ot the fall of an empire." Having found the bay unsuitable for
location, they proceeded to examine the port called after Jackson, a
seaman, who observed it from the mast, and immortalised his name. As
they passed the capes, which form an entrance, they were in raptures
with the scene:--the tall mouldering cliffs; the trees, which touched
the water's edge; and the magnificent harbour, four miles in length,
begirt with a luxuriant shore.

It was on the 7th February, 1788, that the Governor was inaugurated: an
area being cleared for the purpose, the military marched to the ground
with music, and colors flying; 750 convicts, 212 marines and their
officers, were assembled. The standard of England was unfurled, the
commission of Phillip, the first governor, published, and the courts of
justice proclaimed. The usual formalities being complete, Phillip turned
to the prisoners, and declared his intentions. He had resolved to
cherish and render happy such as might deserve his favour; but to allow
the law its course with the impenitent and unreformed. In such language
we discern the sentiments which prevailed: banishment, not punishment
for past crimes, was implied in the cheering alternative. From that
moment he possessed authority to manumit not less absolute than the
sovereign, but immeasurably more power to avenge.

Those who first entered New Holland, and witnessed the elevation of the
royal standard on the shores of Port Jackson, described in terms of
despondency its barren soil, barely compensated by its salubrious
atmosphere. Contemporary political writers looked coldly on the infant
establishment, as the diseased and hopeless progeny of crime: one, which
could never recompense the outlay of the crown, either by its vigour or
its gratitude. The projects entertained, in connection with commerce,
were the growth of flax and the supply of naval timber, both of which
had been reported by Cook as indigenous to Norfolk Island. "When viewed
in a commercial light," Captain Tench observes (writing in 1789), "the
insignificance of the settlement is very striking." "Admitting the
possibility," he continues, "that the country will hereafter yield a
sufficiency of grain, the parent state must long supply the necessaries
of life. The idea of breeding cattle sufficient to meet the consumption,
must be considered very chimerical." Such desponding sentiments mostly
attend the first stages of colonisation; but in a much later period, the
e