of his 

 predecessors. According to the author, he is proceeding with much 

 good sense and decision of conduct in his administration, and has al- 



