The charge did not then seem to
threaten to be an anxiously large one, and in any case his inauguratory
office might hardly remove him from the accustomed instruction of
superiors. What he did not bargain for was that the child he went to
nurse was to rush almost from the cradle into manhood; and the little
"settlement" he began his reign with to be, ere he had done with it, the
most notable, if not indeed actually the most important, colony of the
empire.
He was a Moravian Christian, of a well-known name in that excellent
body, and possessed of all its virtues; he was, besides, a well-educated
gentleman. The pure and happy home which he transferred to the new scene
was of priceless value to its society, and all the more so at a time
when such virtuous homes, in such high quarters, were by no means over
common thereabout. But with a natural shyness, and, in a socio-political
sense, timidity of character, which in ordinary circumstances are
feelings leaning to the better side, he exemplified how a good man may
not always be a good ruler of men. The diffidence is often mistaken by
the ruled, and always disappointing; and in public affairs it is apt, as
Mr. La Trobe but too well illustrated, to take the inconvenient and
injurious form of personal indecision.
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