Chapter XXV: Front Matter (25)

"It forms a rocky peninsula, separated from the mainland by
trackless mountains, and jutting so far out into the Eastern
Sea that it lay out of the path of the tribes moving from
north to south. Hence the migratory passages which agitated
the whole of Hellas left Attica untouched, and for this reason
Attic history is not divided into such marked epochs as that of
Peloponnesus; it possesses a superior unity, and presents an
uninterrupted development of coalitions of life native in
their origin to the land. ... On the other hand Attica was
perfectly adapted by nature for receiving immigrants from the
sea. For the whole country, as its name indicates, consists of
coast-land; and the coast abounds in harbours, and on account of
the depth of water in the roads is everywhere accessible;
while the best of its plains open towards the coast and invite
the mariner to land. The first landings by which the
monotonous conditions of the age of the Pelasgians were
interrupted where those of the Phoenicians, who domesticated
the worship of Aphrodite, as well as that of the Tyrian Melcar
on the coasts. Afterwards the tribes of the shores of Asia Minor
came across; in the first place the Carians, who introduced
the worship of the Carian Zeus and Posidon, and were followed
by Cretans, Lycians, Dardanians and Old Ionians. The
population became mixed. ... This first epoch of the national
history the ancients connected with the name of Cecrops. It
forms the transition from the life of rural districts and
villages to that of a state. Attica has become a land with
twelve citadels, in each of which dwells a chieftain or king,
who has his domains, his suite, and his subjects. Every
twelfth is a state by itself, with its separate public hall
and common hearth. If under these circumstances a common
national history was to be attained to, one of the twelve
towns, distinguished by special advantages of situation, would
have to become the capital. And to such a position undeniable
advantages entitled the city whose seat was in the plain of
the Cephisus. ... Into the centre of the entire plain advances
from the direction of Hymettus a group of rocky heights, among
them an entirely separate and mighty block which, with the
exception of a narrow access from the west, offers on all
sides vertically precipitous walls, surmounted by a broad
level sufficiently roomy to afford space for the sanctuaries
of the national gods and the habitations of the national
rulers. It seems as if nature had designedly placed this rock
in this position as the ruling castle and the centre of the
national history. This is the Acropolis of Athens, among the
twelve castles of the land that which was preëminently named
after the national king Cecrops. ... So far from being
sufficiently luxuriant to allow even the idle to find easy
means of sustenance, the Attic soil was stony, devoid of a
sufficient supply of water, and for the most part only adapted
to the cultivation of barley; everywhere ... labour and a
regulated industry were needed. But this labour was not
unremunerative. Whatever orchard and garden fruits prospered
were peculiarly delicate and agreeable to the taste; the
mountain-herbs were nowhere more odourous than on Hymettus;
and the sea abounded with fish. The mountains, not only by the
beauty of their form invest the whole scenery with a certain
nobility, but in their depths lay an abundance of the most
excellent building-stone and silver ore; in the lowlands was
to be found the best kind of clay for purposes of manufacture.
The materials existed for all arts and handicrafts; and
finally Attica rejoiced in what the ancients were wise enough
to recognize as a special favour of Heaven, a dry and
transparent atmosphere, by its peculiar clearness productive
of bodily freshness, health and elasticity, while it sharpened
the senses, disposed the soul to cheerfulness and aroused and
animated the powers of the mind. Such were the institutions of
the land which was developing the germs of its peculiar
history at the time when the [Dorian] migrations were
agitating the whole mainland. Though Attica was not herself
overrun by hostile multitudes, yet about the same time she
admitted manifold accessions of foreign population in smaller
groups. By this means she enjoyed all the advantages of an
invigorating impulse without exposing herself to the evils of
a violent revolution. ... The immigrants who domesticated
themselves in Attica were ... chiefly families of superior
eminence, so that Attica gained not only in numbers of
population, but also in materials of culture of every
description."

_E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 2, chapter 2._

ALSO IN:
_J. I. Lockhart, Attica and Athens._

See also. ATHENS: THE BEGINNING.

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ATTILA'S CONQUESTS AND EMPIRE.

See HUNS.

ATTIOUANDARONK, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: HURONS. &c.

ATTYADÆ, The.

The first dynasty of the kings of Lydia, claimed to be sprung
from Attys, son of the god Manes.

_M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 4, chapter 17._

AUBAINE, The right of.

"A prerogative by which the Kings of France claimed the
property of foreigners who died in their kingdom without being
naturalized." It was suppressed by Colbert, in the reign of
Louis XIV.

_J. A. Blanqui, History of Political Economy in Europe,
page 285._

AUCH:
Origin of the name.

See AQUITAINE: THE ANCIENT TRIBES.

AUCKLAND, Lord, The Indian Administration of.

See INDIA: A. D. 1836-1845.

AUDENARDE.

See OUDINARDE.

AUDIENCIAS.

"For more than two centuries and a half the whole of South
America, except Brazil, settled down under the colonial
government of Spain, and during the greater part of that time
this vast territory was under the rule of the Viceroys of Peru
residing at Lima. The impossibility of conducting an efficient
administration from such a centre ... at once became apparent.
Courts of justice called Audiencias were, therefore,
established in the distant provinces, and their presidents,
sometimes with the title of captains-general, had charge of
the executive under the orders of the Viceroys. The Audiencia
of Charcas (the modern Bolivia) was established in 1559. Chile
was ruled by captains-general, and an Audiencia was
established at Santiago in 1568. In New Grenada the president
of the Audiencia, created in 1564, was also captain-general.
The Audiencia of Quito, also with its president as
captain-general, dated from 1542; and Venezuela was under a
captain-general."

