se of orders and regulations,
often contrary to the principles of English law, and sustained by
penalties unknown in Great Britain. These were not collated until a late
period: their provisions were imperfectly promulgated. In enforcing
them, the governors relied on the impotence of resistance, and
justified their enactment on the ground of expediency.

Had the parliament conveyed a legislative power, the ordinary
precautions and limitations would have been embodied for that purpose:
thus the free subjects of the king would have known the extent of their
liabilities, both to prohibitions and penalties. An unfettered despotism
drew no distinction, but rejected all questions of legality as
contumacious.

Among the subordinate officers, were some high in rank, natives of
France, who had emigrated during the revolution, or had by incurring the
hatred of its government deserved the patronage of our own. Profoundly
indifferent to the rights of freedom, and ignorant of the forms or
proper subjects of judicial investigation, an "order" was far more
sacred in their eyes, than the volumes of Blackstone. English gentlemen
might have recalled the solemn warnings of history which check
aggressions on private liberty, but an exiled adherent of Bourbon
princes was not likely to be embarrassed by educational prejudices. Not
that British officers were really more scrupulous, or offered by their
habits a better guarantee for the legality of their administration.[81]

The minor offences of prisoners passed under the summary adjudication of
magistrates. They often indulged in the lowest humour or furious
passion: they applied torture to extract confessions, and repeated
flagellation until it became dangerous to life.

The long delay of legislative remedies, when omissions and defects were
discovered, is a proof of ministerial indifference. The crown provided a
court of criminal jurisdiction for Port Phillip: the jurisdiction was
strictly local, and the judge advocate ceased to act when Van Diemen's
Land was occupied; but twenty years elapsed before the deficiency was
supplied. Again, the criminal court of New South Wales was limited to
islands adjacent to the _eastern coast_.[82] The discovery of Bass's
Strait proved that Van Diemen's Land was not included in this
geographical definition, and the scrupulous or idle judges for a long
time evaded the holding of courts in this island, which was thus
surrendered to disorder. In the absence