Review for the Rural Magazine.

An Expose of the Causes of Intemperate Drinking, and the means by which it may be obviated. By Thomas Herttell of the city of New York. Published by order of the New York society for the promotion of internal improvement.—New York, 1819.—pp. 56.

This is an ingenious and interesting pamphlet. It is written with much force and originality; and we think we shall do the public a service by laying before our readers some of the author's remarks. There is no vice which steals upon us in so many attractive and deceitful shapes as that of intemperate drinking. In this country it is a national sin and infects every class of society. We meet its temptations in our social intercourse, at our public festivals—in the resorts of business; we see it indulged in by men of eminent character; spirituous liquors are kept in every sideboard, and brought forth upon almost every occasion. One class of society imitates the practice of another, and habitual drunkenness has become the stigma and disgrace of our country.

The pamphlet before us, remarks (page 6) that "the existence of this vice is now generally acknowledged, its progress marked, and its effects deplored. It is traced to the grog-shop where many of its most degrading effects are discovered, and mistaken for causes, and the remedy attempted to be applied."

"Though I am not disposed to become the advocate of grog-shops, or to avert from them any portion of merited animadversion—or inclined to become the apologist of those who, under colour of keeping a tavern, follow the business of dram-selling; I am not willing that these places should be considered either as the primary or principal cause of the evil under review. The current opinion that such is the case, is incorrect, as I shall endeavour to shew. And I am induced to do this, from the conviction that the mistake is calculated to stop investigation short of the true source, and thus prevent the remedies from reaching the fountain-head of the evil. It happens in this, as in too many other instances, that the little sinners become the subjects of censure, while those whose crimes differ from them only in magnitude, are overlooked, or treated with complaisance. Is it wrong to sell liquor by the glass, to those who drink it—and is it not wrong to sell it by the hogshead, for the purpose of being so disposed of? Are both these culpable, and shall those who import and sell it by the cargo, escape obloquy? And does the distiller differ from all those, in any other respect, than that he makes while they sell the poison for the purpose of its being drank? It is not my intention to censure the latter any more than the former class of dealers in ardent drink; and justice forbids that blame should attach itself exclusively to either. They are all particepes criminis, inasmuch as they all contribute facilities to the practice of intemperate drinking, and thus aid the continuance and increase of the evil. But its most prolific sources are not to be found among those classes of our fellow-citizens, considered in the business character. They only conform to the customs and habits of the community in which they live. They find their neighbours in the practice of using ardent drink, and profit by their folly. No one would be so weak as to invest his money in ardent liquor with the expectation of learning people to drink. It is the already acquired habit, which constitutes the basis of his calculations of profit. So far, therefore, from grog-shops being the primary or principal cause of intemperate habits, the reverse of the position approaches nearer the truth. The habit of intemperance is the cause of grog-shops.

"As the vice under consideration did not originate at those places, it is not limited to the class of people who drink there. The customers of coffee houses, hotels, and other taverns, and the sideboards and wine-cellars of private houses, prove the truth of this position. The landlords of those establishments would take it in dudgeon, to be told that their customers were of the lowest grade of society; and the proprietors of well stored sideboards and wine-cellars, would be highly offended at the imputation of drinking, or learning to drink, at grog-shops. If the practice of tippling was confined to the lower order of society, it could not with any propriety be regarded as a national sin. The character and habits of that class of the community can never alone constitute national character. Admitting, therefore, that intemperate drinking is justly attributed to us as a feature of our national character, it follows irrefutably, that the causes which produce that effect are not confined to the purlieus of bar or tap-rooms. The upper classes of society never follow the examples of the lower: but the latter do, as far as they are able, imitate the customs of the former. Had the habit of intemperance originated in the lower class, it would not, in all probability, have extended beyond it. As its prevalence is so general as to become a reproach to the nation, the inference is conclusive, that it is the progeny of higher parentage than grog-shops."

"The radical sources of the evil" says judge Herttell, "are in the fashions, customs, and examples, of what are called the upper or wealthy classes of the community."