_C. R. Markham, Colonial History of South America.
(Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 8, page 295)._

AUERSTADT, Battle of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1806 (OCTOBER).

AUGEREAU, Marshal, Campaigns of.

See
FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (SEPTEMBER);
GERMANY: A. D. 1806 (OCTOBER);
SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (FEBRUARY-JUNE);
and RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER);
1813 (AUGUST), (OCTOBER), (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

AUGHRIM, OR AGHRIM, Battle of (A. D. 1691).

See IRELAND: A. D. 1689-1691.

AUGSBURG: Origin.

See AUGUSTA VINDELICORUM.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 955.
Great defeat of the Hungarians.

See HUNGARIANS: A. D. 934-955.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 1530.
Sitting of the Diet.
Signing and reading of the Protestant Confession of Faith.
The Imperial Decree condemning the Protestants.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1530-1531.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 1555.
The Religious Peace concluded.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1552-1561.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 1646.
Unsuccessful siege by Swedes and French.

See GERMANY; A. D. 1646-1648.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 1686-1697.
The League and the War of the League.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1686;
and FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1690, and after.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 1703.
Taken by the French.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1703.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 1801-1803.

One of six free cities which survived the Peace of Luneville.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803.

AUGSBURG: A. D. 1806.
Loss of municipal freedom.
Absorption in the kingdom of Bavaria.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1806.

----------AUGSBURG: End----------

AUGURS.--PONTIFICES.--FETIALES.

"There was ... enough of priesthood and of priests in Rome.
Those, however, who had business with a god resorted to the
god, and not to the priest. Every suppliant and inquirer
addressed himself directly to the divinity; ... no
intervention of a priest was allowed to conceal or to obscure
this original and simple relation. But it was no easy matter
to hold converse with a god. The god had his own way of
speaking, which was intelligible only to those acquainted with
it; but one who did rightly understand it knew not only how to
ascertain, but also how to manage, the will of the god, and
even in case of need to overreach or to constrain him. It was
natural, therefore, that the worshipper of the god should
regularly consult such men of skill and listen to their
advice; and thence arose the corporations or colleges of men
specially skilled in religious lore, a thoroughly national
Italian institution, which had a far more important influence
on political development than the individual priests or
priesthoods. These colleges have been often, but erroneously,
confounded with the priesthoods. The priesthoods were charged
with the worship of a specific divinity. ... Under the Roman
constitution and that of the Latin communities in general
there were originally but two such colleges: that of the
augurs and that of the pontifices. The six augurs were skilled
in interpreting the language of the gods from the flight of
birds; an art which was prosecuted with great earnestness and
reduced to a quasi-scientific system. The five 'bridge
builders' (pontifices) derived their name from their function,
as sacred as it was politically important, of conducting the
building and demolition of the bridge over the Tiber. They
were the Roman engineers, who understood the mystery of
measures and numbers; whence there devolved upon them also the
duties of managing the calendar of the state, of proclaiming
to the people the time of new and full moon and the days of
festivals, and of seeing that every religious and every
judicial act took place on the right day. ... Thus they
acquired (although not probably to the full extent till after
the abolition of the monarchy) the general oversight of Roman
worship and of whatever was connected with it. [The president
of their college was called the Pontifex Maximus.] ... They
themselves described the sum of their knowledge as 'the
science of things divine and human.' ... By the side of these
two oldest and most eminent corporations of men versed in
spiritual lore may be to some extent ranked the college of the
twenty state-heralds (fetiales, of uncertain derivation)
destined as a living repository to preserve traditionally the
remembrance of the treaties concluded with neighboring
communities, to pronounce an authoritative opinion on alleged
infractions of treaty rights, and in case of need to demand
satisfaction and declare war."

_T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book I, chapter 12._

ALSO IN:
_E. Guhl and W. Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans,
section 103._

See, also, AUSPICES, and FETIALES.

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AUGUSTA TREVIRORUM.

See TUÈVES, ORIGIN OF.

AUGUSTA VEROMANDUORUM.
Modern St. Quentin.

See BELGÆ.

AUGUSTA VINDELICORUM.

"Augusta Vindelicorum is the modern Augsburg, founded, it may
be supposed, about the year 740 [B. C. 14] after the conquest
of Rhætia by Drusus. ... The Itineraries represent it as the
centre of the roads from Verona, Sirmium, and Treviri."

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 36, note._

AUGUSTODUNUM.

The Emperor Augustus changed the name of Bibracte in Gaul to
Augustodunum, which time has corrupted, since to Autun.

AUGUSTONEMETUM.

See GERGOVIA OF THE ARVERNI.

AUGUSTUS.--AUGUSTA:
The Title.

"Octavius [see ROME: B. C. 31-14] had warily declined any of
the recognized designations of sovereign rule. Antonius had
abolished the dictatorship; his successor respected the
acclamations with which the people had greeted this decree.
The voices which had saluted Cæsar with the title of king were
peremptorily commanded to be dumb. Yet Octavius was fully
aware of the influence which attached to distinctive titles of
honour. While he scrupulously renounced the names upon which
the breath of human jealousy had blown, he conceived the
subtler policy of creating another for himself, which
borrowing its original splendour from his own character,
should reflect upon him an untarnished lustre. ... The epithet
Augustus ... had never been borne by any man before. ... But
the adjunct, though never given to a man, had been applied to
things most noble, most venerable and most divine. The rites
of the gods were called august, the temples were august; the
word itself was derived from the holy auguries by which the
divine will was revealed; it was connected with the favour and
authority of Jove himself. ... The illustrious title was
bestowed upon the heir of the Cæsarian Empire in the middle of
the month of January, 727 [B. C. 27], and thenceforth it is by
the name of Augustus that he is recognized in Roman history."

