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THE PROTECTORATE. '
Petition of William Le Souef.
Continued from yesterday's publication)
That other serious complaints which
, ynur, peiiiioner has to make against ihe
aforesaid Mr Robinson, have already
been communicated in a letter addressed
by your peiiiioner to Josepii Phelps Rob
inson, Esquire, a member of your hon-
. orable Council, as those complainis could
nut; without some slight informality, be
embodied in the memorial presented by
. your petitioner to your honorable Coun-
... oil during the session of 1844, but that
: those facts are now formally detailed trf
ymir honorable Council in the following
extracts "1mm your petitioner's let t er to
j. the said Joseph Phelps Robinsou, Es
quire : —
extract.-
" About two years ago Mr Assistant
I Protector Thomas was under the tieces.
sityof reporting that he was unable to
..keep the natives at the station wliich had
been assigned them in the Western Port
.. District; and in his Report he made
use of the expression that ' he had more-
whiles than blacks at the homestead.'
1- ' Mr Thomas bail ihuscleaily" proved the
'inutility of keeping up his expensive sta-
t tion. but as Mr Robinson was desirous
of Irpenim nn ' iltn iln-nnrliintr svstem'
_ as long as he could, he objected to receive
n Report which so completely exposed
.his own bad management, and he ac
tually stopped Mr Tltomns's ' pay for
r three month?, because he refused to alter
his Report, by suppressing the trulji and
' Substituting a falsehood !" "
That as the said Mr Thomas was hd-
mestly proof against persuasion and inti-
' midatiun, lhatMhe said Mr Robinson
(learlul that his dishonorable conduct
would lie exposed) paid into a Dank in
f Melbourne the amount of Mr Thomas's
pay At the end of that period, and that
(lie pay which had been thus illegally
; kept back from its rightful owner for
three or lour months was finally smug-
gled into his possession, as the said Mr
Thomas discovered by mere accident that
the money so due to him, and so dearly
5 earned bv him, had been placed to the
xcredii of his eccouni, and that the said
pay must have been issued in an irregular
if not illegal manner, as it is evident that
' when the payment was so clandestinely
made that the Abstract could not have
been regulatly signed. And further that
life said Mr Assistant Protector Thomas
. has been punished for his honesty by the
unjust stoppage of his allo'oances, ol
.which he has long since been curtailed,
although llicy have been continued to,
,-and are still received by, the aforesaid Mr
Parker, who has been charged (perhnps
maliciously) by the said Mr Robinson
with conduct highly unbecoming a Go
vernment Officer, and that your petiti
oner terily believes that the said Mr
Thomas, whose hard and useful services
have been so unjustly requited, is a
highly deserving and honorable man, and
.further that when his pay was so ille
gally stopped by the Chief Protector,
that the Superintendent should have as
certained why it was stopped ; and that
ii he did not ascertain the reason, that
he failed to discharge his duty, and that
if he was cognizant of the reason, nnd
connived at Mr Robinson's illegal con
duct, that lie was then particeps crimi-
nis.
That not long after this occurrence
the official papers of the said Mr Assist
ant Protector Thomas were stolen from
him in a very my?terious manner, hav
ing been carried off when articles of value
were left untouched, which articles, it is
but natural to suppose, would have been
taken by ordinary thieves, to whom offici
al papers could have pro ted of no value ;
nnd that a large book in which the said
M r. Thomas copied his official letters,
, and als.o made oilier entries, being too
heavy for convenient removal, was left
behind, but that the whole ol the official
correspondence was copied therein by
the said Mr. Thomas, was torn out and
carried away, the otiier entries being left
intntioliwrl ishirli fflnf n« vniir npti.
