, and
it was not until towards the close of the eighteenth century that the
military guard ceased to attend executions. A vast multitude of persons
had degenerated into a robber caste. They lodged under the arches of
bridges, or nestled in nooks or corners, wherever they could burrow. The
districts of the city occupied by the better class of society, seemed
but a small portion of the metropolis--like islands in a sea of vice and
destitution. There were numerous places of savage amusement and small
gambling houses; and young men of family, hanging loose on the world,
not unfrequently became amateur adventurers in crime. The populace felt
no aversion to a highwayman of spirit. The pursuit of criminals became a
voluntary and profitable calling, and offenders against the laws were
encouraged and sheltered, until they were ripe for the executioner.

Every part of London was the scene of executions: malefactors were hung
in chains on every common and way-side. The populace treated the culprit
with cheers or hisses, according to their view of his crime. Many wore a
white cockade in their hats, in token of their innocence, when they were
carried in procession to the scaffold.[59]

To compensate for the feebleness of the police, and the popular sympathy
with crime, the crown paid L40 for each capital conviction. In 1796, a
conspiracy was developed, which led to the legal slaughter of seventy
persons, at a profit to the conspirators of L2,800. In 1818, the
legislature reluctantly terminated this traffic in blood.[60]

Thus, after much discussion, the plan of a new penal settlement was
finally preferred: denominated, in the official correspondence, "the
improved Colony of New South Wales."[61] In dedicating his work to
Thomas Townsend, Viscount Sydney, Collins ascribes the establishment of
the colony to that nobleman. "To your patriotism" he writes, "the plan
presented a prospect of political and commercial advantages." The facts
recorded he alleges evinced with how much wisdom the measure was
suggested and conducted; with what beneficial effects its progress had
been attended, and what future benefits the parent country might with
confidence anticipate. It was expected by Collins, that the colony would
prove a valuable nursery for soldiers and seamen.

The territorial seal provided by the crown, stamped on the instruments
of government the primary design: on the obverse, the royal arms and
title; but on the reverse, convicts w