Present State of the Cotony. jc) 



in many cases, impelled by a fierce thirst for vengeance, tliey 

 burned house and property over his head at the harvest 

 time ! 



The chronic alarm and anxiety of the colony during a 

 long period was not however traceable to the principle of the 

 system itself, but to the method in which it was worked by 

 self-seeking natives, greedy of gain. No sooner had the most 

 glaring of the evils been rectified, and by means of a power- 

 ful government law and order resumed tlieir wonted sway, 

 ere the young colony began to make most unexpected strides 

 in developing its capabilities, and both in the unfolding of 

 its natm-al resources and in its trade and commerce ere long 

 attracted the attention, not merely of England and her 

 manufacturers, but of all Europe. 



In 1840 New South Wales ceased to be a convict settle- 

 ment, at which period there were 130,856 souls in the colony, 

 26,967 of whom were convicts. In 1857, when the last census 

 was taken, there were in all 305,487, of whom 171,673 were 

 males, and 133,814 females, who inhabited 41,479 houses, 

 1725 huts, 50 waggons, and 75 ships, and subsisted chiefly 

 by pastm'e and agriculture. 



The morality of this population diffused over 321,579 

 square miles has greatly improved, thanks to the unlimited 

 freedom of individual power to develope itself, and the op- 

 portunities afforded for leading an independent, comfortable 

 dife, and in the interests of Truth we must add, that in no 

 part of Europe would any one be left so unfettered to travel 



