14 Secretary of State. Fears being entertained of an insurrection among the convicts, Collins ordered the civil establishment to form them selves into a night patrol. On the 7th of January, the military and all the officers of the association, with their servants, turning out at the beat of the drum in full muster; when each man received a brace of pistols, four rounds of cartridge, 1 lb. of bread, and, to sustain their courage, one half-pint of spirits. So formidable an exhibition of loyalty and valour was sufficient; there was no fur ther demonstration of insubordination. It was not until November 17th that the inauguration of the Governor took place. The Rev. R. Knopwood thus notices the occasion:—“ The Lieutenant Governor’s commission was read by me as the Chaplain of the Colony : when that was done, the military fired three vollies, and all gave three cheers for His Honor.” We doubt not the heartiness of the re joicing, for Colonel Collins had a cheerful and social disposition that endeared him to many, and caused his name, with all his faults, to be handed down in colonial history, as “ the Friend and the Father of all.” That does not appear to have been the age of Excellen cies as Governors. It was in a sudden fit of enthusiam, begotten, perhaps, in the shouts of applauding spectators on the memorable 17th, or after his return from the hospitable board of the first Governor’s ball, that our worthy historian Tuckey, bursts out into the following rhapsody:—“ The thoughts naturally led to the contemplation of future possibilities. I beheld a second Rome, rising from a coali tion of banditti. I beheld it giving laws to the world, and super lative in arms and in arts, looking down with proud superiority upon the barbarous nations of the northern hemisphere.” This pretty dream was not realized. The interesting banditti were not to coalesce to form a Second Rome at Port Phillip. All attempts to give a convict origin to this Colony have failed. Tuckey’s banditti were destined to go elsewhere, and the account of their re-emigration will form the next chapter.
