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move which was considered a false one by the Attorney-General , who
thought the Legislature should act independently of the Governor and
. .
summon its own witnesses as in Great Britain; it presented an address
to Yong aski.ng him to direct the attendance of officers at the Committee
of Enquiry .
This he declined to do in Message Number 12 on the grounds
that penal estab lishments in Tasmania were under the sole -.control of the '
British Government which was responsible to the British Parliament and
not to the Tasmanian egislature.
A most important crisis has unexpectedly come upon the colony
and it requires men possessed of cool minds and courageous
hearts to deal with it. There can be no possible means of
steering between two cours es . The Governor has either
treated the Legislative Council so cavalierly as to necessitate
its adoption ·of firm and strenuous measures to assert its rights
or their very existence is a farce and .the chosen representatives
of the people exist merely in our iagination. l l -
character;
The Convict Department Affair now assumed a comp letely different
it was no longer a question of punishng certain convict
officials for their delinquencies , but a question of the relationship
between a Governor and those whom he governed.
·J
On August 28 the Council
decided to assert its rights, claiming that it had perfect liberty to
invesigate all matters in which the welfare of the colony was involved,
and to enquire into any department exercising directly or indirect ly an
influence upon the community, and that no person res iding in the colony
could be given independence of its laws .
It therefore passed a
resolution by a majority of eleven votes ordering the attendance of
witnesses, thus enabling the Select Committee to send for persons and
papers .
The constitutional battle which developed created great interest
and excitement thrugout the Australian colonies;
in Hobart Town
feeli_ngs ran very h:igh indeed as the Pub lic and the press sided either
with the Goyernor or the Legislative Council, the Tasmanian Daily News
for the Council, the Advertiser for the Governor 's party.
the chief participants in the dispute rose to fame overnight;
Consequent ly,
indeed
the name of the ex-convict doctor, 11Hall11 , became a household word.
·on f\ugust 31 the Colonial Secretary was examined, followed by
Hall on September 6. The following day the farce with all its drama
and personal bitterness really began: Hampton was summoned to attend
beore the Slct Committee but refused to comply and was ordered to
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Tasmanian · Daily News , August 24, 1855 .