Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/508

---

RELKilOUH BODIES. ^ he shall remain until the ship shall be iioder weigh, at which time he will be embarked for England." Macqiiarie enclosed two of O'FIjbu s letters which displayed ignorance; and said, if there were to be Koman Catholic priests, they should be educated people. OTljnn, moreover, waa seditious. In the colony there was some consternation. Marsden, in a letter to England (May 1818), said '*the Koman Catholics are much enraged.'* Questions were asked in Parliameot. Mr. Goulburn admitted that O'Fljnn had appHed to the Colonial Office, but averred that hia letter was so ill-written as to create doubt ; that the Koman Catholic authorities disowned the man, and that Macquarie had acted rightly in sending him away : but that measures would be taken to supply the w^ants of the Eoman Catholics in the colony. Accordingly two Eoman Catholic Priests were accredited to the colony, After a time subscriptions w^ere collected in Sydney for the building of a Eoman Catholic cathedral. Macquarie laid the foundation-stone (Nov. 18^1) and hoped that the encouragement given to the Eoman Catholics would induce them to continue, *' as he had ever found them, loyal and faitliful subjects of the CroNvn.*' In 1815, a Wesleyan minister, Mr. Leigh, arrived in Sydney, and was soon joined by another, Mr. Carvaaso. Macquarie discouraged Leigh at lir.st, but Marsden took hhn by the hand, and on one occasion oflfered him, out of hia private property, land sufficient for sites for a chapel and minister's house at Windsor. Marsden, having accom- panied Governor King to England in 1807, had interviews with Lord Castlereagh. He urged that, to promote morality, convicts* wives abould be sent from England at the public expense. He did not prevail. Already the wealth of emancipists attracted attention, and transporta- tion was beginning to be looked upon as a means of reaching a better land. To enhance the comforts of criminals was but to increase the premium on crime* From Marsden's point of view his object was good, and his representations had the effect uf causing the soldiers' wivea to be sent with them* He urged that practical mechanics and manufac- turers should bo sent out also; and in Warwickshire and Yorkshire found the experts required. He saw George HI., <