Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/604

 576 3NKL AR1 AS A MORAL At the request of the Governor tlie humane Quakers reported upon what they saw* While thus addressing himself to the task which the penal condition of the iBland imposed upon him, Colonel Arthur did not neglect the interests of the settlers, and the need of intellectual culture amongst thof^e wlio were to govern the land in future. He would not yield to the demands of Gelhbrand, of Thomas Home, of T. (i. Gregson and others, for representative in- stitutions while llie island was but a lar^e gaol. A great meeting was lield in IBJ^l, at w^iich Horiie (a barrister) revelled in the prospect of prosecution for his opinions- the record of this meeting, which history will preserve to the latest period of time.*' He was not persecuted but patronized, and if his name be preserved it will be on some musty record which he signed as a placeman under the government he had denounced. In 1834 the same wild spirit made Inra talk of the assertion by the hybrid population of their ''rights if necessary by force of arms:'* and some of his coadjutors demanded that every convict on landing should be set free to join the band of reforiuers* Colonel Artlnu' irritated Home by declining to recognize, without peruiission from England, Home's position as secretary of a political association ; and a new^spaper (edited by Dr. Uosa) ridiculed the ostentatious proceedings of the association. A more sagacious effort was about the same x^eriod embarked upon by thost^ who, admitting Ai"thm''s contention that a convict legislature would be shocking, sought the discontinuance of transportation to the colony, tn those days, however, its horrors had not awakened public remorse, ami the government were not prepared to abarulun the unwholesome system in which they were entangled. Colonel Arthur had a staunch supporter in all good deeds in the person of the Eev, W. Bedfortl, the senior chaplain, who succeeded Mr. Knopwood, tiow ji^torioiis. its resLihs my.y be. May wu not look forward to the time wheji the mcTeu-sed prudence of the lower orders, no longer ilegraded by debaaiiig ponr-liiws, will have etfecteil, under the Divine blessing, such an iinprovfiiuei^t of their circiimstaneoH aa. to have baniBhcd the evils of an extended pauperism, while that *vinboiight grace' of life, thafceheap defence of jyei-mms and ]U'u|>t'rtyr moral restraint, may be restored to its aneiettt seat in the hearts ot tbe pe&sauUy oi out: Tia.ltve land.'^
 * ' Let til em crush me, and they will associate my name with