ands and other advantages to reconcile the less incorruptible advocates
of abolition and marked "confidential," had just reached the colony,
having been unaccountably inserted in the blue book. The moral choice of
the people was still more strikingly manifest, when they disregarded
such offers, whether considered as compensation or bribes, and rejected
every advocate of transportation. Such appeals as the following were
not heard in vain. "Now, let our signal be--'Tasmania expects every man
to do his duty!' The first earnest of your privileges must be the utter
extinction of slavery in this your adopted land. By your most cherished
associations--by all that you hold most dear--by the love you bear your
domestic hearths--by the claims and cries of your children--by the light
of that freedom, your common inheritance, which has now for the first
time dawned upon you, which has gilt your mountains and gladdened your
valleys,--by the spirit of emancipation, and which at this very moment
is beating in unison in strong pulsations through every artery of the
island, until I can almost fancy that Nature herself heaves and
sympathises with the universal emotion,--I call upon you, adjure you, to
cast off every unworthy feeling, and remember only 'to do your duty'
towards your own--your adopted land."[267]

By a violent exertion the convict party were held together until the day
of polling:--then they disappeared with noise and riot, and were seen no
more.

The reputable emancipists joined their emigrant countrymen. They held
the balance in their hands. In the main they proved true to the
principles which hold society together, and followed the dictates of
parental affection. Many not actual members of the league supported its
principles so far as they contemplated the social freedom of the
Australian world. Thus all the preliminary steps were taken to secure
the voice of the legislative councils, and throughout the southern
hemisphere no representative of the people was found to stand up as the
advocate of transportation. The proper moment for confederation had been
found. A few months before it was unthought of--a few months after it
would have been impracticable. The speech of Earl Grey, was intended to
extinguish finally all hope of freedom, but struck out a spark and
kindled a flame which none can quench.

The representatives were true. The council of New South Wales, the
earliest to assemble, struck the first blow for Austr