The History of Tasmania Volume I Part 5

[Footnote 54: Holt gives the following curious anecdote:--"The Rev.

Henry Fulton was reading the commandments, when Tony Chandler sung out--'turn out, you d----d villians, and launch the boat!' As I was going out, I said to Mr. Fulton, 'I perceive Tony Chandler's word has more power here than the word of G.o.d.' Fulton smiled, and shook his head."--_Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 232.]

[Footnote 55: "At a distance, I saw about fifty men at work, as I thought dressed in nankeen jackets, but on nearer approach I found them naked, except trousers: they had each a kind of large hoe, about nine inches deep and eight wide, and the handle as thick as a shovel, with which they turned up the ground."-_Holt's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 79.]

[Footnote 56: The work is written with considerable strength of delineation; although his accounts are not quite safe authority for the character of his enemies. His words he spelled after a provincial p.r.o.nunciation: thus, describing the crew of the _Sydney_, he writes, instead of Sepoys and Lascars, "Saypies and Glascars."]

[Footnote 57: Of the women at Rio, he says--"Their skin is equal in clearness to the skin of a new laid egg: their eyes black as sloes; their hair like polished jet; their teeth as even as rows of printing, and as white as pearls; their eye-brows like those of a doll: their feet and legs, as if they were modelled in wax-work. They are the most complete patterns of the neatest form of a woman!"]

[Footnote 58: Wentworth.]

[Footnote 59: _Derwent Star, January_, 1810.]

[Footnote 60: _Cunningham's Two Years in New South Wales_, p. 201.]

[Footnote 61: _Derwent Star, February_, 1810.]

[Footnote 62: _Peron's Voyage._]

[Footnote 63: "It was, we must confess, very provoking to see the officers draw goods from the public store, to traffic in them for their own private gain, which goods were sent out for the advantage of the settlers, who were compelled to deal with those huckster officers for such articles as they might require; giving them from 50 to 500 per cent. profit, and paying them in grain."--_Memoirs of Holt_, vol. ii. p.

296.]

[Footnote 64: The instance given by Mr. Wentworth (p. 202), of a man who was sent by Bligh with a note to the constable, who was directed to flog him, without informing him of its purport, however it might read in London, will not seem enormous to a colonist, who could produce many parallel cases; it was a practice too common.]

[Footnote 65: In 1702, Colonel Bayard was tried in New York, charged with having used divers indirect practices and endeavours to procure mutiny and desertion among the soldiers in the fort, &c. For sending a pet.i.tion to the home government, which received a few military signatures, against the governor and the ruling faction, he was condemned to death--in the horrid terms included in the penalty of high treason. Before the sentence was executed, Lord Cornbury arrived: the chief justice _fled to England_; Lord Cornbury, however, it is said; destroyed the factions of New York, by oppressing them both: "and the contest soon began, which ended in the establishment of a free and independent nation."--_Chandler's American Trials._ Boston: vol. i. p.

294.]

[Footnote 66: _Lang's History of New South Wales_, vol. i. p. 110.]

[Footnote 67: Dr. Lang states, that "he was obliged to sign an agreement to quit the colony forthwith; but instead of proceeding to England, Governor Bligh landed at the Derwent."--(vol. i. p. 121). And seems rather to extenuate this breach of faith. Were no agreement of this cla.s.s binding the rigours of captivity and civil strife could never be mitigated. The following is Bligh's own statement:--"I took the _Porpoise_ on the terms they proposed to me, and the moment I got the command of the _Porpoise_, I took care to keep it, and would not suffer any of these terms, or any thing which they said to have the least influence on my mind."--Johnstone's trial, p. 33.]

[Footnote 68: Horse Guards. July 1811.]

[Footnote 69: _New South Wales Gazette_, 1810.]

[Footnote 70: Printed by J. Barnes and T. Clark, at the Government Press, Hobart Town.]

[Footnote 71: _Derwent Star, March 6th_, 1810.]

[Footnote 72: _Collins's Peerage_: of venerable authority.--_Quarterly Review_, 1820.]

SECTION III.

On the demise of Colonel Collins, the government devolved on Lieutenant Edward Lord, until the arrival of Captain Murray, of the 73rd regiment.

