The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847)(about) |
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Saturday 5 January 1839
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DEPARTURE OF SIR JAMES STIRLING
His Excellency Sir James Stirling took leave of the members of the Execu- tive and Legislative Councils on Monday last. The following was the address presented by him on the occasion :
GENTLEMEN OF THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLA- TIVE COUNCILS, — The present meeting being in all probability the last at which I shall ever have an opportunity to address you officially, I avail myself of the occasion to express my gratitude for the zealous assistance in the administration of this Government which throughout the course of so many years I have ever received at your hands. In the performance of the high and solemn trust confided to you as Councillors of the Crown, doubtless you have sought in your own conscious- ness for that approval, in comparison with which all human praise is vain and worthless. I shall not therefore offer any opinion as to the manner in which your more important duties have been dis- charged. But between individuals who fill the offices we have held relatively to each other there are certain points of conduct to which I may with propriety refer, and amongst these I look back with the greatest satisfaction to the confidence, candour and consideration with which you have ever treated my communications, and, while maintaining a due and proper independence of all control, the patience with which you have sought out the course of wisdom and truth, and the ingenuousness with which you have listened to argument. In the period intervening between the first constitution of the Councils and the present time, affairs of no small importance to ourselves and to our fellow colonists, and perhaps I may be permitted to say, by anticipation, of no small importance to the Bri- tish Crown, have been entrusted to our manage- ment. Occasions will occur in such matters suffi- cient to call forth either unusual strength of feeling, or it may be of warmth of temper ; but while it would be useless to claim the rare and perhaps unattainable merit of exemption from all such
weaknesses, it is with pride that I assert, and I may assert it with truth, that the harmony of this Council has never been disturbed by dissension, nor the personal esteem and regard of its members for each other in any degree shaken by any thing that
has occurred here.
My participation in the Government of this Colony, whose career I humbly and most anxious- ly hope may be happy and prosperous, has nearly reached its close. Pursuant to Her Majesty's gracious permission, I propose to embark in a few days, and the Administration will become invested for the time in Major Irwin; I should not, how- ever, omit this last opportunity, of recording my sentiments on your minutes, to pass without ac
k owledging thus deeply and earnestly my sense of the great advantage I have derived from your
advice, and my sincere wishes for the health and
welfare of every one of you.
The governor having read this Address, Mr Moore, the Advocate General, said, — Upon the closing of this last scene of your official relationship with us, we are also desirous, not to lose this op- portunity of expressing our sentiments upon [?] occasion. Had we been apprised of the nature of
this address, we should have been prepared with a
suitable reply. For the manner in which you have expressed your satisfaction with our endeavours to discharge conscientiously the duties of Executive and Legislative Councillors, we return our [most?] cordial thanks. We have ever found in your Ex-
cellency the dignity and firmness of a Governor tempered by the urbanity and affability of a gentle- man, and blended with the kindness and consi-
derateness of a friend. If this were an ordinary occasion of the mere political change of one Go- vernor for another, we might perhaps rest satisfied with expressing the great regret which we felt at
your departure, and evincing our high sense of the judgment and ability displayed by your; Excellen- cy in the administration of the affairs of this Set- tlement, and testifying to the anxious and unwearied efforts which you have ever used for for the pro- motion of the interests of this Colony in general and the solicitude and sympathy which you have ever shown for the welfare and prosperity of each
individual composing it ; but at this moment there are other and warmer and dearer feelings pressing upon us. We cannot help feeling now that we are about to part with one who has been endeared to us by stronger ties than those of mere political rela- tion — that we are about to lose the advantage of
the continued superintendence of that anxious and
vigilant eye which has hitherto watched over our
interests, and to be deprived of the warm and live- ly sympathy of one who, having been selected as the founder of this Colony, having shared in all our privations, having gone hand in hand in all our' labours, and been present in our defence in the hour
of danger, was so well qualified to appreciate our difficulties, and to make allowance for our defi-
ciencies.
These are the thoughts which are now upper- most in our minds. Your Excellency will natural- ly continue to feel a deep interest in the progess of this Settlement. May your heart be gratified [?] and satisfied with its success. May you long con- tinue in health to witness its prosperity — may you
and may your childrens' children have reason to
feel a pride in saying, that they are descenced from the founder of the Colony of Western Australia.
A great number, of the colonists, prin- cipally the oldest settlers, assembled in the forenoon of the same day at the ^e[?] Government Offices, when the following
admirable address from the colonists at large was presented to Sir James Stir- ling, with an appropriate introductory
speech by the Rev. J B. Witten [oom?] Colonial Chaplain. The scene [was?]
gloomy one, and all seemed very [?]
affected, — his Excellency was so [much?] agitated, that he was compelled to quest Mr Brown to read his repty : —
ADDRESS To His Excellency Sir James Stirling, [Knight?]
Captain in the Royal Navy, Governor
Commander in-Chief of the colony of West[ern?] Australia and its Dependencies, and Vice [Ad?] miral of the same.
SIR, — At a time when your Excellency's off[ial?] relations to us are on the point of terminating probably for ever, but at least indifinitely <
therefore all ordinary motives of adulation *"^ sincerity have ceased to exist, we beg to pre your Excellency with this our parting tribute respect for your public talents and your pri worth.
