The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-03 00:00:00

DEettant ri, 1853. was compensated in wealth for what she lost in point of order and comfort. New South Wales had diggings of her own ; and the existence of these, coupled With the only moderate success of those who worked them, tended to discourage emigration anti keep down the rising gold fever. iiut in Tasmania not a solitary ILAget was discovered ; freo labourers left the island by thousands ; and, though eonviet labour was athirdetl by Govern ment at almost nominal prices, the conscien tious scruples of some and the political predilections of others rendered many un willing to accept it. The anti-couviet league, elsewhere in the ascendant, here declaimed and threatened for a tune in vain, the social position of the colony giving its opponents an advantage by which they were in truth not slow to profit. The controversy. furiously ef.rried on on both sides, may he summed up in few words. The pro-convict party urged that without tho usual importation of felons their harvests would have ',teen travestied and their horses unattended, which was not far from the actual fact. The league retorted that the loss of free poptdattbol by inereasiug the preponderance of the felonious element augmented the danger to he apprehended from its intrtalnetion, and furnished an addi tional reason for cutting on' the supply in an argument also not without weight. liut 1110111- time the gold discoveries were doing their work in England ; for, by destroying the moral effect of transportation on the criminal, they compelled at change of punishment, and saved Australasia front further pollution. Victoria did not escape the results of Varadientonian eonvictism. Of the " tieket-of leave men " and the " conditionally pardoned " hundreds flocked over, with or without leave, to mingle undetecte.d in the gold-hunting crowd. It might be thought, that where the rewards of honest labour were so high there could he little inducement to steal, but not so reasoned the ~aped felons. Many worked fairly in the diggings ; but with the majority the old instinct wits too powerful : The tOWIIB, the highways, the gold-tiehls, I Weillll4 . infesteil by tittinber.4 of daring iiiaraiillors, to whose c.* hardrued miudN human life and human suffering, to say nothing of Inert. private property, were 11. tilt' Nitterat ' sm. Twn illustrative incidents may be here alluded to. good people of Melbonrne had well neettstometi themselves to the increasing tales of lonshranging, as one arrival alter another from the opposite , shore of 'Van Itie itteit's Land added its knot of desperadoes to the crimin al throng already ace lated. Hut hitherto this terrible Nadal feature had swot' 104 . 1 . 110 , 1111111 . 11 to it.S own pripti• and original locality, " the bosh." Gradually, however, the stininltis Uf ninnennts assoeiates, and this incessant recnr retwe of bold examples in theae criminal adventures, had given insuppressible andacity to bushrtinging. The town wan thrown into the greatest eonsternat ion one ntlernoon by the intelligence that a party of Intslirangent Lad ernereti its very bountuies, and were " lnriling up " all and sundry who curried their track. This occurred on a Saturday between three and four o'clock, when the citizen/4 were either returning to their houses after lousiness, or enjoying the mild atmosphere. Five men well armed had taken possession of the highway leading from the capital hc, t h e submit of St. Kilda. All who appeared were sum marily passed through the ordeal of " Stand and deliver!" modern penalty of being Monied or shot for disobeiliehee. After plondering their different prisoners, the gang trans ferred them to a place out of view from the road, when , they were securely honed, and watched over by one of their captors. For nearly an hair was 111114 extraordinary game carried on, at the distance of little inure than a mile from the busiest streets of Mcflootinie, teeming at the moment with thousands of population. Every one Mobs. eriminatcly, male and female, lady as well as gentleman, shared the common fats.; and, when the daring villains at length took to their horses and made off with their spoils, they Is-ft no less titan twenty rietlnts behind them. who, as essayed to nude, each other's cords, and listened to the resounding hoofs of the retreating for, weighed with a doubtful balanec the talvtintages 1 defects, the 1.:n.4 and the evil that hail resulted to the colony from its too cek bmted gol4l-tiehla. This evil threatened to beeome intolerable ; and so high ran the storm of rtmlar passion, that the alternatives, discontinuanee of trans portation, or aeverance from England, were agitated in grave earnegt. Ax the sole possible though eonfessedly imperfect remedy, 'Van lqemen's lima was laid under a kind of moral