Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/566

 he seldom met a conqueror ; but, astute in forecast, when he did meet him he avoided conflict. It has been common for liin partisans to defend his equi- %7:)eal actions hy pleadiiig liis unseltishness. If be was ex- tortionate for his church, lie erred from excess of religious zeah If he improperly obtairu^d money from intending im- niif^rants with a foreknowledge thai they could not receive laiid'Orders on arrival — the Colonial Oitice having distinctly warned him of the fact — this also was extenuated as laud- able devotion to the cause of immigration. Afc any rate he did not miBer-like store money in a chest for hiniseif. He spent wliat he aiipropriated. Finally, it would i>e argued, that if he was at times unscrupulous, ill-treatment and persecution had soured him, and that when he was young his code of ethics was irreproachable* While he w^as undergoing im- l)risonment for lihol (more than a qnarter of a centnry after his arrival in 1H2H) subscriptions were sought in his behalf. A young man vainly solicited aid from a gentleman, who replied, it was no part of a Christian mmisters duty to libel his neighbours. The final argument in Dr. Lang's faYOur being adduced, the gentleman rephed: see that L-tjaitiGld, I was plough iug there whim Mr. Lrtui^r, fresh from Scotkud, came U> ask foi^ a aiib^eription for a kirk. I promised liirn one, whieh lie wan pleased tD caU liaudsomc. Before leaving me he begged m© not lo be nurpriaed if T yaw that luy really handsome siiVjaeription appeared double in the publialied lif<t. I should not be asked for the niuney ; but by Hiiob a method a larger amount eoidd be obtained from gr*vernment. I UAd him tbttt my promised subscription he .<«houkl have, but tiiat I would not allow him the use of my name at all, and that I would apprise Major (wouUmni (Briabane'a Colonial JSeeretary) of hi« nefarious pmetieeB. And you will observe, sir, that this was while he was youngs and before he had I teen, as you say, persecuted/' The writer of these pages heard these words from the speaker a few days after they were uttered. The career of Lang was in keeping with this beshming. His supporters argued that his cause was good, and that if he wished to build a ehureh a zealous indiscretion taking tbe form of untruth was scarcely blameable. Huch a teacher might debase, but could not raise, the standard of morality. He was ever ready, however, to scourge an oppo- nent for iraraorality, and was often a terror to them ttiat did evil To those who thwarted him in a good or bad
 * Young man, 1 knew Dr. Lang [irobiibly btvfore you were lioni. You