manifest the same evil influence, although in a much smaller degree, on the general population. At the close of Sir Thomas Brisbane's government, in October, 1825, the population of New South Wales amounted altogether to 36,336 persons: of these there were
Convicts in actual bondage | 14,200 |
Do. holding tickets of leave | 2,078 |
Do. . free by servitude | 6,018 |
Do. pardoned absolutely or conditionally | 1,208 |
Total number of persons who either were or had been convicts | 23,504 |
Free emigrants | 3,150 |
There was, doubtless, at that period a native population of all ages of nearly 9000 souls; but it is evident that that population cannot be taken into account in estimating the character of the materials of which society was originally composed in the colony of New South Wales.
I have no account of the number of free emigrants and convicts who arrived in the colony during the first two years of the government of General Darling, but the following is a list of the number of persons of both classes who had arrived