Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/542

 428^ PHILLIP 1789 If '' a too punctilious jealousy of station *' formed a dis- tinguishing trait of his character^ there is no proof of it No evidence in the records of the time^ either in the shape of official correspondence or in the narratives of his contemporaries. The only evidence of the kind consists of the statements made by Eoss in his letters to Nepean, which do not deserve any serious attention. The consciousness of his power was, no doubt, the main- spring of the extravagant conduct pursued by the Major. He was placed in the position he occupied for the purpose of supporting the Governor ; but, as things stood, the Grovemor was placed so helplessly in his power that, instead of obtain- ing support, he met with nothing but opposition. That was one of the many vices which marked the form of govem- The root mout framed by Sydney, the consequences of which made themselves felt with increasing force from y^r to year, until they culminated in a revolution. When the news of the discontent reached England, and the Grovernment at last was made aware oJE the position into which the civil and military forces had drifted, it was determined to recall the marines, A change and send out a force specially raised for the service. By of masters. . that means, it was thought, the evil complained of would be absolutely eradicated, and any future conflict of the kind rendered impossible. The result was quite the reverse, and naturally so ; because the source of the evil was left un- touched. The Government did not understand the real position of afEairs in the least, and instead of applying a remedy, it aggravated and inflamed the disease. It ought to have been manifest from the first that the Governor of such a colony should be invested with absolute instead of merely nominal power ; and that nothing could be more The sub- danfferous than to invest one officer with the shadow of stance and the shadow, power whilc leaving the substance in the hands of another. The difficulty might have been obviated by the simple precaution of issuing peremptory instructions from the Admiralty to the marines, before they left England, of such a nature as to remove all doubt from their minds with Digitized by Google