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bustling unsettled life I had been habituated to –

I left my Father most anxious for arrivals from the Colony
on the receipt of his next letters he will return to England
to make arrangements for his departure to New South Wales,
from whence he will never again set out, or at least never
again allow himself again to be separated from his family –
Since circumstances, my dearest Mother, do not admit of
your being all established in this hemisphere it is needless
to repine – We should rather perhaps rejoice that so com-
-fortable an asylum is left for our numerous family in that
part of the other so distantly situated. Whether we are all to
meet again beneath the same roof Heaven alone knows!
I am only prevented flying to you by the apprehension that
I should be found unfit for a colonial life, and an un-
willingness to abandon my profession until I have acquired
some benefit by so many years devotion to it – Had I once
my Company I might think of returning in good earnest
but till that is obtained such a measure would not certain
-ly be advisable – Whether I am with you or at a distance
from you my dearest Mother, I shall never cease to love you
and strange as it may appear my affection seems to increase
with the distance and years that have separated us.
But neither you nor my dearest Sisters require any assurances
on this head, as all your letters abundantly testify how sensible
you are of the unabated warmth of my attachment

Writing as I am in haste, I was led to the subject unceasingly and
having [continued at top of next page]

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of any other – Our departure for the Frontiers seems to be postponed
Everything is very tranquil in this part of France – Marshal Ney has been
executed, and the Government are proceeding with the trial of the persons
the most conspicuously engaged in the late Revolution An old French
Gentleman expressed to me this Morning his astonishment that we had
not put Bonaparte to death – him who had sacrificed so many millions –
He mentioned his recollecting him when without a second Coat to his back
and running about Paris in search of a precarious subsistence. Yet this
Man you are treating like a prince, and I understand are about to erect
a palace at St Helena – Should this celebrated character visit N.S. Wales
or his career have its termination His being now where he is certainly
twelve Months since would have been deemed a conjecture equally absurd.
Were we my dearest friends but united, it would concern us very little
what became of him. I am very anxious for the next arrivals from the
Colony and I am at a loss to account for the delay – I can now only
my dearest Mother and beloved Sisters add that I am and ever shall be
your affectionate – Edward Mac Arthur

Remember me most kindly to Hannibal, Maria, and Miss Lucas to Mr
and Mrs Baily and to all my old friends –

14th of December
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