The period of your Excellency's Government
been long eno gh to afford a very adequate ?ie"^ , your qualifications for so important a function, had the scene and the subjects of your Excellen duties fallen within the comparative routine of
long-established Colony. But when to the burth ' common to all governments are added the pec i solicitudes and novel difficul ies necessarily felt |C
encountered by the founder of a Colony, we "^,
truly assert that your Excellency's competency/ the task of a Colonial Government hash been jR
jected to a test of no ordinary severity. ' /àgip
the&trTy settlers of any Colony, howeveçultimate Jy successful, few can be exempt from temporary and -partial disappointment; still fewer whose temper and judgments are not thereby unjustly biassed in estimating the conduct of public affairs, stud fewer still who can boast the rare magnanimity %of justly apportioning between themselves and the executive power, the sources of such disappoint- ment. Under such circumstances, it is, tye con- ceive, no small triumph to the individual entrusted with the critical and twofold task of founding and governing such a community to receive from them a cheerful testimony of their general and respectful approbation. That every measure of your Excel- lency's Government should have met with equal a»id unqualified applause, would have been a lot *hich all history shews to have been denied to the ¡rarest union of private zeal and political talent. But we can testify with equal confidence and gra- titude that the general tenor of your Excellency's administration has been highly and deservedly popular ; that we have invariably experienced in your Excellency a friend of warm and ready eym Ímthy with individual distress ; au active and
iberal promoter of every good and useful institu- tion ; an able and zealous patron of every enter- prise undertake^ or suggested for our general » elfare ; and that in all the domestic and social Hajions of private lie your Excellency has set an «dimple worthy your high station.
We beg to add a cordial expression of our sincere fishes for the welfare and happiness of your Exe» I lency and family. Whatever may be 3 our Excel- lency/! future destiny, you must at le«t«t retain through every vicissitude of ii/e, the prowl and consolatory consciousness of a natue and memory u sperishably mingled with Ute records of this Colony, of having primarily suggested, personally matured, and politically founded this sel m of the best and greatest nation upon earth ; of having in
troduced into the wilderness the rehgi us ami civil institutions, the arts, comforts and refinements of the parent country, and of having opened to the savage tribes of a vast region at least an access to toe incalculable blessings of Christianity
[Here follow the signatures of the Col niats ]
ANSWER.
!ï/li<tn T nail tn triinrl t}iM i.umr irunxo in .nK:..1- I
When Ï call to mind the many years in which I have been connected with this country, and the peculiar position in which 1 have stood with refer- ence to its iihabitants, 1 cannot but feel, in re- ceiving this affecting mark of their esteem, the deepest sensations of pi ¿de, thankfulness, andsaiis
íacti< n
In the administration of the Government which J have been so long permitted to hold, it is true that there have been occasions of great embar- rassment, but I am bound io acknowledge that in many instances my 1 t has been extremely fortunate, for wherever there exists in a corni»,uni'y a general adhcronce to social and moral ob nations-wherever habits of industry, good sei,st; and moderation pre- vail, the task of government become* comparatively
light, and I avail myself of this occasion thankfully j to acknowledge the support which my administra- tion has at ali times derived from the existence of
these qualiies in every class of ihL community.
At this the termination of a <'h«ig<; in the suc- cessful execution of which the iiv«s ad loi luces of so many have been implicated, 1 rejoice ihat it ha'U pleased Providence to permh a fa vm able i&Bue to the enterprise In which we have been con joined. If it has not been to all a prosperous ad venture, it has bet n comparatively hoe from those evils and calamities so common on colonization If it has been slow in its progress, and of limited importa J ice. it at least affvrds reason to r»j »ice that greater numbers at.d greater means have not been risked in an experiment at all times so hazardous ; and now that confidence ia justified by past expe- rience in the resources of this country, we need not regret that the honor ofhavingannexi4ao vast and BO important a region to the liri ti» h empire re- mains to be shared amongst so small a body of
adventurers.
Tue anticipations you appear to form as to the «/feet this Settlement may have in extending the tai- sings of civilization will, Í trust, be realised. That it off<;ra facilities for effecting that great ob- ject cannot now be doubted, and s*» long as the means it affords for conferring benefits not only on British subjects, bot on oiberB, are duly estimated, doubtless it will continue to receive from tfye Im- pel ia! Government that consideration which it has hi'heilo enjoyed.
I thank you w'ncerejy for the wishes expressed
v*7
for the welfare of my family. Wherever we may be, we must feel that we are bound to this commu- nity not less by many .pleasing recollections than by interest. Its prosperity will ever be a source of satisfaction to us, and I beg leave to assure you that if any thing can add to the attachment which connects me with this country, it will be the re- membrance of the generous expression of sentiment contained in the Address which you have done me the honor to present.
Sir Janies Stirling took his final leave of Perth on Tuesday, and on Wednesday it singularly happened that the Brothers arrived from England with his Excel-
lency Governor Hutt on board. We| forbear at present from offering any general remarks upon Sir Janies Stir- ling's administration of this colony ; we cannot, however, part with so old and valued a friend without adding oui? humble tribute of admiration and praise of his many amiable private qualities, his high talents, and his manly perseverance ! in developing the resources of this new
colony. We may safely say, there are few men in whom suitable qualifications could have been found to accomplish so great a task. May every happiness at» tetid Sir James Stirling, his beloved partner and family, is the sincere and earnest desire of every individual in the colony.
Thecolonial schooner Champion, which will convey Sir J«unes Sibling to the Cape ol Good Hope, it is expected, will get under weigh this afternoon. All those who could possibly, contrive to leave their homes havevisüed Fremantle to take a last late well. Several enter- tainments have been given to Sir James at, Fiemaiitle during the week, una a public déjeuné and hall were given yes terday in Captain Scott's new rooms«