The History of Tasmania Volume I Part 10

In 1822, a considerable religious immigration took place. Carvosso transmitted accounts of the material and moral prospects of the colony, which determined several of that cla.s.s to settle in this island. They embarked in the _Hope_, and encountered great dangers in the British channel. On their complaints the vessel was seized, under an act for the protection of pa.s.sengers; and the _Heroine_ being chartered for the purpose, they were transmitted at the expense of the government. The owners successfully appealed against the seizure, and accused the pa.s.sengers of conspiracy; who, however, themselves suffered considerable detention and loss.[131] Many still survive, having largely contributed in their various spheres towards the social improvement of the country.

Mr. Knopwood was superseded, as princ.i.p.al chaplain, by the Rev. William Bedford. This gentleman received his appointment by the recommendation of persons who had been impressed by his zealous attendance on criminals awaiting execution in the metropolitan gaols.

The presbyterian church was founded the same year by the Rev. Archibald Macarthur. He was cordially received as a representative both of his country and his religion: though not himself of the national church, most Scottish names are appended to the first subscription for his stipend.

The co-operation of the various bodies was not prevented by their differences. Of the first annual meeting of the wesleyan mission, Mr.

Bedford was president, and the whole community joined in the support of a bible society, the first religious inst.i.tution of the colony.

The missionaries who fled from Tahiti a second time, formed at Sydney a bible society, under the patronage of Macquarie, and transmitted a considerable supply to the care of Mr. Knopwood. In return for the liberal gift, an auxiliary was formed, of which Messrs. Birch and Dry were the lay officers. The meeting held in May, 1819, contributed 100 on the spot: 300 during the year. This munificence was avowedly for the credit of the settlement. Not only did the inst.i.tution unite all sects, but it was the first instance of friendly co-operation between the emigrant and emancipist cla.s.ses.[132] Among the contributors were twelve who, giving 5s. each, designated themselves the "members of the free and accepted masons of St. John's Lodge, Hobart Town." An early general meeting of the society was an example of dispatch: the governor took the chair, the report was read, the resolutions pa.s.sed, and the meeting dispersed within ten minutes. With such celerity were pious labors finished in those days.

The erection of the archdeaconry in favour of the Rev. W. Scott, in 1824, was the result of his visit to the colonies, as secretary to Commissioner Bigge, whose reports were attributed to his pen. His alleged hostility to the emancipists excited resentment, and detracted from his usefulness. When delivering his charge at Hobart Town, the governor required the attendance of all officially connected with the government, whatever their faith. New South Wales was within the diocese of Calcutta, but the relation was nominal; yet the newspapers did not think a visit from Bishop Wilson improbable.

The Rev. John Youl, formerly a missionary at Tahiti, was the chaplain of Port Dalrymple. His labors were divided between George Town and Launceston, and until his arrival no clergyman had ever visited the northern districts of the island.[133] In 1819, he made a tour, and baptised sixty-seven children, and married forty-one couple; many of whom were recognised as such before his interposition.[134] He was accustomed to call his congregation together by the sound of an iron barrel, which was swung to a post, and struck by a mallet; or he announced his arrival by walking through the settlement in his canonical dress.

Launceston was dest.i.tute of a clerical resident until 1824, when Mr.

Youl returned with the establishment from George Town. The people were sometimes weeks without a service, and three years without a clergyman.

Shortly after, during a visit of the governor, the church was crowded; an event said to be unparalleled in the history of Launceston. The church was a wooden building of small dimensions: sometimes occupied as a court, sometimes as a temporary sleeping place for prisoners; sometimes as a stable.[135]

The disposition of Mr. Youl was amiable, and his professional reputation unblemished: placed in a station of little promise, he cultivated the minds and affections of the young, and discountenanced vices he could not extirpate.

The first Roman catholic priest established at Hobart Town, was the Rev.

Peter Connolly. Less polished than his protestant friend, Mr. Knopwood, he was not less genial in his temper: the pastor of a people drawn chiefly from the Irish peasantry, he well understood their character. He received a grant from the crown, and erected a humble chapel and dwelling-house; which he ascribed partly to the charity, and partly the penance of his flock. He used a common brush to sprinkle them with holy water, and spoke of their faults without much softness or reserve.

Occasionally an execution required his services at Launceston, otherwise a place long overlooked by the priesthood.[136]

The return of the Sabbath was unattended in the country with a religious welcome. Many employed their time in hunting: the more scrupulous in visits, and the profane in labor or intemperance. A gentleman, now distinguished among the wesleyans, was found by his neighbour ploughing by the road side on Sunday morning: both himself and his men had forgotten the day. Yet at the houses of all, a minister of religion, of any name, met a cheerful entertainment and a willing audience. Whether that the presence of an intelligent stranger is itself a grateful interruption to rural solitude, or that the miseries resulting from sin were too apparent for dispute, the utility of religion was never openly questioned; and it is certain, that few people were less inclined to reject the instructions, or to affront the ministers of religion.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 121: _Collins_, vol. i. p. 498.]

