Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/571

shelter of his roof;" how he likened him to the rod of Moses which turned to a serpent in the hand, and declared that Divine vengeance could be averted only by timely repentance." If he should testify contrition Lang would again meet him as a friend. It seems that the hardened Wemyss exhibited the letter as a proof of Lang's ingratitude. In the same pamphlet is included a letter to Mr. Busby (who having been a member of the Scots' Church Committee in 1824, was repelled by Lang's conduct). Lang wrote to Busby: "Several of my former supporters have doubtless fallen away from me and deserted my ministry. So it fared, however, with the Saviour of the world and with his twelve apostles; and I feel content to receive the same treatment as my Master.' These occurrences for a time rendered Lang's name a synonym for untrustworthiness. It was not until he plunged into politics, in 1843, that he acquired any general following. As he occupied a prominent position at all times it is right that he should be introduced in his true colours and judged by his own words and acts. His importance may deserve a personal description. Tall and lean in youth, he became portly in advanced life. His aspect was keen, his nose aquiline, his voice harsh, his action ungainly, his accent broad, his language coarse. Unctuous as a petitioner, he was insolent when backed by numbers. An opponent once, amid a shuddering consciousness of the likeness in some respects, read, with hypothetical application to Lang, Macaulay's description of Ferguson the plotter, in the reign of Charles II.:

"He had been bred a Presbyterian; but the Presbyterians had cast him out, and he had become an Independent . . . . Though texts of Scripture were always on his lips, those who had pecuniary transactions with him soon found him to be a mere swindler. At length he turned his attention almost entirely from theology to the worst part of politics. . . . Violent, malignant, regardless of truth, insensible to shame, insatiable of notoriety, delighting in intrigue, in tumult, in mischief for its own sake, he toiled during many years. . . . Nor was it easy for him to escape notice; for his broad Scotch accent, his tall and lean figure, his lantern jaws, the gleam of his sharp eyes . . . . his gait distinguished by a peculiar form of shuffle, made him remarkable wherever he appeared."

Lang, however (unlike Ferguson), did not skulk in hiding-places. His boldness was ever ready to distort or to defend openly whatever his cunning devised.