he is appointed to the
supreme command in New South Wales, and before he has been many months in
office becomes a laughing-stock.

It is due to the first governor's successors to remember that they had no
force behind them. Phillip's marines were soldiers; the New South Wales
Corps were dealers in rum, officers and men were duly licensed to sell it,
and every ship that came into the harbour brought it. "In 1802, when I
arrived, it was lamentable to behold the drunkenness. It was no uncommon
occurrence for men to sit round a bucket of spirits and drink it with
quart pots until they were unable to stir from the spot." Thus wrote a
surgeon. "It was very provoking to see officers draw goods from the public
store to traffic in them for their private gain, which goods were sent out
for settlers, who were compelled to deal with the huckster officers,
giving them from 50 to 500 per cent, profit and paying them in grain."
Thus wrote Holt, the Irish rebel general.

These men are true witnesses, and the extracts among the mildest
statements made by any contemporary writer. Yet, be it remembered, the
colony was a penal settlement. The prison chronicles of England at this
period are not a whit less disgraceful reading; the stone walls of
Newgate, in the heart of London, hid scenes no less disgraceful than the
stockades of Botany Bay.

But, though the naval governors controlled New South Wales before free
emigration had leavened its population, and in consequence are remembered
but as gaolers, they were something better than this: their pioneering
work should not be forgotten.

During King's administration sea exploration was carried on vigorously
(the work of Flinders and Bass will form the subject of the next chapter);
settlements were made at Van Diemen's Land in place of Port Phillip, where
an attempt to colonize was abandoned, to be successfully carried out later
on; the important town of Newcastle was founded; the whale fisheries made
a fair start; and several expeditions were conducted into the interior,
always to be stopped by the Blue Mountains barrier. Above all, MacArthur,
in spite of every discouragement, made a success of his wool-growing,
resigned his commission, and returned to the colony, the first of the
great pastoralists. King, to his credit, forgot his differences with
MacArthur, and lent a willing hand to the colonist. The first newspaper,
the _Sydney Gazette_, was published just before King left the colony, a