t deemed
expedient by Lieutenant Governor Davy to declare the whole island
under the operation of martial law. This vigorous exertion of
authority was zealously seconded by the respectable inhabitants,
many of whom joined the military in the pursuit of these
miscreants, and fortunately succeeded by their joint exertions in
apprehending the most daring of their ringleaders, who were
instantly tried by a court martial and hanged in chains. This
terrible, though necessary example, was followed by a
proclamation offering a general amnesty to all the rest of these
delinquents who should surrender themselves before a certain day;
excepting, however, such of them as had been guilty of murder.
The proclamation had the desired effect: all who were not
excluded by their crimes availed themselves of the pardon thus
offered them. But strange to say, they were allowed to remain in
the island; and whether they were enamoured of the licentious
life they had been so long leading, or whether they distrusted
the sincerity of the oblivion promised them, and became
apprehensive of eventual punishment, in a few months afterwards
they again betook themselves to the woods, and rejoined those who
had been excluded from the amnesty. After this, they rivalled
their former atrocities, and a general feeling of consternation
was again excited among the well disposed part of the community.
And here, as it may not be uninteresting to many of my readers to
be acquainted with some of the specific outrages of these
monsters, I subjoin the following extracts from the Sydney
Gazette of the 25th Jan. 1817.

The accounts of robberies by the banditti of bush-rangers on
Van Diemen's Land, presents a melancholy picture of the
distresses to which the more respectable classes of inhabitants
are constantly exposed from the daring acts of those infamous
marauders, who are divided into small parties, and are designated
by the name of the principal ruffian at their head, of whom one
Michael Howe appears to be the most alert in depredation. The
accounts received by the Kangaroo, which commence from the
beginning of November, state that on the 7th of that month, the
house and premises of Mr. David Rose at Port Dalrymple, were
attacked and plundered of a considerable property, by Peter
Sefton and his gang. The delinquents were pursued by the
commandant at the head of a strong detachment of the 46th
regiment; but returned after a five days hunt through the woods,
w