The governor-in-chief visited Van Diemen's Land during Captain Murray's administration. This auspicious event was the subject of great exultation. Macquarie was received with all possible formality and tokens of gladness: a salute from a battery of no great power; an illumination in the small windows of the scattered cottages; and addresses delivered by delegates, not bound to declare the number of their const.i.tuents.[74]

Nothing remarkable is remembered of this visit, except that Macquarie traced the future city. He complained of the utter neglect of right lines in the erection of dwellings, which advanced or retreated according to the whim of the builder. The centre of the projected town he called St. George's Square: in this he intended to rear a church and town hall, and the quarters of the main guard: the open s.p.a.ce he designed for a market. The streets which intersect each other he called by the names which still distinguish them: Liverpool-street after the minister of that name; Macquarie-street after himself; Elizabeth-street in honor of his lady; Argyle-street, of their native country; and Murray-street in compliment to the officer in command. The plan sketched by Macquarie has not been absolutely followed, nor has it been improved.

He ordered the erection of a signal staff on Mount Nelson, named after the vessel which brought him to port, and conveyed him safely to Port Jackson. The settlers on the Derwent expressed a fervent admiration of his devotedness in thus venturing to face the dangers of the visit; especially accompanied by his consort--so they distinguished Mrs.

Macquarie. The governor merited their grat.i.tude, for his hand was liberal.[75]

In February, 1812, Colonel Geils became acting Lieutenant-Governor, and remained until the arrival of Colonel Davey. Colonel Geils devoted great attention to agricultural pursuits, and first formed at Risdon a considerable farming establishment. Ordered to India with the troops under his command, he forwarded his youthful sons to the Cape of Good Hope, thence to be conveyed to England. The colonists heard soon after with deep commiseration, that the vessel in which they re-embarked was lost.

Colonel Davey, the second Governor of Van Diemen's Land, arrived on the 4th February, 1813. His manner of entrance indicated the peculiarity of his character, for the weather being warm he carried his coat on his arm, and announced himself at the house where he sought temporary accommodations: nor did his subsequent administration differ from its unceremonious beginning. He took pleasure in practical jokes and rough humour: his countenance was strongly marked, and, by a peculiar motion of the scalp, he delighted to throw his forehead into comical contortions. He shared in common a taste for spirituous liquors, and was not unwilling to partic.i.p.ate wherever he was welcome as a guest. On what principle he was selected to conduct the affairs of a remote and reformatory settlement, it would be useless to conjecture. As a marine, he had been present in many important actions; among the rest, at the battle of Trafalgar. His intended departure from England he concealed from his family, by whom it was discovered accidentally: they reached the vessel by extraordinary exertions, and in neglect of all the usual preparations for the voyage. The ship which conveyed his luggage was taken by the Americans, during the war--for him a fortunate loss: indemnified by the largest grant ever conferred in this island (3,000 acres); for it was not pretended that the captors could have made an extensive prize.

Mrs. Davey, a lady of a meek and uncomplaining spirit, is spoken of with respect, and the governor himself with kindness; for under a rough exterior was concealed a generous disposition.

During Davey's government, two hundred female prisoners were brought down from Sydney, in the brig _Kangaroo_: proclamation was made, and the settlers were invited to receive them. There was little delicacy of choice: they landed, and vanished; and some carried into the bush, changed their destination before they reached their homes. Yet such is the power of social affections, several of these unions yielded all the ordinary consolations of domestic life!

The conveniences of civilisation were not wholly neglected. The ports were opened for general commerce (June, 1813): houses of trade were established, and Messrs. Kemp and Gatehouse, Messrs. E. Lord and J. H.

Reibey, supplied the colony with English goods: the most necessary articles had often been wanting. The settlers purchased even the clothing of the prisoners, as preferable to the skins of animals by which they were often clad.

The resources of the colony were developed: Mr. Birch, an enterprising merchant, fitted out a vessel to survey the western coasts (1816), and Captain Kelly discovered Macquarie Harbour and Port Davey: Captain Florence found a new species of pine, very highly valued by artificers.

Mr. Birch was rewarded with one year's monopoly of the trade he had opened.

