The History of Tasmania (Vol. 1&2). John West

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ up the ground."-Holt's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 79.

[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 pronunciation: thus, describing the crew of the Sydney, he writes, instead of Sepoys and Lascars, "Saypies and Glascars."

[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!"

[58] Wentworth.

[59] Derwent Star, January, 1810.

[60] Cunningham's Two Years in New South Wales, p. 201.

[61] Derwent Star, February, 1810.

[62] Peron's Voyage.

[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.

[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.

[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 petition 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.

[66] Lang's History of New South Wales, vol. i. p. 110.

[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 class 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.

[68] Horse Guards. July 1811.

[69] New South Wales Gazette, 1810.

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

[71] Derwent Star, March 6th, 1810.

[72] Collins's Peerage: of venerable authority.—Quarterly Review, 1820.

      SECTION III

       Table of Contents

      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 constituents.[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 space 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 gratitude, 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 participate wherever he was welcome as a guest. On what principle СКАЧАТЬ