ably not much less value in time and outlay
by the settlers, and two persons only were captured! Those who
prophecied the result, of course exulted in their sagacity: for the
rest, they either praised the motive or the details. An impartial
retrospect will not permit a commendation of the plan. The arrangements
were ably made, and the parties, though they encountered difficulties
unusual, reached the appointed places with considerable precision.

A public meeting was called to thank the Governor for his exertions in
the field. This assembly was summoned, says the chronicler of the times,
by the largest placard ever published in the colony! The resolutions and
addresses were nearly unanimous; Mr. Gregson being almost singly opposed
to this tribute of gratitude. It was objected by this gentleman, that
while the activity of the Governor was not to be disputed, exertions
wisely directed were alone worthy of praise; and he compared the project
for netting the aborigines, with an attempt to harpoon a whale from the
heights of Mount Wellington. The ardour of the people would not,
however, admit a comparison which it required at that moment some
political resentment to perceive. Nor is it precisely just to estimate
the merits of a plan, by the success of its application. A colonist at a
glance sees, in the names which were attached to the addresses, that the
war was popular: all parties, of every shade, contributed something to
that warmth of commendation, which had been hitherto paid by one alone.
In every district of the colony, the applauses of Hobart Town were
re-echoed, and the Governor's replies gave back an exchange of praise.

To suppose that Colonel Arthur expected military renown from such an
enterprise, is certainly to under-estimate his ambition: to imagine that
he valued a military spectacle, is not consistent with a mind much too
practical for chivalry. His avowed and real object was to stop the
murder of his countrymen, and to arrest the extinction of the natives;
and it was not unworthy the public gratitude.[18] The Governor was
delighted, however, by those proofs of the discipline of the prisoners,
which were afforded through the campaign: many hundreds were in arms:
they performed their duty with exemplary diligence and sobriety, and
thus afforded the only spectacle which Colonel Arthur valued. It was
certainly unprecedented. Slaves have been armed by their masters--their
wives and children were hostages--but