requisite authority exists. But individuals cannot extend society to distant places without forming; a compact amongst themselves, and obtaining some guarantee for its being observed. All the old and most successful British colonies in America—Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia—were founded by individuals whose public spirit, prudence, and resolution were not otherwise assisted by the Government of this country, than as a charter from the Crown erected each of those bodies of individuals into a corporation, with the authority required for accomplishing, to use the words of several of those charters, 'their generous and noble purpose.'
"In this respect, the South Australian Association, confiding in the paternal goodness of his present Majesty, and trusting that their undertaking will be favourably viewed by an enlightened and liberal administration, will endeavour to follow the example of the London and Plymouth companies, which founded Virginia; of William Penn and his companions, who founded Pennsylvania; of Lord Baltimore and his associates, who founded Maryland; and of Lord Perceval and his co-trustees, who established the colony of Georgia.
"The following extracts from the Georgian Charter will, in some measure, explain the objects of the South Australian Association, and the means by which it is proposed to accomplish them:—