It is the expressed opinion of the highest authority in the church of Australia, that New South Wales, which is certainly the farthest advanced of all our colonies there, is not yet ripe for the establishment of a regular college, resembling our ancient and venerated English universities. But this most important object has not been lost sight of; and while a grammar-school has recently been opened in St. James’s parish in Sydney, and another is projected at Newcastle, both of which are intended to form a nursery for the future college, the means of providing this last are beginning to accumulate. Mr. Thomas Moore, of Liverpool, in New South Wales, who died in 1840, has left the site of his house in Liverpool, with ground adjoining, together with 700 acres of land, in trust towards the establishment of a college in immediate and exclusive connexion with the Church of England and Ireland. This bequest, in itself insufficient for the proposed purpose, will yet serve for a foundation to begin upon; 3,000l. were voted in January, 1840, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge to advance the same good object, and it is expected that the fund will increase and gather strength before the time shall have arrived when it will be thought advisable to commence the college. A new school, attached to the Church of England, is also about to be begun in Van Diemen’s Land. It is to be called Archdeacon Hutchins’s school, being intended by its promoters for a lasting and useful memorial of their respect for the late lamented Archdeacon of Van Diemen’s Land. In the last published account of this undertaking, it is stated that about 850l. was subscribed for this purpose, but at least 2,000l. will be wanted. Our noble Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, ever active in advancing the glorious purpose for which it was formed, has contributed 100l. towards this school, which is to be built at Hobart Town. And it may be observed, that henceforth Van Diemen’s Land will demand even more spiritual care and assistance than the elder colony; for by recent arrangements, the transportation of criminals to New South Wales has altogether ceased, and Van Diemen’s Land is now the only colony to which convicts are conveyed.[220]
A census of the population of New South Wales was taken on the 2d of March, in the year 1841, and the general result of this is here added for the satisfaction of the reader. In the whole colony, including its various dependencies, but exclusive of Van Diemen’s Land,[221] the total of inhabitants was 130,856, of which number 43,558 were females, and 87,298 males, being as nearly as possible two to one in favour of the latter. The number of houses, mostly built of wood, was 16,776, nearly in the proportion of eight inhabitants to each house. The return of the various religious persuasions was as follows:—Church of England, 73,727, forming a clear majority upon the whole population. Scotch Kirk, 13,153, forming about a tenth of the whole amount of the inhabitants of New South Wales. Members of the Church of Rome, 35,690, being rather more than one-fourth of the population. Protestant Dissenters, including Wesleyans, 5,093, making about one-twenty-sixth of the whole. Jews, 856, Mahometans and Pagans, 207. Of the inhabitants of New South Wales in 1841, 101,749 were returned as free, while 26,977 were in bondage.[222] In 1836, there was about one and three-quarters free to one bond, while in 1841, there were four free to one bond, the proportion of free to the whole population having gained sixteen per cent. in the five years. Henceforth, from the natural increase by births, from the influx of emigrants, and the stoppage of transportation, the advance will be much more rapid. The population of Sydney was, in 1841, no less than 29,973 souls; of these, 16,505 were returned as members of the Church of England; 8,126 belonged to the Romish Church; 3,111 were members of the Scotch Kirk; 1,707 were Protestant Dissenters; 462 were Jews; and 62 Mahometans and Pagans. It will be seen, that in the population of the metropolis of the colony, the proportions of the various religious opinions are not very materially different from those in the whole of New South Wales, except that the number of Roman Catholics and Dissenters are greater, as they usually are in large towns, and that in Sydney the Romanists have increased, whilst in the colony generally they have diminished since the last census.
