Interesting Geo, but we were nearly French Val xx > Transcribed by Susan Bergeron. > > Geo. > > > > Carlisle Journal > Friday, December 8th, 1899 > > > Australasia > > Outside India the path of Empire building has been more peaceful. COOK, a > captain in the navy, but immortal as an explorer rather than a fighter, > was the effectual discoverer of Australia; both his achievements and his > character make him a worthy founder of a new continent. After COOK rank > the crews of the whalers who sailed the Southern Seas; they made no > settlements, but their maritime enterprise gave England an interest that > naturally let to colonisation. Far less worthy and altogether a pathetic > class of men to have been the builders of a new nation were the convicts > sent to the penal settlement at Botany Bay. DARWIN urged that there was > something to be said for the system; the descendants of the convicts had > grown up in their new surroundings into respectable men. Certainly many > of the men transported were convicted for slight offences, but the system > cannot really be defended. The non-criminal settlers found it > intolerable, and the Home Government were compelled ! > to abolish it, though not without a struggle. It is curious that we > should have learnt so little wisdom in long years; the first colonial > expedition that set out under FROBISHER took criminals and failed utterly; > BACON warned his countrymen of the cost of trying to form plantations of > the scum of the population; yet we persisted in the attempt and only gave > it up not from wisdom but because we were forced to do so by Australian > opinion. If colonisation is allowed to follow its natural course, the > most energetic and fittest find their way out; when a Government steps in > to send out failures it simply sacrifices the new country for no material > benefit to the old. Australia was saved from this fate by the influx of > immigrants who have swamped the old convict element, which is now only a > stain which Australia resents but which does not materially affect her > population. > > Beyond the import of convicts there was at the beginning of this century > no organised system of emigration to the colonies, as there had been in > the days of the companies who colonised North America. The results were > unsatisfactory. England after that great war with NAPOLEON was full of > distress and misery, wages were low, food dear, and the condition of the > labouring classes was made worse by the old Poor Law. In Australia there > was a lack of labour, except that of convicts; the population was > scattered, as land was granted free and settlers established themselves > where they pleased; there was little capital and no co-operation. > WAKEFIELD, a man of great ability though of rather undisciplined > character, who had taken up the colonial question, saw the evils of > haphazard colonisation, for which he proposed a remedy that was to consist > in making colonisation more complete; the settlers were to be collected in > groups, the free grant of land was to be forbidden, so that th! > e immigrant might begin as a labourer, and in order that the purchase > money might form an immigration fund to bring fresh settlers. By his > efforts he succeeded in persuading a knot of distinguished men, such as > CHARLES BULLER, MOLESWORTH, and GROTE, to join him; to carry out their > projects an association was formed in 1837 for the colonisation of New > Zealand. The association met two obstacles: the home Government were > reluctant to extend its responsibilities, and the missionaries objected > because the arrival of white men would interfere with their relations with > the natives. These obstacles were disregarded, the expedition sailed > without leave, forcing the hand of the Home Government, who annexed New > Zealand only just in time to save it from annexation by the French. > WAKEFIELD may justly be considered the founder of New Zealand, and not > only of New Zealand, for by his writings he founded a Colonial school of > thought on the right lines which has done immense service to b! > oth the Colonies and the Mother Country. > > ..... > . > . > "IS THE SUBJECT LINE STILL RELEVANT? > If not, PLEASE change it." > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Yep. Dunno what I would have done then, 'cos I don't speak French. <g> Geo. Interesting Geo, but we were nearly French Val xx

Me neever! Once when I was in the Museum diner my friend came in and said "Bon Jour, to which I replied Bon Jour!" There was a woman standing by and she said "oh, isn`t it marvellous, you speak French" We both dissolved into laughter and had to explain that it was probably the only French we knew!! Val xx > Yep. Dunno what I would have done then, 'cos I don't speak French. <g> > > Geo. > > Interesting Geo, but we were nearly French > Val xx > . > . > "IS THE SUBJECT LINE STILL RELEVANT? > If not, PLEASE change it." > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message