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 30._

"When Octavianus had firmly established his power and was now
left without a rival, the Senate, being desirous of
distinguishing him by some peculiar and emphatic title,
decreed, in B. C. 27, that he should be styled Augustus, an
epithet properly applicable to some object demanding respect
and veneration beyond what is bestowed upon human things. ...
This being an honorary appellation ... it would, as a matter
of course, have been transmitted by inheritance to his
immediate descendants. ... Claudius, although he could not be
regarded as a descendant of Octavianus, assumed on his
accession the title of Augustus, and his example was followed
by all succeeding rulers ... who communicated the title of
Augusta to their consorts."

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity., chapter 5._

See, also, ROME: B. C. 31-A. D. 14.

AULA REGIA, The.

See CURIA REGIS OF THE NORMAN KINGS.

AULDEARN, Battle of (A. D. 1645).

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1644-1645.

AULERCI, The.

The Aulerci were an extensive nation in ancient Gaul which
occupied the country from the lower course of the Seine to the
Mayenne. It was subdivided into three great tribes--the
Aulerci Cenomanni, Aulerci Diablintes and Aulerci Eburovices.

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 2._

AULIC COUNCIL, The.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1493-1519.

AUMALE, Battle of (1592).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1591-1593.

AUNEAU, Battle of (1587).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1584-1589.

AURANGZEB, Moghul Emperor, or Padischah of India, A. D. 1658-1707.

AURAY, Battle of (1365).

See BRITTANY: A. D. 1341-1365.

AURELIAN, Roman Emperor. A. D.270-275.

AURELIAN ROAD, The.

One of the great Roman roads of antiquity, which ran from Rome
to Pisa and Luna.

_T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 11._

AURELIO, King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, A. D. 768-774.

AURUNCANS, The.

See AUSONIANS;
also OSCANS.

AUSCI, The.

See AQUITAINE, THE ANCIENT TRIBES.

AUSGLEICH, The.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1866-1867.

AUSONIANS, OR AURUNCANS, The.

A tribe of the ancient Volscians, who dwelt in the lower
valley of the Liris, and who are said to have been
exterminated by the Romans, B. C. 314.

_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 3, chapter 10._

See, also, OSCANS.

AUSPICES, Taking the.

"The Romans, in the earlier ages of their history, never
entered upon any important business whatsoever, whether public
or private, without endeavouring, by means of divination, to
ascertain the will of the gods in reference to the
undertaking. ... This operation was termed 'sumere auspicia;'
and if the omens proved unfavourable the business was
abandoned or deferred. ... No meeting of the Comitia Curiata
nor of the Comitia Centuriata could be held unless the
auspices had been previously taken. ... As far as public
proceedings were concerned, no private individual, even among
the patricians, had the right of taking auspices. This duty
devolved upon the supreme magistrate alone. ... In an army
this power belonged exclusively to the commander-in-chief; and
hence all achievements were said to be performed under his
auspices, even although he were not present. ... The objects
observed in taking these auspices were birds, the class of
animals from which the word is derived ('Auspicium ab ave
spicienda'). Of these, some were believed to give indications
by their flight ... others by their notes or cries ... while a
third class consisted of chickens ('pulli') kept in cages.
When it was desired to obtain an omen from these last, food
was placed before them, and the manner in which they comported
themselves was closely watched. ... The manner of taking the
auspices previous to the Comitia was as follows:--The
magistrate who was to preside at the assembly arose
immediately after midnight on the day for which it had been
summoned, and called upon an augur to assist him. ... With his
aid a region of the sky and a space of ground, within which
the auspices were observed, were marked out by the divining
staff ('lituus') of the augur. ... This operation was
performed with the greatest care. ... In making the necessary
observations, the president was guided entirely by the augur,
who reported to him the result."

_W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity., chapter 4._

ALSO IN:
_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 6, chapter 13._

See, also, AUGUR.

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AUSTERLITZ, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1805 (MARCH-DECEMBER).

AUSTIN, Stephen F., and the settlement of Texas.

See TEXAS: A. D. 1819-1835.

AUSTIN CANONS, OR CANONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

"About the middle of the 11th century an attempt had been made
to redress the balance between the regular and secular clergy,
and restore to the latter the influence and consideration in
spiritual matters which they had, partly by their own fault,
already to a great extent lost. Some earnest and thoughtful
spirits, distressed at once by the abuse of monastic
privileges and by the general decay of ecclesiastical order,
sought to effect a reform by the establishment of a stricter
and better organized discipline in those cathedral and other
churches which were served by colleges of secular priests. ...
Towards the beginning of the twelfth century the attempts at
canonical reform issued in the form of what was virtually a
new religious order, that of the Angustinians, or Canons
Regular of the order of S. Angustine. Like the monks and
unlike the secular canons, from whom they were carefully
distinguished, they had not only their table and dwelling but
all things in common, and were bound by a vow to the
observance of their rule, grounded upon a passage in one of
the letters of that great father of the Latin Church from whom
they took their name. Their scheme was a compromise between
the old fashioned system of canons and that of the monastic
confraternities; but a compromise leaning strongly towards the
monastic side. ... The Austin canons, as they were commonly
called, made their way across the channel in Henry's reign."

_K. Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings,
volume 1, chapter 1._

ALSO IN:
_E. L. Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Age.,
chapter 3._

AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1601-1800.
Discovery and early exploration.
The founding of the penal colonies at Sydney and Norfolk Island.