The whale fishery was considerably enlarged: corn was exported; the plough introduced, and gradually superseded the hoe; a mill erected; and (February, 1817) the foundation of St. David's Church was laid. Pa.s.sage boats connected the banks of the Derwent; a civil court for the recovery of debts, not exceeding 50, was established. A newspaper--a second time attempted in 1814 without success, when the commercial strength of the community was indicated by two or three advertis.e.m.e.nts--was at length published under better auspices. On the 1st June, 1816, Mr. Andrew Bent issued the first number of the _Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter_, and thus brought into permanent action an agency which has promoted as well as recorded the advancement of the community. Nor can it be recollected without regret, that he, an undoubted benefactor of the colony, is left to an indigent old age, cut off from the prosperity to which his early labors contributed.

The welfare of Van Diemen's Land was greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded by the number, daring, and prolonged depredations of the bushrangers. In some districts, the inhabitants offered a sanctuary to criminals, and, as their scouts, gave notice of the approach of danger; while in others the settlers were driven before them. To check their ravages, Colonel Davey declared the whole colony under martial law: he punished with flogging persons, whether free or bond, who quitted their houses by night.

Several offenders were captured, and suffered death.[76] The inhabitants, to the number of six hundred, expressed their approval of this stretch of power, but it was promptly disallowed by the governor-in-chief. On many previous occasions the same course had been pursued. To const.i.tutional law, the lieutenant-governor was both indifferent and a stranger.

Colonel Davey, when he relinquished his office, remained for some time as a settler; he was not, however, successful. He returned to England, where he died on the 2nd May, 1823. His contemporaries speak of his character in terms of eulogy. The modern colonist will remember, that the tastes of society have since that period been modified, even in Great Britain; and that character can never be fairly judged when separated from the circ.u.mstances in which it is developed. Then, the town was a mere camp: the etiquette of office, necessary when a community is advanced, would be folly in its infancy.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 73: Collins, according to most authorities, died on the 24th March, 1810.]

[Footnote 74:

"_To his Excellency_ LACHLAN MACQUARIE, ESQ., _Captain-General and Commander-in-chief of his Majesty's Territory of New South Wales and its Dependencies, &c. &c. &c._

"We, the inhabitants, settlers, and freeholders of his Majesty's settlement established at the Derwent, Van Diemen's Land, impressed with the most fervent zeal for his Majesty's government, and the most profound respect, esteem, and veneration for your Excellency, most dutifully congratulate you on your arrival at Hobart Town.

"When men, whose characteristic is industry, consider themselves governed by an Officer in whom his Majesty has reposed merited confidence, who in order to promote agriculture, encourage morality, efface dissension, and patronise the industrious and deserving part of our community, leaves his seat of government, and exposes himself and his worthy Consort, under many privations, in a small vessel, to the dangers of a coasting voyage on these seas, a natural emulation must necessarily arise in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the inhabitants to merit, by an inviolable attachment to the laws, and an adherence to the regulations of the colony, the patronage, favour, and protection of such an unequalled Governor.

"We humbly presume to hope that the favorable impressions which our industrious exertions have made on your Excellency's mind on your seeing Hobart Town and its vicinity, will become much increased on your return from that tour through the different settlements which your Excellency's intuitive mind may induce you to make.

"Independent of the high consideration in which we hold your Excellency as the Representative of our Most Gracious Sovereign, we presume to solicit your acceptance of our most unqualified respect for your Excellency's person, and with duty, in the name and on the behalf of the inhabitants in general, subscribe ourselves your Excellency's most devoted servants,

"R. W. LOANE, J. INGLE, "T. W. BIRCH, A. WHITEHEAD."

"_Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, November 26_, 1811.

"GENTLEMEN,--The address which I have this day the satisfaction to receive from you has been gratifying to me, and I beg you to believe that the inconveniences I have experienced in my voyage to Van Diemen's Land, have been amply compensated in the pleasure I feel on seeing one of the finest countries in the world in a state of rapid improvement by the exertions of his Majesty's loyal subjects settled here, in whose welfare I shall at all times feel a warm interest; and sincerely hope that the industry so happily begun will be persevered in with success.

"I return you many thanks for the sentiments of regard you have been pleased to express towards me.--I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble servant,