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

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 destitute 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:

      [121] Collins, vol. i. p. 498.

      [122] Life of John Mason Good.

      [123] Holt, vol. ii. p. 97.

      [124] Bigge's Report, p. 104.

[125] Works, vol. ii. p. 44.

[126] Reid's Voyages, p. 312.

[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 assented."

[128] The following is a discourse delivered by Captain Nairn, and by its constant repetition 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 assist 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 substitute for public worship.

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

[130] The Rev. Mr. Mansfield continued until 1825. Under his care the institutions 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.

[131] Godwin's Guide to Van Diemen's Land.

[132] Bigge's Report.

[133] Ibid.

[134] Gazette, February, 1819.

[135] Eye-witness.

[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

       Table of Contents

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 entitled 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 СКАЧАТЬ