Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/257

 more calculated to produce such a calamity than an appearance of misunderstanding between the Governor and yourself, or a suspicion that you were disposed to question or disobey his orders."

In fine, the Secretary of State preached endurance, patience and submission on the part of all officials, and expected peace to be maintained under the contradictory and incomprehensible system of civil Government by military officers.

Soon after this letter was despatched arrived the reports of the emancipist attorney's difficulty. The recall of the Bents was at once decided upon, and by the end of January, 1816, John Wylde and Barron Field were appointed respectively Judge-Advocate and Chief Judge of the Supreme Court. Wylde had started as a solicitor and been called to the Bar in 1805, but Field, although he had been entered at the Inner Temple in 1809, had not been called until 1814. In character Wylde was a typical respectable attorney with plenty of public spirit and a strong wish to conciliate all parties. His most noticeable fault was inability to write plain, straightforward English, or indeed to speak it. Field, on the other hand, was a lawyer with a love for the humanities, a considerable amount of youthful impetuosity, a sense of humour and a hot temper.

The Secretary of State had for some time thought that this step would prove necessary, and though he had little sympathy with Jeffery Bent, he intended to offer Ellis Bent a post elsewhere. There was no hope of reconciliation between the Bents and Macquarie, and there was no alternative but to recall them.