These twenty men and the marines, under a proper person, to be left at the new settlement, with materials and provisions, to prepare for the reception of the intended settlers, that their wants may be as few as possible on their arrival. 1783 23 Aug. As the ship, or ships, stop at the Cape of Good Hope, a sufficient stock to begin with of cows, sheep, goats, hogs, poultry, and seeds may be obtained there. A supply of the like articles, as well as Live stock cotton seeds, plantains, grapes, grain, &c., &c.. may be had in any quantity at Savu or any of the Moluccas, which are very near New South Wales. and plants. return. to the When the landing is effected the smaller vessel may be dis- One ship to patched home with the intelligence; and while the party designed to be left are superintending the gardens and increase of live stock, the other ship may, if thought proper, be despatched to New The other Caledonia, Otahite, and the neighbouring islands to procure a few to be sent families there, and as many women as may serve for the men left islands. behind. There is every reason to believe they may be obtained without difficulty. If but one vessel goes, the party with their stock may be left without apprehension of danger from the natives. recommends Sir Joseph Banks is of opinion that we may draw any number Banks of useful inhabitants from China, agreeably to an invariable Chinese. custom of the Dutch in forming or recruiting their Eastern settlements. expense. As it is intended not to involve the Government in either a great or a useless expense (for the settlement is designed to increase the wealth of the parent country, as well as for the emolument of the adventurers), a sum not exceeding £3,000 will be more than Probable adequate to the whole expense of Government. Most of the tools, saws, axes, &c., &c., for the use of the party left may be drawn from the ordnance and other public stores, where at present they are useless; and the vessels also, being part of the peace establishment, neither can, nor ought to be, fairly reckoned in the expenditure. approved of That the Ministry may be convinced that this is not a vain, Scheme idle scheme, taken up without due attention and consideration, the they may be assured that the matter has been seriously considered Americans, by some of the most intelligent and candid Americans, who all agree that, under the patronage and protection of Government, it offers the most favorable prospects that have yet occurred to better the fortunes and to promote the happiness of their fellowsufferers and countrymen. Sir Joseph Banks highly approves of the settlement, and is very ready to give his opinion of it, either to his Majesty's Ministry or others, whenever they may please to require it. and by Banks. Should this settlement be made, we may enter into a commerce Trade with that would render our trade to China, hitherto extremely against China. 1783 Trade with China and the islands. us, very favourable. The Aleutian and Foxes islands, situated 23 Aug. between Asia and America, which abound with the choicest furs, lie nearly north of New South Wales. It is from these islands the Russians get the most and best of their furs, with which they carry on a very lucrative trade by land with the Chinese. Our ships that sailed under the command of Captain Cook and Clerke stopped at some of them, and the skins which they procured then sold in China at 400 hard dollars each, though for the few they brought home, of the same quality, they only received about ten pounds each. As our situation in New South Wales would enable us to carry on this trade with the utmost facility, we should be no longer under the necessity of sending such immense quantities of silver for the different articles we import from the Chinese Empire. Woollen trade with Japan and Korca. New Zealand timber for shipping The trade in spices. There is also a prospect of considerably extending our woollen trade. We know that large quantities of woollen cloth are smuggled to Japan by the Russians, which, as it is taken by land carriage from St. Petersburg to Kamschatka, and then to the islands by a very precarious navigation in boats, must be extremely dear. The Japanese, however, go in their junks to the islands and purchase great quantities of it. The peninsula of Korea, a kingdom tributary to the Chinese, and unvisited by Europeans, has its supply at second-hand chiefly from the Japanese. No ship has ever attempted this commerce, excepting once or twice that the Spaniards ventured thither from their American dominions; but as the inhabitants of New Spain are but indifferent navigators for the high, cold latitudes, they could not oftener repeat the enterprise. It may be seen by Captain Cook's voyage that New Zealand is covered with timber of size and every quality that indicates long duration; it grows close to the water's edge, and may be easily obtained. Would it not be worth while for such as may be dispatched to New South Wales to take in some of this timber on their return, for the use of the King's yards? As the two countries are within a fortnight's run of each other, and as we might be of the utmost service to the New Zealanders, I think it highly probable that this plan might become eminently useful to us as a naval power, especially as we might thus procure masts, a single tree of which would be large enough for a first-rate ship, and planks superior to any that Europe possesses. If we By the preliminary articles of peace with Holland we are entitled to a free navigation in the Molucca Seas. Without a settlement in the neighbourhood, the concession is useless; for the Dutch have an agent almost on every island in those seas. have a settlement, it is unnecessary; for as spices are the only articles we could expect by it, it is probable we should stand in no need of their indulgence, for as part of New South Wales lies in 1783 23 Aug. the same latitude with the Moluccas, and is even very close to them, there is every reason to suppose that what nature has so bountifully bestowed on the small islands may also be found on Spices the larger. But if, contrary to analogy, it should not be so, the may be defect is easily supplyed, for, as the seeds are procured without difficulty, any quantity may speedily be cultivated. cultivated. To those who are alarmed at the idea of weakening the mother Emigration country by opening a channel for emigration, I must answer that policy. it is more profitable that a part of our countrymen should go to a new abode, where they may be useful to us, than to the American States. If we cannot keep our subjects at home, it is sound policy to point out a road by following of which they may add to the national strength. naval The place which New South Wales holds on our globe might Value of a give it a very commanding influence in the policy of Europe. If station. a colony from Britain was established in that large tract of country, and if we were at war with Holland or Spain, we might very powerfully annoy either State from our new settlement. We might, with a safe and expeditious voyage, make naval incursions on Java and the other Dutch settlements; and we might with equal facility invade the coast of Spanish America, and intercept the Manilla ships, laden with the treasures of the