"Australia has had no Columbus. It is even doubtful if the
first navigators who reached her shores set out with any idea
of discovering a great south land. At all events, it would
seem, their achievements were so little esteemed by themselves
and their countrymen that no means were taken to preserve
their names in connexion with their discoveries. Holland long
had the credit of bringing to light the existence of that
island-continent, which until recent years was best known by
her name. In 1861, however, Mr. Major, to whom we are indebted
for more recent research upon the subject, produced evidence
which appeared to demonstrate that the Portuguese had reached
the shores of Australia in 1601, five years before the Dutch
yacht Duyphen, or Dove,--the earliest vessel whose name has
been handed down,--sighted, about March, 1606, what is
believed to have been the coast near Cape York, Mr. Major, in
a learned paper read before the Society of Antiquaries in
1872, indicated the probability that the first discovery was
made 'in or before the year 1531.' The dates of two of the six
maps from which Mr. Major derives his information are 1531 and
1542. The latter clearly indicates Australia, which is called
Jave la Grande. New Zealand is also marked."

_F. P. Labilliere, Early History of the Colony of Victoria,
chapter 1._

In 1606, De Quiros, a Spanish navigator, sailing from Peru,
across the Pacific, reached a shore which stretched so far
that he took it to be a continent. "He called the place
'Tierra Australis de Espiritu Santo,' that is 'Southern Land
of the Holy Spirit.' It is now known that this was not really
a continent, but merely one of the New Hebrides Islands, and
more than a thousand miles away from the mainland. ... In
after years, the name he had invented was divided into two
parts; the island he had really discovered being called
Espiritu Santo, while the continent he thought he had
discovered was called Terra Australis. This last name was
shortened by another discoverer--Flinders--to the present term
Australia." After the visit to the Australian coast of the
small Dutch ship, the "Dove," it was touched, during the next
twenty years, by a number of vessels of the same nationality.
"In 1622 a Dutch ship, the 'Leeuwin,' or 'Lioness,' sailed
along the southern coast, and its name was given to the
southwest cape of Australia. ... In 1628 General Carpenter
sailed completely round the large Gulf to the north, which has
taken its name from this circumstance. Thus, by degrees, all
the northern and western, together with part of the southern
shores, came to be roughly explored, and the Dutch even had
some idea of colonizing this continent. ... During the next
fourteen years we hear no more of voyages to Australia; but in
1642 Antony Van Diemen, the Governor of the Dutch possessions
in the East Indies, sent out his friend Abel Jansen Tasman,
with two ships, to make discoveries in the South Seas." Tasman
discovered the island which he called Van Diemen's Land, but
which has since been named in his own honor--Tasmania. "This
he did not know to be an island; he drew it on his maps as if
it were a peninsula belonging to the mainland of Australia."
In 1699, the famous buccaneer, William Dampier, was given the
command of a vessel sent out to the southern seas, and he
explored about 900 miles of the northwestern coast of
Australia; but the description which he gave of the country
did not encourage the adventurous to seek fortune in it. "We
hear of no further explorations in this part of the world
until nearly a century after; and, even then, no one thought
of sending out ships specially for the purpose. But in the
year 1770 a series of important discoveries were indirectly
brought about. The Royal Society of London, calculating that
the planet Venus would cross the disc of the sun in 1769,
persuaded the English Government to send out an expedition to
the Pacific Ocean for the purpose of making observations on
this event which would enable astronomers to calculate the
distance of the earth from the sun. A small vessel, the
'Endeavour,' was chosen; astronomers with their instruments
embarked, and the whole placed under the charge of" the
renowned sailor, Captain James Cook. The astronomical purposes
of the expedition were satisfactorily accomplished at Otaheite,
and Captain Cook then proceeded to an exploration of the
shores of New Zealand and Australia.
{191}
Having entered a fine bay on the south-eastern
coast of Australia, "he examined the country for a few miles
inland, and two of his scientific friends--Sir Joseph Banks
and Dr. Solander--made splendid collections of botanical
specimens. From this circumstance the place was called Botany
Bay, and its two head-lands received the names of Cape Banks
and Cape Solander. It was here that Captain Cook ... took
possession of the country on behalf of His Britannic Majesty,
giving it the name 'New South Wales,' on account of the
resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of Wales.
Shortly after they had set sail from Botany Bay they observed
a small opening in the land, but Cook did not stay to examine
it, merely marking it on his chart as Port Jackson, in honour
of his friend Sir George Jackson. ... The reports brought home
by Captain Cook completely changed the beliefs current in
those days with regard to Australia. ... It so happened that,
shortly after Cook's return, the English nation had to deal
with a great difficulty in regard to its criminal population.
In 1776 the United States declared their independence, and the
English then found they could no longer send their convicts
over to Virginia, as they had formerly done. In a short time
the gaols of England were crowded with felons. It became
necessary to select a new place of transportation; and, just
as this difficulty arose, Captain Cook's voyages called
attention to a land in every way suited for such a purpose,
both by reason of its fertility and of its great distance.
Viscount Sydney, therefore, determined to send out a party to
Botany Bay, in order to found a convict settlement there; and
in May, 1787, a fleet was ready to sail." After a voyage of
eight months the fleet arrived at Botany Bay, in January,
1788. The waters of the Bay were found to be too shallow for a
proper harbour, and Captain Phillip, the appointed Governor of
the settlement, set out, with three boats, to search for
something better. "As he passed along the coast he turned to
examine the opening which Captain Cook had called Port
Jackson, and soon found himself in a winding channel of water,
with great cliffs frowning overhead. All at once a magnificent
prospect opened on his eyes. A harbour, which is, perhaps, the
most beautiful and perfect in the world, stretched before him
far to the west, till it was lost on the distant horizon. It
seemed a vast maze of winding waters, dotted here and there
with lovely islets. ... Captain Phillip selected, as the place
most suitable to the settlement, a small inlet, which, in
honour of the Minister of State, he called Sydney Cove. It was
so deep as to allow vessels to approach within a yard or two
of the shore." Great difficulties and sufferings attended the
founding of the penal settlement, and many died of actual
starvation as well as of disease; but in twelve years the
population had risen to between 6,000 and 7,000 persons.
Meantime a branch colony had been established on Norfolk
Island. In 1702 Governor Phillip, broken in health, had
resigned, and in 1795 he had been succeeded by Governor
Hunter. "When Governor Hunter arrived, in 1795, he brought
with him, on board his ship, the 'Reliance,' It young surgeon,
George Bass, and a midshipman called Matthew Flinders. They
were young men of the most admirable character. ... Within a
month after their arrival they purchased a small boat about
eight feet in length, which they christened the 'Tom Thumb.'
Its crew consisted of themselves and a boy to assist." In this
small craft they began a survey of the coast, usefully
charting many miles of it. Soon afterwards, George Bass, in an
open whale-boat, pursued his explorations southwards, to the
region now called Victoria, and through the straits which bear
his name, thus discovering the fact that Van Diemen's Land, or
Tasmania, is an island, not a peninsula. In 1798, Bass and
Flinders, again associated and furnished with a small sloop,
sailed round and surveyed the entire coast of Van Diemen's
Land. Bass now went to South America and there disappeared.
Flinders was commissioned by the British Government in 1800 to
make an extensive survey of the Australian coasts, and did so.
Returning to England with his maps, he was taken prisoner on
the way by the French and held in captivity for six years,
while the fruits of his labor were stolen. He died a few years
after being released.

