The History of Tasmania Volume II Part 15

The Commissioner landed (October, 1819) in New South Wales, with the honors due to a gentleman distinguished by the royal confidence. The civil and military officers, with a large a.s.semblage of the colonists, collected to witness the ceremony of presentation. The oaths of allegiance and supremacy were administered by the Judge Advocate, and the commission read. This doc.u.ment recited that it was necessary to enquire into the laws, regulations, civil, military, and ecclesiastical; and to ascertain the revenue, trade, and resources of the colonies. The Commissioner was charged to report the information collected, "and his opinions thereon."

Macquarie addressed the Commissioner, and congratulated himself and the colony on the arrival of a servant of the King so eminent. Nothing could inspire him with greater hope for the public weal. The a.s.sistance in his power, he would cheerfully afford: the prosperity of the colony would gratify the first wish of his heart.

The Commissioner then addressed the a.s.sembly, stating that though the terms of his commission were explicit and comprehensive, he deemed it right to embrace the occasion to explain the object of his Majesty's government, and to prevent any possible misapprehension of their motives. The increase of transportation to these colonies, and the doubts entertained of the efficacy of the system of secondary punishments, had prompted the enquiry. His arrival had been delayed, but the time would give opportunity for minute researches into the state of crime, undertaken by Mr. Buxton; and for the revision of the penal code.

It belonged to himself to examine whether these colonies had answered the purposes of their inst.i.tution, and whether their attainments in civilisation had not disqualified them from fulfilling their original design; or whether it were yet possible, to render transportation a terror at home, and an instrument of punishment and reformation. This, though the princ.i.p.al topic, would not exclude others of moment: he expected a.s.sistance from every cla.s.s, and felt encouraged from the display of candour by the head of the government; from which he augured the most beneficial results. He then concluded in the following words:--"I will only add, I bring to this investigation the deepest conviction of its importance: I approach it without any prejudice that can influence my future opinions, either of systems or individuals. I feel a determination, from which no earthly consideration shall move me, of conducting it to its conclusion, with the strictest impartiality _to all_. In the course of the enquiry I mean to pursue, I shall give sufficient opportunities to those whose attendance I may require, to consider the points submitted to them for their declarations and opinions. I wish to impress on every one, that my princ.i.p.al object is the attainment of truth; and while I am free to declare, that nothing is to be apprehended from a fair and candid disclosure of truth, yet I am equally bound to apprise the community, that nothing is to be hoped for from the concealment of the truth for private purposes, or from the gratification of malignant feelings and personal resentment." He warmly acknowledged his honorable reception from Governor Macquarie, who a.s.signed him precedence to all but the Lieutenant-Governor.

The Commissioner's arrival in Van Diemen's Land (1820) was attended with the same military honors: wherever he went he was received with ceremony, and watched with jealousy and apprehension. The habits of Mr.

Bigge were simple, complacent, and industrious: he labored to draw from all cla.s.ses their feelings and designs--nothing escaped his curiosity.

His opinions are given on every subject with equal quietness, whether they relate to the salting of beef, or the most profound questions of government. The Reports he sent to the Secretary of State descended to the smallest matters: he noted every rood of land granted, and every ration issued. The style of these doc.u.ments is felt to be prolix, and their arrangement perplexing. Their contents excited very general interest in England, and in Australasia unbounded indignation.[136]

Whatever epithet of hatred and contempt could be applied by impotence and wrath, for years fell on the imperturbable Commissioner and his secretary. He was charged with eaves-dropping, back parlour scandal, partisanship, and wilful lying. The particular delineation of individual conduct, and which he thought requisite to ill.u.s.trate systems, excited the utmost vexation: it was painful to officers, to find their character, their habits, and the profits of their places, laid open to national observation. Perhaps, those details were sometimes beyond an obvious political necessity; but the plain exhibition of principles in old English phrases--giving vice its true name--measuring the results of transportation by a standard recognised outside both the mess-room and the gaol--was of vast advantage to the colonists themselves. The reference made to Bigge's Reports in this work, however, is always limited to facts, which could not be distorted or colored. His connections, and the spirit of his mission, prejudiced his judgment, respecting a system which had been the growth of circ.u.mstances; but his integrity is transparent, not less than his prepossessions. Time will extract the sting of his disclosures; but their moral results will remain. They tended to destroy those evils which can only live in a congenial atmosphere--and wither, except in the shade.

