class in the community; able, eventually, by means of their wealth, their numbers, and the incessant clamours of their leaders, to control or overawe the Government itself.
In such a state of things—a state in which the standard of morals was authoritatively lowered, and a false estimate of men and manners publicly established, and in which, moreover, every thing was done that could be done virtually to divest the prison population of all sense of degradation and criminality—it is superfluous to inquire whether transportation had proved effectual, either for the prevention of crime or for the reformation of criminals.
It is extremely gratifying, however, to be able to state, that arrangements are now in progress in the colony of New South Wales, which will counteract, in great measure, the moral and political evils of its original constitution, and effect, in some degree at least, its moral and political regeneration. By a new arrangement for the disposal of crown land, introduced by order of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in the year 1831, a revenue has been unexpectedly created in New South Wales, which, if judiciously applied towards the purposes of its original destination, will enable the colonial government to introduce into the colony indus-
