nts selected by the Governor, Colonel Arthur, who came out in
the year 1824, and had been for eleven years a terror to evil-doers.
His rule was as despotic as he could possibly make it. If any
officer appointed by the Home Government disagreed with his policy he
suspended him from his office, and left him to seek redress from his
friends in England--a tedious process, which lasted for years.
Disagreeable common people he suspended also--by the neck. If a
farmer, squatter, or merchant was insubordinate, he stopped his
supply of convict labour, and cruelly left him to do his own work.
He brooked no discussion of his measures by any pestilent editor. He
filled all places of profit with his friends, relatives, and
dependents. Everything was referred to his royal will and pleasure.
His manners were stiff and formal, his tastes moral, his habits on
Sundays religious, and his temper vindictive. Next to the articles
of war, the thirty-nine Articles claimed his obedience. When his
term of office was drawing to a close he went to church on a certain
Sunday to receive the Lord's Supper. While studying his prayer book
he observed that it was his duty if his brother had anything against
him to seek a reconciliation before offering his gift. The
ex-Attorney-General, Gellibrand, was present, a brother Christian who
had had many things against him for many years. He had other
enemies, some living and some dead, but they were absent. To be
reconciled to all of them was an impossibility. He could not ask the
minister to suspend the service while he went round Hobart Town
looking for his enemies, and shaking hands with them. But he did
what was possible. He rose from his knees, marched over to
Gellibrand, and held out his hand. Gellibrand was puzzled; he looked
at the hand and could see nothing in it. By way of explanation
Colonel Arthur pointed out the passage in the prayer-book which had
troubled his sensitive conscience. Gellibrand read it, and then
shook hands. With a soul washed whiter than snow, the colonel
approached the table.

Amongst the convicts every grade of society was represented, from
King Jorgensen to the beggar. One Governor had a convict private
secretary. Officers of the army and navy, merchants, doctors, and
clergymen consorted with costermongers, poachers, and pickpockets.
The law, it is sad to relate, had even sent out lawyers, who
practised their profession under a cloud, and sometimes pleaded by