MR. LATROBE AS SUPERINTENDENT 273 



4. That not fewer than 5,000 male convicts be annually de- 

 ported to New South Wales. 



Such a report, apparently expressing the calm convictions of a 

 deliberative body that considered it quite unnecessary to submit 

 the question to the colonists in general, may be held to have justi- 

 fied the subsequent action of the Secretary of State. But the 

 people of New South Wales, so far from endorsing the decision of 

 the Committee, were furious at what they designated a gross breach 

 of faith on the part of the British Cabinet, and a traitorous mis- 

 representation of their interests by the Legislative Council 



This latter body had been prorogued on the very day the report 

 was brought up, without having been afforded an opportunity of 

 considering it ; hence its transmission to England by the Governor 

 was certainly precipitate. But as soon as the Council reassembled 

 they repudiated and rejected the report, some of those who had 

 signed it not even venturing to speak in its defence. Meanwhile the 

 disowned report was making its impression on Earl Grey, and if he 

 had any doubts about it representing public opinion, they must 

 have been removed by the receipt of a petition direct from Sydney 

 urging the immediate revival of transportation, and bearing up- 

 wards of 500 signatures. As the document did not come through 

 the recognised official source, Earl Grey sent a copy of it to the 

 Governor, and the disclosure of the signatures in Sydney created a 

 stir. The Governor, who had now transmitted so many reports, 

 memorials and resolutions of the Legislature, both pro and con., 

 was apparently quite unable to advise the Secretary of State, for in 

 reply to an inquiry addressed to him at this time he wrote that he 

 was " entirely unprepared as yet to say on which side the opinions 

 of the generality of the more respectable and influential portion of 

 the community will preponderate ". 



The long delays involved between question and answer, the 

 want of definiteness in some of the replies from the Colonies, and 

 the wavering opinions of the Legislative Council, prolonged mis- 

 understanding and irritated the majority who were opposed to 

 receiving criminals on any terms. And so, while the tempest of 

 talk raged in the colony, the British Government put the matter 

 to a practical test by sending out two ship-loads of men who had 

 VOL. i. 18 



