Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/544

 of life. race. orisro niolort 430^ PHILLIP AND THE MILITAEY. 1789 made freqaent complaint ; but no statement that he made on the subject affords more than a faint indication of the real extent of the mischief. The imagination of the reader must fill up the picture with the too familiar details of vice and crime rampant among a people deliberately kept in ignorance of any higher law than that administered by the gaoler and the judge. In the same way^ the equally fatal omission to provide competent instructors in agriculture and The arts Other ncccssary arts^ entailed upon the unhappy population all the miseries of a state of siege; while the neglect to establish some form of government for the natives led in A£ying after years to a state of warfare between the two races, terminating in the extinction of the savage one. And it is not less true that the fundamental mistake of founding the Fons et colony with convicts instead of free settlers brought about a series of troubles and disasters, which frequently imperilled its existence and at all times paralysed its energies ; until the lapse of time and the introduction of healthier elements enabled it gradually to outgrow, and at last absorb, the fruitful source of corruption and decay.* understood by comparing it with the plan adopted by Congress in 1787 for the settlement of unoccupied territory. An Ordinance paraed in that year established the foUowing principles of government : — 1. So soon as there should be five thousand free male inhabitants of full age in the district, they should receive authority to elect representatives to represent them in a General Assembly. 2. The (reneral Assembly should consist of a Governor, a Legislative Council, and a House of Representatives. 3. The inhabitants should always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of the people in the Legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. 4. Religion, morality, and knowled^ being necessary to good govern- ment, schools and the means of education should be for ever encouraged. 5. The utmost good faith should always be observed towivds the Lidians : their lands and property should never be taken from them without their consent ; and in their property, rights, and liberty, they should never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress ; but laws founded in justice and humanity should, from time to time, oe made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendsnip with them. 6. There should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the territorv, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes. — Story, Exposition of the Constitution ; Roebuck, The Colonies of England, 1849, p. 91. Digitized by Google
 * The practical results of this system of colonisation may be better