THE SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1850.
LUOEO NON TJRO. "If I ha*e been extinpu'slied, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the *park I bore.
We have Hobart Town and Launceston papers to the 6th instant, by that smart BriLntine, the "Isabella," which arrived^from the former port, after a fourteen days' pasgage, on Wednesday afternoon. Convict Ships continued to pour their obnoxious cargoes upon unhappy Tasmania,; — the "Eliza," with a band of desperadoes from Earl Grey's rejormatory Elysium at Portia . the "St. Vincent," with females ; and the "Neptune," of Cape notoriety, having almost simultaneously east anchor in the Derwent. With reference to the first-named ship, the Robart Town Advertiser, of the sth instant, writes thus: — "The guard of the "Eliza" consists of pensioners enlisted to serve six months, and liable to do duty for that period This is in accordance with the views we published some time since, and is no doubt intended as the nucleus of a militia here, preparatory to a partial and gradual withdrawal of the regular troops. It has been for some time the declared intention of the home government that the colonies which obtained liberal governments shall be made wholly self-support-ing, and among other arrangements that they shall look to their own military defences by the enrolment of local militia. We shall, however, be furnished with fuller information on the subject in a few days." "The old pensioners (says the Launceston Advertiser of the 6th instant) who have arrived are incapable of work, and will only be a burden on the colony. One of these persons died on the passage, leaving a wife who cannot earn her bread, and six children who have to be provided for by the public. The revival of transportation seals the fate of this island. There will be no free institu- ■ tions; the name of Van Diemen's Land will j probably be silently dropped out of the Australian Bill, and this country become a huge I gaol — 'a cage of unclean birds.' — If anything ■ can rouse a people to a just sense of their ■condition, it is the article we copy from the ■ jDaity News. How are the colonists to act?" I The condition of Van Diemen's Land, hope- , ■less as it long has been, continues to become ■dailj worse, not merely morally and socially, ■but also physically. The public journals and ! ■private letters equally paint it as one mighty Hlazar house, from which the ruined of the ■system, and those unfettered to the soil, are ■continually escaping. Launceston, a few Byears since, one of the most flourishing ports Wfaf the Southern Pacific, is now more than Bialf deserted. Property is only disposable Bit a frightful sacrifice. — Some valuable Blouses, recently erected, had been atto be sold, but were withdrawn : — Hill the rhetoric of the auctioneer proving buildings, which cost £1,100, were Bought in for £700. Even for a wellBistablished pawn-broking establishment, Bio offer could be got — whilst in the best disBnct of the interior, — Salt Pan Plains— Bhe magnificent estate of Trefusis — let ten Bears since for £3,000 a year, realized but B& 5 - per acre! ! !— Such are the beautiful B&ects of Colonial Office despotism ! B The " Launceston Advertiser" viewing Bolonial rulers and tkeir staffs in the same Bp[ht as we ourselves do, namely, as mere middle men privileged to draw By from England, and permitted to drive Vto destroy the Colonies, has an able Bhcle upon the misery and ruin which Bese Valentine McClutchy's have caused, Bd still continue to cause. As the picture ■plies to other provinces with a signifi■nce equally as fatal as to Tasmania, we Ball gjy c jt i n a future number, convinced ■>& TwrtJaing is more likely to arrest the Becfrbn of the British press than the reBgnition of the wrongs of one Colony by ■other, and by the testimony such reciB>city of sentiment affords of the truth of t Btements conveyed, and of the sympathy , WPJ are so well calculated to excite. • HThere had been several arrivals from . ■& Francisco, but none of so recent a date ) ■&« " Bostonian." The journals are ' R. ra^ deluged with Californian matter, ■ as the subject is nearly the same as l| Bt to which we have already given so <^Bch currency, we do not deem it necesj ( H^ to encumber our columns with masses t e B^eer verbiage. If we can glean any•l B*g of importance we shall transfer it in ■ next. The facts are simply and sub■Jtially that money was plentiful, and ■sets falling; — population augmenting •■ • . our declining; — disease rife and e d Button excessive. The timber from o" R56R 56 P er " Osprey" is said to have realB i! ■i* per th ? usand feefc - Speaking of ■» j* condi tion of Launceston, a cor- ■*£ nt of ours writes thus— 5 BCr are . terri bly dull here: were it not • the mercantile stream would
