136 FOUNDATION AND EARLY WORK 



R.S TAS, 



" 'Under auspices still more favourable tha.n my own^ 

 " 'I cannot doubt that you will steadily pursue your exer- 

 " 'tions in a cause which you justly consider to belong to 

 "■ 'the best and highest interests of Tasmania, and which 

 " 'I am persuaded will tend much to elevate the colony 

 " 'in the estimation of the European community. Your 

 " 'transactions have already been received with favour and 

 " 'interest by names whose patronage is an encouragement 

 " 'and an honour; and I shall not fail to keep alive and 

 " 'cultivate those kindly dispositions, and to procure for 

 " 'you every assistance in my power. 



" 'My connection with you, endeared as it has been by 

 " 'the domestic hearth around which we have assembled, 

 " 'will ever be cherished, not by me only, but by her to 

 " 'whom you have so kindly alluded, and who feels deeply 

 " 'and gratefully the manly and generous sentiments in 

 " 'which your tribute to her originates. 



'• ' John Franklin.' " 



II. THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA, 1843-8. 

 The Foiindatwji of the Society, \Uh October, 1843. 



Franklin required time to arrange his affairs, and there 

 were few suitable vessels sailing for England, and it was 

 impossible for him toi leave Tasmania for some months. 

 Sir Eardley Wilmot directed that his predecessor should 

 be treated with the honours due to his late office, and 

 Franklin retired to the house of one of his friends, and, 

 shortly before his departure, made a sort of progress 

 through the country, in which addresses of farewell were 

 presented to him from all sections of the colonists. 



Meanwhile Sir Eardley Wilmot had determined upon a 

 plan for reconstituting the Tasmanian Society. Before 

 narrating liis proposals, however, it is necessary to refer to 

 some of the details of the establishment of the Lieutenant- 

 Governor in those days. Franklin had found when he 

 succeeded Arthur that three official residences were pro- 

 vided for him — the Government House in Macquarie- 

 street, Hobart, the Government Cottage at Launceston, 

 and the Government Cottage at New Norfolk — and that he 

 was also entitled to the use and profits of the Colonial 

 Farm at New Town, and of the Colonial Gardens; and 

 for the service of all these, liberal provision was made at 

 the public expense, in addition to the official salary of the 

 Govcrno]-. Franklin continued to enjoy these privileges; 

 but before the termination of his office, it wa^ decided by 



