Master prayed "that they might be one," if in any case it were "lawful to do evil that good may come," then dissent of every kind might find its excuse in a place like Hobart Town, where so many thousand souls, the majority of them in a very unhealthy state, have been formerly left in the charge of one pastor. But instead of praying the Lord of the vineyard for more labourers, and endeavouring themselves to furnish the means of supplying these, men have rushed, self-sent, or sent only by others having no more authority than themselves, into the field of pastoral labour. And while we lament the confusion that has ensued, while we rejoice in whatever good may have resulted from unauthorized preachers, we members of the Church of England are compelled by truth to acknowledge, that, if other men have been led astray by their eagerness and ignorance, we have been not less culpably misled by our slothfulness and apathy. Accordingly the marks of our needless divisions are every where manifest; and like the noxious weeds which sometimes hang about the roots of a noble tree, so are these transplanted together with our best institutions into our colonies. In the chief town of Tasmania are to be found separate places of worship for Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and Independents. [145] See Wentworth's Australasia, vol. i. p. 51. [146] See Mr. M. Martin's Van Diemen's Land, p. 274. [147] The following specimen of the evil art of stirring up the discontent of those that are suffering under the dispensations of Providence, is taken from an old newspaper, published in Hobart Town in 1835. It may be stated, that in the very same paper we are informed that the drought had recently been so great that scarcely a cabbage, or any other vegetable but potato, was to be obtained in the town. Of course water was scarce, and precautions had been taken by the Governor to preserve some at a place whence the shipping were supplied; but this careful conduct of their ruler is thus held up to the abhorrence of the people. "Why," it is asked, "do not the people drink the ditchwater and be poisoned quietly; it is quite enough that their betters should enjoy such a luxury as pure water." And how often in England do we see this sort of trash printed by those _dealers in knowledge_, the newspaper-writers, who sometimes argue as though all the credit of prosperous occurrences belonged to the _people_ of a country, and all the disgrace and responsibility of misfortunes and trials were to be put off upon its _rulers_! How often are we reminded of the Israelites murmuring against Moses on account of the miseries of that wilderness in which their own sins condemned them to wander!