stagnate-. We have positive and authentic information from thence by the " Spartan/ which has returned to this port, as well as by the " Xylon," an American built ship of 500 tons, purchased by Messrs. MacKenzie and Thompson, in San Francisco. — Several other vessels have likewise reached Hobart Town. The ships, of which there are many, now leaving Van Diemen's Land for the gold region, are not only conveying our produce thither, but are draining this outraged and insulted country of the very pith and marrow of its population. Young and old are alike flying our desecrated shores for this common centre of attraction, so that to the interest felt for the issue of our commercial speculations in that quarter, is superadded an anxiety so general and so deep for the fate of the adventurers, that a depressing, if not a paralyzing influence is cast around every other pursuit. The Thompsons, of this town, who chartered the " Spartan" last year, have established a branch of their house in San Francisco, and are likely to make a rapid fortune." Captain W. Moriarty, R. N., so long and so generally esteemed as Port- Officer of j Hobart Town, died of a lengthened illness, in March. His remains were interred with military honours, and followed to the grave by one of the largest funeral trains ever yet assembled in Hobart Town. We also remark in the Colonial Obituary, the name of one well-known to many of j our readers — the Rev. Thomas Beagley Naylor, the earnest and unwearied assertor of the innocence of the unfortunate Mr. Barber. Mr. Naylor died on board the barque "Midlothian," on her passage from Sydney to London, on the 22nd October. A large and liberal subscription had been opened for the widow of the late rector of the Hobart Town High School. With a beneficence, in which they have hitherto been unsurpassed, the people of Hobart Town had already contributed upwards of £600. The Station at Maria Island was about to be broken up, and in consequence Mr. Smith OBrien was to be transferred to Port Arthur. The Authorities had provoked needless comment by ordering a stable to be converted to a cottage for him. When materials were so abundant and labour so easy of command, a new tenement might have been provided quite as cheaply as the old one could have been converted. It would have spared, too, the imputation of a desire to trample unnecessarily. The Hobart Town Advertiser gives in telligence from Swan Hiver to the Ist of March. The discovery of a vein of silver lead ore, and of a lode of copper, had in fused great joy into the hearts of the Western Australians. j With deep sorrow we remark that the Advertiser regards the report of the recent tidings of Sir John Franklin's safety as somewhat more than apocryphal. We all remember (writes that journal) the excitement with which a hope, almost a certainty, of the safety of Sir John Franklin was received some months since. We regret that subsequent events do not confirm the expectations indulged in so sanguinely, the more that they were so earnestly desired. We before announced the arrival of the expedition under Sir James Ross and Dr. Richardson — both utterly unsuccessful in obtaining any intelligence of his fate. Since then we have been favoured with the following extract of a letter from Sir W. J. Hooker, dated November 19, 1849, which throws a still greater damp upon our- hopes, though it is just as possible the crews of the long missing vessels may be saved : — "I have just been with the Gell's (Mr. and Mrs. G.) to meet Richai'dson, and i hear of his unsuccessful search after Franklin, and I then met Ross at the Admiralty, to hear the result of his voyage. j Not a trace of him to be seen ; the supposed statements of the Esquimaux all false. "Lady Franklin and Wm. Brown think Sir John is about Melville Island, if alive. Dr. Rae was left with a party at the mouth of the Coppermine River to proceed to Banke's Island in boats, but with little hope of success." «
We have Sydney papers, (extracts from which will be found elsewhere) to the 2nd of the month. The California tide was still flowing, but not without some slight indications of an ebb — several ramblers having returned, and more having intimated their intention so to do, health and funds permitting. Even in the land of gold there is a plentiful lack of shiners ; and the victims once caught, nothing but cash, or an opportunity of working their passage, can set them free. The Hobart Town papers have later and more ample English intelligence, a summary of which vre have already given.
