The most inflexible were some of the regiments stationed at Botany Bay--men, of course, who had uniformly shunned the society of gamesters, prostitutes, and drunkards; who had ruined no tailors, corrupted no wives, and had entitled themselves, by a long course of solemnity and decorum, to indulge in all the insolence of purity and virtue."--_Rev. S. Smith_, 1823.]
[Footnote 126: Doe, on demise of Jenkins, _v._ Pearce and wife.]
[Footnote 127: 1814: 54 Geo. iii, took away the corruption of blood, from children born after conviction, except in case of treason and murder.--_Sydney Gazette_, 1818.]
[Footnote 129: _Collins's New South Wales._]
[Footnote 132: Mr. Wentworth states the trials in the criminal court in 1806, as 117, in 1817, at 92; but then he asserts, that offences had increased, subject to summary jurisdiction, from 300 to 1,000, while the population (20,000) had only doubled. He was not, however, ignorant, that many of those offences were not such in law or morals, but merely violations of local regulations (_Wentworth_, 2nd edit.). The colonial convictions were, with few exceptions, of persons who had been transported before: of 116 persons for trial at Hobart (1821), 79 were then under sentence, and 37 expirees--the entire number.--_Bigge._]
[Footnote 133: "With regard to character and respectability allow me to observe briefly, that while some are in general well-conducted persons, little that is praiseworthy can be advanced: there is not much religion among the best, and the far greater part have not the appearance of it."--_Rev. Mr. Cowper, 1820._]
[Footnote 134: _Edinburgh Review_, 1803.]
[Footnote 135: "His sentences are not only more severe than those of other magistrates, but the general opinion of the colony is, that his character, as displayed in the administration of the penal law in New South Wales, is stamped with severity."--_Bigge's Report._
Such was the idea of the people on the spot; but Mr. Wilberforce observed, in the House of Commons, he was--"a man who acquired the admiration of all who knew his merits; a man who shone as a bright example to the moral world--who deserved the title of a moral hero: who had overcome difficulties for the amelioration of his species, in the most unfavorable circumstances; which would always endear his name to the friends of humanity."--_Wentworth_, 3rd edit.]