_A. and G. Sutherland, History of Australia, chapter 1-3._

ALSO IN:
_G. W. Rusden, History of Australia, chapter 1-3 (volume 1)._

AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1800-1840.
Beginning of the Prosperity of New South Wales.
Introduction of sheep-farming.
The founding of Victoria and South Australia.

"For twenty years and more no one at home gave a thought to
New South Wales, or 'Botany Bay,' as it was still erroneously
called, unless in vague horror and compassion for the poor
creatures who lived there in exile and starvation. The only
civilizing element in the place was the presence of a devoted
clergyman named Johnson, who had voluntarily accompanied the
first batch of convicts. ... Colonel Lachlan Macquarie entered
on the office of governor in 1810, and ruled the settlement
for twelve years. His administration was the first turning
point in its history. ... Macquarie saw that the best and
cheapest way of ruling the convicts was to make them freemen
as soon as possible. Before his time, the governors had looked
on the convicts as slaves, to be worked for the profit of the
government and of the free settlers. Macquarie did all he
could to elevate the class of emancipists, and to encourage
the convicts to persevere in sober industry in the hope of one
day acquiring a respectable position. He began to discontinue
the government farms, and to employ the convicts in
road-making so as to extend the colony in all directions. When
he came to Sydney, the country more than a day's ride from the
town was quite unknown. The growth of the settlement was
stopped on the west by a range called the Blue Mountains,
which before his time no one had succeeded in crossing. But in
1813, there came a drought upon the colony: the cattle, on
which everything depended, were unable to find food. Macquarie
surmised that there must be plenty of pasture on the plains
above the Blue Mountains: he sent an exploring party, telling
them that a pass must be discovered. In a few months, not only
was this task accomplished, and the vast and fertile pastures
of Bathurst reached, but a road 130 miles long was made,
connecting them with Sydney. The Lachlan and Macquarie rivers
were traced out to the west of the Blue Mountains.
{192}
Besides this, coal was found at the mouth of the Hunter river,
and the settlement at Newcastle formed. ... When it became
known that the penal settlement was gradually becoming a free
colony, and that Sydney and its population were rapidly
changing their character, English and Scotch people soon
bethought them of emigrating to the new country. Macquarie
returned home in 1822, leaving New South Wales four times as
populous, and twenty times as large as when he went out, and
many years in advance of what it might have been under a less
able and energetic governor. The discovery of the fine
pastures beyond the Blue Mountains settled the destiny of the
colony. The settlers came up thither with their flocks long
before Macquarie's road was finished; and it turned out that
the downs of Australia were the best sheep-walks in the world.
The sheep thrives better there, and produces finer and more
abundant wool, than anywhere else. John Macarthur, a
lieutenant in the New South Wales corps, had spent several
years in studying the effect of the Australian climate upon
the sheep; and he rightly surmised that the staple of the
colony would be its fine wool. In 1803, he went to England and
procured some pure Spanish merino sheep from the flock of
George III. ... The Privy Council listened to his wool
projects, and he received a large grant of land. Macarthur had
found out the true way to Australian prosperity. When the
great upland pastures were discovered, the merino breed was
well established in the colony; and the sheep-owners, without
waiting for grants, spread with their flocks over immense
tracts of country. This was the beginning of what is called
squatting. The squatters afterwards paid a quit-rent to the
government and thus got their runs, as they called the great
districts where they pastured their flocks, to a certain
extent secured to them. ... Hundreds upon hundreds of square
miles of the great Australian downs were now explored and
stocked with sheep for the English wool-market. ... It was in
the time of Macquarie's successor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, that
the prospects of New South Wales became generally known in
England. Free emigrants, each bringing more or less capital
with him, now poured in; and the demand for labour became
enormous. At first the penal settlements were renewed as
depots for the supply of labour, and it was even proposed that
the convicts should be sold by auction on their arrival; but
in the end the influx of free labourers entirely altered the
question. In Brisbane's time, and that of his successor, Sir
Ralph Darling, wages fell and work became scarce in England;
and English working men now turned their attention to
Australia. Hitherto the people had been either convicts or
free settlers of more or less wealth, and between these
classes there was great bitterness of feeling, each, naturally
enough, thinking that the colony existed for their own
exclusive benefit. The free labourers who now poured in
greatly contributed in course of time to fusing the population
into one. In Brisbane's time, trial by jury and a free press
were introduced. The finest pastures in Australia, the Darling
Downs near Moreton Bay, were discovered and settled [1825].
The rivers which pour into Moreton Bay were explored: one of
them was named the Brisbane, and a few miles from its mouth
the town of the same name was founded. Brisbane is now the
capital of the colony of Queensland: and other explorations in
his time led to the foundation of a second independent colony.
The Macquarie was traced beyond the marshes, in which it was
supposed to lose itself, and named the Darling: and the Murray
river was discovered [1829]. The tracing out of the Murray
river by the adventurous traveller Sturt, led to a colony on
the site which he named South Australia. In Darling's time,
the Swan River Colony, now called Western Australia, was
commenced. Darling ... was the first to sell the land at a
small fixed price, on the system adopted in America. ...
Darling returned to England in 1831; and the six-years
administration of his successor, Sir Richard Bourke, marks a
fresh turning-point in Australian history. In his time the
colony threw off two great offshoots. Port Phillip, on which
now stands the great city of Melbourne, had been discovered in
1802, and in the next year the government sent hither a
convict colony. This did not prosper, and this fine site was
neglected for thirty years. When the sudden rise of New South
Wales began, the squatters began to settle to the west and
north of Port Phillip; and the government at once sent an
exploring party, who reported most favourably of the country
around. In 1836, Governor Bourke founded a settlement in this
new land, which had been called, from its rich promise,
Australia Felix: and under his directions the site of a
capital was laid out, to be called Melbourne, in honour of the
English Prime Minister. This was in 1837, so that the
beginning of the colony corresponds nearly with that of Queen
Victoria's reign; a circumstance which afterwards led to its
being named Victoria. Further west still, a second new colony
arose about this time on the site discovered by Sturt in 1829.
This was called South Australia, and the first governor
arrived there at the end of the year 1836. The intended
capital was named Adelaide, in honour of the Queen of William
IV. Both the new colonies were commenced on a new system,
called from its inventor the Wakefield system, but the
founders of South Australia were able to carry it out most
effectually, because they were quite independent of the
experience and the prejudices of the Sydney government. Mr.
Wakefield was an ingenious man and a clever writer. ... His
notion was that the new colonies ought to be made 'fairly to
represent English society.' His plan was to arrest the strong
democratic tendencies of the new community, and to reproduce
in Australia the strong distinction of classes which was found
in England. He wanted the land sold as dear as land-owners:
and the produce of the land was to be applied in tempting
labourers to emigrate with the prospect of better wages than
they got at home. A Company was easily formed to carry out
these ideas in South Australia. ... Like the settlement of
Carolina as framed by Locke and Somers, it was really a plan
for getting the advantages of the colony into the hands of the
non-labouring classes: and by the natural laws of political
economy, it failed everywhere. Adelaide became the scene of an
Australian 'bubble.' The land-jobbers and money-lenders made
fortunes: but the people who emigrated, mostly belonging to
the middle and upper classes, found the scheme to be a
delusion. Land rapidly rose in value, and as rapidly sank; and
lots for which the emigrants had paid high prices became
almost worthless. The labourers emigrated elsewhere, and so
did those of the capitalists who had anything left. ... The
depression of South Australia, however, was but temporary. It
contains the best corn land in the whole island: and hence it
of course soon became the chief source of the food supply of
the neighbouring colonies, besides exporting large quantities
of corn to England. It contains rich mines of copper, and
produces large quantities of wool."

