The history of Tasmania is a type of the Australian world. The events recorded in these volumes represent the policy, modified slightly, which has everywhere prevailed. The author has however rarely attempted generalization, and has represented every fact in its independent colors. Thus an evil pursued to its source might have been avoidable by greater forethought and care, or it may have been the inevitable issue of a system upon the whole beneficial and therefore just.

For many years the government of these colonies was absolute: could it be otherwise? A company of exiles, overawed by dissolute soldiery, interspersed here and there with few persons of a superior class, could only be governed by despotism. It might have been legalised instead of tolerated by the parliament, and it might have been less offensive to the spirit of liberty. But to have trusted a few proprietors with legislation or a share of the executive authority, could have only created a tyranny more grievous.

The comparison between the early colonists of America, at least those of the northern states, and the founders of Australia, must quickly run off into a contrast. The primary object of the Pilgrim Fathers, was the enjoyment of opinions in peace. The early denizens of the southern world burned their first church to escape the tedium of attendance. The first pilgrims of New England attempted a community of goods on the plan of the apostles. The first Australians drew their stores from the commissariat, and adopted the traditions of Houndsditch and Wapping. The leaders of the first Americans were their clergy,—the bible was their political and civil standard. The rulers of the first Australians were half marine, half soldiers, whose pay was supplemented by the sale of spirits sold by convict women, their mistresses. Thus for many years the government of these colonies was absolute, and the usual consequences sometimes appeared.

Were a judgment to be formed however of the spirit of colonial government by a severe examination of its early frame-work, erroneous conclusions would be drawn. In the worst times the sentiments and habits of Englishmen tempered the operation of power. Settlers fresh from English society could not discard the opinions and principles cherished in Great Britain; nor could the rulers of the day forget that their conduct would be judged, not by the standard of continental despotisms, but by British systems of government. The establishment of British courts of justice and the protection of English laws have been found with few exceptions an impenetrable shield. The chief examples of official wrong have been generally connected with the misappropriation of public resources rather than invasions of personal liberty. How different the despotism of a Spanish viceroy and the sternest rule of a British governor! For the last twenty years cases of aggravated oppression have been exceedingly rare. The genius of British freedom has ever overshadowed the British colony, and awed the despotic ruler, while it has encouraged and sheltered the feeblest colonist. The great defect in official men has been their superciliousness and indolence, rather than their tyranny, and the popular governors of this hemisphere have gained the public esteem by their manners rather than their ability. A genial temper and a feeling heart rarely failed to conciliate the multitude, while distinguished talents have lost their immediate influence when in union with a harsh, contemptuous, and fiery spirit.[281]

For many years the press has exercised a powerful influence on the affairs of government, and left no avenue of escape to official ignorance and corruption. Even when jurors were selected by governors, the most unmeasured denunciations were poured forth without fear of prosecution. Associations for the redress of grievances have carried their organizations to the very verge of constitutional order. A democratic state certainly would never have tolerated the discussion of its principles and authority in feeble dependencies. But the British government, secure in its power and serenely conscious of its ability to check an intrusion on its just authority, has encouraged rather than repressed the freedom of public discussion and combination. The local rulers, instructed by their superiors, have long permitted even the licentiousness of the press. The strength of the empire justified and accounted for its tolerance. There is no tyranny so watchful as that of fear, and no cruelty so relentless as that of factions who struggle for existence.

The non-dependence of the government on the people has united the colonists in one body. It has been the colony against England, and not tories against whigs. In America the powers of self-government were too often seized by a faction, and a political opposition, even in a most moderate form, was stigmatised as felony and punished as treason. But in the Australias the colonists have expended their rage on a distant office, and in their real or imaginary sufferings have felt a sympathy for each other. The ascendancy of a faction in a small community is the reign of terror, and might soon lead those who value their personal freedom to regret the most sensitive and unscrupulous vice-regal despotism.

