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NEW SOUTH WALES

AND

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND,

WITH

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THAT
INTERESTING COLONY:

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MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN LONDON,

AND SURGEON IN THE ROYAL NAVY.

"He who thinks he sees many around him, whom he esteems and loves, labouring
under a fatal error, must have a cold heart, or a most confined notion of benevolence,
if he could withhold his endeavours to set them right, from an appreh nsion of in-
curring the imputation of officiousness."-WILBERFORCE.

London:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1822.

་་

NEW YOR

PRINTED BY R. AND A. TAYLOR,

SHOE-LANE, LONDON.

TO

MRS. ELIZABETH FRY.

MADAM,

MY late voyage in the Morley, female convict ship, having been undertaken chiefly at your instance; an account of it could not with propriety, in my opinion, be addressed to any person but yourself. A faithful relation of every circumstance connected with the has rendered occasional mention of your name voyage unavoidable, for which I have to entreat your indulgence. In soliciting your protection to the following pages, I am anxious to secure for them an attention and respect which, perhaps, their own intrinsic merit could not justly claim: of their object few are better qualified to judge than you are, and certainly none will feel a livelier interest in promoting

it.

Much of your valuable time has been devoted to the cause of humanity; and the results of your cfforts, with those of your amiable coadjutors, need no assistance from the journalist or historian to give them durability; they live in the grateful hearts of those who were blest with your salutary instructions; and from the solicitude evinced by many of those unfortunate persons, as I have often seen, to impress this feeling on the pliant minds of their children, it is not, I think, presuming too much to say that it will be cultivated and cherished, in distant parts of the world, by generations yet unborn.

To appreciate duly the benevolent and happy la-. bours of the LADIES' COMMITTEE, one must have witnessed human misery in its pitiable extremes; in all the pollution and loathsomeness of the licentious gaol; and patiently contemplated the benign influence of moral precept, meliorating such condition, as reflected in the melting heart and the hallowed tear of the sincere penitent, retracing the devious path that first led from innocence and peace.

Admiration of that zeal which urged you, regardless of all personal inconvenience, to explore the long neglected recesses of the friendless prison; to awaken the minds of its forlorn inmates; to rouse the dor

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