Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/570

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DR. J. D. LANG AND LORD BATHURST.

church for the Presbyterians at Sydney,—it being understood that they, and not the public, would be responsible for its completion. But Lang suggested that a salary for himself would be more advantageous than a grant for building a church. Mr. Wilmot Horton asked him whether it would be more satisfactory to the Presbyterians. He wrote (28th Jan. 1825):[1] I beg to express my decided opinion that it would be much more satisfactory to the Presbyterians . . . and I feel confident that on the alternative being proposed, they would unanimously prefer the appointment of a salary for their clergyman, even at the risk of having their church encumbered[2] with a load of debt for a series of years." Lord Bathurst consented. Brisbane was informed (Feb. 1825):

"The Rev. Mr. Lang having represented that it would be more satisfactory to the Presbyterians of the colony that a salary should be allowed a clergyman in connection with the Church of Scotland, than that they should receive a grant for the erection of a church, Lord Bathurst orders £300 for the purpose in lien of the assistance it was proposed to afford to the Presbyterians of New South Wales for the erection of their church."

Lang returned triumphantly with a salary, and treasured the compliance with his own suggestions as a grievance to be used in after time. On arriving in Sydney (Jan. 1826), he found that Brisbane had already advanced 2400 dollars for the building of the church: and with financial ingenuity he evaded repayment. Though the church trustees after some years executed a mortgage to secure the repayment, by various arts and contentions it was eluded. The curious may read Lang's narrative in a pamphlet published in Sydney in 1828; and learn how his mother "could not commend her son" for writing a libellous letter about Wemyss; how in that letter he reviled Wemyss, to whom "he was indebted for the salt of his hospitality and the

  1. ↑ New South Wales Legislative Council Proceedings, 1843, p. 566.
  2. ↑ In 1843, twenty-six trustees, elders, and committee-men petitioned the Legislative Council for relief. They required £1480 to liquidate the debt. They denounced the "palpable injustice" of the alternative (originally suggested by Lang and) sanctioned by Lord Bathurst, by which salary was exchanged for a building-grant. It was only "tacitly acquiesced in by the Presbyterians." Before a Select Committee Lang was asked how he reconciled the petition with his own letter to Wilmot Horton. He replied, "I had to embrace one of two alternatives, and I chose that which I conceived to be the best."
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