Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/468

 Lord Liverpool liia desii^e to substantiate sucb charges. Macartliiir earoe^tly insisted on pressing theui. But thel atmosphere of the Comi was uncongenial fco an attempt of the ItiiuL The Judge- Advocate would have had no diffi- OLilty in persuading the Court that imputations of corruption on liligirs part had no l)eariiig on the charge of mutiny brought against Johnston, Johnston's legal advisers made 110 attempt to press them, and Macartluu' vaiuly fumed against the conduct of the caae. It was on the proof of, Bligh's dehni|uencies that he relied for an acquittal of] Johnston. He attributed Kent*s triumph to the holdnesa of his defence. Maearthur underwent a protracted examination, Mr, Manners Sutton in several lengthy speeches enforced the necessity of economizing the time of the Court by closelyl confining the witness to the questions put,^"* One of the* members of the Court in the course of Mjicarthur'a evidence remarked to the Judge- Advocate: '* Perhaps you will con- J sider this is the mainspring." As Maearthur vainly endeavoured to cause an inquiry into Bligh's alleged peculations, so J31igh failed altogether in proving that the repression of spirit-traffic was an element in producing resistance to his autlionty- j Amongst Bligh*s witnesses were some of inditferent char-^ acter. Gore, the Provost -Marshal, swore that when he arrived in S3^dney with Governor Bligh in 1B06, and for some time after, it was not an uncnmmon tiling for persons ] to be imprisoued without a warrant from the magistrates, and that at Ins intercession Bligh forbade the practice. Yet then and now existed and exists in Sydney a MS. book, , recording the meetings of magistrates, over whom Judge- Advocate Dore presided in 1798, Li SepL 1798 tliis entry was made : * 'Jesse Hudson, confined without specific cliarge. or warrant of magistrates, was ordered to be diachargetl, I and the gaoler was peremptorily commanded on no account whatever in future to receive or detain any prisoner in Mr. MiAfiuei's Siittoii animadverted u|K>n a hearsay aUusioii to *'what'the witness ja plefLsed to call tha nutorinua f Clenieut*8 Inn, London; 181 L
 * 'Maeartliiir had mentioned in e idtincc '*the iioturifiua (ieorgc Crt>galey."