Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/284

 240 A CHAK6B 01* 17M4M Establkh- mentof a dvil tribnnaL Grose's action discussed. His caatfonln other matters. necessarj officers and ministers in oar said territory and its depen- dencies, for the better administration of justice, and putting the law in execution, and to administer, or cause to be administered, unto them such oath or oaths as are usually given for theexecutioii and performance of offices and places." Letters Patent establishing the Courts of Law^ gave to these Justices equal powers to those possessed by Justices of the Peace in. England. It is clear^ from these two documents^ that the Govern- ment contemplated the establishment in th3 colony of a civil magistracy which should exercise the powers belonging to that office under the English law. In appointing Justices, Phillip carried out his instructions, and, until Grrose inter- posed, magisterial duties were discharged in the manner prescribed, and the system had worked well. It is difficult to understand how Grose came to overlook the fact that in abolishing the civil magistracy he was in reality disobeying the Boyal Instructions, which were as binding npon the temporary administrator of the government as they were upon the Governor to whom they were issued. If it had been intended that the colony should be subject entirely to military rule, provisions for the appointment of Justices of the Peace, who were to exercise the powers of English magistrates, and in the same manner, would certainly not have appeared in the Commission and Letters Patent. Grose either misunderstood them, or regarded the employment of Justices afi something within the discretion of the Governor. In so doing he incurred a great responsibility, of which, however, he appears to have been quite unconscious. In other matters he was over-cautious. Writing to Dundas on the 3rd September, 1793,t he explained the circumstances under which it had become necessary to buy food for the people, and added : — '^I cannot but be alarmed at all I pur- chase, and everything I do, being unaccustomed to business, and fearful of acting so much from my own discretion.'^ It • Vol. i, pp. 681-687.. t HistoricaL Beoords, toI. ii, p. 63.