After remarking the common practice that intoxicating liquors are universally used as a table drink, he proceeds, "Such being the practice, the parents of a family must, of necessity, adopt one of the two following measures:—The children must be permitted to partake of the common table beverage, or they must not. In the first case they are reared from their childhood to the habitual use of ardent drink. If the other course is pursued, and the use of the liquor interdicted to the children, while the parents daily drink it in their presence, he is very little acquainted with human nature, who does not know, that the value of the article is thereby arbitrarily enhanced—the disposition to enjoy it increased,—and, that as soon as the restraints of the parents are removed, and an opportunity presents, the forbidden fruit will be tasted, with as much avidity as if both conscience and justice demanded satisfaction for lost time and pleasures. Under such circumstances, how vain is it to hope that children will not acquire the habit of intemperance—and how weak is it to wonder at their becoming drunkards! Parents can hardly be said to have arrived to years of discretion, who shall expect that their admonitions against intemperance will be heeded, while their daily example is counteracting their influence. How ridiculous is it for them, while drinking wine and brandy in the presence of their children, to attempt to persuade them, that it is not good for them! Should it happen, that in a family of half a dozen sons, there should be a sober man, the merit is his, and not his parents'; nor are they to be pitied, except for their folly, should they all be drunkards; and such is frequently the result. Thus, almost every family becomes a school for intemperance, and a nursery of customers for taverns and grog-shops.

"Again; inebriating liquors have become the medium universally adopted by society for manifesting friendship and good will, one to another. It need only to be mentioned to be admitted, that it is the common practice, when friends or even strangers visit each other, they have scarcely time after being seated, to make the usual inquiries about health, and the common place remarks on the weather, before they are invited to drink intoxicating liquors. The welcome is deemed kind and sincere, in proportion to the frequency, and earnestness of the importunities to drink—liberal in proportion to the variety of the liquors; and their richness and profusion add to the other temptations to drink. Not to offer them would be deemed unfriendly, mean, or unmannerly. Not to accept them, would be attributed to ill-nature, or a want of politeness. Hence, the visitor drinks to reciprocate good will for the proffered kindness, or in self-defence against the imputation of ill-breeding. And the visited, takes a glass for the company's sake, as it is called; and to evince his satisfaction on seeing his hospitality accepted in the spirit in which it is offered. In this way do the laws of fashion and custom constrain people to drink, who otherwise would have no inclination, or who have acquired that inclination, from the frequent if not daily occasions which occur, for tendering and reciprocating through the customary channel, sentiments of hospitality and good will to their associates, friends, and strangers. Thus is the vice of intemperate drinking ingrafted on the virtue of hospitality; and so long as that virtue is cherished, and ardent liquors continue to be tendered as evidence of its existence, so long will the use of that article as a drink continue, and the vice of intemperance grow out of it. This unnatural blending of virtue and vice, together with the practice of using inebriating drink as a table beverage, are the radical sources of that intemperance, which is said to be "the crying and increasing sin of the nation." It is at the family table, the first rudiments of intemperance are taught; the first examples set, and the first essays at tippling attempted. The practice is continued by the frequent display of hospitality and politeness, through the medium of ardent drink. The acquired habit, shows itself on holy-days, at dining and other parties, and on all convivial occasions—is pursued at taverns, and at last, descends to, and terminates its career at grog-shops. Look at the catalogue of family misfortunes, and few will be found to have escaped the direful disease of intemperance; few which have not had their prosperity and happiness blighted by the extreme of that vice, in some one or more of their members." No doubt it is in the opulent that many of the vices of society originate. Their weaknesses and errors are palliated; their example imitated and their indulgences eagerly craved by the poor. While therefore, the general practice of using ardent spirit continues among them, our author reasons that the popular remedy of curtailing the number of grog-shops, though it would lessen the practice would not destroy the habit of intemperance. Should there remain a solitary place where liquor can be procured, the sin of intemperance will continue to be committed, and its associate vices and immorality entailed on society.

"What!" says he, "it may be asked by the reader, are we required to relinquish the use of wine and ardent spirits, in order to prevent their abuse by others? Shall we deny ourselves the reasonable enjoyment of them, because others become intemperate? Are we to be interdicted the moderate use of them, because others drink to excess and get drunk? As well say the querists, might it be expected that we should extract our tongues, because others back-bite their neighbours!

