MAJOR RICHARDSON'S LECTURE.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 1, 3 November 1869, Page 2

MAJOR RICHARDSON'S LECTURE.

Tho Hon. Major Richardson delivered a lecture on behalf of tho funds of the Church of England in the Athemeum building oii Wednesday last, the subject being 1 , " An V k Illustration of Practical Colonization." The Mayor (Mr Hastings) had been announced to preside) but having been hurriedly cidled away to a distance, our worthy magistrate (\V. L ; Simpson, Esq.), kindly supplied his place; arid introduced the gallant Major in ati appropriate Speech. Upon coming forward, the lecturer was greeted with loud applause. He introduced his subject by referrirtg to the utility of retrospective views of the past, pointing out how the mind of man, absorbed by the thoughts which encircle Home favourite study, is prone to forget first principles and to drift insensibly from the course originally marked out. .Several illustrations followed, of great beauty, and then the importance of this survey on tho part of the colonist was pointed out. "It is scarcely," said the lecturer, " two centuries since the first effort was made, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to plant British settlements in America. The lust of gold was at first the motive power, but this was soon succeeded by high and noble impulses, and, Respite the extreme perils'of the navigation, the unheal!hiness of the climate, of intestine divisions and internal assaults, the colonization of America was effected; and those little bands who planted themselves on the eastern shores of the new continent are represented in the present day by the 32,000,000 of men who now occupy the soil and arrest the admiration of mankind." After'detailing the sufferings and difficulties* which attended the lives of these early colonists, and tracing their history—their determined and heroic encounters with the savage hordes bv which they were kept in a continual state of terror—the lecturer continued—" In the prosecution of the duty which I have undertaken I do not ask you to accompanv me to the foremost of the nations of the earth, and to examine the character and principles of some of England's greatest statesmen, —I select a colony once stagnating in its political existence, dwarfed in its proportions, and apparently destined to a career of insignificance ; and I select a. servant of that colony who brought to its resuscitation a mind of no ordinary character, a benevolence which could not be quenched, and an energy which knew no tiring.- He was not one of the notable ones of the earth, but comparatively ' unknown, imhonored, and unsung.' " This was Captain Montague; an account of some of whose ancestors Was given by the lecturer' ; and then followed what may bo justly termed an eloquent memoir of Captain Montague, which' we regret cur inability to report in exioiso : here, however, ! are some short extract:•-—" At the early ago of 17, young MoWtague was appointed an Ensign in the 5'2-iVd Regiment, which so nobly distinguished itself at Waterloo. I cannot forego the pleasure of narrating an incident which occurred at this period. On joining his regiment at Brussels, just previously to the battle, he was ordered to the rear with invalids, and meeting one of his brother officers advancing with a detachment, he asked to see the date of his I commission : finding it to be dated later | than his own, he ordered him to change ' detachments, and he himself returned to I Brussels, much' to the astonishment of the commanding oflicer, jtast as the regiment was marching to Waterloo.- The gallantry I of the act scarcely sufficed to excuse the j unwarrantable exercise of authority. No I less conspicuous was young Montague for I the possession of tnorSe .'nudities which are more difficult! of attainment. A victim to »' the gambling propensities which found t exercise in all ranks of the Continental- 1 armies assembled in Paris, he became pecu- < niarily involved. He at once decided on ; a bold step towards extrication : he asked i and obtained permission for an advance of t three months' pay, paid the debt of honor, I repairing his losses by living alone in his i tent for six months, aud never again did >< he set his foot iu those places which have ) been too truly designated ' hells' upon earth." In 1824 Captain Montaguo went 2 to Van Diemen's Land, where for a time & he was the chosen friend of the then Go- i vernor, Sir John Franklin; but an estrange- 6: inent sprang up between them, consequent upon a casual misunderstanding, and re- i ferriug to it, the lecturer said, " Both of I the principal actors are now silent in tho b tomb—one, a martyr to science, lies buried t amid the arctic ice; the other, a martyr t to duty, was consigned to an early grave in a his native land. Both noble, both generous, hj both forgiving, could they have met in o death's solemn hour on the grave's brink, C after their long separation and life's strange n vicissitudes, their" last; grasp would bavo i boen one of forgiveness,- their last words c those of reconciliation." He shortly after- t wards.returned to England, and in April 1 1743 ho was appointed Colonial Secretary.^ 1 c at the Capo of Good Hope. And now p. came the pith of the lecture—too long, un- 1' fortunately, for us to publish. A descrip d tion of tho fearfully depressed state of that. E colony upon Captain Montague's arrival, t and of tho gigautic public works which ri were immediately inaugurated by him, and jjl successfully carried out—pridon, or rather f : * convict, labour being employed ; thus p ing up tho country! 3* a |J