A few words may not be out of place, in a work descriptive of the Australian colonies, upon the subject of emigration, but so much has been written upon this matter, that a very few words may suffice to give the opinions of those who are practically acquainted with the subject. Undoubtedly, active, industrious, and prudent persons, are likely to prosper in Australia to a degree which is impossible, and scarcely credible, in Great Britain. No doubt, Providence has in these, and in our other colonies, given England a means of letting its surplus population escape in a way that shall not be merely safe, but even profitable, to the mother country, as well as to the emigrants themselves. The average consumption of English manufactures by the Australian colonists, has recently been stated to amount to ten guineas a-head, while that of the inhabitants of the European countries is only two shillings.[223] And what true-born Englishman would refuse to rejoice in the increased demand thus likely to be opened for our manufactures, and in the increased prosperity of our fellow-subjects on the other side of the globe, who are thus enabled to supply their own wants, by purchasing English goods? The objections which we hear occasionally urged against emigration amount, with one important exception, to little or nothing. The distance and long voyage, the risk of not succeeding, the impossibility now of pig-drivers and convicts becoming masters of many thousands a-year,[224] the paramount necessity of patient industry and prudent forecast in Australia, no less than in the rest of the world,—all these circumstances offer no reasonable hindrance to the emigrant’s attempt, either to better his condition, or else to get that daily bread which in England he finds difficult to be obtained. And, whatever obstacles of this kind may at first deter him, the careful settler will soon find himself victorious over these, and more comfortably situated, in a worldly sense, than he ever before was.
In a worldly sense, it is said, because, unhappily, there is one great objection to all emigration, belonging to it of necessity, which, in the English colonies, and not least so in Australia, has been fearfully increased and needlessly aggravated. The want of religious instruction in newly-peopled countries, and among a widely-scattered and pastoral population, must needs be grievous, even under the most favourable circumstances. And if these countries are used as penal settlements, the want is likely to be still more deplorable. But the evil is inflamed to the utmost degree, when, as in Australia during the earlier years of its colonial history, little provision of any kind is made for the spiritual need of the people, or when, as in the same country in later years, “a system is pursued which would seem to indicate an utter indifference on the part of those who dispense the national treasure, whether truth or falsehood shall characterise the religious creeds of any of the colonists.”[225] And thus, while the sum total of religious provision is very insufficient, that little is divided in a kind of scramble among various parties, so that Irish Roman Catholics, who cry up the voluntary system at home, are tempted to glory in being one of “the three established communions” in New South Wales; and Scotch Presbyterians, who profess extreme ardour for the American system of “leaving every religious denomination to support its own ministers,” find in Australia assistance from Government (or even from a clergyman of the Church of England)[226] very convenient, and “a’ vera weel,” as the cannie Scots say. With so much irreligion, so small and so miserably divided a power to oppose it, as we behold in Australia, the great question with every one proposing to emigrate is, whether he can take that step without probable spiritual loss; and at this price he would find all worldly gain too dearly bought. There are many places in our colonies, it is true, where a person may use (or, if he pleases, neglect) the means of grace, exactly as at home; and against these spots the objection now urged would not at all weigh. But before any one removes himself into the wilderness, or far away from any place of worship, except the chapel of the Roman Catholic or the meeting of the separatist, he should be well rooted and grounded in the faith of his fathers. And supposing him to be so, what real patriot could wish a man of this kind to emigrate! How ill can England spare out of any rank of life such persons as these! Before emigration can become as general and respectable as it ought to be, religion must be made its groundwork; and religion, to be successful in doing the work of Christ in the hearts of men, must not consist in that modern jumble of denominations, which pretends to the name, but must teach its doctrines by means of the ministrations of the “Church of the Living God,” which is the pillar and ground of the truth. When this foundation has been laid, then can the conscientious churchman zealously promote emigration, and not before. And if it should never be laid, still, whatever may be his fears for weak brethren, or his value for more steadfast fellow-members of Christ, influencing him to avoid the responsibility of advising them to quit the home of their fathers, the faithful churchman will be under no alarm whatever, respecting the stability of the branch planted by his mother-church in Australia. Nor yet will he grudge all other denominations (unless they be blasphemous or immoral,) the most complete toleration. Nay, were it not for the mischief that would arise to Christianity and to the souls of men, they might be welcome to all the support and patronage of the State; and if they obtain it all, even then we fear them not; indeed it is our duty to pity them, to love them, to pray for them as brethren. Whatever may be the fate either of Australia or England, the lot of Christ’s Church—that visible Church of His which was founded upon the first preaching of Peter both to the Jews and to the Gentiles—is fixed and determined:—it is firmly built upon a rock, and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
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