ct any improvement but interference from higher
authority. The Court of Judicature in New South Wales was the most
shamelessly corrupt and abandoned in existence, and a rebellious spirit
broke out which imperilled the military authority of the Governor. Mr.
Marsden saw no hope, except in laying a full statement in person before
the home Government; and therefore, at the end of fourteen years, when
Governor King was about to return home, he resolved to go himself, and
make a strong personal representation to Government. The two families
sailed in the same ship, the _Buffalo_, which proved to be leaky; and,
when a heavy gale was expected, it was proposed that the passengers
should quit her, and take refuge in a stronger vessel; but Mrs. King was
too unwell to be moved, and Mrs. Marsden would not leave her, so that the
proposal was abandoned, and most providentially, for the ship that had
been thought secure was lost in the night and never seen more!

The voyage was a slow one; and the first thing Mr. Marsden heard on
arriving was, that the insurrection he had expected had actually broken
out. This rendered Lord Castlereagh, then Colonial Secretary, the more
anxious to obtain the advice of a sensible, clear-headed man like Samuel
Marsden, and he was encouraged to explain his views. First, he was
anxious for whatever would tend to reform the convicts; and having
observed that the most respectable of these were such as had married, or
whose wives had come out to them, he begged that, for the future, the
families of the married men might be sent out with them. This was
refused; but his representation that the convicts ought to be instructed
in trades was attended to, when he showed that, by this means, the whole
expense of their clothing might be saved. He had discerned the wonderful
capacities of Australia for sheep farming, and having brought home some
wool, and found it much approved by the manufacturers, he thereupon
ventured to petition the King for a couple of merino {f:221} sheep from
the royal farm at Windsor, to improve the breed. The request was after
"Farmer George's" own heart; he gave five, and thus Mr. Marsden did the
work of agricultural improvement of the Benedictines of old. He also
obtained that three more clergymen and three schoolmasters should be sent
out; and he strove hard for other institutions, chiefly for the
reformation of the female convicts, which he could not at the time get
carried out.