FOOTNOTES:
[190] Signed by C. Swanston, T. Anstey, J. Kerr, C. M'Lachlan, R. Willis, W. A. Bethune.
[191] Letter produced by Mr. Kelsy, of the Colonial office.
[192] Twelve months imprisonment, £200 fine, and sureties in £500 for two years.
[193] Par. Pap. 1837.
6th Geo. iv. c. 5, disqualified a person to serve convicted of any capital offence, except free pardoned.
7th & 8th Geo. iv. c. 28. sec. 13, gave to a conditional pardon under the sign manual the same effect as great seal.
In cases not capital, service had the effect of free pardon: 9th Geo. iv. c. 32. sec. 3.
All the laws of England were adopted by the Act of 1828: thus the disqualification for jurors, in cases capital, was taken away.
Judge Forbes stated, that in civil issues the juries had some difficulty in comprehending the distinction between law and fact: ad questionem facti respondent juratores, ad questionem legis judices.
[194] The original Simon Stukely was a quaker, who went to Turkey with an intention of converting the Grand Turk: he narrowly escaped decapitation, by the interposition of the English ambassador. He was afterwards confined in an asylum: in answer to inquiries how he came there, he replied—"I said the world was mad, and the world said I was mad; and they out-voted me."
[195] Passed, 5th November, 1834.
SECTION XVI
The True Colonist newspaper was published daily during 1835: the editor, Mr. Gilbert Robertson, filled its columns with strictures on government, and in a style which might be termed heroic, if inspired by truth. The rashness of his imputations was never surpassed. He heaped on the governor, and the members of his administration, charges of misdemeanour and felony. One day he denounced them at the police-office, and the next printed his accusations verbatim. He libelled the governor (whom he accused of altering a deed after its enrolment) in a paper, headed "a fearful discovery;" and declared him not less deserving than others of a capital conviction. Robertson charged an overseer of Arthur with feloniously receiving hay for the governor's use, and with his connivance. His nephews, Captains Forster and Montagu, were each accused of a felonious appropriation of property belonging to the crown. For these imputations, Robertson suffered fine and imprisonment;[196] in part remitted by the clemency of Arthur. Such charges were a buckler to the governor against the current scandal of the time. They were transmitted to the colonial-office: they destroyed the moral weight of the press, and cast suspicion on just complaints, yet emanating from a community which tolerated such extravagance.
It is not to be inferred that the opponents of Arthur's government, generally sanctioned these excesses. The violence of periodical writings resulted partly from the paucity of topics, and was mainly a necessity of trade. The limited field of discussion huddled all disputes into a squabble. The writers could not forget the names of their antagonists: they espoused with vehement zeal the trivial quarrels of this or that functionary; officers, who were dismissed, supplied anecdotes of those left behind, which were worked up in every form. The want of ideas and information would have withdrawn many writers from the combat, had they not possessed CAPITALS, exclamations (!!!!), and dashes—officered by epithets of horror, as an army of reserve. These attempts to impart energy to weakness, and terror to insignificance, gave to the articles of many old newspapers the aspect of auction bills, rather than political disquisitions.
The reader of a better era may fancy this description shaded; but the writer, in preparing this work, has explored many a volume, and shudders at the memory of his toils: he would not assign them to his worst enemy. Such were not all: there were writers on either side, whose opposition was discriminating, and who enlightened the understanding without debasing the taste. The press was the more licentious, because nothing else was free; but it raised a barrier against official corruption. Men of integrity were annoyed, but rarely injured. It intimidated the corrupt, and protected the oppressed. Considered in detail it was often detestable; but it prevented mischief more serious and lasting.
These contentions embittered colonial life: they were daily renewed. The topics they embraced were rarely interesting beyond the moment: they filled the ephemeral publications of the day, and they now lie entombed in those repositories of the literary dead.
From 1831 to the termination of Arthur's government, the circulation of newspapers prodigiously increased: the improvement of the postal establishment facilitated their spread. Settlers, who delighted in their controversies, or dreaded their censure, subscribed to them all. With a few honorable exceptions they rivalled each other in recklessness of statement and roughness of diction. No lover of truth will accept their testimony, or transmit their praises. They were often what they were denominated by the chief justice—"a moral guillotine."
The spirit of contention was promoted by the peculiar fabric of society. The great majority of the colonists were below the period of human life, when the temper becomes cautious and the passions calm. Its narrow sphere magnified their temporary importance. Every man might claim, or forfeit benefits the government could bestow, and thus multitudes had personal grievances, or unsatisfied expectations. The hostilities of the day were almost invariably associated with some sense of individual wrong. A grant of land desired by one, was given to another; a valuable servant was denied on some public pretence, and then assigned to a favored applicant. One found his mercantile tenders always rejected, while another, by some unintelligible process, engrossed the custom of the crown. A youthful stranger was invested with the honors of a justice, when colonists of long standing were left undistinguished. The infractions of rule involved one master in public disgrace; another, was a licensed transgressor. Such was the complaint, which might be easily illustrated by examples; but they are such as a knowledge of mankind will amply explain, and are inevitable when the form of government is arbitrary, and where its functions enter into all the details of private life.
This was felt towards the close of Arthur's administration, and many, not prone to party strife, were anxious for its termination. The meetings to petition were more frequent, and assumed a more general character. As the causes of dissension became better understood, the patronage of the governor ceased to be considerable, and no colonist was a lover of unprofitable despotism. These sentiments prevailed in both penal colonies.
A "political association" was formed in Van Diemen's Land: a standing council was organised, under the auspices of certain leading politicians, who discussed the measures deemed necessary to amend their social and political condition. Mr. Thomas Horne, the secretary of this body, opened a correspondence with the governor, and endeavoured to direct his attention to its complaints. Arthur declined recognising his credentials, without an express sanction from the crown. The association, however, carried on its debates. The council deliberated in public: the members were assembled in the body of the hall, and spectators were admitted to the gallery. Their proceedings were reported in the newspapers, but with party coloring. By Dr. Ross they were turned into bitter ridicule: his remarks were retorted with cruelty and insult. A storm collected around him he could not disperse, and he laid down his pen soon after, with expressions of ill-concealed anguish.[197]