st, and the boundless
extravagance of credit and expense, produced a convulsion all but
universal.

The measures of the government increased the pressure of these
difficulties. The land sales by auction at Port Phillip were succeeded
by the system of selling on special surveys, at L1 per acre; and he who,
one year before, had competed for his purchase, found the next section
in the hands of his neighbour, at half the price he had given. The
settlers in the elder colonies had speculated deeply. Stock and
implements were transferred to the new country, under cover of credit.
Competition raised the value of bullocks to L30 per pair; of horses to
L60; of sheep to L2; the wages of servants to L50 per annum.

The government had raised the minimum price of land; and thus those who
were entitled to take up their surveys under a lower denomination
hastened their purchases with borrowed money. The London merchants
consigned immense quantities of goods on speculation which were poured
into the market; the promissory notes of irresponsible persons were
taken by their agents: the fraudulent laid up for the crisis; insolvent
estates were crowded into auctions; goods sunk below the expenses of the
factor; dividends of a few shillings in the pound represented the assets
of persons indebted from L50,000 to L100,000; and had not the chief
losses finally rested with the London merchants and the English banks,
the disasters of the times must have long retarded colonial prosperity.

The effects of this revulsion were soon felt in Van Diemen's Land, where
peddling traders had thriven in momentary credit by the union of
worthless names on their bills. As an instance: one hundred bushels of
wheat, sold ultimately for L40, were transferred to a succession of
speculating purchasers, who raised among them L1000, on credit of the
exchange from one to another. The governments of the colonies had
exhibited remarkable miscalculation. In all the treasury failed to meet
the expenses. The deposits formerly realised by land sales were
withdrawn from the banks. Debentures were issued; new taxes were
imposed. The commercial panic was in full career when the crown renewed
transportation to Van Diemen's Land; and thousands and tens of thousands
of British offenders were gathered on these shores. The expenditure of
the government, though large, was chiefly confined to the Capital, or
fell into the hands of the merchants; but it is worthy of remark, that,
e