Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/114

 destructive purposes". Petitions requiring one signature only were exempted altogether from these provisions. The penalties were those "provided on that behalf by the laws of England".

These regulations appear to have remained in force up to the time of and after Macquarie's arrival. They embody indeed the whole attitude of the Government towards any form of political activity in the colonists. Macquarie's attention was first directed to such matters by an association formed between "diverse Victuallers, Publicans and others" who combined together and "injuriously, with a view only to their own interests, without due notice or just cause, altered the then subsisting rate of exchange between the bills drawn for the public service and the promissory notes issued by different individuals, known by the name of currency, by means whereof great confusion had been introduced into all private dealings and transactions". This form of association was to be prevented for the future and for that purpose it had become "highly necessary to define more specifically the regular form of assembling the inhabitants of this territory".

In accordance with the Proclamation issued, any meeting of more than six persons was an unlawful assembly unless the following regulations had been observed. First, a requisition stating the purpose of the proposed meeting must be made to the Provost-Marshal, signed by at least seven householders resident in the district in which the meeting was to be held. The Provost-Marshal, within twenty-four hours, if possible, must submit the requisition to the Governor. If the latter consented, the Provost-Marshal convened the meeting through the medium of the Sydney Gazette stating its time, place and purpose. This notice must be inserted at least five days before the meeting, and the Provost-Marshal had to attend and preside at it when it took place. The necessary powers were given to Judges and Justices of the Peace to disperse unlawful assemblies and to inflict fines and imprisonment on those infringing the regulations. Any publican permitting the unlawful assembly at his house would immediately forfeit his license,