[Footnote 122: _Life of John Mason Good._]

[Footnote 123: _Holt_, vol. ii. p. 97.]

[Footnote 124: _Bigge's Report_, p. 104.]

[Footnote 125: _Works_, vol. ii. p. 44.]

[Footnote 126: _Reid's Voyages_, p. 312.]

[Footnote 127: He is thus described by a companion, in the _Hermit in Van Diemen's Land_: "The good old gentleman at length warmed with the subject, and said in an under tone--'You must come and see Bob at the cottage. Yeoix, yeoix: tantivy, tantivy;' to which friendly invitation I immediately a.s.sented."]

[Footnote 128: The following is a discourse delivered by Captain Nairn, and by its constant repet.i.tion was impressed upon the memory of the relator. Captain Nairn would stand and thus address the prisoners on a Sunday morning:--"Now, my men, listen to me. I want you all to get on. I was once a poor man like you; but I used to work perseveringly, and do things diligently and as such got taken notice of, until I became a captain of the 46th. Now, I want you to work perseveringly; do things diligently, and that will make you comfortable; and I will a.s.sist you, that you may have houses for yourselves, and rise up to be equal to me."

It may be questioned if many sermons of greater pretensions, have not been less humane and effectual; and this was often the sole subst.i.tute for public wors.h.i.+p.]

[Footnote 129: These statements are taken from the official papers of the mission.]

[Footnote 130: The Rev. Mr. Mansfield continued until 1825. Under his care the inst.i.tutions peculiar to the wesleyans were fully established: their _love feasts_, in which they relate the rise and progress of their religious experience; their _watch nights_, when they wait in silent prayer for the first moment of the new year; their _covenant_, in which standing up together they pledge themselves to the service of the Almighty.]

[Footnote 131: _G.o.dwin's Guide to Van Diemen's Land._]

[Footnote 132: _Bigge's Report._]

[Footnote 133: Ibid.]

[Footnote 134: _Gazette_, February, 1819.]

[Footnote 135: Eye-witness.]

[Footnote 136: Mr. Fitzgerald, a respectable settler, speared by the natives (1831), was carried to his grave by his neighbours; but was indebted to a prisoner, sought out for the purpose, for the religious rites usual at funerals.]

SECTION IX.

On the 19th July, 1823, the British legislature enacted a law for the "better administration of justice in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and for the better government thereof;" to expire at the close of the session of parliament, 1827. The old courts with their military functionaries were superseded,[137] and a supreme court erected; whose jurisdiction extended to causes, criminal, civil, and ecclesiastical.

The judges were ent.i.tled to the powers and jurisdiction enjoyed by the courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer of England; and to enquire into and determine all treasons or other crimes committed within the Indian or Pacific Oceans. The military jury of seven officers on full pay, were retained; but the court proceeded according to the forms of civil tribunals. The trial of civil issues was confided to the judge, and two justices of the peace chosen by the governor; the right being given to either party to apply to the court for a jury of twelve freeholders. The king was authorised to extend trial by jury at pleasure. Causes of more than 500, or a less sum with consent of the judge, were subject to appeal to the governor of New South Wales; and appeals in certain cases were allowed to the king in council. The rules of court were authorised by the king. Courts of quarter session, and of request for sums under 10, were established. The governor, with the advice of a council of five or seven, or the major part of them, was empowered to enact ordinances not repugnant to the laws of England. The duties levied under former acts were made perpetual, but the council were inhibited from imposing a tax, except for local purposes. The governor, with one member a.s.senting, could pa.s.s any law: or, for the suppression of a rebellion, although all might dissent: and the king was empowered to enact an ordinance which the council might reject.

It was provided also, that the king might erect Van Diemen's Land into a separate colony: confer on the acting-governor, in the absence of the governor-in-chief, the various powers conveyed by the act; and, in that case, terminate the dependence of the supreme court on the court of New South Wales. On these extensive powers the checks provided were the requisite preliminary certificate of the chief justice, that the ordinances proposed were consistent with the laws of England, or the circ.u.mstances of the colony; the exposure of these acts on the table of the House of Commons; the obligation of the governor to show cause for the act pa.s.sed in defiance of his council; the prohibition of direct taxation, except for local purposes: guarantees of little value at the time of their adoption, but rendered of greater importance by the growth of freedom in the empire at large.

The act of parliament did not pa.s.s without animadversion and discontent.