The Reports of the Commissioner were published by order of the House of Commons in 1822: Macquarie closed his official career on the 1st December, 1821, having held the government for twelve years. Thus their labors and opinions came before the parliament and the world together.

Macquarie, when he considered himself ent.i.tled to reward, for a period of service of unusual length, found it was necessary to defend his reputation. Betrayed by the warmth of his temper into some irregular acts, which ill expressed the ordinary spirit of his government, he was vulnerable to his a.s.sailants. The flogging of freed men, notwithstanding the precedents left by his predecessors; the scandalous neglect of moral precautions, in the disposal of the women; and prominent instances of unjustifiable lenity; const.i.tuted serious deductions from his merit. He was, however, exempted from pointed censure, and the crown a.s.signed 1,000 per annum, as his retiring pension. This favor was scarcely conferred, when he was called before that Tribunal, where conduct and motives are seen together: he died at St. James's, London, on the 1st January, 1824, and his remains were carried to the Isle of Mull, North Britain; where, according to his last wish, they rest in the tomb of his fathers.

General Macquarie is ent.i.tled to be regarded as the founder of these colonies: before his time, they were but hutted camps. To their improvement he devoted all his energies: he foresaw and felt the inspiration of their destined greatness. His disinterestedness was exemplary: throughout his long administration, no sordid project was connected with his name. No patriot ever labored more earnestly for his country's welfare. Every device, which seemed to promise material advancement to the community, was certain of his favor; every contribution from the meanest settler, was sure to obtain its reward.

But if he accepted neither gold nor silver, as the recompense of his cares, he took pledges of the colonies for the immortality of his name.

It resounds in every place, and is united in every form with the natural objects and history of these regions. The name of his son, of his wife, of his native mountains and early haunts--all flourish in this hemisphere: of these, many were conferred by the flattery or kindness of his friends. Their frequent recurrence confuses geography; they echo from hill to dale, and from the river to the sea.[137]

The moral character of Macquarie was not impeached. Happy in his domestic relationships, as a husband and father he exhibited an example of fidelity and tenderness. The people quickly learned this key to his regard, and he felt with all the grat.i.tude of a generous nature, the reverence paid to the virtues of his wife, and the interest affected for his son. Mrs. Macquarie supported his efforts to reclaim the colonists from the habits of concubinage, which disgraced their early history: she could not, without utter seclusion, enforce those social rules which are proper in more settled society; but her sentiments were unequivocal, and hastened many a marriage--and saved many escutcheons from a bar! Mrs.

Macquarie survived her husband ten years: she expired at Mull, in March, 1834.

The indifference to moral worth, ascribed to Macquarie, will admit another view. He estimated too highly the agency of affluence, in raising the moral sentiments; but in promoting external decency, it has considerable power. Macquarie was a soldier, and a man of the world: those delicate springs, which set in motion the finer affections of the soul, are open to the Christian, but are not found on the battle field, in the courts of law, or the seat of government. The notions of this ruler were material: he believed that another generation would cast off the habits of the pa.s.sing, and abhor and forget the vices of their parents: nor was he mistaken.

The admitted political errors of Macquarie's government must be largely ascribed to his peculiar position. When we scan the system he constructed or modified, justice requires that we should consider, not only the materials he possessed, but the condition in which he found them. The rebellion of the officers had destroyed their authority, the stores were exhausted, discipline relaxed, and those who had exacted the most servile homage, were themselves dependant for impunity on the royal clemency. He employed the discretion with which he was entrusted, to avert the miseries of forfeiture; but he could not restore the relations between the bond and the free, which revolt had shaken; or dispense with the counterpoise of emancipist support.