_E. J. Payne, History of European Colonies, chapter 12._

ALSO IN:
_G. W. Rusden, History of Australia, volume 1-2._

{193}

AUSTRALIA: A.D. 1839-1855.
Progress of the Port Phillip District.
Its Separation from New South Wales and erection into the
colony of Victoria.
Discovery of Gold.
Constitutional organization of the colony.

"In 1839 the population of Port Phillip amounted to nearly
6,000, and was being rapidly augmented from without. The sheep
in the district exceeded half a million, and of cattle and
horses the numbers were in proportion equally large. The place
was daily growing in importance. The Home Government therefore
decided to send an officer, with the title of Superintendent,
to take charge of the district, but to act under the Governor
of New South Wales. Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esq., was
appointed to this office. ... He arrived at Melbourne on the
30th September, 1839. Soon after this all classes of the new
community appear to have become affected by a mania for
speculation. ... As is always the case when speculation takes
the place of steady industry, the necessaries of life became
fabulously dear. Of money there was but little, in
consideration of the amount of business done, and large
transactions were effected by means of paper and credit. From
highest to lowest, all lived extravagantly. ... Such a state
of things could not last forever. In 1842, by which time the
population had increased to 24,000, the crash came. ... From
this depression the colony slowly recovered, and a sounder
business system took the place of the speculative one. ... All
this time, however, the colony was a dependency of New South
Wales, and a strong feeling had gained ground that it suffered
in consequence. ... A cry was raised for separation. The
demand was, as a matter of course, resisted by New South
Wales, but as the agitation was carried on with increased
activity, it was at last yielded to by the Home authorities.
The vessel bearing the intelligence arrived on the 11th
November, 1850. The news soon spread, and great was the
satisfaction of the colonists. Rejoicings were kept up in
Melbourne for five consecutive days. ... Before, however, the
separation could be legally accomplished, it was necessary
that an Act should be passed in New South Wales to settle
details. ... The requisite forms were at length given effect
to, and, on the 1st July, 1851, a day which has ever since
been scrupulously observed as a public holiday, it was
proclaimed that the Port Phillip district of New South Wales
had been erected into a separate colony to be called Victoria,
after the name of Her Most Gracious Majesty. At the same time
the Superintendent, Mr. C. J. La Trobe, was raised to the rank
of Lieutenant-Governor. At the commencement of the year of
separation the population of Port Phillip numbered 76,000, the
sheep 6,000,000, the cattle 380,000. ... In a little more than
a month after the establishment of Victoria as an independent
colony, it became generally known that rich deposits of gold
existed within its borders. ... The discovery of gold ... in
New South Wales, by Hargreaves, in February, 1851, caused
numbers to emigrate to that colony. This being considered
detrimental to the interests of Victoria, a public meeting was
held in Melbourne on the 9th of June, at which a
'gold-discovery committee' was appointed, which was authorized
to offer rewards to any that should discover gold in remunerative
quantities within the colony. The colonists were already on
the alert. At the time this meeting was held, several parties
were out searching for, and some had already found gold. The
precious metal was first discovered at Clunes, then in the
Yarra ranges at Anderson's Creek, soon after at Buninyong and
Ballarat, shortly afterwards at Mount Alexander, and
eventually at Bendigo. The deposits were found to be richer
and to extend over a wider area than any which had been
discovered in New South Wales. Their fame soon spread to the
adjacent colonies, and thousands hastened to the spot. ...
When the news reached home, crowds of emigrants from the
United Kingdom hurried to our shores. Inhabitants of other
European countries quickly joined in the rush. Americans from
the Atlantic States were not long in following. Stalwart
Californians left their own gold-yielding rocks and placers to
try their fortunes at the Southern Eldorado. Last of all,
swarms of Chinese arrived, eager to unite in the general
scramble for wealth. ... The important position which the
Australian colonies had obtained in consequence of the
discovery of gold, and the influx of population consequent