west. This check which New South Wales would be in time of war on both those powers makes it a very important object when we view it in the chart of the world with a political eye. Sir Joseph Banks' high approbation of the scheme which I have Banks's here proposed deserves the most respectful attention of every entitled to opinion sensible, liberal, and spirited individual amongst his countrymen, attention. The language of encomium, applied to this gentleman, would surely be inequitably censured as the language of adulation. To spurn the alluring pleasures which fortune procures in a frivolous and luxurious age, and to encounter extreme difficulties and dangers in pursuit of discoveries, which are of great benefit to mankind, is a complicated and illustrious event, as useful as it is rare, and which calls for the warmest publick gratitude and esteem. tion. tion theory. I shall take this opportunity to make a remark on colonization Colonisawhich has not occurred to me in any author, and which I flatter myself will contain some important civil and political truth. Too great a diminution of inhabitants of the mother country Depopulais commonly apprehended from voluntary emigration-an apprehension which seems to me not to be the result of mature reflexion. That we almost universally have a strong affection for our native soil is an observation as true as it is old. It is founded on the affections of human nature. Not only a Swiss, but even an Icelander, when he is abroad, sickens and languishes in his Love of absence from his native country; therefore, few of any country country. will ever think of settling in any foreign part of the world, from source of emigration .1783 a restless mind and from romantic views. A man's affairs are generally in a very distressed, in a desperate situation when he Poverty the resolves to take a long adieu of his native soil, and of connections which must be always dear to him. Hence a body of emigrants, nay a numerous body of emigrants, may in a commercial view be of great and permanent service to their parent community in some remote part of the world, who, if they continue at home, will probably live to see their own ruin, and will be very prejudicial to society. The politician of an expanded mind reasons from the almost invariable actions of human nature. The doctrine of the petty statesman is hardly applicable to a larger extent than that of his own closet. When our circumstances are adverse in the extreme they very often produce illegal and rapacious conduct. If a poor man of broken fortunes and of any pretensions be timid in his nature, he most probably becomes a useless, if he has an ardent spirit, he becomes a bad and a criminal, citizen. There are indeed some epochs in a State when emigrations from it may be too numerous; but when from some calamitous and urgent publick cause it must be unworthy of inhabitants. JAMES M. MATRA. and crime. Sydney's opinion. Report on gaols. Colonisation recommended. Convicts should be form colonies. August 23rd, 1783. I When I conversed with Lord Sydney on this subject it was observed that New South Wales would be a very proper region for the reception of criminals condemned to transportation. believe that it will be found that in this idea good policy and humanity are united. It will here be very pertinent to my purpose to give an extract from the report of the committee appointed to consider the several returns relative to goals [gaols].* 1st Resolution:-"That the plan of establishing a colony or colonies in some distant part of the globe, and in new discovered countries, where the climate is healthy, and where the means of support are attainable, is equally agreeable to the dictates of humanity and sound policy, and might prove in the result advantageous to navigation and commerce." 2d. Resolution."That it is the opinion of this committee that sent out to it might be of publick utility if the laws which now direct and authorize the transportation of certain convicts to his Majesty's colonies and plantations in N. America were made to authorize the same to any part of the globe that may be found expedient.' The following facts will particularly corroborate the second resolution : Transportation to Africa. the Seven hundred and forty-six convicts were sent to Africa from 1775 to 1776. The concise account of them given into the committee exhibits an alarming expenditure of human life. year * Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1777. 334 died, 271 deserted to no one knows where, and of the remainder no account could be given. Governor O'Hara, who had resided in Africa many years, was of opinion that British convicts could not for any time exist in that climate. 1783 23 Aug. settlement The estimate of the expence, given in by Mr. Roberts, necessary Expense of to establish a settlement there, to receive them, amounted to in Africa. £9,865. Afterwards the annual charge to the publick for each convict would be about £15 14s. Government pays annually to the contractor for each convict who is employed in the hulks £26 15s. 10d. The annual work of each man is valued at a third of the expense. convicts at I am informed that in some years more than 1,000 felons are Cost of convicted, many of whom are under 18 years of age. The charge home. to the publick for these convicts has been increasing for the last seven or eight years; and, I believe, now amounts to more than £20,000 per annum. When the convicts were sent to America they were sold for a servitude of seven years. A proposal has been made for the alteration of this mode, respecting those sent to Africa, by con- Two plans demning them to some publick work there. They were to be for utilising released from servitude, and some ground was to be given them to cultivate in proportion as a reformation was observed in their conduct. Neither of those plans can I approve. convicts. plan-free Give them a few acres of ground as soon as they arrive in New Another South Wales, in absolute property, with what assistance they may grants of want to till them. Let it be here remarked that they cannot fly land. from the country, that they have no temptation to theft, and that they must work or starve. I likewise suppose that they are not, by any means, to be reproached for their former conduct. If these premises be granted me, I may reasonably conclude that it is highly probable they will be useful; that it is very possible they will be moral subjects of society. of offenders. like men. Do you wish, either by private prudence, or by civil policy, to Reformation reclaim offenders? Show by your treatment of them that you think their reformation extremely practicable, and do not hold Treat them. out every moment before their eyes the hideous and mortifying deformity of their own vices and crimes. A man's intimate and hourly acquaintance with his guilt, of the frowns and severities of the world, tend more powerfully, even than the immediate effects of his bad habits, to make him a determined and incorrigible villain. By the plan which I have now proposed a necessity to continue in the place of his destination and to be industrious is imposed on the criminal. The expence to the nation is absolutely imper- Economy ceptible, comparatively, with what criminals have hitherto cost humanity and |