Revised Jun 22 2021
It will be interesting to many readers to learn that the late admirable Bishop of Sydney, Dr. W. G. Broughton, travelled by this line, crossing, under circumstances of great difficulty, owing to his lameness, and enfeebled health, the Isthmus of Panama, on his way from Lima to England. It is remarkable that he reached our shores on the 18th of November, 1852, the day of the funeral of the great Duke of Wellington. The acute and penetrating mind of the Duke had, many years previous, observed and appreciated Mr. Broughton's high qualities, and the strict sense of duty by which he was ever actuated. He became Archdeacon of New South Wales in 1829, and had been long esteemed in the Colony, when he was called, in 1836, to fulfil the Episcopal office in those immeasurably-spread regions, which have since been divided into several dioceses. In undertaking single-handed so laborious a task, he felt, as he afterwards wrote (Feb. 1838): "My humble confidence is placed in God, who has hitherto shown us His favour and protection; and so I am persuaded He will continue to do, whilst our exertions are directed to the promotion of His glory, by the extension of His Church upon earth, and to the edification of His people here, and their eternal salvation in the world to come."
Bishop Broughton died in London, greatly lamented, on the 20th February, 1853. His remains were interred in Canterbury Cathedral. He had, shortly before his death, expressed to the author much sympathy with the Pitcairn Islanders, and their Pastor. Speaking of his own difficulties in crossing the Isthmus of Panama, on mules, by canoes, and railroad, the Bishop said that, after the undertaking was all over, he had sometimes to pause and ask himself, whether it was possible that he had actually accomplished it.
The Bishop, notwithstanding the fatigue attendant upon his journey, had fully projected an important act of kindness towards the British community at Valparaiso, which circumstances prevented him from carrying into effect. He wrote to the Rev. B. Hill, late chaplain at Valparaiso, from Lima, to inform him, that it had been his wish and intention to call at Valparaiso, in the hope that he might be serviceable to the junior members of the Episcopal Chtirch there, by conferring on them the rite of Confirmation; that he had waited for some time, in the expectation of obtaining a passage to that port, but had at length, from want of a ship, been obliged to abandon his intention.