s of individual success, which when substantially true are still
exaggerated by fancy, were commonly disappointed. The suspicious
coolness of strangers; the high price of provisions; the comfortless
dwellings, with their awkward fuel; the absence of conveniences, which
are not valued until lost; and the memory of home, produced a depression
of spirits, only overcome by reason or youth. But their complaints of
after years, are the result of affectation and habit: they pretend to
have sacrificed a lot, from which in reality they escaped; and forget
that in the midst of those scenes they profess to regret, they often
wanted a meal.

A curious instance occurred at an early time: a settler took a location
order and provisions, and went out to commence his labors. He was
disheartened by the obstruction of the forest: at his first stroke, the
axe was shivered; he threw it down in despair, and returned home in the
vessel that brought him out.

The emigrants were not, on the whole, inferior to other persons of their
education and calling; and were often justified in resisting the
tyrannical spirit and disposition to oppress, which the habits of
colonial life do not extinguish. This emigration, amounting to 7,000 for
both colonies, is an epoch to be remembered for its influence on their
fate.

These events revolutionised the social state of the colonies. Free
workmen and their families formed an intermediate class, whose interests
were hostile to a penal government, and to bond labor in every form. The
individual importance of employers consoled them for their political
dependence; and the subservience of transportation to their material
prosperity, reconciled them to the restrictions it imposed. The free
workman found it an obstacle to his advancement: it depressed his wages
and debased his position, but gave him nothing. If his industry raised
him, he yet retained the sympathies of his early life: he remained
distrustful of the rich, jealous of rank, and fond of the equality of
human rights. Trial by jury, legislative assemblies, and official
responsibility, found earnest advocates, where they had often been mere
rallying points of personal discontent.

All this was foreseen by Arthur: when free laborers were intruded by the
crown, the great bond of his system was broken.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISPOSAL OF CROWN LANDS IN NEW SOUTH WALES AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.