Sir James Mackintosh moved that a jury of twelve should be subst.i.tuted for the clause const.i.tuting a military jury--the most obnoxious portion of the bill. In this he was seconded by Mr. Wilberforce, but the proposition was defeated by a majority of eleven. Mr. Canning recommended a compromise between the friends and opponents of the bill, by limiting its duration to five years, and to this the minister a.s.sented.

The capacity of the colonies to furnish jurors was long a subject of debate, Mr. Justice Bent stated, that after full consideration he recommended a grand and a common jury, in conformity to the English law, and the trial of convicts by the police;[138] but Commissioner Bigge p.r.o.nounced against the scheme, and was confirmed in his opinion by the leading colonists of the time. The whole state of society opposed serious objections to its adoption, and it was scarcely practicable in Van Diemen's Land.

The settlers were generally desirous that Van Diemen's Land should be erected into a separate colony. To this, Sorell was opposed. He thought the measure premature: tending to augment the expenses of government; to deprive the people of the advantages of an appeal to the elder colony, and of partic.i.p.ation in that more liberal system of government a larger community could demand. A public meeting was, however, summoned, and a pet.i.tion adopted by acclamation. The sole dissentient present, Mr.

Murray, was roughly treated by the pet.i.tioners.

The nearer inspection of a chief authority, and the more ample means possessed for good, were its advantages; but it occasioned a more rigid separation in social life, multiplied offices which might have been long confined to the elder colony, and removed too far the governor and courts from effectual oversight and appeal. The colony was not sufficiently consolidated to oppose a force of public opinion to the despotic tendencies of the new const.i.tution.

This pet.i.tion was forwarded to the king through Mr. Edward Barnard, the colonial agent, who owed his appointment to the suggestion of Mr. Bigge, and the nomination of Lord Bathurst. His office was not, however, political. He was authorised to purchase stores for the local government; to give drafts on the colonial funds in exchange for cash; and otherwise to a.s.sist persons designing to emigrate to this country.

He received 8 per cent. commission, and a salary until 1839, when it was withdrawn. He bore no resemblance to those bold political agents, such as Franklin, sent by the American colonists to watch their interests in Great Britain.

In the early journals the name of Sorell occurs frequently, to ill.u.s.trate the qualities which adorn a ruler, and to point a satire on his successor. On his departure a banquet was given him, where, said the reporter, "the cup was often replenished, and the flow of reason never ebbed." It was observed, that the return freight for merino wool, which the colony owed to his care and foresight, anch.o.r.ed beside the _Guildford_, that was to carry him home.

Towards the close of Sorell's government, the commerce of the colony was a.s.sisted by the enterprise of some British merchants. A company was formed at Leith, with a capital of 100,000, professing to promote the welfare of the colonies, by taking their produce in exchange for merchandise. A succession of vessels were dispatched: the first was the _Greenock_; among the rest, the _Triton_, Captain Crear. These vessels introduced many families from Scotland, whose moral worth and successful enterprise have established their families among the chief of the land.

The s.h.i.+pments provoked the anger, and broke up the monopoly of the local merchants.

The administration of Sorell was successful in colonial estimation: his habits were familiar without rudeness, and his fine countenance attracted the confidence of the stranger. He was accustomed to linger about the gate of government house, chatting with the pa.s.sers by, and a slight excuse ent.i.tled the humblest ranks to prefer their solicitations.

The admiration expressed by the settlers for his character, was partly the result of their relative positions. He was a dispenser of crown favors, and when compelled to refuse an immoderate suitor, he could refer his request to the governor-in-chief. The rigour of king's commissioner was softened by his official worth: nor is it necessary to search for a censure, amidst such concurrence of praise. The settlers, to express their regard, agreed to offer Sorell a testimonial of 750 value. They deprecated his recall by pet.i.tion[139]--a rare instance of popular favor: there was but one dissentient. A request so unusual might, perhaps, have been successful, had it not come too late.

On his return to England, he received a pension, which commencing in 1825, continued until his death--twenty-four years, and amounted to 11,500: more than the official salary he received during his government twice told. This pension was authorised by the crown, and charged on the colonial revenue. Sorell was colonel of the 48th regiment: he died on the 4th June, 1848, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

The aspect of the country at this time was not inviting to strangers; but the current of colonisation was set in, and its ultimate superiority, compared with all others, became an article of Tasmanian faith. On this subject the agricultural societies maintained a war of papers. Baron Field, the chief justice of New South Wales, was the champion of that country, and dwelt on its vast forests, its wool, its boundless pastures and rivers. The president of the Tasmanian agriculturists urged all in the defence of Van Diemen's Land, which became his position. At that time, protective laws had not furnished them with more formidable weapons.