“Surgeon and Superintendent.”
Shortly after the arrival of the ship, Mr. Secretary Campbell came on board and mustered the whole of the prisoners. He interrogated them individually respecting their health and their usage on board, to which their answers were most satisfactory and gratifying. The usual regular exercises of religious reading, and occasional exhortation, were continued as before without intermission until the convicts were finally removed to the shore, and disposed of according to the Governor’s commands. It was at their departure from the ship that they first seemed to feel the distressing effects of banishment: they left it with tears and sorrow, as if it had been their cherished home; and moved away in silent grief like the members of a family which had been overwhelmed with a sudden calamity.
His Excellency was pleased to express his opinion of this voyage in the following terms, which he wrote himself in my journal.
“I have perused with peculiar interest and satisfaction the foregoing journal of Thomas Reid, Esq., Surgeon and Superintendent of the Neptune male convict ship.”
(Signed) “L. Macquarie.”
“Government House, Sydney,
“New South Wales, 6 June, 1818.”
Thus happily terminated a voyage of considerable length, the circumstances of which were of deep interest, as involving the solution of a problem, whether male convicts are susceptible of being reclaimed from long established habits of idleness, immorality, and wickedness. Here was obtained irrefragable proof that the human heart never can be so thoroughly debased by vice, but still a portion remains uncontaminated; and that there are still left the seeds of improvement in the human breast, which require only a timely and careful cultivation to bring again into the state of reproducing good and wholesome fruits.
During my stay in the colony, which was only for a few weeks, in order to prosecute some inquiries on subjects of Natural History with which that country is eminently abundant, many of my leisure hours were passed in the society of men distinguished by their elevated situations, and still more by their very engaging manners, fund of useful knowledge, and that urbanity which bids the stranger feel himself at home.
I should deem myself to act most unworthily, did I not here declare my obligations to Governor Macquarie for the truly polite and invariable attention I received during my stay. Indeed I shall never forget the acknowledgements I stand indebted for his kindness in affording to my inquiries every desirable facility in the researches I had occasion to make. For His Excellency’s hospitable reception, and the numerous friends with whom I thus enjoyed the social converse, and the happy absence of reserve, make me look upon and value that short period as among the most pleasant days of my existence.