Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/155

 either as tugs, or for the conveyance of passengers and goods to and from the shipping and Williamstown.

All these things are evidences of progress which one scarcely expects to find in so new a settlement at the antipodes. It is true, that within the last four years this has not been so rapid, nor its effects so striking, as they were at the foundation of the settlement; but still, upon a retrospect, it is evident that, even in this latter period, we have advanced considerably; and it is by thus looking back that we can best judge of the progress of improvement which, though. subject to interruption, still moves forward. At one time, indeed, the effects of injudicious legislation may retard its onward course; mercantile depression may check it; or it may even appear to recede before the more formidable evil of a monetary confusion affecting all classes; but still, when at two periods at all distant from each other we look at the relative positions of the community, we perceive the progress which has been made. So when the tide makes upon the beach, it may seem to make but little progress, appearing at each successive wave to retire as far as it had previously advanced, sometimes even to retreat baffled, leaving behind a bed of ooze and mud; yet still the rising surge rolls on, obedient to the influence of an irresistible, though unseen agency. Thus, too, in the progress of events, though private schemes may fail, and plans of individual aggrandizement be baffled, still the mighty wave of civilization advances; the adventurous settler, the greedy speculator, and the humble labourer, (the puny ripples of this human tide,)