give him fifty"--an easy compromise with the hangman.
A reverend gentleman met a party of men brought up for disobedience: he
sent them back, with "ah, well, give them five-and-twenty all round." It
was common to send a note with the man whom it was intended to punish:
he was flogged, and sent back. A man, suspecting the contents of such a
missive, gave it to his fellow-servant, who was flogged in spite of his
protests. Another, who had been on a similar errand before, returned
next day to his master, complaining bitterly of his suffering; but he
had destroyed the note and eluded the triangles. Such eccentricities of
justice could not last beyond the rudest era.

The site of the capital narrowly escaped a second change. The
commissioner, Mr. Bigge, considered that the seat of government should
be fixed nearer to the source of the river Derwent. Brighton was
nominated the destined city, close to an extensive and fertile country,
and within easy access to the interior. Arthur was instructed to
determine this question. Its chief inducement was the removal of the
prisoners from the temptation of the port; but property was already
invested to a large amount. The merchants strongly opposed the transfer.
The division of the government from the chief population would have
destroyed its moral influence. Arthur did not press the project, and
during a conference with the merchants and other principal inhabitants,
discussed the question with courtesy. On the whole, the measure was
impolitic, and finally abandoned.

The uncertainty for some time obstructed the progress of the place.
Launceston was still more unfortunate. When York Town was abandoned as
the chief settlement, Paterson removed his head-quarters to Launceston;
but on the visit of Macquarie he determined to constitute George Town
the northern capital. The superior convenience of a spot at the head of
the river to one forty miles distant, gave Launceston the mercantile
preference. Macquarie maintained his project to the last; but the
opinion of Mr. Bigge determined the dispute in favor of Launceston, and
the head-quarters, in 1824, were removed finally from George Town.

A fatality has seemed to attend the selection of chief townships in the
colonies. Sydney is a second choice, Hobart Town a second, Launceston a
third, Melbourne a second. New Zealand has experienced the same vexation
and losses which proper surveys might easily avoid. The general
government can have no