New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-03-30
AUSTRALASIA.
ENGLISH COLONIAL HISTORY AT THE
ANTIPODES.


Putnam's Sons The story Of the Nations
SeresD
The history OF the various countries mentohed
in this book is arranged according to date OF
colonization While it lacks as yet complete
unity. 1t has much uniformity. No American
familiar with the phenomena OF coleman ne
finds ANYTHING startling in Australian political
evolution. But the author Of this book. ana, IN
deed. Australians in general. are far more frank
about convict origins than Americans nave peeh
since the Revolution. The history Of Australia
is remarka bic in that IL cOntradicts so much that
&c careessly said on the subject Of hercdlty. =
shows how the real tendency of humanity. IKE
that of running water. is to purify Itself In
few generations convict camps are replaced by
prosr erous States in which crime gradually les
sens where government Is as Systematic as !"
any other region. and where the people sho"
capacity for the highest civilization. II is true
that from the. first bond and free were mingleu
In the population But there are lndcauOhs
enough In the early history OF the colonies thd'
the moral distinctions between these classes hau
been pretty we'll obliterated since the departure
from england The result is that the early chap
tiers in Australasan history. even wheh hsh''!
,ouched are gloomy reading The darkest trait
Is the treatment of the natives Americans cam
not boast much on this score, but at all events
tbev arc not known. to have poisoned Whoie
tribes Of sayages with arsenic concealed IN par
rolls of -four as Mr. Tregarthen says was zone
in Queensland: nor did they set to work con-
fessedlv to extermnate a whole race as was zone
In Tasmania One can read the character Vi 'ie
first white inhabitants Of the great southern co"
tnent and its accessories clearly III such oA
ploits as these Not an aboriginal Tasmahiah Is
loft Vet q might be rash to say that. cruelty
apart this strange and profoundly Interesting
neople would have survived contact with CIVIL
cation. Under any sort of restrictions they len
into fatal melancholy.
prt q nonu,atjon descended even in part from
criminals would be sure to betray some OF the
excitability of its ancestry. The stor% OF AUS
tralia has been varied by series OF speculative
feyers that affected large masses of people Inc
GOLD foyer has agitated each colony In turn ana
tbera have been gigantic bubbles and disastrous
couanses One game of chance which can hardly
he naralleled in the experience OF any othe'
country marked the beginnings OF South AuS''"-
LA This colony was essentially an ar'lhciai prou-
net at the outset An Englshman had ooSe''ou
that colonial life lacked some of the amenities
If existence in the mother country IL never w.
Cured to him that perhaps rudeness was
necessary stage in the evolution OF a new STATE
If it did occur TO him. he put the thought oehi"u
him with Pecksniffian contempt. what ColoNie'
svervbodv would know his place at the outset ard
keep it forever. The right way to start coions
was to have everything ready-made in the Ola
countrv-aristocrats middle class artisan ana
peasant In the country all that "oulu DC
NODDED was to set up the machine and start the
u,ee,s Then YOU would have polished as well
90 q productive society from the outset n PAM
nbla. advocating ideas of this sort was puplsheu
in London and preparations were MADE lol carry
ing out its suggestions. In process oi u"V
cargo or two of colonists were put down OH '"e
southern coast near the spot wnere Aueia'ue nv"
stands According to programme the Id"oeu al
tocracy should at once have seiecteo It's siouu'
the peasantry should at once have peeh put "
digging; farmhouses. villas and possibly incur
aeval castles should have been built as soon as
noss,ble Then artisans would nave louho "oiN
ga matter of course. But things did not turn
-. -, .ha,, wore expected to; the natural tenden-
,os ~ life in a new country upset every caIcu-
,etion The people who had money refused 10
,eava the place on which the outlines OF the
future capital had been traced. Instead OF ouylhe
farms and demesnes and manors ana ali SUI"
pretty divisions of the country as were KNOW" III
England they squatted in and about the skeleton
citv and specialized in town lots until most
of them were no better off than the miseraDie
lower classes who were starving win ""ole
continent some Of it wonderfully fertile uhoei
their feet A Government. also taken out from
England started with a labor propiem VI '"e
Iorges, nroportons In the midst Of a wilderness
which the plough had not touched, II was Io'ceu
n find work for the unemployed Extensive
,,rvas and warehouses were erected at port
~ 40, innocent of commerce. A custom-house
WAS built for business yet to come An expensive
residence was completed for the Governor anu
though much money was paid out OF the Ehs''Sn
Treasury yet when that aid was at last reiuSe''
the colony still had debt Of $2ooO'ooo' /" '"e
midst of harsh adversties all the dehca'e soV'"'
shades Of life in South Australia went the way
of such things in new world ana d It" He'''
later the colony raised more wheat IMAM II 'ou'u
seu There is no indication in this VOiuihe Una /
tho region resembles England in any liipo'' ""'
narticular On the other hand TASMANIA o'Oc
~ ;rfarro Of convict life. now bears much
greater resemblance to the Oid "orid Una" any
., Tho other colonies It's climate, cooler than
A.. % Australia favors the fruits and shrubs
oe the mother country. And the stone-ouiI,
.Ao, tho hawthorn and sweetbrier hedges.
the hon gardens and sunny wheat heds' reii'inu
~ ,,,roigrant Of home Indeed the general ap-
oaranca of Tasmania IS that of some particularly
fortre country district Of England. whlch mas
been bodily removed and set anna the Due ""''''
end smiling skies of the far south.
The stems in Australasian development nave
hoon singularly uniform. Each colony Deea"
with elements almost hopeless AS emahcipa-
,,on worked its natural result upon the con-
,,;cts there came the bitter quarrel between 'he
free and the freed. With the rise OF new gen
erations the coming of criminals from England
was made a grievance 1t ceased The people
rose in their own self-respect They required
government of their own. and at last they got
It. England conceded without Struggle 'he
principle that the Australian Colonies on snow
ing their ability to do so. had the right TO de-
mand the control and management or their own
affairs step by step the power OF the peo-
nile advanced" and "the faint Of crime rapidly
though almost imperceptibly. disappeared from
a. nonuta~ assemblies" The old divisions Of