Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/315

 AND HIS STAFF. 205 Major Ross remained in charge of the island until King's 1791 retnm in November, 1791, when the Major sailed for Syd- ney, and shortly afterwards for England. On his departure, his position as commanding oflScer of the forces was occupied by Major Grose, who arrived in the Pitt, transport, in Major oitMe. February, 1792, the first detachment of the New South Wales Corps, of which he was major commandant, having reached the colony in June, 1790. Grose's career in the colony after Phillip had left it formed a singular parallel to that of his predecessor. Under his rule as Lieutenant- Governor, military power became supreme, the magistrate Military was suppressed, and the colony was governed in much the SoSiinant same fashion as a camp. Grose's commission as Lieutenant- Governor of the colony was publicly read '^ on the parade in front of the quarters," a month after his arrival ; but he did not enter into office until the following December, when Phillip returned to England. The appointment of a captain of marines to such a post captaiw as that of Judge- Advocate at the foundation of the colony was a striking departure from the ordinary rules of the service. The office was a purely civil one ; and in view of the fact that the Judge-Advocate presided over the admin- istration of law in the settlement, the selection of a military man for the post can be explained only on the ground that it was intended to administer law in accordance with mili- tary rules and practice. Collins had no judicial experience to guide him in his new career. He had not acted as a mnrder was presented against Governor Eyre in England, but the bill was thrown out by the Grand Jury. Another indictment was then laid against the commanding officer of the troops who had presided at the Court-martial, but the biU was thrown out. In the course of his charge to the Grand Jury Lord Chief Justice Cockbum said : — "No one, I think, who has the faintest idea of what the administration of justice involves, could deem the proceed- ings on this trial consistent with justice, or, to use a homely phrase, with that fair play which is the right of the commonest criminal. All I can say is, that if^on martial law being proclaimed a man can lawfully thus be tried, condemned, and sacrificed, such a state of things is a scandal and reproach to the institutions of this great and free country. I enter my solemn and emphatic protest against the lives of men being thus dealt with in time to oome." Digitized by Google