10 PLANS FOE COLONISING 1798-8 August,. 1786, and also in liis subsequent letter to the Admiralty, in which instructions were given for the equip- ment of the expedition. Lord Sydney made special refer- SttOTL^* ence to the paper : — I enclose to your lordships herewith the heads of a plan upon which the new settlement is to be formed/' A review of the records on this subject seems to show that in the interval of three years which elapsed between the date of Matra's project and the letters referred to^ the proposals for colonising New South Wales Revision of had been subjected to several processes of revision, resultin&r proposals. . •■ ^ 'ft m the plan finally adopted. It is evident that the plans proposed to the Government were drawn up under very different influences from those which finally determined the matter. Both Matra and Sir George Young pointed to the American loyalists as the proper men to send out to New South Wales ; they were Free settlers practical scttlers, accustomed to the struggles of colonial life, and they were entitled to the assistance of the Govern- ment in their search for new homes. But the Home Secre- . tary was not troubled about the loyalists, while he was very much troubled about the convicts. The hulks and gaols were crowded with criminals condemned to transportation, and where were they to be sent when the American ports were no longer open ? Although Matra's proposal was ultimately shaped so as to suit the Minister's convenience, it is not possible to read his long-forgotten essay without seeing how clearly, even in the dim distance, the heroic work of colonisation occupied the background of the picture which represents the departure i%e^" of the First Fleet for the shores of New South Wales. The ground. mean proportions which the scheme assumed in Sydney's hands should not blind us to the fact that it originated in a desire to establish free settlers in a new colony, under conditions which would enable them to turn to account the great natural resources of the country, not only to their own benefit but to that of the nation. Digitized by Google