The schooner " Helen" was captured at the Navigator's Islands, where she had touched, hailing as the " Pilot" from Adelaide. The pirates are on their way back to Sydney. The intelligence received at Hobart Town from England is to the 20th of December. There is nothing, however, of very prominent interest in the journals before us. Queen Adelaide, after labouring under a long and painful malady, departed this life on the 2nd of December. She was a most amiable person in private life, and greatly esteemed by all who were privileged to enjoy her friendship. Her charities were many and unostentatious, and misery will have to mourn the powerlessness of a hand now slow to tender it relief. There is something extremely touching in the instructions left by this gentle Queen for the conduct of her obsequies. We read that they were as private as those of a sovereign well could be ; but neither the pomp of living state, nor yet the vulgar appetite even for funeral show, could entirely permit John Bull the privation of this last mortal pageant. The roads were thronged with gazers — the railways were alive with extra trains ; and Windsor was crowded with the curious of the surrounding country. Our space forbids us copying the details at full, but we transcribe, as a memorial of the spirit of the departed, the following extract from her will :—: — " I die in all humility,' knowing well that we are all alike before the throne of God, and I request, therefore, that my mortal remains be conveyed to the grave without any pomp or state. They are to be moved to St. George's Chapel, Windsor, where I request to have as private and quiet a funeral as possible. I particularly desire not to be laid out in state, and the funeral to take place in daylight, no procession, the coffin to be carried by sailors, to the chapel. All those of my friends and relations, to a limited number, who wish to attend may do so. My nephew, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, Lords Howe and Denbigh, the Hon. Win Ashley, Mr. Wood, Sir Andrew Bernard and Sir D. Daviss, with my dressers, and those of my ladies who may wish to attend. I die in peace, and wish to be carried to the tomb in peace, and free from the vanities and the pomp of this world. I request not to be dissected nor embalmed ; and desire to give as little trouble as possible. " Nov., 1841. (Signed) " Adelaide R." From the " Launceston Examiner" we transcribe as follows :—: — " The December sales of wool had opened with an advance of from Id. to 2d per lb., on those of October. " Parliament had prorogued to the 16th January, and it was expected to meet for the dispatch of business about the end of that month. "The differences between Turkey and Russia were still unsettled, and it was generally thought this settlement, so necessary to the peace and confidence of Europe, was less to be expected than at any former period. The Emperor Nicholas was believed to be procrastinating in the hope of an insurrection in Paris, or some other change in European politics, enabling him to carry the subjugation of Turkey without the interference of England or France. Russia first demanded that the Porte should expel the Hungarian refugees, with the exception of those who had become Moslem subjects, which was acceded to, and then the demand was made for ! the expulsion of all the Poles who had taken up their residence in Turkey previous to the i insurrection in Hungary. This the Porte refused, and relations were still suspended, and without any prospect of an early adI justment. " Thirty-five of the Hungarian refugees had arrived in Leith, and proceeded thence to Greenock, where they took shipping by the " Mount Stewart Elphinstone" for New York. Their reception in Scotland was kind in the extreme, and large subscriptions had been raised in their behalf. " Captain Sir James Sterling, R.N., formerly Governor of Western Australia, was to receive the appointment of one of the lords of the admiralty, in the room of Capt. Lord John Hay, who was appointed superintendent of the dock yard at Devenport. " The passport system was about to be abolished in France. " The Spanish troops had been recalled rom Italy. " It was currently reported that the hon. Fox Maule was likely to receive the seals of the colonial office in the room of Earl Grey; and as a first step the hon. gentleman had been admitted to a seat in the cabinet. Later reports state that Earl Grey is not to retire, but that a considerable portion of the colonial management is to fall upon Mr. Labouchere. " Canadian troubles were on the increase. The Indiana were in open arms against Lord
Elgin's government on account of some'illegal appropriation of their territory, for which they had demanded and had been refused compensation. " The government had ordered the " Enterprise" and " Investigator" to be refitted with the utmost dispatch, in order to another expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, by way of Behring's Straits. " Property is said to be fearfully depreciated in value in Dublin. It is stated, in fact, that Dublin is likely to become one big mendicity house. " The window tax and the tax on paper, are to be done away with during the present session of parliament. " The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have issued a notification inviting tenders for the conveyance of mails to and from Sydney. " A commission de lunatico inquirendo had declared the Earl of Albermarle insane. His lordship, who had only lately succeeded to the title, is the brother of the Hon. Capt. Keppell, 8.N., now at Hobart Town. " The Gape colonists had triumphed, and orders had been despatched by the home government for the removal of the " Neptune' ' and her cargo of convicts "
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Bibliographic details
Daily Southern Cross, Daily Southern Cross, Volume VI, Issue 295, 26 April 1850
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2,579THE SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1850. Daily Southern Cross, Volume VI, Issue 295, 26 April 1850
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