the same year by the Rev. Archibald Macarthur. He was cordially received as a representative both of his country and his religion: though not himself of the national church, most Scottish names are appended to the first subscription for his stipend.
The co-operation of the various bodies was not prevented by their differences. Of the first annual meeting of the wesleyan mission, Mr. Bedford was president, and the whole community joined in the support of a bible society, the first religious institution of the colony.
The missionaries who fled from Tahiti a second time, formed at Sydney a bible society, under the patronage of Macquarie, and transmitted a considerable supply to the care of Mr. Knopwood. In return for the liberal gift, an auxiliary was formed, of which Messrs. Birch and Dry were the lay officers. The meeting held in May, 1819, contributed £100 on the spot: £300 during the year. This munificence was avowedly for the credit of the settlement. Not only did the institution unite all sects, but it was the first instance of friendly co-operation between the emigrant and emancipist classes.[132] Among the contributors were twelve who, giving 5s. each, designated themselves the "members of the free and accepted masons of St. John's Lodge, Hobart Town." An early general meeting of the society was an example of dispatch: the governor took the chair, the report was read, the resolutions passed, and the meeting dispersed within ten minutes. With such celerity were pious labors finished in those days.
The erection of the archdeaconry in favour of the Rev. W. Scott, in 1824, was the result of his visit to the colonies, as secretary to Commissioner Bigge, whose reports were attributed to his pen. His alleged hostility to the emancipists excited resentment, and detracted from his usefulness. When delivering his charge at 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.