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has well observed, “ The people wherewith you plant on Plantations, ought to be gardeners, ploughmen, laborers, smiths, carpenters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries, surgeons, cooks, and bakers. ” But on the “ Calcutta,” there were among all, eight carpen ters, three smiths, one gardener, two fishermen, nine tailors, and four masons. While some regretted the want of proper appliances to form the Colony, and the great majority congratulated themselves upon their removal from the sandy shore, we have the testimony of one, and that a lady, so favourable to the character of the much condemned place, that we are roost happy to record it. Mrs. Hartley, or rather Hopley, the wife of one of the officers, thus writes to her sister in England. “We arrived, ” she observed, “ in October, 1803. My pen is not able to describe half the beauties of that delightful spot; we were four months there. Much to my mortification as well as loss, we were obliged to abandon the Settlement, through the whim and caprice of the Lieutenant-Governor. Additional expense to Government, and additional loss of individuals were incurred by removing to Van Die men’s Land, which can never be made to answer. Port Phillip is my favourite, and has my -warmest wishes. During the time we were there, I never felt one ache or pain, and I parted with it with more re gret than I did my native land. ” Bravo ! A blessing on the gentle being that would, in Woman’s nature, say a kind word for the slandered and despised. Had the men been disposed as she in her happy disposition to look on the bright side, the Colony would not have been abandoned. But the intentions of Providence are beyond our ken. It was the will of the Wise One that Port Phillip should not have a convict origin; and it was not until many years after that free people ventured out to the wilds of Australia. At the proper time we find that circumstances favoured the successful colonization of Port Phillip.