quarantine, it being enacted that any one coming thence should, if called upon, be required to ►prove himself not a convict, fling reveraing fhe usual judirial rule which pro ceeds on a presumption of innocence. The necessity, however, was extreme and the weitattre orlivititi to haw worked wvll. THE PUESS. Air. Westgarth's remarks on colonial s o ciety art valuable. and in great part new. lie thinks that the general opinion entertained here of the roughness and want of refinement ehanteterising a colony it exaggerate d. if not wholly ill-founded Educated men emignite in large numbers. Of the wholly anti grossly ignorant there are fewer than at home. And, though the requirements of a new society tend to exalt halltlWOrk at. the expense of headwork, this is far less the ease in Australia than from the analogy of Canada and the States might Ile inferred for these latter cottiftriem are mainly agricultural, whereas the antipodean' soil is eminently suited for the less laborious anal more contemplative *iceman ion of pasture. Australian shepherd on a large Beale, or squatter, is well described this respect, the paattand vocation In partienlar, as tins requiring lust 01 4 *nine ft !!!!! tint of capital. but also oversight, experiettee, and jitilt.litent, rather than physical lalstur. was proverhinlly suitable tier fi gtilitii•mtm in all scosew of the word, tug eonthitting the intend mud,rmmnsnnrl in society. This location wits tlwri•forvs sphere of miweial tittrart• to those wits's'. ao•Alis 810 net ptiretto ntsena bled theta to till it onmlitaltly. The squatter, it his Intulnens rennin...a, easily attained the 1 . 11 , 4 intik in colonial sioriely. rite are and cosy existenee o f those coloniats when secluded in the bosh stood out indeed in striking or attinsing contraid to their poisifion and manners doting a visit to town. Attired for their downward join nay after a fashion of their own, beapettere.l will,. 111110 brina, invisible alto% e within 11l firret4t. Pr whi.ksry and 111110111 . 110 . 9 4 , aeni cantering at their own intlettentleitt pleteatre tilikt• through crow ilea' street or si!clit s Its of squatters Clitcl,4 the tenets Ilk(' on uvalunrhe. t Istishratigers, brushing past the menacing soten ;titles. and et eryw here eltargitet nod thapersing the vulgar and initn.iling throng. Hut who is to recognise these it~ all 1110111* afterwards they present thenotelvt% at linVt•1111• 11111V11111411040, or the private festivities of dal colonists, or lightly dance the newest 1001k1IN nt tlwqoarterly ategt.saltliett, where the gentle maiden "Jost oat '• and her triatitn.r sister, retoltring asp eetively a brief or a long ettgagetacat, Pig,' alike for the hand of a squatter? _ _ Rut the I►astoral ale ildS gone by ; nil4l that of gold, in the literal sense, suceeeded. Strange tales are told of the extravaganee of returning diggers, suddenly masters of wealth such as they had never• dreamed of. Secure and profitable investments for the fortunes thus heaped together were wanting, nor is it• certain that they would have been popular had they existed. Wives, servants, and gorgeous clothing were the nrtielem most in demand ; the first especially being difficult of attainment. Mr. Westgarth continents on the inde pendent bearing of the Australian labourer as indicative of as social democracy—a state of things where the employed HMI not thi' is master of the market. Englishmen of the wealthier class flint it hard to recoiled.. themselves to this change ; yet reason must acknowledge that it is one which, taking little from the enjoyment of the rich, adds much to that of the poor. There is an interesting dissertation on the eolonial press, its nature and influence. A single journal, the tildbmorne A rpm, founded only in I$4M, has already attained a eirmilat; exceeding 10,11110, with power and profits con tinually increasing. ft would appear that Australian journals represent fairly enough the tone of Australian political life—vigorous, lint coarse ; personal in attack ; and linrited to a narrow range of subjects. Mr. Westgarth expatiates at some length on colonial polities, and also oil the probable effect of gold diseoreries,—snbjects into which we do not follow him. lie evidently antici pates the continuance of that vast influx of precious metal which Is even now disturbing the relations of commerce. He assumes, on good authority, the quantity of gold existing in the world at the time of Californian dis covery at 6410,000,0010., of which one-lom - th, or ral,am,ooo/., was gold coin. The q lily of silver in existence at the same time he reckons at 1.1.90.41Mr.0041/., of which one-fifth wits roan. From these fignres. and the statements which follow, it may easily be seen how large a pro ' porti nn Californian and Anstralian imports hear to the whole :-- Now, it would appear that for a considerable number of year.' prior to the discovery of the !!! i l 'cot, by estimates, aranewhat various hadeoti, but muffitient for We illustrntiun, the prfsiuce of the clifferveit Oil min.