"In the first place, permit me to remark, that I have not uttered a word against the moderate or reasonable use of ardent liquors. But before we go farther, it may be proper to analyze the terms, moderation and intemperance, as they relate to the use of inebriating drink. There can be no objection to its reasonable, necessary, and moderate use. But I do contend, that the use of it by any person in a full state of health, is at all times unnecessary. The effect of strong drink, is to excite the animal spirits to a preternatural action.—When taken by a person in full health, it raises the animal spirits above the healthy standard. This is unnecessary—and inasmuch as it creates a deviation from a state of real health, it produces disease, and hence its use is immoderate, intemperate. The indirect debility which succeeds the exhausted stimulant, is another and a worse state of disorder, which goes to confirm the truth, that the first draught of ardent drink taken by those in full health, is unnecessary, unreasonable, and excessive. Nor is this all—this indirect debility prompts a repetition of the draught—and now the practice of drinking has commenced. The animal spirits having sunk as far below as they have been raised above the healthy standard, an increased quantity is required to raise them as high as before. Thus the habit of intemperance progresses. The spirits, now ebbing lower than before, demand increased support, the yielding to which demand, confirms the habit of intemperance. But it unfortunately happens, that the term moderate, when applied to intoxicating drink, by those who use it, is as unmeaning as the word enough in the mouth of a miser, when speaking of his money. Each drinks according to his taste and strength of habit, and calls it moderate. Thus every grade of drinking, from the single glass of the novice, to the full bottle of the initiated, is termed moderate. And every degree of excitement, from moderately merry to moderately drunk, is honoured with the same name. The real truth is, it is a poor apology for a bad practice; and a moderate degree of reflection would lead those not slaves to the habit, to view it in that light."

"I have the authority of distinguished physicians for remarking, that next to intemperate eating, intemperate drinking engenders more bodily diseases, than any other single cause. That more die of disorders occasioned by drinking, before they become drunkards, than live to extend their intemperance to that extreme. That the constant exercise of the labouring class, procrastinates, while the want of exercise tends to facilitate the fatal effects of intemperance in the other class of society—and hence it is, that the moderate drinking, as it is modestly termed, of the latter, destroys at least as many as the drunkenness of the former, and in that ratio is as injurious to the community. The reason these facts are not subjects of general observation, is, that when people who are not reputed drunkards, die of complaints brought on by drinking, their death is imputed to the disorder, while that escapes being attributed to its true cause—whereas, reputed drunkards stand little or no chance of dying by any other means; for be they drowned by accident or hanged for murder, their end is generally, and perhaps too often, correctly ascribed to intemperate drinking."

"It is really wonderful to witness how fertile is the love of ardent liquor, in excuses and pretences for its gratification. It is drank at one time, because the weather is warm—at another, because it is cold. It is drank with enemies "to reconcile them"—with friends, "because they don't meet every day"—on all festive, anniversary and other holydays, "because they only come once a year." And if at any or on all those times, the bounds of moderation are exceeded, it is allowed to be excusable, "because they are all extraordinary occasions!" Real or pretended disorders are also often plead as an apology for drinking ardent liquor; and instances are not rare where, though it may have been regularly prescribed for medical purposes, and may have cured the disorder, it has finally killed the patient. It is doubtless for this reason, that distinguished gentlemen of the faculty have admitted, that the internal use of ardent liquor, even in cases in which it is indicated as a medical remedy, is often productive of far more hurt than good.

"The most common pretence, however, is, that the water is bad, and requires a little spirits to qualify it; and hence it is infused with a poison of a more deleterious quality than any it naturally possessed. This qualifying of the water, has been the means of disqualifying many a valuable man, for nearly every purpose, except to bring disgrace, ruin, and misery on himself, his family and connexions."

