Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/85

 after some interval, to that neighbourhood, and from thence to King George’s Sound. The Governor himself bad just embarked for that port; and, as the opening of the inland communication is a subject he has long contemplated, its accomplishment may shortly be expected. The country the road will penetrate is reported to be abundantly supplied with water, and places suitable for good stock stations. It would appear from Captain Bannister’s statement, that a great deal of the country is open, where it would require but little labour for the formation of a road.

When once this line of communication, however imperfectly, is opened, King George’s Sound will become a station of great importance, it being but ten days’ sail from Van Diemen’s Land. It will, consequently, afford great facilities for the introduction of stock from that colony and Sydney, without exposure to the risk and loss that are often encountered in doubling Cape Leeuwin.

In the mean time, the monstrous project of making King George’s Sound a penal settlement, is not likely to gain many adherents in the colony. The following passages from Archbishop Whately’s First Letter to Earl Grey are presented to the reader, as calculated for ever to set that question at rest. After pointing out the results of the errors Great Britain has committed in her old colonies, and remarking that our new colonies are not yet out of our forming hands, the writer thus proceeds:—“There is one, especially, in the constitution of which we are bound to retrace, if possible, all our steps,—bound on every principle of expediency and national honour; nay, on a principle (if such principle there be) of national conscience. It will be readily understood that this one is the convict colony in New South Wales,—a colony founded and maintained on principles which, if acted on by an individual in private life, would expose him to the charge either of insanity or of