assurance was given that in the event of any more convicts being sent to Port Phillip, they should not be allowed to land here, but be forwarded straight on to Sydney. This announcement communicated intense satisfaction, because there was an almost undivided public agreement to resist, by every possible means, the moral degradation of the district by making it a receptacle for British criminals. The circumstances which led up to this feature of the Governor's visit, will be detailed in a future chapter. Afterwards His Excellency drove to Heidelberg and lunched at Mr. Joseph Hawden's. Coming back he looked in at the Lunatic Asylum, was delighted with the bend of the Yarra there, and approved of the arrangements. The Melbourne Hospital was subsequently visited, and the day pleasantly wound up at a dinner with members of the Melbourne Club.
A grand ball was given to the Governor on the evening of the 20th, at the Royal Hotel, where, it was avouched "two hundred of the rank, beauty and fashion of the colony, added to the brilliancy of the entertainment." The supper was only tolerably good, the dancing much better, but the musical arrangements eclipsed anything of the sort previously attempted. The musical conductor was a Mr. Megson, one of the orchestra brought to Melbourne from Launceston in 1845, by Mr. George Coppin, on his first arrival. At 10 o'clock the Governor and Mr. Latrobe made their appearance, and took their seats side by side on a sofa placed "on a raised and well-carpeted platform at the end of the room." At 1 a.m. supper was announced, and was represented as being "excellent—nothing too much, nothing too little." After the Queen's health was bumpered, Mr. M'Kenzie (the Sheriff) proposed "His Excellency Sir Charles Fitzroy," which was toasted with much acclamation; and the Governor, in response, said "that though 'Separation' was the watchword in Port Phillip, and they ought to have it, he was selfish enough to wish that the district was still more closely allied to Sydney than it was, that he might have an opportunity of personally returning the many acts of kindness and attention which had been shown to him since his arrival in this beautiful province." A newspaper of the next day declared "that loud cheers broke forth at this happy passage." The Governor remained until half-past four, and early on the morning ofthe 22nd the "Havannah" sailed away and the Governor with her.
Sir Charles Fitzroy was a good-tempered, easy-going kind of gentleman, who did not suffer the worries of the world to discompose him unnecessarily. He was very popular during his stay in New South Wales, which he left on the 28th January, 1856, and died in London two years after.
Lady Franklin.
A postscript to a lady's letter is generally supposed to be its most important part, and it is, therefore, no discourtesy to give a nook at the end of this chapter to the adventurous wife of a Governor of Van Diemen's Land, who did Melbourne the honour of a flying visit so early as 1839. This was Lady Franklin, the consort of Sir John Franklin, the great ill-starred explorer, who was then administering the Government ofthe island over the Straits. Her Ladyship and suite arrived in Port Phillip on the morning of the 4th April, in the "Tamar," from Launceston, and put up at the popular resort known as Fawkner's Hotel, corner of Collins and Market streets. The inhabitants were not slow in doing honour to such an "illustrious stranger," and a deputation of them waited upon her Ladyship with a complimentary address, to which, in a well-conceived reply, she expressed delight at the "cordiality of the amicable feeling which exists between the two countries (Port Phillip and Van Diemen's Land), so naturally and nearly related." In the afternoon she took a drive through the town, and in the evening a very weak attempt was made to get up an illumination, and there was a fire-work exhibition by the discharge of a few crackers One over-excited individual essayed a feu de joie from a rusty blunderbuss, which, instead of going off decently, burst, and carried away a slice of the man's arm. Dr. Cussen, Colonial Surgeon, was obliged to sever the the limb, the first amputation performed in the colony. Lady Franklin, after a short stay, proceeded overland to Sydney.