thereon, was the occasion of the Imperial Government
determining in the latter end of 1852 that each colony should
be invited to frame such a Constitution for its government as
its representatives might deem best suited to its own peculiar
circumstances. The Constitution framed in Victoria, and
afterwards approved by the British Parliament, was avowedly
based upon that of the United Kingdom. It provided for the
establishment of two Houses of Legislature, with power to make
laws, subject to the assent of the Crown as represented
generally by the Governor of the colony; the Legislative
Council, or Upper House, to consist of 30, and the Legislative
Assembly, or Lower House, to consist of 60 members. Members of
both Houses to be elective and to possess property
qualifications. Electors of both Houses to possess either
property or professional qualifications [the property
qualification of members and electors of the Lower House has
since been abolished]. ... The Upper House not to be
dissolved, but five members to retire every two years, and to
be eligible for re-election. The Lower House to be dissolved
every five years [since reduced to three], or oftener, at the
discretion of the Governor. Certain officers of the
Government, four at least of whom should have seats in
Parliament, to be deemed 'Responsible Ministers.' ... This
Constitution was proclaimed in Victoria on the 23d November,
1855."

_H. H. Hayter, Notes on the Colony of Victoria, chapter 1._

ALSO IN:
_F. P. Labilliere, Early History of the Colony of
Victoria, volume 2._

_W. Westgarth, First Twenty Years of the Colony of
Victoria._

{194}

AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1859.
Separation of the Moreton Bay District from New South Wales.
Its erection into the colony of Queensland.

"Until December, 1859, the north-west portion of the Fifth
Continent was known as the Moreton Bay district, and belonged
to the colony of New South Wales; but at that date it had
grown so large that it was erected into a separate and
independent colony, under the name of Queensland. It lies
between latitude 10° 43' South and 29° South, and longitude
138° and 153° East, bounded on the north by Torres Straits; on
the north-east by the Coral Sea; on the east by the South
Pacific; on the south by New South Wales and South Australia;
on the west by South Australia and the Northern Territory; and
on the north-west by the Gulf of Carpentaria. It covers an
area ... twenty times as large as Ireland, twenty-three times
as large as Scotland, and eleven times the extent of England.
... Numerous good harbours are found, many of which form the
outlets of navigable rivers. The principal of these [is]
Moreton Bay, at the head of which stands Brisbane, the capital
of the colony. ... The mineral wealth of Queensland is very
great, and every year sees it more fully developed. ... Until
the year 1867, when the Gympie field was discovered, gold
mining as an industry was hardly known."

_C. H. Eden, The Fifth Continent, chapter 10._

AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1885-1892.
Proposed Federation of the Colonies.

"It has been a common saying in Australia that our fellow
countrymen in that part of the world did not recognise the
term 'Australian;' each recognised only his own colony and the
empire. But the advocates of combination for certain common
purposes achieved a great step forward in the formation of a
'Federal Council' in 1885. It was to be only a 'Council,' its
decisions having no force over any colony unless accepted
afterwards by the colonial Legislature. Victoria, Queensland,
Tasmania, and West Australia joined, New South Wales, South
Australia, and New Zealand standing out, and, so constituted,
it met twice. The results of the deliberations were not
unsatisfactory, and the opinion that the move was in the right
direction rapidly grew. In February of 1890 a Federation
Conference, not private but representative of the different
Governments, was called at Melbourne. It adopted an address to
the Queen declaring the opinion of the conference to be that
the best interests of the Australian colonies require the
early formation of a union under the Crown into one
Government, both legislative and executive. Events proceed
quickly in Colonial History. In the course of 1890 the
hesitation of New South Wales was finally overcome; powerful
factors being the weakening of the Free Trade position at the
election of 1890, the report of General Edwards on the
Defences, and the difficulties about Chinese immigration. A
Convention accordingly assembled at Sydney in March, 1891,
which agreed upon a Constitution to be recommended to the
several Colonies."