J r"
doner begs leave most respectfully to
submit lor the consideration of your
honorable council, affords the slrongest
possible circumstantial end presumptive
.evidence, that the official papers and
correspondence ol the said Mr. Assis
tant Protector Thomas were removed
by, or at the instigation of, some per
son or persons who had good teason to
be fearful of the divulgence of their
coptents. That; nevertheless, proofs of
the said Mr. Robinson's misconduct on
this occasion must be in existence, and
that your petitioner, therefore, most re
spectfully requests that your honorable
council will be pleased to order copies
of the correspondence that took place
relative to the said steppage of toe pay
of the said Mr. Assistant Protector
Thomas (because he honestly refused
to falsify an official document) be
tween the said Mr. Thomas and the
Chief Protector ol aborigines, and also
between the Chief Protector nnd the
Superintendent of Pott Phillip, to be
laid on the table of your honorable
bouse, and that your honorable council
will further be pleased to ascertain why
the said Mr. Thomas' allowances have
been stopped, which could nut have
been done " on the ground ol economy,"
although, " the exigencies ol the de
partment" were doubtless made the
specious pretext for wronging a deser
ving man; as the allowances, as well as
the pay of, Mr. Assistant Protector
Parker If'e been continued to hint,
although the said f ir. Parker has never
undergone hall the ):!ile«sioi.al labour to
which the s-t::l Mr. Thorn. '5 hits born
subject:-!, and frequently very taifr.trlg
subjected, by tfta r.'.-r-, ol Mr. Ptibin- j
' 800, Bin! niO'rpvrr, tl.f.t If.;ttv:tl-S! : tid-
ing his highly irregular and deeply in
jurious official proceedings, the said Mr.
Robinsob still continues 10 draw £500
per annum from the public puree !
That your petitioner begs leave to
trouble yonr honorable council with
another Bhort extract from the letter
addressed by your petitioner to the
aforesad Joseph Phelps Robinson, Esq.,
M.C, .
Extract.
" I received my appointment in July
1840, and as early as the commence
ment of .1841, he (Mr. Robinson)
avowed his intention ol getting rid nl
me as soon as he could -to Mr. Ass's-
tant Protector Parker, by whom the
matter was lately divulged to Mr.
Assistant Protector Sicvwright, who
communicated the circumstance to me.
Mr. Sievwright added that about the
same period Mr. Robinson had also
told him that lie would have me removed
whenever it might be in his power to do
so ; you will, therefore, perceive,
that instead of receiving cordial
support from the head of the depart
ment in the execution of my arduous
duties, I have been counteracted and
undermined by him from the outset to
to the termination of my official
career." - " '
That your petitioner begs leave most
respectfully to submit to your honorable
Council whether the .Superintendent is
justifiable, or not, in having thus con
trived at and sanctioned so many
serious offences on the part of the afore
said Mr. Robinson, ot must of which he
must havebpen cognizant, and whether
the Superintendent is justifiable or not,
in having so long permitted the said
Mr Robinson to mismanage (as he has.
.t - . _< . 1. _
UUIICJ .oil lam UC|JCl lilieui u» tliu
colonial government without making
the necessary representations on the
subjtct to the Governor, when it can be
clearly and undeniably proved by your
petitioner to your honorable Council,
that more than six years ago the said
Mr. La Trobe was fully convinced ol the
utter incompetency of the said Mr
Robinson to discharge those offir-ial
duties with which lie was so unaccount
ably entrusted, and will) which, your
petitioner begs to add, he was very
blamably entrusted, as the said Mr
Robinson so (ar from having effected
any benefit since he has held the office
ol Chief Protector ol aborigines, has,
on the contrary, rendered the aboriginal
natives much worse than tliey were
before they were so injudiciously com-
mitled to his charge, as can satisfactorily
be proved to your honorable Council ;
and your peiiiioner begs leave also
most respectlully to suggest, for the con
sideration of yonr honntable Council, the
folly of entrusting the preservation ol the
aboriginal natives of Australia Felix, to
an individual who was instrumental to
the entire destruction of the aboiicinal
population of Van Diemert s Lanrl, and
under whose baneful management the
aboriginal inhabitant ol the district ot
Port Phillip are not only percepiably
degenerating (as they have hiilierto ac
quired only the vices of the most pait ol
the European population) but are also
rapidly diminishing in numbers, and that
your petitioner begs leave likewise to
