British pauper, but
theirs who, though working in the same field, were masters of their own
labor. He asserted that the bravado of persons, who affected
indifference when ordered for Macquarie Harbour, was fully answered by
the murderers who, to enjoy a momentary escape, ventured their lives; by
the desperate efforts of many to conceal themselves in vessels,
deprived of food for days, and tortured until their limbs mortified; by
the despair of many rioters who arrived in the _Eliza_, who, dejected
and stupified by grief, soon drooped and died. He maintained that
transportation, though not absolutely successful, was to be preferred,
as frequently most dreaded, reformatory, and final.

He maintained, that the current reports respecting transportation
deserved no credence, and were unsafe as foundations of public policy.
Often, from the most selfish motives, the most delusive statements had
been forwarded by prisoners. He instanced a woman from Liverpool, who
arrived with her four children, allured by the representation of her
husband, and sent out by the charity of his prosecutors; and who had
informed her that, beside L60 per annum, he was lodged and fed for his
labor. In this case, however, the man wrote falsely; but at that moment
there were many who might have made the statement with truth.

In the despatches of Governor Arthur there is much acute observation and
just inference. He had actually lessened abuses, until they became not
very common or very flagrant: by collecting men in the employ of
government under a more rigid system of superintendence, he had
curtailed their indulgence, and made their condition more irksome. But
it is well known to every colonist, that throughout his administration
some prisoners were favored with greater liberty than others; that they
accumulated property, and had at command whatever money could buy. He
often, with a discretion both wise and humane, mitigated the severity of
a sentence and alleviated the domestic desolation of a wife, by granting
some indulgence to her husband. It is told to his credit as a man,
although it does not add to the weight of his despatches.

The enunciation of principles was not common in the writings of Governor
Arthur; he, however, states his view of the objects contemplated by
punishment. He held that the severity of a penalty was to be measured by
the operation of the crime on society,--or the views taken by
legislators of its effect. Unhappily, thi