Many years elapsed, ere the re-action of his system attracted the attention of parliament; until then, it was approved or tolerated by the crown. The pressure of a strong and united party, what ministers have the courage to withstand? They were willing that the Governor should bear the odium of measures, long subject to their cognizance, which they had pa.s.sed by unreproved, and sometimes even applauded. Macquarie thought he had gained a triumph, when he raised emancipists to social distinction, and detained a ma.s.s of transgressors within the rules of obedience; and, for a time, so thought the ministers. They desired to establish a city, out of the materials of the gaol; but when they saw the success of their plans--half civic, half felonious--they were terrified at their own creation, and wished the city had remained a prison. In this feeling, Macquarie did not partic.i.p.ate: he delighted in the result of his policy; and wondered at the inexorable cruelty of those who grudged an asylum to their unfortunate countrymen--who attempted to dash from their lips the liberty and hope they began to taste.

Whether it were possible, without a free community, to retain ten thousand persons in perpetual va.s.salage, or to uphold a system of simple coercion and social exclusion, in a colony so remote, remains a question; but it is none, that the name of Macquarie will become more ill.u.s.trious, as the traditions of faction subside, and cla.s.ses are blended in the unity of a people. It will be said that he found a garrison and a gaol, and left the deep and broad foundations of an empire!

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 97: The instructions to Macquarie (1809) were--grants at 6d.

quit rent. Thirty acres to an expiree, twenty for a wife, and ten each child.]

[Footnote 98: _Collins's New South Wales._]

[Footnote 99: The _Life of George Barrington_, written by himself, a respectable volume in size and typography, was published in 1810: nearly every paragraph is copied from Collins, the style being first debased; and the colored sketches are a mere piracy from other volumes. It was thought fair, by the ingenious booksellers to use the name of a popular pickpocket, rather than one so little known as a Lieutenant-Governor. Of posthumous agency in thus picking the pockets of the prigging race, George Barrington's memory must be acquitted.]

[Footnote 100: _Life of Barrington._]

[Footnote 101: Tench.]

[Footnote 102: Heath: _Par. Pap._]

[Footnote 103: Terry kept blank deeds ready at his public-house.--_Bigge's Report._]

[Footnote 104: "Eighteen years ago (1802), the period when I arrived in this colony, it was lamentable to behold the excess to which drunkenness was carried. It was no uncommon occurrence for men to sit round a bucket of spirits, and drink it with quart pots, until they were unable to stir from the spot."--_Dr. Redfern's replies to Macquarie; published by Parliament._

This reference to the past was intended to contrast favorably with the present (1820), but drunkenness was not greatly diminished: the bucket and pannikin still were in request at more remote parts of the colonies, and their use was recommended as a "measure of police," to prevent the drunkards from robbing each other. Poured into a bucket, none could be unfairly abstracted--_all_ shared alike; but had it not been so arranged, some rogue of the party would have removed some bottles, when the rest were off their guard; and thus reserved for himself the pleasures of intoxication, when the others were obliged, for lack of spirits, to be sober!]

[Footnote 105: Bigge, however, states, that Marsden himself was a trafficker in spirits, and felt naturally opposed to the profuse compet.i.tion he encountered; yet the reader will recollect that this was the common article of barter--its use universal, in even the most correct society; and that it was rather to the disorderly habits of the houses which vended it, than to its consumption, that the most rigid moralists of the day would object.]

[Footnote 106: Letter to Lord Sidmouth.]

[Footnote 107: _Surgeon-superintendent Reid's Voyages to New South Wales._]

[Footnote 108: Cunningham.

The following is a picture of things as they were:--"The madames on board, occupy the few days which elapse before landing in preparing the most dazzling effect, on their descent upon the Australian sh.o.r.e." "With rich silk dresses, bonnets _a la mode_, ear pendants, brooches long, gorgeous shawls and splendid veils, silk stockings, kid gloves, and parasols in hand, dispensing sweet odours from their profusely perfumed forms--they are a.s.signed as servants. The settler expected a servant, but receives a princess."--_Mudie's Felonry._

This is doubtless the language of caricature; but the extravagant pretensions of many, could be scarcely exaggerated.]