The spirit of colonial government, however, has been sensibly affected by the policy of Great Britain. The enlargement of popular freedom at home has relaxed the severity of colonial rule. For every considerable amelioration the colony has been indebted to the whigs. They gave trial by jury: they stopped white slavery in the Australian colonies, and thus in the end transportation. They placed religious denominations on an equal footing: they introduced the sale of land, for the purposes of immigration: they granted first to New South Wales, and since to all the colonies, the legislative assemblies which now watch over their rising liberties. In the days of a Castlereagh or a Bathurst, England possessed far less practical freedom than her colonies now enjoy. It is impossible to prevent the contagion of opinions, and the colonies may see in the growing intelligence and spirit of the United Kingdom the assurance of their own gradual advancement in the ranks of freedom. In this respect Australia is more happily conditioned than was once her American sister. The colonies of that continent were in advance of the parent country. The royal government not only detested their institutions as democratic, but as a standing reproach to the maxims of domestic policy. Thus, the appearance of a royal governor was ominous to their liberties. He came to entrap, to report, and to betray them. They had to hide their charters, to preserve them from violent abduction; and to threaten insurrection as the alternative of liberty. Whatever Australasia gains she will attain with the approbation of English statesmen. She will look to the spirit of the times as the guardian of her rights. While privileged exclusiveness is in Great Britain crumbling to the dust, it cannot be that the middle classes will impose upon the necks of infant colonies the burdens they themselves abhor.

In seeking the improvement of colonial government, a prudent colonist will guard against the extravagance of theory. It is true that the people are the best judges of their own interests, but not that the interests of all colonists are uniform, or that they are capable of impartially disposing of all the incipient interests of the colonial state. Their covetousness as landholders might absorb the inheritance of the nation—their ambition as citizens contract the franchises of the humbler classes. The most strenuous opponents of Downing-street have denounced most fiercely the extension of the popular power. Mr. Wentworth, whose services in the cause of Australian freedom have immortalized his name, is yet a lictor when he turns towards the multitude, and a tribune only when he faces the seat of authority. His defiance of Earl Grey was pronounced nearly the same time that he imprecated vengeance on the Sydney democracy. The most strenuous educated advocates of self-government are not yet prepared to carry out their principles to their utmost limits. If the people have reason to dislike the autocracy of Downing-street, they would find no amelioration in the ascendency of an oligarchy which would divide the universe into sheep walks for the benefit of flockmasters, and convert the residue of mankind into shepherds. True liberty is a compromise, and if a small community would prevent faction from establishing a tyranny, it must exchange some advantages for a control which defends while it restrains. Thus the claim of responsible government, and the appointment of officers chosen from the colonial ranks, though favorite projects, and certain finally to prevail, require a considerable growth before they could be useful. Our functionaries hold their office at the pleasure of the crown and thus survive the confidence of the assemblies; but evils of another class would issue from an opposite system. Official men, always fearful of defeat, would strengthen their position by the most desperate use of their power, and a dozen voices would decide. Thus family compacts would be formed, and cliques and cabals would finally determine the distribution of office. For this the Americans have found a remedy in the meagre pay of those who occupy their highest situations. Ambition is moderated by its unrequited toils, and the public business chiefly carried on by paid servants of humble designations. But were thousands a year the prize of a successful opposition, not better men, but worse than the nominees of the crown might be expected to climb or creep into the seat of government.

In looking down the lists of colonists who have most largely benefited their adopted country many would be found who were appointed from home to fill offices they have long since quitted. Nor would it be just to deny that they have largely contributed to whatever has elevated the taste and improved the social condition of these countries. For some time to come the appointment of well-educated Englishmen, though not to the exclusion of Australians, would be desirable, unless the recent discovery of gold should rapidly augment the population, and thus extend the basis of government and the number from which its officers may be chosen. The feelings of the colonists have, indeed, been too often violated by the scandalous multiplication of offices and the utter incompetence of those who have filled them. But a community little more than half a century old cannot be entitled to denounce Englishmen as foreigners, or to complain that strangers usurp the rights of the country-born. A wise administration of local patronage, without distinctions which are unnatural and absurd, would strengthen the hands of the executive and satisfy the reason of the people.

The future independence of the Australian colonies is written in the book of fate; but the inevitable change may be long postponed with advantage to themselves. A superior power is desirable to regulate their development, and to preserve at once their order and their freedom. The reins of government, if snatched from vice-regal hands, would not immediately fall into those more worthy. The love of order is too strong in the English breast to tolerate anarchy, and whatever changes transpire the public voice would pronounce in favor of a strong and regular administration. But since life is short, no wise man would wish to waste a considerable portion in passing through the disorders of a revolution to gain the mere name of a State. The royal government may redress every grievance, and the colonist may turn with confidence to the seat of empire for the accomplishment of every municipal change requisite to advance the country of his adoption. But were independence desirable in itself, the colonists would, notwithstanding, calculate its cost. Those who have pretended that England does not prize her colonies, know little of her temper: her colonies are her pride, her ornament, and her strength. One day she will lose them; but that day will be a day of mourning and humiliation.

