this painful subject, forces itself upon the mind. How utterly unlike
are the ways of an All-Perfect God from the ways of imperfect fallen
men! The King of kings desireth not the death of any sinner, and has
wrought miracles upon miracles of mercy to provide for his salvation;
whereas man regardeth not the spiritual life of his brethren, earthly
monarchs and nations care chiefly about the removal of the offenders out
of their sight, and, so long as this is effected, they trouble not
themselves about the future lot of those outcasts; money is more
willingly parted with for "penal settlements" than for religious
instruction, and, although the earthly wants of the criminals are
attended to, here humanity stops short;--if their _bodies_ are not cast
out to starve and to perish _their souls are_. And who cannot read in
holy Scripture the just doom of those that have acted, or are acting,
thus? "The wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I
require at thine hand."[127]

[126] See Titus i. 3.

[127] Ezekiel iii. 18.

Having now brought down the history of the colony of New South Wales to
a period when it might be said to be firmly established and flourishing,
both party feeling and needless details may best be avoided by stopping
here, yet it will not form an unsuitable conclusion to this chapter to
borrow General Macquarie's account of his own doings, although this may
be somewhat tinctured with that vanity, which is said to have been his
greatest weakness:--"I found the colony," he states, in a Report to Earl
Bathurst, "barely emerging from infantile imbecility, and suffering from
various privations and disabilities; the country impenetrable beyond 40
miles from Sydney; agriculture in a yet languishing state; commerce in
its early dawn; revenue unknown; threatened with famine; distracted by
faction; the public buildings in a state of dilapidation, and mouldering
to decay; the few roads and bridges formerly constructed rendered almost
impassable; the population in general depressed by poverty; no public
credit nor private confidence; the morals of the great mass of the
population in the lowest state of debasement, and religious worship
almost totally neglected.[128] Such was the state of New South Wales
when I took charge of its administration on the 1st of January, 1810.
I left it in February last, reaping incalculable advantages from my
extensive and important discoveries in all directions, including