5 o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



At this time England had just started on her great career of colonization in North 

 America, and thither the exiles for the most part wandered. After a time the Govern- 

 ment began to provide a passage for those who were thus forced into exile, and who 

 had no money to take them over the Atlantic ; but before a century had passed the 

 number who had to be transported at the State expense became so excessive as to be 

 a severe tax on the royal revenue ; and, as the colonists were eager to secure the 

 services of the men, it was discovered to be a profitable arrangement to put them up 

 to auction. Not that they were sold as slaves, but their services were disposed of to 

 the planters for a term of years ; and as the planters took the utmost out of these 

 exiles that could be got, and left them the merest wrecks at the end of their period 

 of service, it was generally thought that undisguised slavery might have been preferable. 



The loss of the American colonies in 1776 completely put an end to this system, 

 and it was about the same time that ideas of a more humane tendency began to take 

 root in England. A few philanthropical writers began to argue that crime was to a great 

 extent the result of deficient social organization. The criminal became more an object of 

 pity and consideration than he had ever been before. Hence arose the new idea of 

 treating him with more leniency, of endeavouring to show him the superior happiness 

 and wisdom of virtue, and of enabling him to obtain a fresh start in life. 



It was in 1/79 that the first effort was made to reduce these principles to practice, 

 and this great reform must be forever connected with the names of Blackstone, Eden, 

 and Howard. By an Act passed in that year, provision was made for the establishment 

 of large penitentiaries, and of hulks in which prisoners were to be detained with a view 

 to their reclamation. But by the reformers it was urged, with sufficient wisdom, that the 

 reclaimed prisoner, when set free in the midst of his former haunts, was very apt, or 

 even certain, to relapse : the influence of old companions and ever-constant temptations 

 would be too much for him. It was proposed, therefore, to form a colony of these unfor- 

 tunate people, and the famous Minister, William Pitt, who was then in power, took up 

 the idea with commendable largeness of view, and a Bill was passed by the English 

 Parliament for the transportation of offenders to some place " beyond the seas," the 

 Government intending to give every one a chance of eventually forming for himself a new 

 home and an honourable career, under a different sky and with wholly altered surroundings. 



Viscount Sydney was the Secretary for the Colonies in Pitt's Cabinet, and to him 

 was assigned the duty of putting into practice the designs of the Government. As it 

 was anticipated that the proposed colony would at first prove costly, a Special Vote was 

 to be passed annually in Parliament to provide the necessary funds. 



So far all was suitably arranged ; but now came the question Where should this 

 colony be planted ? Many places were spoken of ; but as Cook's voyages had just been 

 published, and had attracted more notice than any previous record of travels, many men's 

 thoughts turned instinctively to those charming lands of the South, and fixed hopefully 

 on Botany Bay, that agreeabte coast which figures so pleasantly in Cook's narrative, and 

 after much discussion this was at length selected as the spot for the new experiment. 



The condition of the gaols, however, granted but brief space for consideration. The 

 American ports had been closed to English convict ships, and the situation became one 

 of daily-increasing difficulty ; hence the appointment of a Committee, whose chief duty 