% 'hoost. The splondid system adopted ,/»&itaguo in the treatment of tho conI \nd its marked huoccss, wore devoid eulogized in terms of the highest; fain. We quote tlio. followingretire revenue At th.o time of which 'h Vaiijountod to JB178;000, arid the i|7 T'debt to £183,000. In lsjti than Wl [ years there was a surplus revenue, ™] lew life seemed to be infused 'into the ( &'• i and a new Spirit awakened in the (I mind. In ton years tho revenue V I ' r e(l t0 neftrl y -£300,000, while an "' I !-'w| sum had been expended in public i Wl p. Having placed the finances of the i J JbJy in a sound coddition, his next object people the desert wastes, and here .1© shall have reason to admiro tho sagacity ' Wiidh counselled tlie method by which this, ' Mght be attained. It was kid down as > "F axiom that the number of immigrants arfy4ving at any one time should not exceed the neans of their immediate employment on tir terms; also, that any system which rod not provide for the condition of the immigrant being improved in the same .. Jatio that his employer was benefited would ' ( H defective ; and, further, that labour , J juout character and intelligence would lot realize advantages commensurate with ;he expenses incurred. Let not these principles be regarded as the baseless fabric -, }f a dream. While the mountain's arid may re-echo with the bleating of Iheep and the lowing of herds, the property M men of capital, let it be our duty so to devise that the men whose capital consists M thews, sinews, and an unconquerable jieart, while rejoicing in their neighbour's prosperity, may be enabled to survey their fripening crop and tend their few head of fcattle quietly browsing in the vicinity of {their homesteads with unalloyed thankfulmess that they have adopted this as the J/uture home of their families." Captain aMontague's useful career in Capa Colony was terminated inconsequence of his loyalty and good sense at the time when the Neptune arrived with convicts from England, at which time he* was compelled to return 'U'fcome. "And why? Because he steadily I upheld the authority of Government, kept ... [together and brought into exercise the elements of order; peremptorily refused to Kuccumb to popular intimidation, and, as , the natural result brought upon' himself ' i'.the odium an I uncompromising hostility lof those from wh'ose hands he withheld the 'power at which they grasped, and which :■" oyild not have been conceded without discredit to the British name and great detriment to the p'rfblie interest." With the a I .*on,tiiiued strain' which had been upon his "■■.,4' mmd since his arrival in the Colony, Monj[ tagne'.H health had become very much im-;jr-,piire 1, and sign's of cerebral disease beIcame apparent. Upon his arrival in England, " the physicians at on':e told him - f that his days were numbered, but the -j 1 treCf did not startle him ; he hj id lived in the performance of duty, and lie was not ■ ■,afraid to die. Around his dying bed '/ might be s;cn the"Bishop of C-tpe Town, the wife of a former' Gove'r'n'or', and a few select and fondly attached friends. Prayer had always been with him a duty, and he ■:■ • was enabled to say, ere the silver cord 1 was broken, ' noV my soul prays.' Blameless in the sight of men, he humbled himself (,* iu the sight of God, and became thoroughly f alive to the fact that in Christ alone I U salvation to be fouridv" The subject was I beautifully applied, and the present state | of this Colony sdluded to. The lecturer if)'ended in the eloquent language of Ciptain 1 Montague's biographer, " Although no proud bust or public column has yet b?en reared to him, nevertheless, from the height of the pedestal upon which his own cele Irity and the elevating commendation of - j- great and good men have figuratively U placed him, he can calmly and grandly look I d'jwn, as do those bronze and marble {statues which a nation has actually erected to preserve and honour the memory of her greatest and wisest benefactois. Even ■ u'liow, the Colony for which he sacrificed i himself begins to view him as the chief / character in its history : and it will yet universally acknowledge him as the greatest, the wisest, the most upright of its ad2>. visers, promoters, and benefactors." On the motion of Mr Keen, on behalf of the Church of England, a cordial vote of thanks was awarded by acclamation to the gallant Major for his eloquent and instructive lecture. In responding, Major Richardson gave &a amusing account of his first visit to the Tuapeka district, on the discovery of gold by Mr Gabriel' Bead in 1861. The leeIturer was at that time Superintendent of ths Province, and Mr Head, with unexampled liberality came to him and placed his discovery unconditionally, in' the hands of the Government. On his arrival in Gabriel's Gudy shortly after this, the uftiners on the ground would only consent u> their gold being taken to' Du'nedin on condition that Major Richardson should take charge df the improvised escort. With a deal of difficulty he'managed to serf''., cujjg. a pack-horse, and thus was the first goiu from Tuapeka taken to Buhedin. The i lecturer then stated bow this township first , derived its name. It fell' to' liis lot as | Superintendent to name numerous townships which were at that time spriugX- ing into existence, and iri'christenlhgtheni i be named them after illustrious and worldh renowned men, as a fitting tribute to'their V memory derived ite title from j F.-ir Hcu?t T,su' r r, n rV, a noble irtd gallartl

military commander, who was killed by a shell in tho novoi'-to-be-forgottou siego of Luoknow. He was a man of whom any nation might well have boeil proud—possessed as he was of many noble traits of j character. He mohtibiiod this circumstance, Hoping that those present would narrate it to others, and that parents would I tall their children why Lawrence was so ' named. It was named ufter a man whose example in ovary respect might be safely followed, and the rocord of whoso chivalry would bd read with interest and enthusiasm to tho end of time. (Laud and prolonged applause.) Mr John Herbert proposed a vote of thanks to the chair, which was unanimously accorded, the Chairman responded, and tho proceedings terminated.