eals to their humanity:
he said that many prisoners of the crown, influenced by bad example,
ignorance, and want, had lost their liberty; that it would be unkind and
unjust to obstruct their progress to competence and reformation. These
excuses for a policy which tended to depress honest workmen only
convinced them that it was time to retire from the country. A more
powerful class might have shown that the proper office of mercy is to
shorten the duration of a sentence, and not to inflict punishment on
unoffending families of freemen.

A party of colonists, who chose Mr. Gilbert Robertson as their
secretary, formed an association to promote the amelioration of
financial embarrassment. They nominated a "central committee," to
prepare information for the guidance of the government, and to watch
over legislation. In explaining their plans to Wilmot they professed to
feel confidence in his liberality, judgment, and zeal. To this he
replied in glowing terms. He told them that during a short residence he
had traversed the colony and acquired a knowledge of its value; that he
had projected many schemes for the improvement of agriculture and the
relief of the treasury. He gave strong assurances both of his
expectation of better days and his efforts to hasten them; but then he
complained that the association, by its structure and schemes, depressed
his anticipations; that they proposed to supersede imperial
instructions, and to supplant his constitutional advisers. The
objections he offered, and the tone in which they were urged, induced a
practical dissolution of the society--scarcely compatible with regular
government.

For the last time in these colonies application was made by the settlers
for a law to restrict the amount of usury. It had been a favorite object
for many years. They asserted that the exactions of capitalists involved
the colony in a hopeless struggle. England had, however, abrogated
usury laws, and left the value of money to be determined by the ordinary
relations of supply and demand. To this principle the governor resolved
to adhere (1844).

What the law could not effect was produced by a less exceptionable
process. The merchants and professional men addressed the banks, and
urged an abatement of interest, then 10 per cent. for short-dated bills,
and 12-1/2 for renewals. They appealed rather to liberality than to
abstract right. This was followed by a reduction in the Van Diemen's
Land Bank,--an example