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CAPABILITIES OF THE COLONY.

CHAPTER II.

HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES DURING THE GOVERNMENTS OF SIR RICHARD BOURKE AND SIR GEORGE GIPPS.

SECTION I.

INTRODUCTORY.

In accordance with the plan intimated in the commencement of the work, the present chapter will be devoted to the consideration, in detail, of the various and important measures adopted by the imperial and colonial governments from the year 1832 to 1844 inclusive, during which period the affairs of the colony had been administered by Major-General Sir Richard Bourke, and his Excellency Sir George Gipps. It has been considered advisable to allot a larger proportionate space to these administrations, because, not only has the ground been untraversed by any regular historian, but the capabilities of the colony have, during that period, been more fully developed; prospects for the future have been opened, the realization of which had pre

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viously been but remotely anticipated, if not considered altogether chimerical; and, above all, a constitution has been granted to the colony, which secures to us, in many important particulars, the privileges of a free people. We have received the first element of freedom-a Representative Legislature; a boon which, though in the opinion of many, it has been tardily conferred, and is of a limited character, cannot but be regarded as of the highest value, as being calculated to promote the growth of the enterprise, the education, and, it may be added, the religion of the community, for "freedom is the twin sister of virtue." If we had not attained our full political majority, we had at least arrived at that age when the analogy between men and states suggested, that we should have the privilege of choosing our own guardians; this privilege our imperial mother has, it may be with some reservations, accorded; and it is not without strong feelings of satisfaction that the present volumes are issued to the world, as the first History of New South Wales under our free Constitution.

Major-General Bourke arrived in the colony on the 2nd December, 1831, an interregnum of six weeks having elapsed since the departure of his predecessor, during which brief period the duties of Acting-Governor were discharged by Lieutenant-Governor Colonel Lindsay, of H.M. 39th regiment. It will be proper, before enter

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UNPOPULARITY OF GOVERNOR DARLING.

ing on the consideration of more momentous subjects, to notice a few minor points, which may convey to the reader an impression of the general character of Governor Bourke's administration, and which will prevent the necessity of subsequent digressions.

The colony, at the time of General Darling's resignation, was, and for some time past had been, in a state of excitement which affected both its political and commercial welfare. The causes of this excitement have been briefly mentioned; they are reducible to two; viz:-the undue interference of his Excellency with the public press; and his undue encouragement of one particular class of colonists, to the entire exclusion and positive hindrance of the other. The operation of both these causes very materially impeded the

prosperity of the colony. Indeed, it could hardly have been otherwise; for, during the latter part of his administration, his Excellency was chiefly occupied in devising measures to restrain the freedom of the press, and in prosecuting those publishers who ventured to question either the soundness of his views, or the policy of his measures. He had, therefore, little time to attend to the more important affairs of his government; and he was so completely surrounded by the exclusive party, that scarcely any public measure was carried into effect of the slightest importance to the general advancement of the colony. In

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short, feelings of distrust and suspicion, partly arising from commercial losses, and partly from the highly irritating and arbitrary course observed by his Excellency, pervaded every class of the community; the wheels of commerce had been taken off, and she was driven heavily; and a continuance of the same system must have terminated in the utter ruin and desertion of the colony.

The arrival of a new Governor was consequently hailed by the colonists with the liveliest demonstrations of satisfaction; and seldom has any colonial Governor arrived at the seat of his government with such favourable prospects of enduring popularity and usefulness, as those which opened on Major-General Bourke. The greatest results were augured from his administration, and it is gratifying to state that the colonists were not disappointed. His Excellency was found to possess, in an eminent degree, all the decision of character which distinguished his predecessor, combined with the public spirit and energy which had characterized the government of Macquarie; while his accessibility, and unaffected desire to advance every beneficial undertaking, tended to confirm the prepossessions which the public had entertained in his favour. The fevered condition of the social blood, aggravated as it had been by a phlogistic regimen, attracted the early attention of his Excellency, who succeeded, by an opposite treat

ment, in restoring our political system to health and vigour. One of his first acts was to renounce all official connection with, or patronage of, the public press; and the editor of the " Sydney Gazette," assuming the style of the Moor of Venice, apostrophized his types and presses as follows:

"And oh! you mortal engines, whose rude forms The Governor's dread clamours counterfeit, Farewell! Your master's occupation's gone!”

The highest officer of the colony, the representative of the British Crown, was no longer under obligation, for a defence of his measures, to a hireling advocacy; those measures, as ought ever to be the case, were left to the weight of public opinion; nor did the impartial journalists, who canvassed them, fear any apprehension of an action for libel. The system of Spain, which permits every man to print what he pleases, so long as he does not speak of the government, the theatre, the markets, nor of the state of parties -a system scarcely more arbitrary than that pursued by General Darling-was decreed by General Bourke to be unsuited to the constitution of Britain, and not calculated to promote the welfare of British colonists. The train of adulators, therefore, at the printing office, were dismissed from Government House, having received an intimation from his Excellency that no more