re not hopeful so long as they remained soldiers; but
that, if they became convicts, they had a fair chance of growing rich
and prosperous. Accordingly, they entered a shop and stole a piece of
cloth. They were tried, convicted, and sentenced to be transported to
Tasmania for seven years. This was what they wished; but Governor
Darling, having heard of the scheme they were so successfully carrying
out, took it upon himself to alter the course of the law, and directed
them to be chained together with heavy spiked collars of iron about
their necks, and to be set to labour on the roads. Sudds was suffering
from liver disease; he sank beneath the severity of his punishment, and
in a few days he died--while Thompson, about the same time, became
insane. This was an excellent opportunity for the opposition papers,
which immediately attacked the Governor for what they called his illegal
interference and his brutality. The _Gazette_ filled its columns with
the most fulsome flattery in his defence, and Darling himself was so
imprudent as to mingle in the dispute, and to do what he could to annoy
the editors of the two hostile papers. Very soon the whole colony was
divided into two great classes--the one needlessly extolling the
Governor, the other denouncing him as the most cowardly and brutal of
men. For four years this abusive warfare lasted, till at length the
opponents of Darling won the day; and in 1831 he was recalled by the
English Government.

#7. Governor Bourke.#--Sir Richard Bourke, who succeeded him, was the most
able and the most popular of all the Sydney Governors. He had the talent
and energy of Macquarie; but he had, in addition, a frank and hearty
manner, which insensibly won the hearts of the colonists, who, for years
after his departure, used to talk affectionately of him as the "good old
Governor Bourke". During his term of office the colony continued in a
sober way to make steady progress. In 1833 its population numbered
60,000, of whom 36,000 were free persons. Every year there arrived three
thousand fresh convicts; but as an equal number of free immigrants also
arrived, the colony was benefited by its annual increase of population.

[Illustration: ST. ANDREW'S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY.]

#8. The Land Question.#--Governor Bourke, on his landing, found that much
discontent existed with reference to what was called the Land Question.
It was understood that any one who applied for land to the Government,
and sho