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In 1789, a work published by subscription (by Stockdale), and dedicated to the Marquis of Salisbury (Lord Chamberlain of the Household), professed to make public all that was known of "the settlement at Sydney Cove," and to be "compiled from authentic papers obtained from the government departments." The subscription list included the names of Pitt the Prime Minister, Addington the Speaker, and many other members of Parliament, and it may fairly be assumed that the work reflected the opinions of the day as to the formation of the settlement. It stated that the expedition was "occasioned by motives of legislative policy, carried on by public authority, and concluded by a fixed establishment in a country very remote;" that the discovery of the east coast by Captain Cook gave the English the decided title of "prior discovery;" and that this, with the favourable accounts of the east coast as compared with other portions of Australia, decided "the choice of the British government in appointing a place for the banishment of a certain class of criminals;" that "the cause of the determination to send out in this manner the convicts under sentence of transportation was, as is well known, the necessary cessation of their removal to America, and the inconveniences experienced in the other modes of destination adopted after that period." Between transportation to America, and transportation to Australia, there was, however, a wide distinction. Convicts sent to America were conveyed by contractors who parted with them for a consideration to the colonists, and "were obliged to prove, by certificates, that they had disposed of the convicts according to the intention of the law." In Australia there were no colonists craving for labourers, and the government were compelled to establish a society in the first instance. Of this society in one aspect the governor might be looked upon as having been the head gaoler, but in another as the counsellor and patriarch. All laws and regulations, all care and providence for the well-being and sustenance of the infant community flowed from him.

Men in small states exhibit the same wants and require the same assistance and control as they do in large ones; and where everything had to be provided in the first instance by the government and every subsequent enterprise