370 THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS 1789 remarked, " it was observed that New South Wales would be a very proper region for the reception of criminals con- demned to transportation." That appears to have been the ruling, if not the only, idea which suggested itself to the Home Secretary in connection with the project. The opportunity which was then available for the settle- American ment of the loyal American colonists in New South Wales ^^*" was strongly urged by Matra and Sir George Young, as one reason for colonising that territory ; but it was dis- carded by Sydney for reasons unknown. At the time that their proposals were under consideration, the loyalists, who had suffered severely during the War of Independence, were pressing their claims for compensation on the Government. In June, 1788, a debate took place in the House of Com- mons on this question, in the course of which it was stated by Pitt that the claims amounted to between two and three Claims for millions of money. The Government proposed to issue de- compensa |5gjj^m.gg ^q ^^q neccssary amount, ^' which would be nearly equal to a money payment," and to pay them off by instal- ments by means of a lottery.* This scheme for the relief of the loyalists commended itself to the House, and was accepted accordingly. • Looked at in the present day, it does not seem a very favourable specimen of Pitt's statesmanship. It might have occured to him that colonists driven from their homes by stress of war in one part of the British do- minions, would form the best possible material for building up a great colony in .another. Had he come forward with Pitt's a proposal to colonise New South Wales and to establish the American loyalists — or at least some of them — ^in the new world, it would surely have been hailed by the nation as a proposal worthy of a statesman. Financial critics might have supported it on the ground that grants of land in the colony would not form any drain on the Treasury ; while many colonists would have been better pleased with liberal payment in that shape, than with debentures representing
- Parliamentary History, vol. xxvii, p. 610.
Digitized byCjOOQlC opportunity.
