Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/574

 and honoarable intention would enable him to support. He appealed to Brisbane as a soldier **and a man of honour to afford the only relief poseibie/' that *'of knowing to whom I am to attribute mj disgrace, and what are tha^ particulars of the representations which can have madeV him feel it obligatory to inflict so deep a wound upon a man of whom he is pleased to express such favourable sentiments. I solicit no favour but that of being permitted to defend myself against the masked attacks of mj enemies/' He had heard that Wylde and Field had been , active ; and collateral circumstances confirmed the rumour*^ He respectfully entreated that he might obtain the infor*" mation indispensable for relief of his wounded feelings and the support of his honour. As a soldier, Brisbane could hardly, in those days, reject an appeal made in the name of honour ; but he prudently postponed the production of the letter of Wylde and Field for some months. The fiery Macarthur restrained his indignation while his traducers held office. When Field was about to leave the colony he_ Bent him a note which did not produce the answer whic^ " Macartluu^ considered ** agreeable to the usage of gentle- men/' Then lie wrote a letter declaring that FieUr^ statement that good terms did not exist between Macarthur and the magistrates was one which those gentlemen were ready to contradict, and *you will therefore be pleased to understand that I accuse yon of having knowingly and deliberately committed an act Avhich the manners of a gentleman forbid me to name, even under the sanction of your example/* When the New Constitution was granted Macarthur's name was the first on the roll of the leading colonists who thanked Earl Bathurst for the measure, as beneficial in itself, and the precursor of greater benefits whenever thi increased ninnber of respectable inhabitants might indui His Majesty's Government to confer a '' Legislativi Assembly'- and **the inestimable privilege of trial by jury, tinder existing conditions that " sacred institution of om^ ancestors might be productive of great evil,'* and the memorialists considered the steady opposition of the ''government to its hasty introduction the dearest proof of the correct and enliglitenei Nei^'& i^ken of our peculiar