"I have taken no pains to ascertain the authority by which retailers of ardent drink are permitted to fix stands and booths at the Park and other places, on days of public parade and festivity. The concentrating of so many grog-shops at times and places of the greatest collection of people, tends rather to produce tumult and confusion, than to preserve good order. These places not only tempt men to indulge to excess, but boys are often seen in them following the example—and it has been remarked, that more of this youthful class are seen disguised with liquor on those days, than in all the year beside. Indeed, it very rarely occurs that a boy is seen thus degraded on any other occasion. Should these travelling taverns be permitted only on condition that ardent spirits should not be carried to them, or sold, or given gratis there, it would remove the greatest objection which can be urged against them. The public would then be accommodated with every necessary refreshment, without jeopardizing their peace by means of intemperate drinking.

"It would essentially benefit the community, should the inducements to frequent taverns be lessened. This may be done in a variety of instances. It is usual in the country towns, to muster the militia at or in the immediate vicinity of taverns. This practice tends neither to improve the morality or discipline of the men—and if they must continue as now to be mustered at those places or not mustered at all, I have no hesitation in saying, that the public would sustain no material injury, should the latter course be adopted; for it is certainly true, and the reason is obvious, that many of the men, at the close of their exercise on those parade days, are not so well qualified to serve their country, as when they come to the rendezvous. Much of the evil of the present practice would be obviated, should military officers, vested with power to muster any corps of militia, in the country towns, for the ordinary purposes of exercise or inspection, be bound by law to locate the parade ground at least a mile from any tavern or retail grocery. The carrying of ardent liquor to the rendezvous, and the selling it there, or giving it gratis to any person, especially the soldiers, should be interdicted, under proper penalties, and provision made for due execution of the law. Other refreshments than ardent drink, being as usual permitted, all the reasonable conveniences of taverns would be enjoyed, and many of those disgusting instances of riot and disturbance, occasioned by intemperate drinking, and which often convert our militia parades in the country, into scenes of disorder and insubordination, rather than schools for military instruction and discipline, would be done away.

"The legislature should prohibit justices' courts being held at taverns. The disgraceful scenes which are too often the consequences of trials at those places, would thereby be prevented, and the cause of morality, and not unfrequently, that of justice, essentially benefited. The same objection lies, though perhaps not with equal force, against sheriff's courts being held at those places. If the Court House is not at hand, it must be a beggarly office which would not afford the appropriating of a room for the performance of its duties in the dwelling of its incumbent, or pay for the use of a convenient place elsewhere for the purpose. The practice of holding trials at taverns, before referees, appointed by order of the court, is not exempt from serious objections.—These, however, being less frequent, are not so productive of evil, and, perhaps, are more difficult to be obviated.

"The holding of auction sales at taverns, as is frequently the case in the country, is pregnant with mischief sufficient to justify legislative interposition.—Those who have witnessed, can best describe them—I only know them by description. On these occasions, the number who go to buy, is but small, compared to those who attend from other motives. The owner of the property for sale, is seldom backward in circulating the glass freely at his own expense, because he is like to receive more than cent. per cent. profit from the consequent indiscretion of those who become affected with the spirit of bidding. Many are thus led on to buy unnecessarily and dear; and frequent instances occur, where people bid off more than they have means to pay for—and thence law-suits, trials, at taverns, family distress, the insolvent act, and perhaps poverty and pauperism close the account. These are only the outlines of the picture, which those who have seen the original, are best qualified to fill up with neglect of domestic concerns—horse-racing and jockeying—profane swearing—drunkenness—quarrelling, and sometimes fighting, and a variety of other amusements, not unusual on such occasions.

"The lamentable consequences of holding the polls of our political elections at public houses, are too generally known to require particular description. Suffice it to say, that the noise and tumult—the heated, irritating and useless discussions which frequently occur, and which go to impair the respectability of the electors, and the credit of the elective franchise, are oftner the result of the spirit of liquor than the spirit of patriotism. As far as legislative provisions can obviate the evil, it ought to be done. The expense would be small and the benefit great, should each ward in the cities, and each town in the country, build a house or room for the purpose of elections. The profit which might accrue from its use on other occasions, would, in many instances, more than pay the interest on its cost. It is a little remarkable, that the sagacity which prompted the interdiction of military parades on the days of election, as dangerous to the freedom of the elective franchise, did not foresee and guard against the evils consequent on locating the election polls at public houses.

