The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Henry Taylor, 11 October 1826
“Keswick, Oct. 11. 1826.
“My dear H. T.,
“Thank you for the New Zealander’s portrait. It
may lead one to speculate whether a well tattooed face remains capable of any
other individual expression than what the eye gives. In a portrait it appears
that eyes, nose, and mouth go for nothing.
“You seem right in thinking that Upper Canada is the
country to which Government should direct ![]()
| 268 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 52. |
![]()
such emigrants
as may be at its disposal. But when the full necessity of widely colonising
shall be generally perceived and felt, I hope something like a spirit of
enterprise may be excited in adventurers of the middle and higher ranks, and
that men may be found who will be ambitious of founding a settlement and a
family in a new world. New Holland is the country for them. I doubt whether all
history can supply such another instance of stupid misgovernment as has been
exhibited in stocking that country with male convicts, without any reference to
the proportion of the sexes. You ought with all speed to ship off ‘in
good condition’ as many female volunteers as the Magdalen, the hospitals,
and the streets can supply.
“But I want to hear of colonists of a better stamp than
those who are sent abroad by law or driven thither by necessity; and such I
think may be found. It is a matter of necessity to provide an outlet for our
overgrown population, who will otherwise soon become the wild beasts of
society; but it is a matter of prospective policy, not less important in its
consequences, to provide also for the overflow of the educated classes.
“I was at Lowther for three days last week, and met
Lord Beresford there. The priests in
Ireland, he says, are loaded and primed, and have their fingers upon the
trigger. God bless you!
William Carr Beresford, viscount Beresford (1768-1854)
The illegitimate son of George de la Poer Beresford, earl of Tyrone, and later first
marquess of Waterford; he was commander of the Portuguese forces in the Peninsular War,
raised to the peerage in 1823. Thomas Creevey complained of his “damned bad manners, or
rather none at all.”
