settlers, as I have described, on any part of the coast of New Holland, would eventually attract persons of a higher class, in the shape of merchants, graziers, wool-growers, professional men, together with a host of well-born and well-bred adventurers of all classes. But in proportion as the humbler class of settlers should succeed in establishing themselves in comfort and independence, they would be induced, under the guidance of their ministers and schoolmasters, to secure the benefits of a superior education for their children; and would thus be the means of eventually raising up an aristocracy of virtue and talent, of incomparably more value, in a convict colony, than an aristocracy of birth, or wealth, or employment. Of the reputable Scotch mechanics, whom I carried out to New South Wales in the year 1831, to erect the Australian College buildings, there were individuals who had only been earning from fourteen to sixteen shillings a week by their labour in Scotland, and who had been frequently out of employment. Of course, persons in such circumstances were unable to raise a single shilling to assist in paying the passage of their families out, and had consequently a debt, amounting, in some instances, to upwards of £50 to pay for their passage, from their labour in the colony. In the instances I allude to, these persons had not only discharged