point out, lor the consideratitm of your
honorable Council, the inutility ol at-
icmptiong to civilize a barbarous people
by the instrumcntalityof an ignorant and
uneducated man, whose system (if
system he can be said to have) is er
roneous and chimerical : and your peti
tioner begs fui titer to remark that it is
greatly to be regretted that the opinion
of the learned and estimable Bishop of
Australia, on this very subject, did not
meet with that attention to which it was
so eminently entitled, as his Lordship,
more than six years ago, denounced the
said Mr Robinson as a mere visionary in
the Legislative Council, and that your
petitioner has good reason to know
(from better experience) that he is a
visionary without one spark or ray of
genius: and thai if due respect had been
paid to his Lordship's well grounded
opinion, that many valuable lives would
have been saved, that the last six years
would have been profiiably and not in
juriously employed, and that more than
fifty thousand pounds of the public
money would not have luen utterly
wasted, as that sum has been wasted, by
the said Mr Robinsou, and that your
petitioner most respectfully requests that
when the members ol yonr honorable
Council have taken these .natters into
consideration, that they will be pleased
to recommend or to adop, if they see
sufficient cause, such an efficient remedy
as tltey in their wisdom may deem ad
visable.
That your petitioner begs leave most
respectfully to state that every fact
detailed by him in this, his respectful
memorial to your honorable Council, is
substantiated by some authentic docu
ment herewith transmitted, or that the
said facts will be fully substantiated by
those official documents which your
petitioner has respectfully requested
that your honorable Couocil will be
pleased to order to be laid on the table
of your honorable House.
That, in conclusion, your petitioner
considers it incumbent on him respect
fully to express his regret for having
felt himself compelled to trespass at
such length on the time ol your honora
ble house, and lie begs to state that
many other facts relative to the miscon
duct of the aforesaid Mr Robinson, as
well as other matters which would still
Inrtber ftave made manifest his incom
petency, have riot been herein detailed
by your petitioner, from the feeling
un'rh your petitioner entertains that it
v.-nu'd bj unseemly farther to trespass on
the indulgence of yonr honorable council,
and your petitioner begs leave most
respectfully to request that if in this his
respectful memorial 10 your honorable
Iiouse> he has unwittingly been guilty of
any little informality, that its honorable
members will be pleased to excuse it,
on the ground of the difficulty of de
tailing so many tacts without deviating
a little Irom prescribed rules, and farther
that if your petitioner has, in any part
of this his respectful petition to your
honorable house, made use of any ex
pressions that may be considered some
what stronger titan are wnrianted by
conventional usages, that your honora
ble council will be pleased to take into
consideration the feelings under which
your petitioner must nAturally labour in
thus recalling, as he details it to your
honorable council, the arbitrary and un-
English treatment to which he has been
so unwarrantably exposed. That so far
as the members of your honorable
council are concerned, the memorial of
your petitioner is most respectfully
worded throughout, and that your pe
titioner begs here to express his un-
fe'gned respect towards your honorable
council, nut only ns being the constitu
tional guardian of the public rights, but
as being also the legal tribunal for tiie
redress of grievances, and your peti
tioner begs leave further to express his
gratitude to its honorable members for
having been kindly pleased to receive
and to enter on the consideration of the
petition which your petitioner pre
sented to your honorable house during
the session of 1844, nnd he begs leave
also to request that your honorable
council will be pleased to order the said
petition to be printed.
That your petitioner, therefore,
humbly prays your honorable Council to
receive this his petition for redress in all
these matters; and that your honorable
Council will kindly please to institute
such inquiry therein ns may seem in its
good judgment most advisable lor arriv
ing at the true position of ihe case, and
lor rendering that justice to your peti
tioner ol which he has so long been de
prived, and your petitioner further prays
that your honorable Council will be
pleased to order this, his prcBcnt pet-
don to be also printed.
And your petitioner will ever pray,
W. LE SOUEF.
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