The Chronicles of Early Melbourne/Volume 1/Chapter 26
CHAPTER XXVI.
REMOVAL OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
SYNOPSIS:— Public Meeting re Removal. —Mr. M'Combie's Catalogue of Transgressions. —Denunciatory Speech and Indictment by Mr. J. P. Fawkner. —Petition to the Queen. —Meeting of Government Officials Rebutting Charges. —Fawkner's Indictment of Major St. John. —Major St. John's Resignation Accepted. —His Departure from the Colony. —Superintendent Latrobe Unscathed. —Memorial to the Queen Unsuccessful.
PROMPTED by the action of the City Council in commencing an agitation to endeavour to procure the recall of Mr. C. J. Latrobe from the office of Superintendent of Port Phillip, a public meeting convened by the Mayor (Mr. A. Russell) was held on the 3rd July, 1848, in the open space (now the enclosed ground) rearward of the Public Library and Hospital, to adopt a Petition to the Queen on the subject. Mr. M'Combie was in the chair, and in a lengthy address entered largely into the alleged misconduct of the Superintendent. In the course of his remarks Mr. M'Combie thus dwelt upon some of Mr. Latrobe's alleged public transgressions:— "The revenues of this Province had been carried by Mr. Latrobe to Sydney, there to defray the expense of works of the same nature as were required by themselves. The revenues of their fine Province had gone to build up the barren sand-banks of Sydney. Much had been said of Sir George Gipps that he bled the Province; but who held the basin? He (the Chairman) considered the man who held the candle to the murderer was as bad as the assassin. (Cheers.) In the present meeting it was not a question of 1843, or '44 or '45, only but also of 1846, for on the arrival of Sir Charles Fitzroy, the Superintendent again misrepresented the Province, and, by withholding the funds voted, allowed the working-men to go to Sydney for want of employment. Mr. Latrobe had written to the Governor advising him to carry on the same misrule towards the Province, and said it was not capable of managing its own revenues—it was not fit for Separation. Why were they to pay a man, who ought to look to their interests, but, whatever he had done, had always been against them? Surely such a man ought not to side with the Sydney Governor against them. Regarding Mr. Latrobe personally, he had no ill-feeling towards him; he viewed him only in his public capacity, but he knew that the Superintendent had not done that which he ought to have done. He trusted that no speaker at the meeting would make any allusion to the private life of Mr. Latrobe, as in that case, he, as Chairman, would put a stop to it; and in conclusion, he trusted the meeting would support him in his duty that day, and pass over all private quarrels on the present occasion. (Cheers.)
The first resolution was proposed by Major Newman, viz.:— "That this community, having lost all confidence in the administration of the Government by His Honor Charles Joseph Latrobe, Esq, it has become absolutely necessary for the tranquillity, good government, and prosperity of the Province, that the Colonists should avail themselves of their constitutional right of appeal to the Throne for His Honor's removal."
Mr. J. P. Fawkner, in seconding the motion, made what was decidedly "the speech of the day," and one which was fraught with consequences upon which the orator did not then quite calculate. He inveighed against the so-called aristocracy of the Province for not attending, whose absence was downright cowardice, and induced through a fear of endangering their runs.
"Gentlemen," he exclaimed, "the enemies of the people impute to us bad motives and worse language; let us this day contradict them. I come forward on this occasion to rid the colony of a nuisance in the person of our ruler. His private character I leave unassailed, but his public conduct throughout has been mean, base, and to us, as well as to himself, most contemptible; to us, in so long permitting him to hold office uncomplained of; and to himself, in the slavish and degrading position he most cheerfully assumed on Sir George Gipps' memorable visit. On that occasion, and at the public dinner given to His Excellency in October, 1841, Mr. Latrobe licked the dirt publicly to Sir George Gipps, in these memorable words:— 'Your Excellency—I feel that I am now placed in my proper position; I am fully prepared to play second fiddle to your Excellency, to any tune you may please to lead.' And he continued for some minutes to ring the changes upon first and second fiddle to the utter disgust of all the thinking part of the company present. Could any language imply greater baseness, the meaning of which was self-evident? It might clearly be read thus:— 'Whatever dirty work, whatever base conduct you require of me, whatever dirt you order me to eat, or give to this people, I am the man to carry out your orders.' He had done so to the fullest extent of his limited capacity."
After some discursiveness, Mr. Fawkner unfolded his indictment, containing, amongst others, the following counts:—
"That Mr. Latrobe had wasted the public money, in having expended £450 on a private road leading to the house of Mr. Lyon Campbell, a particular friend, and only a paltry £50 on the Sydney Road; that he laid out upwards of £4000 on that miserable, abortive cut, the Beach Road, and only £50 on the Main Road of the colony; that he withheld some £20,000 from circulation in the years 1842 and 1843, when labour was to be had for the very lowest possible price—bricks, at 7s. per 1000; timber, 6s. per 100 feet, and all other work in proportion. Mr. Latrobe had delayed the erection of lighthouses at Cape Schanck and King's Island, and was consequently accessory to the loss of the hundreds drowned by the wreck of the immigrant ship, 'Cataraqui.' Again, does he not openly patronise a man notorious for receiving bribes? Aye, bribes from all conditions of men—from the half-dozen eggs, or the pound of butter, up to a cow or a calf, horses, grog, wines, champagne, brandy, and gin. Yes. There was a man present who gave this official a cheque lately for a portion of a run which he did not get. Yet the cheque was never returned. Another in order to obtain a slice of a neighbour's run, made a present of a pair of horses; but he, too, got 'put in the bucket.' It was, to use a homely expression, 'greasing the sow on the wrong side.' Yet this official was sustained by Latrobe; and though informed of such facts, has he cut the venal receiver of bribes? No! Has he not even refused to have this affair investigated? Does he not keep up the very greatest appearance he can show of friendship for this very traitor to the public? 'Birds of a feather;' you know the rest. In fact, the whole tissue of the Superintendent's misrule of the Province has been of one texture. It has one aim to please the 'First Fiddle,' never regarding the people who pay the fiddlers. Now to sum up, Mr. Latrobe has not only refused to get money for the Province, but he has actually refused to lay out the sums put into his hands; he has vilely, falsely, and wilfully traduced us. The Superintendent supports the man who, it is said, lives upon bribes; he has shown the littleness of his very paltry spirit by desiring the Government to spend upon Geelong the famous beach water-pipe money—and worse, if worse be possible—has written to the 'First Fiddle' to send to him here a keeper for the powder magazine, a keeper for the Lunatic Asylum, and, as I hear, even a new gaoler. Thus he betrays his paltry vindictiveness, and makes it appear that the free and energetic men who have made Port Phillip what it is, are not competent to fill these very petty offices. It is misrule, a deep hatred of the people, and an insult to all classes! But the man who has written ill of other places and people cannot be expected to spare even them from whom he draws his means of living."
