The American colonies were long used as a receptacle for political prisoners and offenders against the laws of England. Even after the revolt of the thirteen States, convicts were transported to America, and transportation warrants still exist among the records of the Home Office, dated 1783 and 1784, and addressed to the Superintendent of the hulks in the River Thames, requiring him to deliver certain convicts under his charge to the Contractor, for the purpose of conveyance to North America. When, however, the independence of the Union was, by the provisions of the Peace of Versailles, recognized by England, the overcrowded condition of the gaols compelled the authorities to deport elsewhere the criminals, who were fast becoming a danger and an embarrassment. The coasts of Africa were first tried and many convicts sent thither. The unhealthiness of the climate was, however, so great and the mortality so appalling, that transportation to Africa was given up in the year 1785, and a new depot was looked for. Hence the first proposals of a definite character for the colonization of Australia arose from the necessity of finding a suitable place for the reception of British criminals. Concurrently with these proposals other ideas were at work.