VAN DIEMEN'S LAND—SIR EARDLEY WILMOT. (Hansard, 25 March 1847)

LORD STANLEY

said, that although the Motion to which he had to call their Lordships' attention was one of an unusual character, yet as he believed there was no objection on the part of Her Majesty's Government to the production of the papers for which he was about to move, it was only necessary for him to state shortly to their Lordships the nature of his Motion, and the grounds on which he made it. He made this Motion, not of his own accord, but in the fulfilment of an earnest wish expressed by a gentleman lately in the service of Her Majesty's Government, in a distant colony, who complained that at a distance of 16,000 miles from this country, and engaged in the performance of the duties of the office to which he had been appointed, he had been the victim of accusations against his public and private character, which he was prepared to prove were totally unfounded and calumnious. He did not wish, on the present occasion, to enter upon the merits of 369 Sir Eardley Wilmot's government of this colony—that was a subject totally beside the question which he desired to bring before their Lordships; except indeed insomuch that he would readily admit that there could be no situation in which the observance of the decencies of society and of strict morality was more essential, than in the personal character of a Governor who was placed in the peculiar situation of administering the affairs of a colony like Van Diemen's Land, At the time when he (Lord Stanley) had the honour of filling the office of Colonial Secretary—in the year 1845—he did not deny that several reports had reached him from various quarters, imputing great irregularity of personal conduct and immorality to Sir Eardley Wilmot, and stating that the conduct and the society at the Government House was anything but what was decorous; but, at the same time, when he felt bound to endeavour to ascertain the truth of these rumours, he never could get anything beyond the vaguest and merest allegations; and when he had ever endeavoured, in any direction, to touch upon anything like particulars, it was always said that no particulars need be alleged—the fact was notorious in Van Diemen's Land. In the year 1845 there appeared, in the Naval and Military Gazette of this country, a letter, purporting to be written from Melbourne, in Australia, in which those imputations were prominently put forward; and it was stated, that such was the scandalous misconduct at the Government House, that it was impossible for any female in decent society to visit the house, and that the colony was entirely scandalized. That statement he (Lord Stanley) did not see, and therefore it did not attract his attention; but it reached the colony in the month of April, and as soon as it reached it, it was met by a spontaneous declaration of all the principal persons in the colony, that the charge, which was stated in England to be a notorious fact, was, in Van Diemen's Land, considered to be a notorious falsehood. It was stated by the persons who signed that declaration, that they were in the habit, themselves and their families, of holding constant intercourse with Sir Eardley Wilmot at the Government House. That counter-statement was sent back from the colony in the month of April, 1845, and was, he believed, received in this country somewhere about the month of October following. It so happened, at the very time this 370 statement was sent here from the colony, or rather, this refutation of the charges against Sir Eardley Wilmot was sent here from the colony, that his right hon. Friend (Mr. Gladstone), who had succeeded him (Lord Stanley) in the Colonial Department, also heard the rumours; and having from other grounds resolved to remove Sir Eardley Wilmot from the office of Governor of Van Diemen's Land, thought it his duty to address to Sir Eardley Wilmot a despatch marked "secret;" and having stated in his public and official capacity the grounds of his removal from the government of Van Diemen's Land, in this he stated, he felt it necessary to add, that rumours of the description to which he (Lord Stanley) referred, had reached him; and he felt bound to explain to Sir Eardley Wilmot that, unless these rumours were satisfactorily refuted, it would be impossible for him to advise Her Majesty to employ Sir Eardley Wilmot in any other colony. On the 24th of September, 1846, Sir Eardley Wilmot received the first intimation of his intended recall; and his successor, an officer, appointed administrator of the government pro tempore, arrived in Van Diemen's Land a few days afterwards. On the 25th of October, the duplicate official despatch reached Sir Eardley Wilmot, and with it the secret despatch, informing him of those imputations against his personal character. Sir Eardley Wilmot forthwith replied to the Secretary of State that he was exceedingly happy to have received this direct communication of the grounds on which he would be induced to abstain from recommending him for service in any other colony; for he was prepared to give not only a peremptory and absolute denial of there being the slightest foundation for any of these rumours, but he was determined to remain on the spot