of the necessity and justice of the case, I make myself answerable before God for the breach of your majesty's renunciation and vows *."

So impressive a discourse, delivered by so high an authority, swayed a monarch who was desirous of being convinced. Philip industriously pubblished the arguments of the nuntio, and, on the 6th of September, issued a decree to the council of Castile; declaring that, as natural lord and proprietor of the crown, he again took into his hands the reins of government, and sacrificed his own happiness for the advantage of his subjects. To save appearances, he reserved to himself the power of resigning in favour of his son Don Ferdinand, when he came of age, provided it should not be productive of too great inconveniences. He concluded by promising to summon the cortes to acknowledge Don Ferdinand prince of Asturias, and tender him the accustomed homage as successor to the crown +.

The queen expressed the most immoderate joy at her success. She was not only gratified with recovering a crown, the value of which was enhanced to a mind like hers by a temporary deprivation, but she thus gained a considerable advantage in favour of her own views, as well as those of her husband on the throne of France. She gave a new instance of the nullity of the most solemn engagements when put in competition with personal inclination or political interest; and accustomed the powers of Europe to regard with indifference the breach of vows and renunciations.

The death of Louis saved his queen from the humiliation of a di.

vorce. She regained the favour of the king and nation by her affectionate attentions to her husband; though! she had never had the disorder which hurried him to the grave. She caught the infection; but the strength of her constitution, and more skilful treatment, saved her life. For a short time, she continued in Spain with the accustomed appointments of a widowed queen; and Tessé even proposed a marriage between her and Don Ferdinand. But she was disgusted with the restraints of Spanish etiquette; and by the agency of her mother, the duchess of Orleans, obtained from Philip and Louis the fifteenth permission to return to France. Her departure was hastened by the subsequent disputes between the two courts.

For a time she resided in the palace of Luxemburg, and maintained a splendid establishment by means of the annual pension which was remitted to her from Spain. But her gal lantries occasioned public scandal, and she was obliged to dismiss a part of her household. As she filled the vacant places without regard to the privileges and remonstrances of the prince of Rubec, who retained the title of her mayor domo, he com plained to the court of Madrid, and obtained an order enjoining her to accept

the persons whom he should nominate. The high-spirited princess resenting this attempt to controul her in the choice of her own household, dismissed the mayor domo. The court of Madrid accordingly with held the payment of her pension, and she retired into the nunnery of the Carmelites, where she occupied the same apartments to which her sister, the duchess of Berri, repaired, in her temporary transitions from licentious armours to acts of penance and contrition. Here she continued, depending on the occasional bounties of the Spanish court, and compensating for her former irregularities by a life of retirement and devotion, and died in 1742, of a dropsy.

Report

Report on the present State of the Settlement of NEW SOUTH WALES.

THE principal settlement on the

Eastern coast of New South Wales, was formed in 1788. It is situated in latitude 38 South, longitude 170 East. The most considerable district is that of Sydney, containing, by the return dated the 1st of March 1810, 6,158 inhabitants, Paramatta contains, 1,807; Hawkesbury, 2,389; and Newcastle, 100. Of the total number 10,454, 5,513 are men, 2,220 women, and 2,721 children. Of these, from one-fourth to one-fifth are convicts; but the returns of their number have been so irregular, that your committee have not been able precisely to ascertain it. But they hope that this neglect will be corrected by the orders lately sent out from this country. The troops are about 1,100 in number, and the remainder are free persons. In addition to these, are the settlements of Port Dalrymple and Hobart's Town, in Van Diemen's Land, about 5 degrees to the south of Sydney; containing 1,321 inhabitants; and at the date of the last returns 177 persons were living in Norfolk Island, but orders have been since sent out for its total abandonment. The settlement in New South Wales is bounded on the north-west and south by a ridge of hills, known by the name of the Blue Mountains, beyond which no one has yet been able to penetrate the country; some have, with difficulty, been as far as 100 miles in the interior; but beyond 60 miles, it appears to be no where practicable for agricultural purposes; and in many places the diameter of the habitable country is much less: in length, it extends from Port Stephen's to Port Jervis, comprising, from North to South, about 4 degrees: beyond these, it is stated, that the colony will not be capable of extension; and of the land within these

boundaries, about one half is said to be absolutely barren. The ground actually in cultivation amounts to rather more than 21,000 acres, and 74,000 acres are held in pasture.— The stock appears to be considerable; by the return in 1810 the amount was, horses, 521; mares, 593; bulls, 193; cows, 6,351; oxen, 4,732; sheep, 33,818; goats, 1,782; hogs, 8,992. Of these a small proportion is kept by government: of which part is killed for the supply of the public store, and the remainder is made use of to stock the farms of new settlers. It appears from the evidence that the colony has, for some years, except when the crops have failed, from inundations or other accidental causes, been able wholly to supply itself with corn; but that it is still necessary to continue, to a certain extent, the importation of salted provisions. The soil and climate are described to be extremely fine, healthy, and productive; diseases, with the exception of such as arise from intemperance or accident, are little known; and fresh fruits and vegetables are produced from the beginning to the end of the year. The river Hawkesbury is, however, occasionally subject to violent and sudden floods, which have in some instances totally destroyed the produce of the farms in its vicinity, upon which the colony principally depends for its subsistence. Great difficulties have, in consequence, at times occurred; and though precautions are now taken to remove the crops as soon as possible from the low grounds in the neighbourhood of the river, no perfect security is yet obtained against the recurrence of these disasters. The out-settlements of Port Dalrymple and Hobart's Town, in Van Diemen's Land, are represented as enjoying a purer climate, and more generally productive soil, than New South Wales, and to be otherwise prosperous and thriving. Yet your committee must concur in.

the

the opinion already expressed by his majesty's government, that more benefit to the colony will be derived from the cultivation and improvement of the settlements that are already formed, than from the foundation of new and distant establishments, whatever may be the encouragement that a fertile soil or an advantageous situation may appear to hold out.