_A. Caldecott, English Colonization and Empire,
chapter 7, section 2._

"On Monday, March 2nd, 1891, the National Australasian
Convention met at the Parliament House, Sydney, New South
Wales, and was attended by seven representatives from each
Colony, except New Zealand, which only sent three. Sir Henry
Parkes (New South Wales) was elected President of the
Convention, and Sir Samuel Griffith (Queensland),
Vice-President. A series of resolutions, moved by Sir Henry
Parkes, occupied the attention of the Convention for several
days. These resolutions set forth the principles upon which
the Federal Government should be established, which were to
the effect that the powers and privileges of existing Colonies
should be kept intact, except in cases where surrender would
be necessary in order to form a Federal Government; that
intercolonial trade and intercourse should be free; that power
to impose Customs duties should rest with the Federal
Government and Parliament; and that the naval and military
defence of Australia should be entrusted to the Federal Forces
under one command. The resolutions then went on to approve of
a Federal Constitution which should establish a Federal
Parliament to consist of a Senate and a House of
Representatives; that a Judiciary, to consist of a Federal
Supreme Court, to be a High Court of Appeal for Australia,
should be established; and that a Federal Executive,
consisting of a Governor-General, with responsible advisers,
should be constituted. These resolutions were discussed at
great length, and eventually were adopted. The resolutions
were then referred to three Committees chosen from the
delegates, one to consider Constitutional Machinery and the
distribution of powers and functions; one to deal with matters
relating to Finance, Taxation, and Trade Regulations; and the
other to consider the question of the establishment of a
Federal Judiciary. A draft Bill, to constitute the
'Commonwealth of Australia,' was brought up by the first
mentioned of these Committees, and after full consideration
was adopted by the Convention, and it was agreed that the Bill
should be presented to each of the Australian Parliaments for
approval and adoption. On Thursday, April 9th. the Convention
closed its proceedings. The Bill to provide for the Federation
of the Australasian colonies entitled 'A Bill to constitute a
Commonwealth of Australia,' which was drafted by the National
Australasian Convention, has been introduced into the
Parliaments of most of the colonies of the group, and is still
(October, 1892), under consideration. In Victoria it has
passed the Lower House with some amendments."

_Statesman's Year-book, 1893, page 308._

AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1890.
New South Wales and Victoria.

"New South Wales bears to Victoria a certain statistical
resemblance. The two colonies have [1890] about the same
population, and, roughly speaking, about the same revenues,
expenditure, debt and trade. In each, a great capital collects
in one neighbourhood more than a third of the total
population. ... But ... considerable differences lie behind
and are likely to develop in the future. New South Wales, in
the opinion of her enemies, is less enterprising than
Victoria, and has less of the go-ahead spirit which
distinguishes the Melbourne people. On the other hand she
possesses a larger territory, abundant supplies of coal, and
will have probably, in consequence, a greater future. Although
New South Wales is three and a half times as large as
Victoria, and has the area of the German Empire and Italy
combined, she is of course much smaller than the three other
but as yet less important colonies of the Australian continent
[namely Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia].
{195}
As the country was in a large degree settled by assisted
emigrants, of whom something like half altogether have been
Irish, while the English section was largely composed of
Chartists, ... the legislation of New South Wales has
naturally shown signs of its origin. Manhood suffrage was
carried in 1858; the abolition of primogeniture in 1862; safe
and easy transfer of land through the machinery of the Torrens
Act in the same year; and also the abolition of state aid to
religion. A public system of education was introduced, with
other measures of democratic legislation. ... Public
education, which in Victoria is free, is still paid for by
fees in New South Wales, though children going to or returning
from school are allowed to travel free by railway. In general
it may be said that New South Wales legislation in recent
times has not been so bold as the legislation of Victoria. ...
The land of New South Wales has to a large extent come into
the hands of wealthy persons who are becoming a territorial
aristocracy. This has been the effect firstly of grants and of
squatting legislation, then of the perversion of the Act of
1861 [for 'Free Selection before Survey'] to the use of those
against whom it had been aimed, and finally of natural
causes--soil, climate and the lack of water. ... The traces of
the convict element in New South Wales have become very slight
in the national character. The prevailing cheerfulness,
running into fickleness and frivolity, with a great deal more
vivacity than exists in England, does not suggest in the least
the intermixture of convict blood. It is a natural creation of
the climate, and of the full and varied life led by colonists
in a young country. ... A population of an excellent type has
swallowed up not only the convict element, but also the
unstable and thriftless element shipped by friends in Britain
to Sydney or to Melbourne. The ne'er-do-weels were either
somewhat above the average in brains, as was often the case
with those who recovered themselves and started life afresh,
or people who drank themselves to death and disappeared and
left no descendants. The convicts were also of various
classes; some of them were men in whom crime was the outcome
of restless energy, as, for instance, in many of those
transported for treason and for manslaughter; while some were
people of average morality ruined through companions, wives,
or sudden temptation, and some persons of an essentially
depraved and criminal life. The better classes of convicts, in
a new country, away from their old companions and old
temptations, turned over a new leaf, and their abilities and
their strong vitality, which in some cases had wrought their
ruin in the old world, found healthful scope in subduing to
man a new one. Crime in their cases was an accident, and would
not be transmitted to the children they left behind them. On
the other hand, the genuine criminals, and also the drunken
ne'er-do-weels, left no children. Drink and vice among the
'assigned servants' class of convicts, and an absence of all
facilities for marriage, worked them off the face of the
earth, and those who had not been killed before the gold
discovery generally drank themselves to death upon the
diggings."

_Sir C. W. Dilke, Problems of Greater Britain,
part 2, chapter 2._

AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA, OR NEUSTRASIA.