[Footnote 109: Bigge.]

[Footnote 110: Bigge.]

[Footnote 111: Bennet, p. 77.]

[Footnote 112: _Phillip's Voyages_, 1789.]

[Footnote 113: Macquarie's commission.]

[Footnote 114: _Abstract of the Emigrant and Emancipist Population in the year_ 1820, _with a schedule of Property belonging to them_: _compiled from the statements of the Emancipists._

--------------------------------+----------------+-------------+ 1820. | Emancipists. | Emigrants | --------------------------------+----------------+-------------+ POPULATION-- | | | Adults | 7,556 | 1158 | Children | 5,859 | 878 | |----------------+-------------+ | 13,415 | 2,436 | | 2,436 |=============| |----------------+ | Excess of Emancipists | 10,979 | | |================| | PROPERTY-- | | | Acres in cultivation | 29,023 | 10,737 | Ditto in pasture | 212,335 | 198,369 | Houses in towns | 1,200 | 300 | Cattle | 42,988 | 28,582 | Sheep | 174,179 | 8,739 | Horses | 2,415 | 1,553 | Swine | 18,563 | 6,804 | Vessels | 15 | 8 | Capital in trade | 150,000 | 100,000 | |================|=============| Total estimated Property | 1,123,600 | 526,136 | | 526,136 |=============| +----------------+ | Excess in favor of Emancipists: | 597,464 | | rather more than as 2 to 1] |================| | | | | --------------------------------+----------------+-------------+

[Footnote 115: "Now, in matters of opinion, man is like a pig: if you force him on he retrogrades. If you are really serious in attaining a point, make him believe the reverse is your object in view. Governor Macquarie, finding a number of demurrers to his opinion, instead of coaxing them into his views, looked upon them as his personal enemies, and often treated them as such."--_Cunningham_, vol. ii. p. 112.]

[Footnote 116: _Bigge's Report._]

[Footnote 117: Ibid.]

[Footnote 118: Mr. Hall, a free immigrant editor, addressed a meeting of emancipists (1822), and regretted he was not one of their number!--his sincere regret that he was not an emancipist! This, it must be recollected, was after dinner.]

[Footnote 119: _Wentworth_, 2nd edit.]

[Footnote 120: _Bigge's Report._]

[Footnote 121: When addressing the Secretary of State, Macquarie observes--"In my opinion (speaking of the voluntary settlers), they should consider they are coming to a convict country, and if they are too proud or too delicate in their feelings to a.s.sociate with the population of this country, they should consider in time, and bend their course to some other country, in which prejudices in this respect would meet with no opposition. No country in the world has been so advantageous to adventurers as New South Wales: the free settlers, coming out as such, have never felt their dignity hurt by trading with convicts, even when they were such." Again--"It has been my invariable opinion, that a freeman, by pardon or emanc.i.p.ation, should be in all respects considered on a footing with every other man in the colony, according to his rank in life and character; in short, that no retrospect should, in any case, be had to his ever having been otherwise."--_Letter to Earl Bathurst_, 1813.]

[Footnote 122: _Reid's Voyage._]

[Footnote 123: This was afterwards prevented.]

[Footnote 124: _Macarthur's Present State._]

[Footnote 125: "Men are governed by words: under the infamous term convict, are comprehended offenders of the most different degrees and species of guilt. One man is transported for stealing three hams and a pot of sausages; in the next berth to him, is a young surgeon engaged in mutiny at the Nore; another, was so ill read in history, as to imagine that Ireland was ill-treated, and too bad a reasoner to suppose that nine catholics ought not to pay t.i.thes to one protestant. Then comes a man who set his house on fire; another, the most glaring of all human villains, a poacher; driven from Europe, wife and child, by thirty lords of the manor, for killing a partridge. Now, all these are crimes, no doubt; but surely to which attach different degrees of contempt and horror. A warrant granted by a reformed bacon stealer would be absurd; but a hot brained young blockhead, who chose to favor the mutiny at the Nore, may, when he is forty years of age, and has cast his jacobin teeth, make a useful magistrate and loyal subject.