Australian colonies. And when such a measure can be carried into effect, entirely with colonial funds and without increasing the public burdens of the nation, it is earnestly to be desired that the vigour and decision which alone are requisite on the part of His Majesty's government to carry it into operation may not be a wanting. For nothing less than a speedy, or rather an immediate, and extensive emigration of virtuous and industrious families and individuals from the mother country to the Australian colonies can possibly relieve these colonies from the baneful effects of past mismanagement, in regard to the treatment of transported criminals; or ensure to them a reputable moral character and a healthy tone of society for the future.
In regard to the particular part of the mother country, from which it would be desirable to effect an extensive emigration to the Australian colonies, with the view of exerting a salutary moral influence on the present colonial population, as well as of improving the condition of the emigrants themselves, it should be borne in mind, that as all convicts from Ireland,—of whom ninety-five per cent are uniformly Roman Catholics, and consequently from the southern parts of that island,—have hitherto been sent exclusively to New South Wales, an extensive emigration from that portion of the united kingdom to the Australian colonies would infallibly give so decided a