"It is hoped that the good sense of the community will operate to abolish the custom of giving extravagant entertainments, on any occasion, in honour of distinguished characters. This practice, by leading many to taverns, and tempting them to indulge freely, is productive of more mischief than benefit to society. As an example, it is bad. People, in the lower walks of life, cannot be taught, that it is wrong to get drunk in company with, and out of mere good humour to their friends, while they see too many of the upper circles retire from those feasts, not exactly sober. I humbly conceive it would be manifesting far higher respect for a great man, to compliment him with a written address, approbating his character and conduct, accompanied with a medal, a piece of plate, or other present, embellished with appropriate insignia and inscriptions.—These would be lasting testimonials of character and worth. Being always visible, they would act continually as a stimuli to urge others to emulate the honourable course by which they were acquired;—whereas, those public entertainments are scarcely noticed beyond the day they are puffed in the newspapers—and if they were, the honoured guest could derive no great satisfaction in the reflection, that his friends had eaten and drank immoderately, in honour of his virtues. There is a strong family likeness between these dinners and those eaten ex-officio by our city corporation.

"The meetings of self-created societies at taverns, cannot, perhaps, at all times, be well avoided. There doubtless are many of those institutions which are useful—but that there are many which do more hurt than good, is equally true. They ought, indeed, to be productive of great benefit, to counterbalance the evil tendency they have, to draw their members to taverns at night. Many a good citizen has, in this way, unwarily contracted irregular habits—and many a deserving wife, and family of innocent babes, have had reason to lament the truth of this remark. It will be a great pity, if those societies cannot be prevailed on, to procure places at which to hold their meetings.—This might easily be effected, unless too strong a predeliction for tavern meetings should counteract so reasonable a proposition."

"In the year 1740, Admiral Vernon commanded the British fleet in the West Indies. His undress coat was made of grogram, a cloth fabricated of silk and worsted. He was very unpopular in the fleet, and the sailors, in allusion to his coat, nick-named him Old Grogram; and afterwards, by way of shortening it, they called him Old Grog. When ardent liquor was first given to sailors, and until the time above-mentioned, it was drank raw—but being found to produce many fatal bodily diseases, and the naval service thereby much injured, the Admiral directed that the rum should be weakened with water. The men were highly displeased at having their drink thus spoiled, and in derision of the admiral, called it by his abbreviated nick-name, "Grog." This is the reason that rum, mixed with water, bears that name. Let it be observed, because the raw rum was found to produce deleterious effects on the health of the sailors, the Admiral ordered that it should be mixed with water. Now, as it probably could not require many years to make that discovery, it is fair to conclude, that the first use of ardent spirits, as a daily drink on ship-board, could not have been a very great length of time anterior to the year 1740."

"On another occasion, I have mentioned, and will here repeat, that the baleful practice of giving ardent liquor to labourers, ought to be exploded. This custom has so powerfully aided other causes of intemperance, that there is scarcely to be found among the labouring class, any who do not drink, and drink too much. It is unquestionably owing, in a great measure, to this, that the apprentices to many mechanical branches, are initiated into the habit of intemperance, before they acquire a knowledge of their trade; and it is certainly owing to the same cause, that many do not gain a perfect knowledge of their business. Here, too, we see a powerful objection operating, to prevent many respectable parents from putting their sons to mechanical occupations. Hence, many a promising mechanical genius is smothered in the warehouse, or doomed to add a useless member to the already over-run and over-rated learned professions. This serves to degrade the honourable calling of mechanics, which suffers another depression from the necessity which these circumstance create, of taking apprentices from the lower circles of society, whose want of the requisite education disqualifies them for attaining an adequate knowledge of their trade. In addition to this, the master mechanic, growing wealthy by his business, too often becomes infected with the follies and fashions of upper life—in which sphere some are fitted only to appear ridiculous. Their sons, forsooth, must be above their fathers' business. They must be brought up gentlemen—and, of course, reared in idleness and extravagance, or become professionable men or merchants.—Thus, by their conduct, they give countenance to those whose weakness may dispose them to undervalue mechanical occupations.

