Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/423

 BLIGH'S CONDUCT. 395 ing in spirits by officers, they attributed his disasters to his endeavour to perform a duty which had been so com- pletely performed by his predecessor, that an injunction with regard to it was deemed unnecessary in the instruc- tions to Bligh. He did, however, announce his intention to obey the Secretary of State in restraining the importa- tion of spirits. He republished the General Order issued by Hunter (to suppress illicit distillation), which King had enforced and had supported by an additional Order in 1805. He issued stringent Orders on various subjects. It was asserted by his enemies that he unduly interfered with the functions of Courts, and the Judge-Advocate, Atkins, swore that when Gore was indicted for felony, Bligh sent a written Order from the Hawkesbury, directing that the trial then proceeding should be stayed, and that the magistrates should not meet until Bligh's return to Sydney. He was accused of harshness towards captured runaways, against whom, when one indictment failed, a second was preferred. The lash seems to have been inflicted even upon the free. Eight men, one of whom was free by servitude, were charged with stealing a boat (Jan. 1807). They pleaded that their object was to appeal to the generosity of a captain of a ship about to leave the harbour. They were acquitted of stealing, and were then tried before the Magisterial Court, seven for absconding, and the free man for assisting the seven. They were sentenced : One to receive 1000 lashes ; three to 500 lashes ; one to hard labour at Newcastle with an iron collar; one, "free from servitude, 200 lashes and three years' hard labour ; one, emancipated, 200 lashes and three years' hard labour ; and one, 200 lashes and three years' hard labour, and to work in the gaol gang until further orders." Bligh was vexed to find houses built on land originally reserved by Phillip, but leased by his successors. The symmetry of his own grounds was encroached upon. In July 1807 he issued a General Order for the removal " of a number of houses adjacent to Government House, to its great annoyance now occupied by (six enumerated persons) and others." The occupants might remove the materials, and build on such other unoccupied grownA. «^^ m^V r>»