The discussion of this question by the metropolitan press, and the predictions of parliamentary statesmen, have induced many ardent minds to anticipate an early realization. These prophecies are but the weapons of party which would disappear in the presence of real danger; one voice would be heard proclaiming the rights of Great Britain. To her power what could Australia at present oppose? The American revolutionists had an army: they had thrust out the Indians and beaten the French, and their national character was deepened by the political and religious sentiments in which they had been cradled. But Australia has not a soldier or a gun. Her population may quickly reach the three millions numbered by the Americans at the era of independence; but she has not the habits of Americans—she has not their country, their forests, their frozen rivers, their terrible snows. England, when America resisted, hired a few German troops to assist her own feeble army. Since then she has conquered Napoleon, subdued India, and established her military power in every region of the world. Whether the mutual interests of Great Britain and her colonies are sufficient to bind them together may be a question at issue. Independence may be desired; but it is well to remember that those who will attain it must fight for it, and that in this war they will not only contend with the most benign and just, but with the most powerful government on the earth. England will not permit her ministers to oppress the colonies; but would hazard the last regiment rather than lose the colonial empire.

The British government will not, if wise, rely on any abstract principles of loyalty, or conclude too confidently that no attempt will be successful. The distance of the central power; the peculiar structure of colonial societies; the mountainous regions of Van Diemen's Land and New Holland, where small bodies could resist all the armies of the world; the possibility of foreign sympathy: all these are considerations proper to moderate imperial confidence, and to teach that the integrity of the empire is only safe in the unity of interest and affection.[282]

The colonies have every motive for preferring the British rule to any other; yet the contingencies of war may expose them to extraordinary sufferings. Foreign nations would scarcely attempt a permanent occupation; but the cities which contain half the inhabitants, and more than half the moveable wealth, might be successfully assailed, pillaged, and easily destroyed. Thus, a powerful European state may expose her distant colonies to the calamities once endured by those of Spain. Such may be the expectation of the Australias. When they are required to support armies for their defence it will be felt that these are necessary chiefly because they are united with an empire whose interests are complicated with every government in the world.

To strengthen the authority of the British crown no measure would be more effectual than a federal union of these colonies. They require a senate exalted by station above the influences of mere localism, and capable of holding in check individual ambition. Statesmen, gathered from the various colonies, would restrain and moderate each other. The highest questions of colonial government being confided to their care, they would leave the internal improvement of the districts to be pursued by the local legislative assemblies. The state and expense of colonial governments, which now maintain distinct departments in each colony, assuming all but imperial style, might then be abated. Monetary establishments find no difficulty in conducting their affairs under a general inspectorship assisted by a local direction. The American states, by remitting all great questions to the federal government, are sustained at less cost than the branch establishments of the Bank of Australasia. It is true that a federal union would increase the importance of the colonies among nations, and contract the power of the ministry to a distant superintendence: it would, however, prevent many of the evils of political dependence, and secure to Great Britain all the advantages of imperial authority so long as it shall last.

It is infinitely important that intelligent and upright men should occupy their true position in public affairs. A reluctance to face the virulent and brutal opposition of low adventurers must be naturally felt by every refined and educated man. The future character of these colonies will, however, depend on the courage and perseverance of the respectable classes. The widest extension of suffrage cannot be long resisted, and qualifications for office founded on property will inevitably break down. But the reputable and intelligent will be able to command the public mind if they think it worth while to instruct and conciliate it. Religious men must no longer avoid the strife of the hustings as inconsistent with piety, or set the claims of religion in opposition to the obligation of the citizen. Both are in reality one; and while churches in their corporate capacity stand best when they are most distant from the arena of politics, it is the duty of all who reverence the Almighty's will and regard the welfare of mankind, to devote themselves to the social and political amelioration of society. Personal character and social position are distinct elements of political power. The Queen of England and her illustrious husband are instead of armies: wherever they have moved they shed light and pleasure, not only through the mansions of the rich but the cottages of the poor. The theoretical republican is compelled to doubt whether an example so valuable may not be worth all the cost and prerogatives of royalty.

The settlers of Australia are as diversified in their habits as in their origin. Many in Van Diemen's Land are retired officers of the army and navy, masters of merchantmen, and persons of respectable connexions. The squatters of Port Phillip are a superior class, although their habits will require time to recover from the deteriorating action of bush life. The middle classes constitute the most influential body in South Australia. The German race are largely interspersed in the colonies of South Australia and Port Phillip. As they acquire the language they separate. Their condition improves more rapidly by diffusion, and their villages are rather asylums than homes. As might be expected the prevailing spirit of the colonies is democratic: the democracy of the middle classes, not of the mob. There are no permanent springs of crime: the instinct of order, everywhere powerful, cannot but be strong where society is prosperous.

