Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/352

 government had arrived, and no part of his reports was of greater value to the Colony than that which recommended the formation of a Legislative Council to assist the Governor. Valuable too was his proposal that all laws should first be submitted to the Chief Justice and receive his certificate that they did not contravene the laws of England. Needless to add, the council was to be a nominated and not an elected body, but to it was to be entrusted the power of law-making and revenue raising, which had previously been exercised (though not legally) by the Governor alone.

Macquarie was already in England when Bigge's Reports were laid before Parliament by the Colonial Secretary, and had in the previous year published his own Apologia in the form of a reply to Bennet's Letter to Lord Sidmouth. He also sent to Lord Bathurst in July, 1822, a report on his Governorship and a justification of his measures. Both these documents were in their manner able statements of his case, but both dealt rather with persons than principles. Thus the published letter contained a violent attack on Marsden and an allegation quite unfounded that he dealt in spirits, and several gibes at Bennet more abusive than relevant.

The chief result of the pamphlet was that it called forth a rejoinder from Marsden, published a few years later, in which he not only disproved Macquarie's allegations, but stated with admirable force and clearness the circumstances of New South Wales from the time of his arrival as chaplain in 1793 up to 1820.

Meanwhile the Colonial Office prepared to act upon their Commissioner's reports, and at the beginning of July, 1823, a Bill was introduced into Parliament and quickly passed through both houses, based upon his recommendations. This Bill, known afterwards as the New South Wales Jurisdiction Act, as finally