Of the settlers and their disposition much has been already said. The
assistance and encouragement which from time to time were given them,
they were not found to deserve. The greater part had originally been
convicts; and it is not to be supposed, that while they continued in that
state their habits were much improved. With these habits, then, they
became freemen and settlers; the effect of which was, to render them
insolent and presuming; and most of them continued a dead weight upon the
government, without reducing the expenses of the colony.
These expenses were certainly great, and had been considerably increased.
The settlement was at this time much in want of many necessary articles
of life; and when these were brought by speculators and traders who
occasionally touched there, they demanded more than five hundred per cent
above what the same articles could have been sent out for from England,
with every addition of freight, insurance, etc. They saw the wants of the
colony, and availed themselves of its necessities.
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