The social prospects of the colonists, though not without omens of ill, will not discourage the political philosopher. The various races are not sufficiently distinct to prevent an easy amalgamation. Nationality, whether of Germans, Irish, Scotch, or English, insensibly loses its political character. Hostile traditions cannot be naturalised in a new land: all respectable men condemn the revival of ancient feuds, and they will soon disappear for ever.

More fortunate in this respect than America, in these regions no African slavery exists—the brother will not sell his sister, or the father his son. The temporary inconvenience of transportation will leave no deep indent on colonial society; but the black brand of slavery is indelible.

The liberality and generosity of the Australians has been remarked by every stranger. In prosperous times money is at command for every project which professes to do good, and suffering is instantly relieved by bounty which is sometimes extravagant. The loss of a vessel a few years ago afforded an instance of this. The utmost latitude of beneficence could not exhaust the immense sum (£1,200) contributed to make good the personal losses of a few passengers and seamen. The liberality of the hand is here unrestrained by religious antipathies. Bigotry assumes the character of ill temper and puffing. Two parrots in Philadelphia trained to polemics were set over against each other, one crying all day, "there can be no church without a prelate;" the other, "there can be a church without a prelate;" the passengers were divided in opinion, but laughing walked on. Such is colonial life.

No believer in the glorious destinies of the Anglo-Saxon race can look upon the events of the last three years without wonder and hope. The American and British empires are seated on all waters; the old and new worlds are filled with the name and fame of England and her children. The lands conquered by CÆsar, those discovered by Columbus, and those explored by Cook, are now joined together in one destiny. There are indeed peculiarities in the various branches of the Anglo-Saxon race; but they are only the varieties of the same family, conscious of eternal unities. How awfully grand are their prospects. America attracted by gold has pushed forward her commercial pioneers, not only to the extremity of her territories, but to all the islands of the Pacific. The discovery of gold in California was scarcely less momentous to the Australasian than to the American continent. They are now our nearest neighbours: their markets are affected by our own; their territory offers the quickest transit to Europe; every hour will develop the immense importance of this contiguity—that passage across the isthmus of Panama, once represented as the last achievement reserved for commerce and science in their highest maturity, has already been assured. The common interest of trading nations will strengthen the securities of peace, diffuse civilisation among the thousand islands of the Pacific, and facilitate the extension of Christian knowledge in the remotest portions of the earth. England, the parent—no longer the exclusive centre of Anglo-Saxon civilisation—will find auxiliaries only less powerful than herself in a work once entirely her own.

An impetus has been given to the Australian colonies by the discovery of still richer gold fields than those of California. In six months, more than two millions in value has been taken from the surface of the earth by laborers unskilled in the process, and who have perhaps wasted more than they have secured. The riches which remain scattered over many hundred miles can only be appropriated by the state as they flow through the coffers of commerce. A period cannot be imagined when the precious metal will be exhausted.

The interest excited in Europe by the discovery of new mineral wealth, is chiefly important from its tendency to change the current of emigration to these regions—certainly unsurpassed and scarcely equalled in the world. Here, under a tropical sun, no fever rages; here indigenous diseases are unknown; even those so fatal in Europe rarely visit this hemisphere. The small pox, the measles, and various other disorders fatal to infancy are only occasionally seen, and are scarcely ever mortal. No miasma arises from the marshes: no decaying vegetation poisons the virgin soil. The clement skies and light atmosphere stimulate and confirm the health. Whether long life is the gift of this quarter of the globe is hardly yet determined. Those of middle age who land here find their constitutions recruited; but the country-born come more quickly to maturity. It is probable, however, that the highest average of human life will be attained: fewer will die in infancy, perhaps a smaller proportionate number reach old age.

If the productions of these countries are considered, they will be still more attractive than other unoccupied regions. Nature has multiplied her gifts with a liberal hand. It were more easy to enumerate those that are wanting than those that exist. Gold, silver, iron, copper, coal, and every variety of stone are included in our geological wealth. All the fruits of the tropics and of the most temperate lands may be easily brought to the same table. Taking Tasmania and Port Phillip as the central regions; on the right and on the left the fertile earth yields every variety of European fruits, until the meridian is reached where the sugar cane and cotton tree flourish. It is true, that some other lands present more comparative fertility, but the Australias contain sufficient alluvial soils to satisfy the wants of millions. Washington raised but twenty bushels of wheat per acre in his paternal lands of Virginia. The intelligent Australian farmer often far exceeds that quantity even with imperfect cultivation. Nor is there a season of the year when he cannot toil, or one when the garden is wholly unproductive.