when he was deprived of the government of the colony, and of all authority, and to subject his conduct to the strictest investigation on the spot on which all these rumours appeared to have originated, and where they might, if well founded, be capable of proof. On the next day he laid the despatch before the Executive Council, and requested that after he had given up the office of Governor, his conduct should be strictly and impartially inquired into. The Executive Council having taken this communication into consideration, stated that they thought the best mode of undertaking such an inquiry—if such an inquiry were undertaken at all—was by delegating it to 371 a committee of their own body, with whom they wished to associate the chief justice of the colony, the commander of the troops, the archdeacon of the colony, and a reverend gentleman, the minister of one of the principal churches at Hobart Town. The archdeacon refused to serve on the inquiry, the other gentlemen consented, and by the new Governor, who had then superseded Sir Eardley Wilmot, the matter was referred to the examination of a committee so composed. The committee, on the fullest consideration, reported that it appeared to them that to institute such an inquiry was absolutely impracticable; that no charge that was brought was capable of being directly substantiated, consequently there was no charge that admitted of being directly met; that there was only one mode that could be adopted, and that was to invite any body who had any charge to make against the personal conduct of Sir Eardley Wilmot to come forward and make and substantiate such charges; but they felt, though Sir Eardley Wilmot was ready to submit himself to the inquiry, that this was a course which was open to grave objection, and would form a precedent of an injurious character; that the committee to whom it was proposed to confide the inquiry had no power to summon or examine witnesses; and that statements might be made, whether they were substantiated or not, that would affect, not only the character of Sir Eardley Wilmot, but that would also affect the conduct of third parties, whose names would be brought forward, and whom it would be unfair to include in the investigation. Therefore, they thought it was not expedient to enter upon the investigation: they gave their reasons for that opinion, and said, while they thought the inquiry was impracticable, they deemed it due to Sir Eardley Wilmot to certify, in explicit terms, that, so far as their observation had gone in their intercourse with him, since his arrival in the colony—a period of three years—nothing had transpired that would justify the allegation that he had been guilty of any violation of the decencies of private life. That was signed amongst others, by the chief justice, the commander in chief, and the minister of one of the churches. And, simultaneously, as he (Lord Stanley) was informed, there was a very general address to Sir Eardley Wilmot, signed by the inhabitants to the following effect:—"We, the undersigned inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, 372 having heard that your recall is in consequence of imputations on your personal character, deem it our duty to express our contradiction of such reports;"—and they stated that they deemed themselves the more called upon to do so from the fact of many of them having differed with him about some measures of his government. That statement had been transmitted to Her Majesty's Government by Sir Eardley Wilmot; and he believed his noble Friend opposite would have no objection to the production of the papers. As to the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Gladstone) who had succeeded him (Lord Stanley) in the Colonial Department, he could, he believed, say he had no objection to the production of the papers, nor had he any objection to the production of a letter which he thought it his duty, though no longer holding office, to address to Sir Eardley Wilmot. He (Lord Stanley) would express no opinion on the subject; but he thought that when a public officer at a great distance was assailed by rumours that rested on no foundation, or that rested on no fact capable of being substantiated or proved, and when that officer remained on the spot to meet every inquiry, and subject himself to the most rigid scrutiny in that society where it was said his irregularity of conduct was a matter of notoriety, and when from that society, so far as vague accusations could be met, they were met by a positive denial, and when that officer was on such a ground officially informed by the Secretary of State that those rumours would prevent his ever again being employed in the service of the Crown unless they were satisfactorily refuted, it was right, and it was due to that officer that that statement should be put before the public, be accompanied by the refutation of the charge, which, if uncontradicted, must operate most unfavourably on the character and future prospects of this gentleman. He (Lord Stanley) begged, in conclusion, to move for copies of the correspondence which had taken place between the Colonial Office and the Governor of Van Diemen's Laud respecting the personal conduct of Sir Eardley Wilmot.