"The great number of public holy-days (as they are termed) which are generally observed, are not without their pernicious influence on the morals of society.—Was the manner of their celebration such as to honour the events they are intended to commemorate, their observance, if not useful, would at least be innocent in their consequences. But were we to judge their objects solely by the manner in which they are kept, and the effects they produce, we might be led to the erroneous conclusion, that they were instituted to subserve the causes of vice and immorality. The general suspension of useful employment on those days, is followed by an increased indulgence in drinking; and this accounts for there being more crimes committed on those days, than in any other equal period of time. On the authority of a gentleman who was on the Grand Jury which sat in the present year, I state, that far the greatest portion of the business of that Jury, grew out of crimes and disorders committed during the Christmas and New-Year holy-days. When it is observed, that the court for the trial of criminals is held once a month, and crowded with business, it would be superfluous to add arguments to such facts.

"The custom of giving wine and other liquors at funerals, is not at all calculated to increase the solemnity of those occasions. The practice is bad, and ought to be discountenanced by those whose example may influence others to follow it. Instances have happened, where the effects of this ill-timed hospitality, have been very justly lamented. How such an absurd custom was first introduced, is not, perhaps, so evident as the impropriety of its continuance.

"To conclude—'To what purpose,' an inconsiderate though well-intentioned friend, has said, and others as thoughtless, may say, 'do you attempt to write down the use of ardent drink? Notwithstanding all you have said, or may say, people will continue to drink as usual.' In the first place, I answer, I am not sure of that—and in the next place, I am sure, that if they will continue to use spirituous liquor as a daily table drink, and give and receive it as the token of friendship and good will, thereby associating the vice of drinking with the virtue of hospitality—if they will accustom their children to the use or witness the use of ardent drink, and rear them in idleness and extravagance, with the mistaken idea of thus making them ladies and gentlemen—if they will continue to 'have wine in their (public) feasts,' and license taverns by thousands, and create a thousand temptations to frequent them—if they will persist in the practice of giving strong drink to the working class of society, and thereby contribute to degrade their character, and bring useful industry into contempt—if they will continue to celebrate their anniversaries by a course of unrestrained intemperance—then, I again repeat, I am sure, that notwithstanding all their professions of patriotism, morality, philanthropy and religion, they cannot escape the imputation of loving ardent spirits more than the work of reformation: and moreover, cannot avert, and will merit all the ills which are flowing, and must continue to flow, from the demoralizing influence of intoxicating drink. Intemperance, the reigning sin of the nation, will go on 'increasing to increase,' till immorality, spreading far and wide, shall debase the people, corrupt their rulers, and destroy the liberties of our country. Then dark illimited despotism, with its genial concomitant, blind superstition, weak-minded bigotry, and black-hearted fanaticism; while forging the chains, preparing the wheel, and igniting the faggots of unholy and merciless persecution, will rear its head, and impiously exult in the downfall of the only government on earth, the existence of which, is not a reproach to the common sense of mankind."

"New York, January, 1819."

A view of Botany Bay.

In the 63d number of the Edinburgh Review, for July last, we find an interesting account of the settlement called Botany Bay in New South Wales, discovered by the Dutch in 1616, and taken possession of by the British in 1770. On the close of the war by which the United States obtained their independence, the government of Great Britain, at a loss for a receptacle for convicts sentenced to banishment, at last selected this remote country, and made the first settlement there in 1778. This colony, now a very flourishing one, was thus planted with the rogues of England, Ireland and Scotland, sent thither, in exile, as a punishment for their crimes—transportation to that distant and savage land being more dreaded there, perhaps, than our penitentiary is here, from which escapes are made with so much facility—the certainty of punishment deterring from the commission of crime more than its severity. The criminals landed in this southern clime, finding themselves placed in a new situation, where little could be got by theft, and having a better chance than in the mother country of earning a comfortable subsistence, often changed their habits, and became industrious, if not honest men. They are probably destined to be a great nation, having an abundant scope of territory, 2,700 miles in length, and 2,000 in breadth, (three-fourths the extent of Europe,) and will, at a future day, in imitation of America, cast off the shackles of colonial subjection, and assert the prerogative of self-government.

