Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/283

 GOVERNMENT, 239 made ; wliatever weak points lie had, Grose was straiglit- i79»-i)4 forward in bis dealings. His letters and despatches show evidently that he was always ready to speak his mind. Besides, intentionaL concealment would have been impossible. Copies of the Orders issued would doubtless be sent to England, and there was a constant stream of correspondence between the officials at Sydney Cove and their friends in England* Many of the letters sent Home found their way into the newspapers, and a matter of this sort could not haveimnos- escaped attention. It is not likely that Grose attempted to oonoeai- deceive anyone. Strange as it may appear at this time, when the consequences of his ill-considered action are understood and realised, the fact seems to be that Grose considered it unnecessary to report to the Home Office the alterations he had introduced. He appears to have regarded The it as a matter of local administration, chiefly affecting the explanation, convicts, which did not concern the authorities in England ; and as the military command and the Governorship of the colony were now vested in one and the same person, he apparently thought that it was no longer necessary to keep up the distinction between the civil and the military authority. If he had examined Phillip's Commission of April, 1789,* as it was his duty to do, seeing that he had been called upon to administer the affairs of the settlement under its authority, he would have found that in superseding An nn- the civil magistrates he had been guilty of disobedience to lot. ** the authority under which he acted. It was never the intention of the British Government to invest the military with the functions that properly belonged to the civil tri- bunals. The Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction were poUcyof constituted by Letters Patent under an Act of Parliament ; ment.**^""* the establishment of a Magistrate's Court was provided for in Phillip's Commission, which contained this clause : — " And we do hereby authorise and empower you to constitute and appoint Justices of the Peace, coroners, constables, and other • Vol. i, pp. 474-480.