Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/492

 4U FIRST JUBUE or SUl^KME COURTS. gent here as priBoners shall be determined agieeably to his own wishes in the negative/' Macquarie went so far as to express his *^ decided opinion" that Bent onn;ht to admit Grossley.^^ Lord Bathnrst was discreet enough to agi^ee with Benfc rather than with Macquarie.^^ But the latter acted vigor- ously on the spot. He informed Lord Bathurst^^ that he had issued a General Order (11th Dec. 1816), notifying Bent's ** removal and recall from ]iis official situation, and declaring his disqualification and incapacity to act from thenceforth as Judge of the Supreme Court or a magistrate of this colony." ... It was a *' severe measure'' — *'I did it with extreme reluctance,. * . Li one letter par- ticularly Mr. Bent declares in speaking of himself and me that *our local rank places but a shadow of distinction between us,' and, with a view of drawing a maHgnaut con- trast of his own, he adds that his irritability of temper has ]iever led him into acts either of illegality or oppression,'* Lord Bathurst sanctioned the removal of the angr}- Judge 1>y the angry Governor. Bent's successor, Mr* Barron Field,^'^ the author of more than one law-book, had arrived in Sydney when Macquarie thus justiiied himself. Of Wylde, the Judge-xdvocate, and Field, Macquarie said, ** 1 have every reason to hope and believe they will in their respective situations prove al great blessing and acquisition to this colony." Of a solicitor* who had not been a convict he wrote: ** This worthless and unprincipled reptile under thb pu[>ilage of Mr, Bent shows himsclt' a ready agent to undermine and blast, if possible, my honom- and public character." Without any consultation with the Judge, or apprising him of the nature of the case, Macquarie appointed freedman as one of the magistrates, who, with Field, were' to constitute the Supreme Court. Field, unconscious of the fact, could not remonstratejnit he afterwards expressed " Houau of Commons Paper. Appendix to Report of Gaol Committee, 1819. '* Bigge'a Report (22nd M«y m22), p. m. '■ Despfttch to Secretary of State, 3rd April 181 7« |  He wrote  Narratives of Voyage and Travel ;'^ and in 1822 r«^ * jmper on the Aborigines of New Holland and Van Diemen'a Land, before A Philosophic^] Society of AustvaUiv,