Almost a century ago, Lord Stanley,udthe Secretary of State for the Colonies wrote these wordsudat the close of a despatch -- Despatch 150, written onudthe 13th September, 1842, to Sir John Franklin, in VanudDieman's Land.-ud"The result of my consideration ofudthe whole subject is to relieve Mr Montagu from everyudcensure which impugns the integrity or the propriety ofudhis conduct. It cannot be too distinctly understood thatudMr Montagu retires from the situation he has so longudfilled with his personal and public character unimpairedudand with his hold on the respect and confidence of herudMajesty's Government undiminished. --- I am compelled toudadd that your proceedings in this case of Mr Montagu doudnot appear to me to have been well-judged, and that yourudsuspension of him from office is not in my opinion,udsufficiently indicated." udHis Lordship's Despatch served theuddouble purpose of snubbing Franklin and of justifyingudMontagu. Now the cycle of time has swung around andudhistory would reverse Lord Stanley's ill-consideredudjudgement.udThe dispute between Franklin andudMontagu, dramatic, bitter and futile in itself, yet holdsudup a mirror in which are reflected the lives, the struggles,udand the problems of those who lived in an age of transitionud-- an age in which free settlers were beginning to out-number convicts, when Van Dieman's Land was about to becomeudTasmania. The chief figures in the dispute wereudSir John Franklin the Lieutenant Governor of Van Dieman'sudLand, his spirited wife, Lady Franklin, Captain JohnudMontagu, Colonial Secretary, and, away in the cloudy pompousudatmosphere of Downing Street, Lord Stanley, the Secretaryudof State for the Colonies.
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