Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/568

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DR. J. D. LANG.

guineas, and Alexander Berry gave ten guineas. All of them were in turn reviled. Icely and Berry were driven to obtain redress at law."^[1]

An address to the Governor was signed by influential persons, and was presented in due course. It reminded Brisbane that he had granted aid to the Roman Catholics in the erection of their chapel, and prayed him to extend "countenance and support" to the Presbyterians. Major Goulburn, deemed able, and known as the impenetrable "Major," was accused of framing Brisbane's reply. Whoever framed it, unwisely worded it as though Lang were the only petitioner, and the Executive Government were called upon to discuss the morality of petitioners. Brisbane read his reply to the astounded deputation, and it was published in the Gazette:

"When the Presbyterians of the colony shall have advanced by the means of private donations in the erection of a temple worthy of religion; when, in the choice of their teachers, they shall have discovered a judg. ment equal to that which has presided at the selection of the Roman Catholic clergymen; when they shall have practised what they propose, 'to instruct the people to fear God and honour the king; when, by endeavouring 'to keep the unity of spirit in the bond of peace' in a colony requiring it more than all others, they shall have shown through their lives the influence of the holy religion they profess-then assuredly will the Colonial Executive step forward to extend its countenance and support to those who are following the Presbyterian creed."

"Of the Church of England one of the glories is her toleration"—was a phrase in the earlier part of this strange document, which Lang vigorously denounced in a letter to the Governor, of which no notice was taken, unless the withdrawal of subscriptions for the Scots' church to the amount of £65 (by Brisbane and his household) was intended to serve as a notice. Dr. Lang's mother arrived in Sydney early in 1824, and busied herself in rallying the

↑ When on Icely's prosecution Lang was sentenced (1851) to four months' imprisonment and to a fine of £100, a friend said to Icely—"Well, you have put that old rascal in prison, but I would not have gone through what you must have endured for anything." "Why?" "Because you must have had to read all the vile slanders in his newspaper. "Not at all (said Icely). I heard he was assailing me, and told my solicitor to take the paper and ask me for instructions on anything he deemed actionable. He eventually sent me a copy, and I told him to proceed. That is all. I never took nor read the man's paper." It was in collecting a sum to pay the fine on Icely's prosecution that a youthful acolyte learned how his prophet conducted himself when he was young.

[1] When on Icely's prosecution Lang was sentenced (1851) to four months' imprisonment and to a fine of £100, a friend said to Icely—"Well, you have put that old rascal in prison, but I would not have gone through what you must have endured for anything." "Why?" "Because you must have had to read all the vile slanders in his newspaper. "Not at all (said Icely). I heard he was assailing me, and told my solicitor to take the paper and ask me for instructions on anything he deemed actionable. He eventually sent me a copy, and I told him to proceed. That is all. I never took nor read the man's paper." It was in collecting a sum to pay the fine on Icely's prosecution that a youthful acolyte learned how his prophet conducted himself when he was young.

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