300 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. X. 
land over New Zealand. A large assemblage of the 
colonists, including Colonel Wakefield and most of the 
members of the much-dreaded Council, joined in the 
proceedings in the most loyal manner, and expressed 
to Lieutenant Shortland their pleasure at the event. 
The soldiers landed, and encamped in tents at one end 
of Thorndon ; and Lieutenant Shortland, with his 
suite, ensconced themselves in some half-finished houses 
at that place. The other Government officers were. 
Lieutenant Smart of the 28th regiment, who was in 
command of the three or four policemen above-men- 
tioned ; Lieutenant A. D. Best, commanding the thirty 
men of the 80th ; and a Clerk of the Bench, who also 
assumed the duty of Post-master. The most ready 
submission was evinced to the legal authorities, and 
things had been so well organized by our temporary 
arrangements, that no great change seemed to take 
place. The days of the Council were only remembered 
as a time of happy freedom from lawlessness, and it 
was perhaps thought a fortunate occurrence that no 
very rude blow had ever been aimed to disturb the 
economy of the perilous experiment. It was a proud 
boast, however, for this community, that nearly 1500 
English people and 400 untutored savages had lived 
for five months without any serious breach, that could 
be traced to one of them, of the laws to which they 
were bound by nothing more than a voluntary agree- 
ment, and which could summon no physical force to 
their assistance. And this, too, in the midst of the 
troubles and anxieties of their landing and settling on 
a wild shore, far from home and any of the associations 
which might have led them to cherish their ancient 
customs ; where valuable property was constantly left 
unwatched, and even uncovered, as a tem])tation to 
crime ; where flight seemed easy, and a defiance of all 
