ablishment are
included or not.

It is stated on good authority,--that of Sir George Arthur, who was
formerly governor of Van Diemen's Land,--that not more than _two_
convicts in every _hundred_ quit the colony and return to England.[198]
The expense and difficulty of procuring a passage home operates as a
sufficient check to prevent this being frequently obtained; nor,
supposing that the English people would act in a kind and christian
spirit towards the most deserving men of this class, would either
they or the nation be losers. If the wives and families of the most
meritorious men could be brought out to them at the public cost, what
reasonable cause of regret would an emancipated convict feel for his
home,--the scene of his crimes and of his disgrace,--in the mother
country? And with respect to the great objection,--the _cost_ of such a
system,--what would that be compared with the advantage which the rapid
increase of an English population in Australia is sure to bring, by
creating fresh demands for our goods and manufactures? If ours were a
wise and understanding nation, if we would spend a portion of our riches
in promoting the morals, the comfort, and the religious instruction of
our outcast population, we might, in numberless instances, turn the very
dregs of our people into means of increasing our prosperity; we might
frequently render those that are now the mere refuse of the earth,
happy, contented, loyal subjects; and the blessings of them that were
ready to perish spiritually would be continually resounding from the far
distant shores of Australia upon that Divine Mercy which would have all
men to be saved, and upon that nation which would thus have offered
itself to be a willing agent and instrument for the furtherance of this
gracious design.

[198] "I think the longer the sentence, the better will be the conduct
of the individual," because his only chance of obtaining any degree of
liberty is from good conduct. See Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq.,
before the Committee on Transportation in 1837. No. 3350-3, p. 218.
Dr. Ullathorne expresses a contrary opinion.

In the present condition of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, with
so large a proportion of their population in bondage, and such slender
means of moral improvement and religious instruction provided for them
by the mother country, it would be unreasonable to hope that the convict
population can be otherwise than very bad. There