The climate of Botany Bay is represented to be equal to any in Europe, but rather Asiatic than European—Favourable on the whole to health and longevity. December, January, and February, are the summer months of that country, and then the heat, which at noon is at 80 deg. is tempered by a strong sea-breeze. The winter months, June, July, and August, have very cold nights, and fire through the day is comfortable.

The Reviewer humorously calls this colony "a land of convicts and kangaroos," and sportively observes, that, "in this remote part of the earth Nature (having made horses, oxen, ducks, geese, oaks, elms, and all regular and useful productions, for the rest of the world) seems determined to have a bit of play, and to amuse herself as she pleases. Accordingly, she makes cherries with the stone on the outside; and a monstrous animal, as tall as a granadier, with the head of a rabbit, a tail as big as a bed-post, hopping at the rate of five hops to a mile, with three or four young kangaroos looking out of its false uterus to see what is passing. Then comes a quadruped as big as a large cat, with the eyes, colour, and skin of a mole, and the bill and web-feet of a duck—'puzzling Dr. Shaw' and rendering the latter half of his life miserable, from his utter inability to determine whether it was a bird or a beast. Add to this a parrot, with the legs of a sea-gull; a skate with the head of a shark, and a bird of such monstrous dimensions that a side bone of it will dine three real carnivorous Englishmen; together with many other productions that agitate Sir Joseph, and fill him with mingled emotions of distress and delight."

The colony has made the following progress:

In 1778.1817.
Horned cattle544,753
Horses73,072
Sheep29170,920
Hogs7417,842
Land cultivatednone acres,47,564
Inhabitants1,00020,379

Sydney, the principal town and seat of government, has a population of 7000 souls; it has a newspaper, a bank, and many public and private buildings, that would not disgrace the best parts of London—So says Mr. Wentworth, a native of Botany Bay, who has lately published a statistical, historical, and political description of the country.

The attention paid to the education of the children, by their "larcenous forefathers," is worthy of commendation and of imitation in other parts of the world, where the morals of the parent stock are less depraved. "The town of Sydney contains 2 good public schools, for the education of 224 children of both sexes. There are establishments also for the diffusion of education in every populous district throughout the colony: the masters of these schools are allowed stipulated salaries from the Orphans' fund. Mr. Wentworth states, that one-eighth part of the whole revenue of the colony is appropriated to the purposes of education: this eighth he computes at 2500l. Independent of these institutions, there is an Auxiliary Bible Society, a Sunday School, and several good private schools. This is all as it should he: The education of the poor, important every where, is indispensable at Botany Bay. Nothing but the earliest attention to the habits of children can restrain the erratic finger from the contiguous scrip, to prevent the hereditary tendency of larcenous abstraction. The American arrangements respecting the education of the lower orders, is excellent. Their unsold lands are surveyed, and divided into districts. In the centre of every district, an ample and well selected lot is provided for the support of future schools. We wish this had been imitated in New Holland; for we are of opinion that the elevated nobleman, Lord Sidmouth, should intimate what is good and wise, even if the Americans are his teachers. Mr. Wentworth talks of 15,000 acres set apart for the support of the Female Orphan schools; which certainly does sound a little extravagant; but then 50 or 100 acres of this reserve are given as a portion to each female orphan; so that all this pious tract of ground will be soon married away. This donation of women, in a place where they are scarce, is amiable and foolish enough. There is a school also for the education and civilization of the natives, we hope not to the exclusion of the children of convicts, who have clearly a prior claim upon public charity."

Great exertions have been made in public roads and bridges. Toll gates have been established on all the principal roads. The general average of unimproved land in the neighbourhood of the town is 5l. sterling per acre. The inhabitants of New South Wales have suffered greatly from the tyranny and caprice of the rulers placed over them by Britain. There is no sufficient check on the Governor of the colony—far from the parent country, there is no Council to restrain his excesses, nor any Colonial Legislature to assert the rights of the people. There is no trial by jury. The Governor imposes what taxes he pleases.

[Geo. Journal.