Sir Eardley Wilmot, like most governors, considered himself the servant of the crown, restrained in his discretion by absolute and specific instructions. Had Lord Stanley acted with prudence he would have left much to Wilmot's judgment; but just before he had dilated with vast perspicacity on the tendency of governors to act in behalf of the colonists, to forget imperial interests, to misapply the funds and pervert the labor belonging to the crown. The precision of his injunctions left no alternative but to obey. Had Wilmot at once declared the impracticability of Lord Stanley's schemes he might have been recalled, but the responsibility of an utter failure would have rested with his chief. The interested reports of his subordinate officers unfortunately enabled him to hold out hopes of success which were never realised and to furnish an excuse for his condemnation. The governor was impatient of contradiction. He had been accustomed to debate; but the sarcasm which falls harmless on the floor of St. Stephen's Chapel, in a colony cuts to the bone. He forgot that the head of a government can hardly say too little of men or measures. In a conflict of words, to an executive chief victory and defeat are alike pernicious.
The usual order had been given that the governor, during his residence in the colony, should enjoy the complimentary distinctions of office. It was commonly understood that his stay would be prolonged; but he died soon after his retirement (Feb. 3, 1847), in the sixty-fourth year of his age. The treatment he had received from the colonial-office, and his death far from the honored sepulchre of his fathers and the scenes of his early political fame, produced a general sentiment of regret. All the houses of business showed marks of mourning. A public funeral, attended by the administrator and the newly-arrived governor, was thronged by the citizens. It had been officially arranged that, except the ministering priest, the clergy of all denominations should walk in their several classes, but in one body, and the archdeacon, the moderator, and the vicar-general, as representatives of the three endowed churches, abreast. The Anglican clergy evaded this plan by stepping up before the coffin. When, however, the bearers were in motion, the catholic priests, by a rapid evolution, shot a-head of the procession. An ornamented Gothic tomb was erected in St. David's burial-ground to the memory of Sir Eardley Wilmot by subscription. It stands near the highway. His remains were interred close to the tomb of Collins.
Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot was descended from the ancient family of Eardley of Audely, Staffordshire. He was grandson of Wilmot, lord chief justice of the court of common pleas—a judge celebrated for justice and piety. Sir E. Wilmot was twice married,—first to Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Parry, of Bath; and afterwards to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir R. Chester, of Bush Hall, Staffordshire.
Charles Joseph Latrobe, Esq., Superintendent of the Port Phillip District, and subsequently first governor of that territory, now called Victoria, superseded Sir E. Wilmot (October 13, 1846). During his short stay as "administrator" he was employed in a careful scrutiny of the probation department. In performing this difficult duty he displayed exemplary activity and decision. He resolved to remove every officer chargeable with incapacity or neglect, and thus many were dismissed. This promptitude exposed him to imputations of harshness; but although it is probable he did not wholly escape errors of judgment, the chief acts of his administration were amply vindicated by the facts he saw. The opinions he expressed sustained the colonial impressions respecting the convict system. While he suggested many improvements in its details, he concurred with the general wish for its extinction. Mr. Latrobe never met the legislative council; and his government being limited to the established routine, left nothing to record.
FOOTNOTES:
[246] Motion proposed October 28, 1845.
[247] The following is the address, to which 250 names were appended:—"To Sir J. E. E. Wilmot, Bart.—We the undersigned, inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, having heard that your recall has been influenced by reports injurious to your moral character, during your administration of the government of this colony, deem it to be a duty which we owe to truth and justice to express our unqualified contradiction of those reports, and we feel the more imperatively called upon to do so, from the fact of many of us having differed in opinion upon various measures of your government. Upon the occasion of your retirement into private life, we have to assure you that you carry with you our best wishes for your future welfare."