* the world soVvrage ., l Aorlis %%114 . rP between one null two milli ur. „f tfittwo as Ily. Stich was the state of the learkgst 111, 4, the e•str tutu. during which year ill.• 11. •in ( . 111TiAlrili3 %,•,O' 1411.91111. /nib (IliSucw atutltivua at .Bttut a muss et tie; luvtivusi tut:bd hithurtu 78t 1111preet.tfrIltet1 begftll 111..1% 1. , be 0111.'111 111 , 011 the w unit. Them. .thwevs•rits were 114144441, in the teat 1 11 :.1.1., those New Smith Wide. 81111 M lane oven thAt, in the letter colony Moor, there anrl raised ritillt the . " . 1 1 , within the heet.ilti gulp of the Illstie lIIIUt double the Tomtit) illirtlig * siUulßr "I' 4 r of tilllo,ll OW ',fettle Melia the p": 1 1 ,4 14111..11%1y. t ti,4l million. of niinecit nrinnntly tri•.t. tat 1418, the incel •1111 l Ina may ibr estittoitett to lime meraiti.4l Iwo tutu II 11.1 f times thin iitimititl tor ends of the live years that lime sines elar4All ; Rim thi% as, wit 11 .1,11 I rii.lsl and 1'o„:111N1' ittNquEssioll i —the 11'1 1"610 having been iNtinititett e mitt n punter ntilit.•n+ or °nitres, that Air 1101 lit Nye nthl n bolt ulilhonll , while the quantity fn. I g:01 had 111111111.114.1.11 ill mole than now mllliuus sit eels. • I • he 661111%1111w talde, earn•sinq tilt. talue in met Wig money OP each reach stippl) u t ilif ol l l l l ,l l co% ettett, will emit ey n Inure neettritte hien of the carpe : - ANNUM 10 , I.I1141Ncl• 114 IS, 1:t1 VOIM ISIIII . a . MOO . . . ISM . . . imbi . • . estimate. I eillfornin. Vitlttuport. t*,ooo,lwitl 'The Npitee trhiu h w of this mitlieieu of itm tabu.. VALI' V. A witrails. t1.0•41,0nn 1104ml/ill ,1.111111,411111 1.1111:1.1Sil Eliworhrti , so,tinnom .0 0 0,0111) 111,11110,1M11 8.01 1 00 19 1 1 1; ,101111,4114) 6.111111,111111 V 11,111111.4010 1010 01 . 00 0 nt,tilit P,Or10,11111) 1N,N11011,1 t* illitbt t to rvvlew illy indieutes our opinion Itt )01‘s I I.: ‘1VIN4;•1:0011 I. Ke, psole. for I q 7, I. Edited by 141 iss 1 1 4m or. I tondos' : The Cana .11hoin. A Mcrica of ll'ortraik of the Female Aristocracy. London : Bogue. 3, Feathered P'artinrittes. Twelve I dlll.loiire4l Pictures of British Birds. From Ivrawingl by Joseph Wolf. London : Bosworth. .1. l'he Art-Ilmirnal for Heeettiber. Virtue and (11`. Lsr nut the learned and the rnthnsiu«t 14141 k down MOM. the 11111111111 W 4 Wks, hair liiern rt, half artistic, which pre i►ul►llshed at this season of the year, in anti►•ipation of Ilse coining Christina,. festivities. Alth► u ugh fluty have sin greet pretensions, they arc interesting and instructive, and have given t►► nun►, a mind the first impulse to seek for better things. I. hit" Keepsake .for MI, edited by Miss Power, eitiiiint, it In true, he rompnrell with those of former days, Which were illustrated by Turner and nuniburcd Sir Walter Scott amongst their contributors ; but its contents are quite equal in point of merit to those 41f its few lost predeeessors, and will doubtless, after doing duty In England, appear In foreign costume in most of the continental capitals and provincial towns. The illtn4trations are by Messrs. Ilesth, Mote, and Engles, from pictures mil designs by imipidor artists of tliil day. The best of these, to our thinking, is that of Lady Beaumont, engraved by Mote, from an excellent likeness by Buck ner. Mr. lineknees paintings of Miss De Horsey and of an amateur artist (Mt Blackwood, we believe) ore also welt engraved and sufficiently pleasing. Mrs. W. Ashby, also by Buckner, is less satisfactory fth a 116- nems, though the engraving, by Eagles, is cleverly done. We lutist also call the Men tion of our renders to the original designs of Corbould, which are executed by Mr. r. H. Among thetit..ntry enistributm.. wo perceive the well-known name" of nark eraY, . 1 . B. Plant:he, Madame de siirstrilin, Alphonse de Lamartine, Shirley Brooks, and envy Charley. 2. The Cintrt yilltam eontaing vortrnitm of eleven ladies alto areal more 4,r lest well impart in igrmion sneiety. From what 41. e in this book, it is a matter of ()Hilo:lts. to.joilite of the merits of the origi I nit. pitintitti4s, Litt ill the matter of etigrit%ings We think tlie oilot tuna he awarded to Mr. Mote. Perhaps, on the whole, the likenesmes are rather woe r than usual. The best are those of Mrs. Spetteer Lyttelton, Lally Isabella Fitzgibla mi d Mho; llankes. 17pm the rem,. 1/1/.l•liile to pass any indinnent further than to obaerve that the portraits of Mips illyrrftmi hunter anal Mrs. Mt. Leger, by Messt,4. flavter anti Weigftll. Meetri Nrofttl eftrieatnrev of fbe f a i r " 1 io lot i m. We ntuct not omit to ladies. the literary lam tlou of thid tfvrk, which ly rtally deserving of • 1