CHAP. I.] GENERAL REMARKS. 3 



misery of thousands of their fellow-creatures. 

 Other colonies arrived at prosperity by the labour 

 of convicts, which Government bestowed as a liberal 

 gift upon the settlers. In these colonies a middle 

 class or peasantry was wanting, which forms the 

 true tie of our social relations and is the best 

 pledge of their durability. An artificial appearance 

 of wealth was created, and an illusory value of 

 landed property which could not last as soon as the 

 importation of convicts ceased, because the pros- 

 perity was not borne out by the capability of the 

 country. A few Europeans, being the masters of 

 countless numbers of a different rate, either origin- 

 ally introduced as slaves or who have been con- 

 quered, do not form an European colony. 



How different from all this is the case of New 

 Zealand, where the climate is not only similar to 

 that of England, but even milder than that of her 

 most southern counties, whilst at the same time it 

 is healthy and invigorating ! The children of Eu- 

 ropeans, born in this country, show no deterioration 

 from the beauty of the original stock, as they do in 

 New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. A 

 great part of the country possesses a soil which 

 yields all those articles of food which are necessary 

 for the support of Europeans, especially grain, po- 

 tatoes, fruit, and every variety of garden vegetables ; 

 it possesses materials for ship-building and domestic 

 architecture in its timber, marble, and freestone; 

 the coal which has been found will probably prove 



B 2 



