EMANCIPIST CONTROVERSY

Source.—Historical Records of Australia. Vol. VII, pp. 245, 580-617 A storm of protest was aroused among the free settlers by the action of Governor Macquarie in recognizing convicts as ordinary members of society directly their terms of imprisonment had expired. The free community became sharply divided into emancipists and anti- emancipists.

GOVERNOR MACQUARIE TO VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH Sydney, N.S.W., 30 April, 1810. My Lord, I had the honour to address Your Lordship by Lieutenant-Colonel Foveaux in a brief Despatch, under dates the eighth and twelfth of last Month; but lest that Despatch may not get safe to Hand I shall in my present one recapitulate the substance of my last, and furnish your Lordship with a more detailed Account of my Proceedings. I was very much surprised and concerned on my arrival here, at the extraordinary and illiberal Policy I found had been adopted by all the Persons who had preceded me in Office respecting those men who had been originally sent out to this Country as Convicts, but who, by long habits of Industry and total Reformation of Manners, had not only become respectable, but by many degrees the most Useful Members of the Community. Those persons have never been countenanced or received into society. I have, nevertheless, taken upon Myself to adopt a new line of conduct, Conceiving that Emancipation, when united with Rectitude and long-tried good Conduct, should land a man back to that Rank in Society which he had forfeited, and do away, in as far as the Case will admit, all Retrospect of former bad Conduct. This appears to me to be the greatest Inducement that can be held out towards the Reformation of the Manners of the Inhabitants, and I think it is consistent with the gracious and Humane Intentions of His Majesty and His Ministers in favour of this class of people. I am aware it is a measure which must be resorted to with great Caution and Delicacy; but I am hopeful that in time it may be extended beyond the line within which I must restrict myself for the present. The Number of Persons of this Description whom I have yet admitted to my Table consist of only four. Namely: Mr. D'Arcy Wentworth, Principal Surgeon; Mr. William Redfern, Assistant Surgeon; Mr. Andrew Thompson, an opulent Farmer and Proprietor of Land; and Mr. Simeon Lord, an opulent Merchant. Three of these Persons have acquired Property to a large amount; they have long conducted themselves with the greatest Propriety, and I find them at all times ready to come forward in the most liberal manner to the assistance of the Government. In order to mark my sense of the merits of Mr. Andrew Thompson, I have already appointed him a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate of the Hawkesbury, where he has a large property, and I intend to confer the same Marks of Distinction on Mr. Wentworth and Mr. Simeon Lord when Vacancies in the Magistracy at Sydney, where they both reside, may occur. Before I conclude this Despatch, permit me to express my grateful acknowledgements to your Lordship for the Appointment I have now the Honour to Hold, and to assure your Lordship that, as far as my judgement and Abilities extend, I shall exert them in the faithful discharge of the Trust reposed in me, with the Hope that in the wide field for improvement here, my Services may not be unimportant, and that they will ultimately meet with the Approbation of my Sovereign and His Majesty's Ministers, and thereby Confirm the Opinion you did me the Honour to form in my Favour. I have, etc., L. MACQUARIE. GOVERNOR MACQUARIE TO EARL OF LIVERPOOL Sydney, N.S.W., 17th Nov., 1812. My Lord, Since my last Public Despatch under Date 28th Oct. 1811, Transmitted per ship Friends, via Rio-de-Janeiro, I have been honoured with Your Lordship's Several Despatches, under Dates 26th July 1811, and 4th, 5th and 19th May, 1812; and also the several other Letters with their respective Enclosures and Accompanying Documents from Your Lordship or the Under-Secretary of State, as noted in the margin. In the first Despatch I had the Honour of addressing to Lord Castlereagh (Your Lordship's immediate Predecessor in Office) under date the 30th of April, 1810, I stated my Reasons for restoring those Persons who had been Convicts, to that Rank in Society, which they had lost, but which, by long habits of Rectitude and Meritorious Conduct in this Colony they were fully entitled to be restored to. I have found the greatest benefit to result from the adoption of this System of Policy. Some Men who had been Convicts have been appointed Magistrates by me; Some of the same Description of Men have been honoured with His Majesty's Commission, which in my Mind is alone a sufficient proof of the eligibility of these persons for any Society. On all occasions I have found and experienced very great assistance from those Persons in the Habitual and Zealous discharge of the Several Duties attached to their respective Situations; and they act at all times as if they conceived it to be their indispensable and first Duty to assist the Government of the Country. Altho' the principal Leaders, who headed the Faction which occasioned so much mischief and Anarchy in this Country (previous to my arrival), have left it, Yet the Seeds of it were so deeply sown that a considerable part of that factious spirit still exists among some discontented and disaffected Persons in this Colony, whose restless and Vicious Minds cannot endure any Control or legitimate form of Government. The only measure of mine which to my knowledge they have dared to attempt to counteract, is this extension of just and humane Indulgence to those Persons (who had formerly been Convicts), whom I have brought forward and patronised by admitting them to my Society, but whom the factious Persons herein alluded to found it advantageous to their Interests and illiberal Prejudices to consider as Outcasts, beneath their notice and for ever doomed to oblivion and Neglect. It would therefore be highly gratifying and Satisfactory to Me, if Your Lordship would have the goodness to honour me with a Communication of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent's Sentiments on this Subject which I consider as one of the greatest possible Interest and Importance to the Welfare, Prosperity and Happiness of this rising Colony; which, as it was originally settled for the Reception, Punishment, and eventual Improvement of Convicts, appears to Me to require that their Improvement, Welfare and Happiness should form the first and chief Object of Attention in the important Duties entrusted to the Governor of it. This Despatch will be delivered to your Lordship by Lieutenant Richard Lundin of the 73rd Regiment, to whom I take the liberty of referring Your Lordship for any particulars relative to the Colony that may have escaped my recollection in my Public Despatches; and I further beg leave to recommend him to your Lordship's Favour and Protection. I have, etc., L. MACQUARIE.