Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/523

 I I the officers, and whom he wished to mislead Earl Bathurst to appoint aa principal surgeon; the other whom he wished in hke manner to foist upon the Survey Department; the owner of thousands of acres obtained i)y questionable aria from intoxicated settlers; another doubly conviuted offender who for rolibing the King's stores had been transported to Norfolk Island, but by thrift had become rieli, and had been made by Macquarie principal superintendent of con- victs (1814); these and others* styling themselves '* eman- cipated colonists," petitioned for leave to hold a meeting]; to discuss their jrrievances and fears. Commissioner Big^e w^as in the colony, and the Governor consulted him as to the propriety of allowing the meeting to be held. Bigge advised that the resolutions to be proposed should be sub- mitted in anticipation to the Governor, and that the emancipist who had prosecuted Judge Field should jiledge himself not to allude to liis quarrel with the Judge. Macquarie obtained the ]iledf^e ; and, with Bigge, revised the resolutions. Judge Field and Judge- Advocate Wylde, on the point of sailing to Van Diemen's Land to hold a Circuit Court, wrote to Mac([narie, They pointe<l out tbat if the Governor hatl consulted them they could have demonstrated that none of the civil privileges of the persons styling themselves '* emancipated colonists'' had been affected by any rules they had laid down, and that as they were about to leave the colony for some time they took leave to inform the Governor of their objections to the meeting, not with a view^ to oppose wliat his Excellency might approve, but to absolve themselves from responsi- bility for consequences arising from the convening of such a meeting while the Courts were closed. The letter was forwarded to Bigge (for his information) by the Judges themselves. Neither Macquarie nor Bigge apprehended mischievous consequences from the meeting. The former said the emancipated convicts were labouring under a serious grievance. Judge Field rephed. All the corres- pondence was sent to the Secretary of State. The meeting, convened by the Provost-Maishal, was held (2J)rd Jan. 18*21). The convict friend of Mac(|uarie, whom he had risked so much to compel the ofticers of the 48th Eegim.^wti to receive at their table, was iii the eWix. "Wv^ ^^wSsK*