Some Passages in the History of Van Diemen's Land

The following pages have been written chiefly for my friends in Van

Diemen's Land in order not to leave them in ignorance of the steps which

I have taken to vindicate the honour of my late office, and my character

as their Governor, from ex-parte representations on points on which, so

long as I exercised the functions of government, I was precluded from

offering any explanations.

Misrepresentations therefore long remained to a great degree

uncontradicted by myself and unrefuted by my friends, not from want of

goodwill on their part but from want of a sufficient knowledge of all the

facts.

The especial reference I have made to Van Diemen's Land will account for

much minuteness and many circumstantial details which may seem somewhat

tedious and obscure to those of my readers less informed and less

interested in local matters than my Tasmanian friends. But there is not a

single observation, however trivial, which is not intended to meet some

special point on which studious misrepresentation has either been made or

may be anticipated.

I have ventured on no statements which I cannot prove, though I have

refrained in many instances from bringing the proof forward, either from

consideration to individuals whose interests might be compromised, or

from the regard which I consider due to the confidence of social

intercourse.

A few words may be necessary to account for the delay in the appearance

of the pamphlet. When all hope of any satisfactory adjustment of my

differences with the Colonial Office was at an end, and the only

alternative left me was a resort to the present step, circumstances of

too private a nature to enter into here, unavoidably prevented its

commencement.

The work most reluctantly begun has occupied more time than I had

anticipated. It was very far from being finished when the preparations

for the Arctic expedition called off my thoughts and time to other duties

more congenial to my habits, and still more imperative; and thus it has

happened that, to my extreme vexation and regret, I find the day of my

departure at hand without the satisfaction I had expected of seeing my

pamphlet out of the press. This delay has however given me the advantage

of receiving from Van Diemen's Land the documents contained in the

Postscript. I have had this part of the work printed off and have

enclosed a copy to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

In executing a task which has been exceedingly painful to me and

altogether foreign to my tastes and habits, I trust it will be found that

I have studiously avoided the introduction of matter inculpating others

except where it could not be avoided without destroying the integrity of

my narrative, or where it was required in justice to myself.