[Footnote 76: _Two Years in New South Wales_, vol. ii, pp. 260-282.]
[Footnote 77: _Compiled from Dr. Browning's Tables._
+-----------------------------------------------+------------------------+ ¦ At embarkation. ¦ On debarkation. ¦ +--------+-------------+------------------------+------------------------+ ¦ Year. ¦ Ship. ¦ Neither read nor write.¦Unable to read or write.¦ +--------+-------------+------------------------+------------------------+ ¦ 1831 ¦ Surry ¦ 118 ¦ 1 ¦ ¦ 1834 ¦ Arab ¦ 194 ¦ 1 ¦ ¦ 1836 ¦ Elphinstone ¦ 158 ¦ None ¦ ¦ 1840 ¦ Margaret ¦ 102 ¦ 6 ¦ +--------+-------------+------------------------+------------------------+]
[Footnote 78: "After he had examined them, and almost every prisoner had repeated a portion of scripture, he addressed them in a most affecting manner, and entreated them not to forget the lessons he had imparted; and on his withdrawing, I think there was not a dry eye amongst the whole of the prisoners."--_Col. Arthur_, 1837. _Par. Papers._]
[Footnote 79: _Browning's England's Exiles_, 1842.]
Those who delight to distinguish practical wisdom from theory, will derive no countenance from the early practice of transportation. To rid the parent state of an encumbrance, was alone the immediate object of the government: all beyond was surrendered to fate. The absorbing agitation of Europe, then filled with wars and revolutions, diverted the public gaze from a distant experiment, and left to local discretion the details of its working. The difficulties of this extempore system were really great: that competition for penal labor, which afterwards made its distribution a boon, had no existence; the social influence of a strong body of settlers, habituated to industry, and expecting opulence as its reward, was an auxiliary unknown. Political economy, as a practical science, was lightly esteemed: the choice of instruments to effect a royal purpose, rarely determined by their specific qualifications. The first rulers of these colonies were, indeed, men of literary pretensions; several, of extensive nautical experience: trained on the quarter deck in the discipline of war, when royal ships were often scenes of great courage, and of equal despotism and debasement--when seamen were taken from the dock, impressed from the trader, and even stolen on the streets. Taught to govern a crew, they were judged by the ministry exactly qualified to coerce and control a body of prisoners. There were some advantages in this choice: they were men who knew how to subject the will of masses; their fearless temper felt no dread of those wild and lawless spirits surrendered to their power. They could transfer the system of the navy to the shore: they were not intimidated by hardships, and they were accustomed to privations: perhaps, no other profession could have furnished adventurers, on the whole, so well qualified for their task.