to
transportation; and, assisted by the discovery of gold fields of vast
extent and opulence, will change the penal policy of the British empire.

In the progress of the struggle all classes ranged on the same side.
Parents thought of their children--patriots of their country. Every
legislature of this hemisphere has expressed the popular will and
demanded abolition, and the final triumph only awaits the fiat of the
crown. The steps of the colonists have been cautious and deliberate,
their perseverence and energy indomitable! Their success has been
chequered by frequent disappointment, but never was a battle more nobly
fought--never was there a cause more worthy of triumph.

Mr. McLachlan, long a resident in Van Diemen's Land, judged the plans of
Lord Stanley by the test of experience, and warned the minister of their
too certain results. Other colonists in England corroborated his views
and enforced his representation. Mr. Smith, a colonist of long standing,
obtained an audience at Downing-street. He described the social dangers
which environed the settlers. "I confess," said the noble lord, "that
you are in an awful position."

The representation forwarded by Mr. Pitcairn and his coadjutors was
intrusted to Mr. M'Lachlan's care. The press of England took the side of
the oppressed, and the inexorable office was obliged to listen, to
argue, and retract.

There was, however, one result of his scheme which moved the
susceptibilities of Lord Stanley himself. He shrank from the
"intolerable evils of a breach of faith" with the exiles of Great
Britain. They had been encouraged to expect high wages and ready
employment. Such was the fair reward offered. Far other was their actual
lot. "Thousands of prisoners," said an official representation, "are
going about idle, polluting the atmosphere in which they move. Is it to
be wondered at that the Pentonville men should fall?"[252] The extreme
social degradation and demoralising contamination to which they were
exposed in Van Diemen's Land, and the disheartening difficulties they
had to contend with, were utterly incompatible with the spirit of Lord
Stanley's despatch.[253] This "breach of the public faith" was promptly
repaired by a new series of projects.

Sir Charles Fitz Roy and Sir E. Wilmot, assisted by Mr. Latrobe, were
instructed to select a site whither to send exiles, there to remain
while awaiting hire or voluntary emigration: conditional pardons which
gave liberty