Though the religious feeling in the colony appears to have been weak, latterly the erection of places of worship, and the establishment of clergymen, have not been neglected. Churches have been built at Sydney and Paramatta, and in Hawkesbury the service was performed in houses ap-, propriated to that purpose; and to each of these districts clergymen have been appointed, with a sufficient provision from government. In governor Hunter's time, the attendance of the convicts was enforced at church. This compulsion appears to have been neglected during the government of Admiral Bligh, though during the hours of divine service all loitering was forbidden in the town of Sydney. No restraint is imposed on those pro-, fessing a different religion, and Roman Catholic clergymen have been allowed to perform the rites of their church; registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, are regularly kept, and many schools have been established. The Orphan Female School, supported by port duties and fines, has flourished almost from the first settlement of the colony, and a Male Orphan School, on a similar plan, has lately been established; several private schools are also open, and the education of youth appears by no means to be neglected, though the want of per masters has been much felt at difierent periods.

Your committee have been thus particular in detailing the regulations, and the natural and commercial advantages of the settlement, because they strongly feel that its improve

ment in wealth, and the means of properly employing and reforming the convicts, are essential to the progress of each other; if the prosperity of the colony be checked by unwholesome restrictions, the exertions and industry of the convicts cannot be advantageously called into action during their servitude, and but little inducement will be held out to them to become settlers after their emancipation. They will now proceed to detail the manner in which the transportation of the convicts is conducted, and what are their government and treatment within the colony.

• When the hulks are full up to their establishment, and the convicted of fenders in the different counties are beginning to accumulate, a vessel is taken up for the purpose of conveying a part of them to New South Wales. A selection is in the first instance made of all the male convicts under the age of fifty, who are sentenced to transportation for life and for fourteen years; and the number is filled up with such from amongst those sentenced to transportation for seven years, as are the most unruly in the hulks, or are convicted of the most atrocious crimes: with respect to female convicts, it has been customary to send, without any exception, all whose state of health will admit of it, and whose age does not exceed forty-five years.

The Irish convicts have generally been sent with less selection than those from England; and this has arisen from the want of hulks, and other means of confining and employing them, which are here often substituted for transportation; but as this is a subject now under arrangement, and occupying much of the attentiof of the Irish government, your committee forbear making any observations upon it.

Upon the arrival of a transport, general orders are issued for returns of the number of men wanted, with

the

the land held in cultivation by each settler. The trade, age, character, and capacity of the convicts are, as far as possible, investigated; the artificers are in general reserved for the service of government, and as many of the others as may be wanted. Persons who have been in a higher situation in life have tickets of leave given to them, by which they have liberty to provide for themselves, and are exempt from all compulsory labour; similar tickets are given to men unused to active employment, as goldsmiths and others; the remainder are distributed amongst the settlers as servants and labourers. The convicts in the service of government are divided into gangs,-every gang has an overseer, and every two or three gangs a superintendent; these are frequently chosen from amongst those convicts who best conduct themselves. They work from six in the morning till three in the afternoon, and the remainder of the day is allowed to them to be spent either in amusement or profitable labour for themselves.They are clothed, fed, and for the most part lodged by government; and though in the early periods of the colony inconvenience and distress may have arisen from the irregularity of supply from this country, latterly the food and clothing have been good, and, generally speaking, in suflicient abundance. Should the convicts misconduct themselves at their work, the superintendents have no power of inflicting punishment, but are for that purpose obliged, to take them before a magistrate; the sitting magistrate of the week, at Sydney, may order a punishment of 25 lashes; a regular bench, which consists, at least, of three, may order as many as 300; and in the distant parts of the colony a single magistrate has the same power with the bench at Sydney; but a heavy punishment is not executed without the previous approbation of the governor. Another mode of cor

rection, and that which your committee would recommend to be preferred, in as many cases as possible, is to sentence the culprit to work for a certain number of days in the gaol gang: he is here obliged to labour at some public work in irons, from six in the morning till six at night, and no hours are allowed to him for profit or amusement. The convicts distributed amongst the settlers are clothed, supported, and lodged by them; they work either by the task or for the same number of hours as the government convicts; and when their set labour is finished, are allowed to work on their own account. The master has no power over them of corporal punishment, and this can only be inflicted by the interference of a magistrate; even if the master be a magistrate himself, he can order no punishment to his own servant, but must have recourse to another magistrate. If the servant feels himself ill-used by his master, he has power of complaining to a magistrate, who will, if the complaint be well-founded, deprive the master of his servant. It is so much the interest of the settlers to keep their servants in good health, and to attend to their conduct, that your committee have heard no evidence but in commendation of their treatment, and of its effects upon their morals and comfort. Indeed it is most manifest that where two or three convicts are domiciled in a family, removed from their former companions, and forced into habits of industry and regularity, the chance of reformation must be infinitely greater than when they are worked in gangs, living with each other amidst all the inducements to vice which such a town as Sydney must afford to them; and such, by all the evidence, appears to be the effect of shis system of distributing them amongst the settlers. Nor is it to be lost sight of, that in the service of settlers they are likely to acquire some knowledge of farm