Page:Last of the tasmanians.djvu/179

152 a week; and, after some complaint, half an ounce of soap a day was issued.

Due provision was made for warlike materials. In addition to the weapons taken on the route, there was a depot established at Oatlands, as a central station, containing a thousand stand of arms, thirty thousand rounds of cartridge, and three hundred handcuffs; the last named being in excess of the whole number of Aborigines, for whose capture such formidable preparations were made. Mr. Lloyd had a contemptible opinion of the muskets, declaring that five out of twelve would not go off.

It was a very anxious time for Colonel Arthur. He had but just succeeded, after years of trouble, in putting an end to the exploits of the Dick Turpin gentry, that used to ride across the country in bands, like the moss-troopers of old. And now, in calling out so large a number of the able-bodied men of the colony, he could not but feel concerned about the security of life and property in a penal settlement. There were many suffering the penalty of double conviction, and requiring close retention; here were others only just subdued by the strength of Government, who would be too ready to recommence their predatory employment in the confusion of affairs. Another cause of anxiety lay in the arming of assigned servants, and permitting them to roam the Bush without adequate oversight and guard. Some had assured the authorities that such men would embrace this favourable opportunity to rise in rebellion, and establish, as had more than once been threatened, an island home for the prisoner class, emancipating themselves, ejecting the free, and establishing an independent government of their own. A more probable difficulty lay in the engagement of convicts, dead in the sight of the law, as guardians of the public peace; for nearly all the constabulary belonged to that condition of society. One who was a bondman thus refers to the condition of such parties: "The Government had placed them in a situation different from that which the law had directed; they had acted as free men, and with free men; and when once permitted to do so, could the law or any known power compel them to return to their former servitude?" But the Tasmania Review is delighted to acknowledge that "Fifteen hundred men of that class are now with arms in their hands, anxiously desirous of showing that