Attempts were made in the county of Cornwall to form a collegiate
institution, for the education of youth and the advancement of science
(1826). It was proposed to erect buildings, to govern the college by a
directory of patrons, and to establish a public library and lecture
room. For these purposes a fund was contributed: twenty-four persons
subscribed £50 each on the spot. A commencement was made at Norfolk
Plains; but the project failed, and sunk into a private academy.
In 1828, the government determined to establish a school at New Norfolk,
called the "King's Grammar School." The members of the government were
the board of guardians: the master was in holy orders. This effort was
also frustrated. Such attempts were not, however, lost: they were in
reality, not only the pledges but the causes of final success.
But the establishment of the King's Orphan School (1828) was successful.
It was chiefly designed for the numerous children whose parents were
unable to support them, who had deserted, or who were dead. It was
placed under the guidance of a committee, and afforded protection to
many children who must have sunk under the influence of a vicious
example. In this island the fatherless have found mercy. In the absence
of natural ties, the settlers have often displayed a parental tenderness
in educating the children of the outcast and the stranger.
The public institutions which multiplied at this period, tended to
mitigate the spirit of party. In 1826, several master tradesmen met to
project a mechanics' institute. In 1827, they called a meeting of the
inhabitants, who having chosen Mr. Gellibrand their chairman, organised
the institution: the governor was invited to be patron, the chief
justice was chosen president, and Mr. James Wood appointed secretary.
Dr. James Ross, called the "Birkbeck of Tasmania," delivered the first
lecture (July 17), on the science of mechanics. The second, on
astronomy, by Mr. Gellibrand, senior: Mr. Hackett, on steam engines; Mr.
Giblin, senior, on astronomy; and Dr. Turnbull, on chemistry, completed
the course. Mr. James Thomson gave lessons in geometry to a youthful
class. These efforts languished during the absence of the secretary in
Great Britain; but in September, 1829, the former lecturers reappeared:
contributions were increased, and a library and apparatus were obtained
from England. In 1830, two hundred members were enrolled, and the
institution was promoted by all classes of society.
Among its supporters, Dr. James Ross occupied the first place: a man
whose name will be ever mentioned with respect. His political career
does not receive or deserve unqualified praise: as a partizan of Arthur,
he sometimes sanctioned by his pen what it is difficult to vindicate;
but he contributed to the intellectual advancement and external
reputation of the colony, beyond any person of his day. Dr. Ross was the
son of a Scotch advocate: educated at Aberdeen University, and some time
employed as a planter in Grenada, where he became an advocate of negro
freedom. He afterwards established a school at Sevenoaks, Kent; but his
family kept pace with his fortunes. He determined to emigrate, and
arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1822. Some error in the shipment of his
goods, upon the schedule of which he claimed 2,560 acres, deprived him
of one-half. He chose his location on the Shannon, and called his
cottage the "Hermitage." Here he was vexed with the incursions of
cattle, the perfidy of his servants, the dread of bushrangers, and the
visits of the blacks; and he willingly accepted the office of government
printer, which Mr. Bent had lost. The _Courier_, his newspaper,
patronised by the governor, obtained a large circulation, and in 1830
published 750 copies. He wrote with great facility and copiousness. In a
letter to a friend, he said--"I write my articles, engrave my vignettes,
set the types, adjust the press. Sometimes I set up a few lines myself,
and dictate at the same time to one or two of my compositors. Sometimes
I write three lines of a sentence for one, three lines of a sentence for
another. I teach my own children, nine in all, at the same time that I
write paragraphs."[156]
A genial spirit, except when troubled by political anger, usually
sparkles in the writings of Dr. Ross, and in such case they are rather
unfair than bitter. Wherever Arthur disliked, Ross opposed. He denounced
the emigration of the poor, and Archbishop Whately charged him with
baseness, in supporting the penal system of transportation; but no
colonist would question his sincerity. Dr. Ross retired from his
literary labors in 1837, and not long after closed his earthly toils. In
his last address to the public, he said, "independence of spirit has
been my motto; freedom my watchword; the happiness of my fellow-men my
object; and the truth of our religion my buckler and consolation." Such
was his account of himself; and may be left as his merited eulogium to
posterity.
A hand-bill, published during the heat of a political quarrel, from the
head-quarters of his foes, is a curious specimen of party spleen, and
may be taken as the set-off to his own:--"Here lieth the body of James
Ross, printer: formerly a negro driver: who spent the remainder of his
days in advocating the cause of torture, triangles, and the gallows."
Then follow couplets, among which are these:--
"Beneath this sod, mark reader, as you pass
The carcase buried of a great jack-ass:
Perfidious, smiling, fawning, cringing slave,
Hell holds his spirit, and his flesh this grave.
Corruption revels in a kindred soil:
A carcase fatted on an island's spoil!"
An association, with objects more extensive and more ambitious in
organisation, was projected by John Henderson, Esq., a surgeon, from
Calcutta (1829). It was denominated the "Van Diemen's Land Society." The
members proposed to collect and diffuse information respecting the
natural history, produce, mineral worth, statistics, condition, and
capabilities of Van Diemen's Land. The governor accepted the office of
patron of the society, and its establishment was celebrated by a public
banquet. In his account of the institution, the founder and president
relates that, although it enrolled the heads of departments and the most
respectable settlers,[157] he found himself surrounded by spectators
rather than coadjutors; who, in the absence of "selfish interests" and
personal advantage, could not be stimulated to toil. Dr. Henderson,
whatever his science, was disqualified by his censorious dogmatism, to
rule. His work was an outline of projects, which entered into every
imaginable department of political economy, and contemplated a social
revolution. On religion, his ideas were scarcely Christian: he combined
the Brahmin and the Socialist.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 156: _Penny Magazine_, April, 1832.]