Page 14, Black Tom, executed, was not the murderer of Mr. Osborne, but a servant of Mrs. Birch of the same name.

Page 27, for "north-east belonging," read "north-west."

Page 71, for "1839," read "1830."

Page 71, for "Oyster Bay," read "Oyster Cove."

Page 90, for "Monododo," read "Monboddo."

Page 92, for "aborigina," read "aborigine."

Note, page 101. Conditional servitude, under indentures or covenants, had from the first existed in Virginia. The servant stood to his master in the relation of a debtor bound to repay the cost of his emigration by employing his powers for the benefit of his creditors—oppression easily ensued. Men who had been transported to Virginia at the expense of £10, were sometimes sold for £40 or £50, or even for £60. The supply of white servants became a regular business, and a class of men, nick-named "spirits," used to delude young persons and idlers into embarking for America as to a land of plenty. White servants came to be a usual article of traffic. They were sold in England to be transported, and in Virginia, were resold to the highest bidder. In 1672, the average prices for five years service when due, was about £10.—Bancroft, vol. i. p. 175.

"The Scots, whom God delivered into your bands at Durbar, whereof sundry were sent here, we have been desirous as we could, to make their yoke easy. Such as were sick of the scurvy or other diseases, have not wanted physic and surgery. They have not been sold for slaves, to perpetual servitude, but for six, or seven, or eight years, as we do our own; and he that bought the most of them I hear, buildeth for every four of them a house, and layeth some acres of ground thereto, which he giveth them as their own, requiring them three days of the week to work for him by turns, and four days for themselves, and promises as soon as they can repay him the money laid out for them, he will set them at liberty."—Letter to Cromwell, by Mather Cotton: Carlyle's Letters and Speeches, vol. ii. p. 349.

Page 102. "I beseech your Majesty that I may inform that each person will be worth ten pounds, if not fifteen pounds a-piece. And, sir, if your majesty orders that as you have already designed, persons that have not suffered in the service, will run away with the booty."—Letter from Jefferies, Sep., 1685.

"Take all care they continue to serve for ten years at least, and that they be not permitted in any manner to redeem themselves by money or otherwise until that term be fully expired. Prepare a bill for the assembly of our colony, with such clauses as shall be necessary for this purpose."—James II. Letters (countersigned by Sunderland) to the Governor of Virginia, Oct., 1685—Bancroft, vol. ii. p. 25.

Page 102. "Good God! where am I? In Bristol! This city it seems, claims the privilege of hanging and drawing among themselves. I find you have more need of a special commission once a month at least. The very magistrates that should be ministers of justice, fall out with one another to that degree, that they will scarcely dine together, and yet I find they can agree for their interests if there be a kid in the case, for I hear that kidnapping is much in request in this city. You discharge a felon or traitor, provided he will go to Mr. Alderman's plantations in the West Indies."—Jefferies Speech: Life of Lord Keeper Guilford, by Roger North, vol. ii. p. 113.

Note, page 121. A commission was appointed to enquire into those allegations, and their report fell into the hands of the author after the account of the Amphitrite was printed. It does not appear, that the imputations of sordid calculation were well grounded, and no bond would have been enforced for an unavoidable breach of contract.

Page 148, for "free women," read "freed women."

Page 149, for "Macarthur's New South Wales," read "Mudie's Felonry."

Page 151, for "12,000," read "1,200 houses."

Page 155, for "regarded by," read "appeared to."

Page 166. Rev. S. Marsden. A pamphlet was published by Mr. Marsden, called A Statement Relative to Illegal Punishment (1828). A warrant to this effect was produced:—"Sitting magistrates—Henry Grattan Douglas, Esq., and Rev. S. Marsden. James Blackburn, attached to the prisoners' barracks, ordered to receive twenty-five lashes every morning until he tells who were the four men in company with him gambling." This warrant, Mr. Marsden declared a forgery. Other charges were made of the same character, but they were refuted by Mr. Marsden. He proved his absence from the bench when sentences of torture were passed. In the text there is an apparent leaning to the charge, but there appears no fair ground to reject Mr. Marsden's refutation, which is most decisive as to his own participation in this revolting practice.

Page 189, for "real name," read "known name."

Page 271, for "primitive," read "punitive."

Page 321, for "Report of Institutions," read "Report of Hanwell Institution."

Page 335. The long delay in the publication of this work has given time for several important changes in the aspect of convict discipline. The local government of Van Diemen's Land, resolved in November, 1850, to restore the practice of assignment, and notices for this purpose were issued.

Thus the convict was bound to serve his master according to the duration of his sentence, and to accept such wages as the convict department might sanction. The object of this change was to reconcile the settlers to the continuance of transportation, by restoring an interest and authority which the probation system subverted.

The men who had been promised comparative liberty on their arrival, complained bitterly of this change, and claimed to work as free servants with masters of their own choice. Earl Grey expressed strong disapproval of this return to a system expressly repudiated by his party, and condemned by himself, and ordered the governor to compensate the men for breach of faith. August 4. 1851; No. 156.

The discovery of gold has altered the prospects of laborers. The amazing productiveness of the gold fields has withdrawn almost all good free labor from the colony. The active convict has the means of earning large wages, or of reaching the gold fields at an expense estimated at £5, including hush money. Thus the Gazette, from January 6, to March 30, 1852, shows the absconding of 492, and the arrest of 254. Yet many are not reported, and are therefore not included in these lists.

The incessant agitation of the colonies has produced considerable activity in the department, and external decency is respected. The more prominent establishments—both male and female, are creditably kept, and probably the internal evils are abated; and yet what can be hoped for men who, on their discharge from detention, recognise everywhere the associations and the haunts of convictism?