But if the position of Australia in relation to the rest of the world be surveyed, the prospect is still more brilliant. An Englishman measures distance from his native land, and thus his pardonable vanity fixes the Australias at the extremity of the earth. But such is not the real position of New Holland. In reference to the most populous and fertile, or the most ancient and opulent,[283] it has been compared to the frog or soft part of a horse's foot in relation to the outline of the hoof. With the face turning to the north, America is on the right, Asia and Africa on the left. Great Britain, the parent land, is far more distant from most of those mighty regions which feed her commerce and sustain her strength than her Australian colonies. They will soon meet her vessels on every shore. Steam navigation will flourish on the Pacific ocean not less than on the rivers of America. The eye that scans the future, guided by calculation rather than fancy, sees the ports of Australia thronged with steamers, or follows them traversing every sea and ocean, and bringing from every city of the civilised world both merchandise and men.

Thus the progress of the next quarter of a century will be multiplied by its years.

When North America separated from Great Britain, she exported not much more than four millions in value per annum. Australia already exports not less.[284] The commerce of England with her Australian colonies is without parallel. History affords no example of such rapid advancement; and this not as the result of protective laws, or of remarkable intelligence or enterprise, but as the fruit of that boundless opulence scattered by the hand of nature and gathered with unexampled facility. The merchant laments the paucity of navigable streams. Yet there are rivers of many hundred miles extent, which will ultimately be available to commerce. The engineer of Europe would laugh at difficulties opposed by stones, and trees, and marshes. Population will one day justify the improvement by art of what nature has only partially accomplished. But in the level plains of the Australias there is a compensation for this deficiency. Hundreds of miles are almost prepared for the rail road; and as the cheap methods adopted in America become known, the inland communication will be rapidly enlarged.

The late date of the discovery of gold in Australasia has created much astonishment. It seems to have been concealed by Providence, or rather the signs of its existence were not permitted to arrest attention, until the colonies could endure the shock. A shepherd publicly sold at Sydney several ounces of gold in 1844. Years after a still larger quantity was exposed in Victoria (1849). These facts were recorded in the journals of the time; in the first instance scarcely awakening the slightest interest, and the last producing little but distrust and derision. The delay has probably upon the whole benefited both the colonies and the human race. Had gold been discovered before the era of free immigration it must have led to frightful disorders. California has added another to those warnings presented in the history of gold mining, that the absorbing pursuit, for a time, suspends the voice of reason and morality. The multitudes who have precipitated themselves on the gold fields of Victoria indicate the uniform direction of similar passions; yet how superior are our present resources to those of former times or of other countries. The governments organised and intelligent, and sustained by the strong moral support of four hundred Christian congregations. The social interests of perhaps not less than fifty thousand families will be able to check, and probably to master, the spirit of anarchy and violence. That any lives should be sacrificed is of course a matter of regret; but the politician and the philanthropist may pronounce in favor of a dispensation which though permitting the sacrifice of a few, will rapidly cover the regions around us with villages, towns, and homesteads.

Though rich beyond example, the mines will be abandoned by the many for whom the pleasures and the rest of home, the calm and even pursuits of industry, and the intercourse of civil and religious life have permanent attractions. Yet the unexampled profusion of the precious metal must rapidly augment our commerce and supply the means of mercantile enterprise. The capital we have so often coveted is now within our reach. The farmer desired a market; he has it in his neighbourhood, at his very door. The demand for foreign articles will give employment to shipping directly trading from the Australian to the producing market. The increase of commerce will thus lead to its independence. The Australian merchant will acquire the same relation to the general trade of the world as the American possesses. The ships of America carry her passengers and convey her produce. She divides the profits equally with her customer.[285]

The happiness and prosperity of the people is by Divine Providence placed within their power. If they grasp at wealth to the neglect of their social and political duties; if, for the sake of selfish ease, they resign to ignorant and violent men the business of legislation; if they tolerate systematic debauchery, gambling and sharping; if they countenance the press when sporting with religion, or rendering private reputation worthless; if they neglect the education of the rising generation, and the instruction of the working classes; if the rich attempt to secure the privileges of rank by restricting the franchises of the less powerful; if worldly pleasure invade the seasons of devotion; and the worship of God be neglected by the masses of the people,—then will they become unfit for liberty; base and sensual, they will be loathed and despised; the moral Governor of the world will assert his sovereignty, and will visit a worthless and ungrateful race with the yoke of bondage, the scourge of anarchy, or the besom of destruction.