The motion was supported by Mr. J. S. Johnston, in a clever, splenetic harangue, and carried amidst loud acclaim.
A lengthy Petition to the Queen was adopted on the motion of Mr. George Annand, and seconded by Mr. D. Young.
The third resolution was proposed by Mr. Robertson, seconded by Mr. Bingley, and passed, viz.:—
"That the following gentlemen be appointed a Committee to procure signatures and to forward the petition: Major Newman, Dr. P. MacArthur, Dr. A. Thomson, Messrs. T. M'Combie, J. P. Fawkner, G. Bingley, A. M'Killop, — Webster, D. Young, G. Annand, J. S. Johnston, and J. Rankin."
Three cheers were given in honour of the Chairman, and three times three for Her Majesty. The latter were accompanied by a wish that the Province might speedily be rid of the Queen's Representative in Port Phillip. The charges of bribery and corruption so openly made by Mr. Fawkner fell like a shell in the somewhat select and exclusive camp of officialdom, and the heads of departments were so panic-stricken that they assembled in conclave on the 7th July, and prepared a manifesto to this purport:— They invited the attention of his Honor the Superintendent to the accusations so made, which, if not rebutted, affected their characters as gentlemen and Government officers, and disgraced them in the eyes of the community. As general statements pointing directly to none, whilst involving all, they pronounced them false and slanderous to a degree, and means ought to be taken for their refutation. They declared solemnly on their honour as gentlemen, that they, neither by selves nor others, directly or indirectly, in any shape or fashion, had received, or allowed to be received, any bribe, present, or consideration for anything done or expected in their capacities as officials ofthe Government, save only such fees as were duly authorised by law. They requested that publicity should be given to this declaration, and expressed an anxiety for the most rigid public investigation.
This document, subscribed to by all the prominent chiefs of departments, eighteen in number (including the signature of Major F. B. St. John, the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the County of Bourke, and the individual to whom it was known to everybody Mr. Fawkner referred), was transmitted to the Superintendent, who had it immediately published in the Government Gazette, with a notification of his own, avowing his readiness to investigate any charges of misconduct officially brought before him. The Herald and Daily News at once openly declared that Major St. John was the public official indicated by Fawkner; and J. P. Fawkner on the 13th July wrote direct to the Superintendent naming Major St John as the person whom he charged with the receipt of bribes and presents, and declaring his readiness to substantiate the accusations before any open and impartial court. The Superintendent, in reply, informed Mr. Fawkner "that any specific charge or charges of misconduct in the performance of duty on the part of the officers named, or any other in the service, which may be transmitted in proper form, will meet with full and immediate attention on the part of the Government." All this time the subject formed the absorbing topic of discussion everywhere, from the bank parlor to the lowest tap-room ; from the newspaper leader to the gossip of every street-crossing. That the question could not be pigeon-holed was beyond doubt, and there is no reason to think that the Superintendent had any disposition to do so; but the difficulty was as to the proper mode of dealing with the case. Some of the newspapers suggested that Fawkner's letter should be placed in St. John's hands, with a peremptory direction to commence a civil action in the Supreme Court; and this suggestion seems to have been adopted, for it was announced that legal proceedings had been instituted. Fawkner, not content with writing to the Superintendent, with his accustomed impulsiveness also wrote to the newspapers preferring some half-a-dozen specific charges against St. John, and it was upon this unprivileged communication, the authorship of which was admitted, that the suit was based. Major St. John seemed not to be in the least put out by the turn things had taken, and regarded it with the utmost nonchalance, at least to all outward appearance. Even the Sunday after the public meeting he patronised the Superintendent's pew in the Episcopalian Church, at which it was alleged that Mr. Latrobe's sense of propriety was so offended that he next day wrote to Major St. John, expressing a wish not to see him again, either publicly or privately, until the charges hanging over him were cleared up. It also soon became understood that the Major had been interdicted from transacting any official business; in fact, that, though not literally, he was practically suspended. There is reason to believe that he subsequently placed his resignation of office in the Superintendent's hands, by whom it was held over until the result of the appeal to the Supreme Court could be known. The particulars of the memorable case of St. John v. Fawkner are narrated in another chapter, and, though the non-verdict of the jury rendered it a drawn battle, Major St. John accepted it as a virtual defeat, and the terminus of his official career in Port Phillip. His resignation was accepted, and in June, 1849, be left the colony in the "Stag," ship, for England, and never returned. It may be added here that the meeting out of which the St. John episode was evolved, though it indirectly ruined the Major, left Latrobe unscathed. The Memorial was duly transmitted to Downing Street, and, after a long course of post, officially acknowledged; but its prayer was not granted.