Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/565

 of all desperate powers of legislation, an vr post facto law/* It was difficult to know which was the most pitiable — a man of the ahihty and in the position of Forhes recom- mending such a remedy, nr a man of Wentworth's mascu- line honesty so duped hy Forbes, or so blinded bj prejudice, as to seek to throw the blame upon Bannister. The new Constitution Act, passed in July 1828, removed from the path of the pohtical Chief Justice the stumbling-Mock of Grand Juries. It was during Brisbane's government that a young Presbyterian minister, who was to become notorious in colonial history, immigrated to Sydney, Mr. (afterwards Dr.) John Dimmore Lang arrived there in 182B, A brother was there in 18*21, and throngli the intervention of Com- missary-General WemysB received an appointment as clerk in the Commissariat Department. The Presbyterians in Sydney had no organization, and the clerk suggested that his brother John might become their minister. Sir Thomas Brisbane was friendly to the suggestion. Dr, Lang was ordained in 1822 at Irviue, and arrived in Sy^dney in May 1823. He recorded, in his IFiHtortf of Nav South IVab-g^ that his Church in Scotland regarded his emigration with pitably invited to the house of Mr. Wemyss, and cheerfully accepted the invitation. "^"^ The ** solitary friendless wan- 1 derer,'* as he called himself, was to play no ordinary part in the colonial drama. At first it was religious. It became politieal when lie bid for popularity in public affairs to ob- tain control or purchase favours. His appearance as defendant in actions of libel, for emissions in what he called ^xeligious newsi>apers, were numerous. Graspiijg at money, cared not for it for its own sake. To maintain a fore- i most position in public regard, or wreak his wrath upon an enemy, he would have compounded for a life of imprisonment, iHis admirers were astonished when, on going to condole with an incarcerated martyr, they found him gaily reading a newspaper and sipping his coffee. Indomitable in will, unscrupulous in word and deed, vigorous in mijid and body. •" Third Edition, 1852. Vol ii,, p. 460. " *^ Narrative of the Hettlemcut of the Scots* Church, Sydney.' Lang^D-D. Sydney: 1828. E^J.Vi.
 * cold-blooded and unnatural indiliereuee."*^ He was hos-