Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/508

This page has been validated.
480
RELIGIOUS BODIES.


he shall remain until the ship shall be under weigh, at which time he will be embarked for England." Macquarie enclosed two of O'Flynn's letters which displayed ignorance; and said, if there were to be Roman Catholic priests, they should be educated people. O'Flynn, moreover, was seditious. In the colony there was some consternation. Marsden, in a letter to England (May 1818), said "the Roman Catholics are much enraged." Questions were asked in Parliament. Mr. Goulburn admitted that O'Flynn had applied to the Colonial Office, but averred that his letter was so ill-written as to create doubt; that the Roman Catholic authorities disowned the man, and that Macquarie had acted rightly in sending him away; but that measures would be taken to supply the wants of the Roman Catholics in the colony. Accordingly two Roman Catholic Priests were accredited to the colony, After a time subscriptions were collected in Sydney for the building of a Roman Catholic cathedral. Macquarie laid the foundation-stone (Nov. 1821) and hoped that the encouragement given to the Roman Catholics would induce them to continue," as he had ever found them, loyal and faithful subjects of the Crown."

In 1815, a Wesleyan minister, Mr. Leigh, arrived in Sydney, and was soon joined by another, Mr. Carvasso. Macquarie discouraged Leigh at first, but Marsden took him by the hand, and on one occasion offered him, out of his private property, land sufficient for sites for a chapel and minister's house at Windsor. Marsden, having accompanied Governor King to England in 1807, had interviews with Lord Castlereagh. He urged that, to promote morality, convicts' wives should be sent from England at the public expense. He did not prevail. Already the wealth of emancipists attracted attention, and transportation was beginning to be looked upon as a means of reaching a better land. To enhance the comforts of criminals was but to increase the premium on crime. From Marsden's point of view his object was good, and his representations had the effect of causing the soldiers' wives to be sent with them. He urged that practical mechanics and manufacturers should be sent out also; and in Warwickshire and Yorkshire found the experts required. He saw George III.,