Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/464

 LIEUT. KENT HONOURABLY ACQUIITED. i investigation lasted tliree ilayw. Bligh called only one wit- ness out of many summoned by hiin. He delivered a paper, int-o tht propriety or impropriety of the tlisposaeasiDg mo of the ui il' ^^overnnieiiit of the territory of New South Wales -,. and the Tx»r(W Commissifmers of the Adridriilty directeil nie in framing the ehiugea ypoii the present occasion to confine myself to tho.se points which were in breach of the naval articles of war/' He hoped that if Kent should call witnesses the Court J would allow him to call others to rebut. The jndgjuent waafl that the Court . . . in the two inat^ince.s above-mentioned without the order (of Bligh); that he did not so sail nnder the persons asserted . . . to have iOegally and by force dispossessed the afiid William Eligh *>f the government of New South Wales, and did not improperly strike the broad pendant of the aaid William Bligh . . . Tliat Kent, under the extreme and extra- ordinary dilliiulties he was phvced under, showed every disposition to obey] any orders which (Bligh) might have thonght Jit to h&ve given to him that lie was actuated by a sincere wish to perform his duty for tlic good of His Majesty's service, and that he wan justified in the conduct he pursued . and that the third charge has ur>t h-eeii proved against the «aid Lieut. Kent, and i the Court) doth on the whole adjnilge him to he honour- ably ac(|nitted of the whole of the ahme charges. *'^^ The officers of the Court exonerated Kent from blame. His sword was returned as to one deserving distinction rather than disgi^ace. Johnston had reported his arrival in England in 1809, Bhgh arrived in Oct. ISIO."*^ Johuston appealed (16th Nov,) to Lord Liverpool, He huped he might not be con- sidered impatient in earnestly sol icithig to know whether lie was to consider himself ** so unfortunate as to leiuain under the displeasure of Government as he had the inexpressible, mortification to see in Governor Mactpiarie's proclamation, or whether the evidence transmitted to Lord Castlereagh, an d the sol jseti n e n t app i" oval'' r > f the c on d u c t of J ol i ns ton Foveaux, and Palersun, hatl convinced Lord Liverpool thai i I ^ The N^rai Clt^rnnk'lr IHIK Vol. K London. 1810 he urged the dudge- Advocate to institute proceedings agjiinst, — Ist, Kemp, Hrabyu, Moore, Laycoek, Minchin^ and Lawson. !?udly, Johnston* Dr. Hiuris, I>raffin, AiLdiibald Bell, and Sergeant Whittle. *^:?rdly, Jolui )/laxland, Edward Macarthur, and Hannibal MaearlhuTt settlers; T. Jamison, surgeon ; and Grimes, f^urveyor4?enerab 4thly, LL-Col eaux, '* who continued my couftueuwiTiV" I
 * taking it for gmnterl that the CVnirt will not think it right to inquire
 * having heard ... is of opmiou that the said I^ient. Kent did Bail
 * ' Bligh clesired to prosecute the officers of the Ciiminal Cuurt. In Nov.