Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/30

 14 PHILLIP AND BOSS. ^'^ G-eneral Court-martial to inquire into the statements con- tained in Boss's letter^* and Tencli was informed that neither his conduct as the President of the Court-martial at Sydney, nor that of Major Boss in putting the members of it in arrest, could now, from lapse of time, be inyestigated. So that Tench and his fellow-sufferers were unable to obtain any satisfaction. ggpjjjjij The case of Captain Meredithf had nothing to do with the complaint of Tench and his brother-officers, but if a General Court-martial had been granted. Boss's treatment of Meredith would doubtless have been used by Tench as an evidence of the "tyranny and oppression" with which he charged the Major. Captain Meredith had been suspended by Boss two years before, as stated in a leter from Phillip to Stephens, 10th April, 1790 :— b"l«2!^ " "^^ officer mentioned in the return as unfit for duty is Captain Meredith; he was suspended by Major Boss, who thought his conduct such as made a Greneral Court-martial necessary ; and that officer has requested that such Court-martial may be ordered, as he deems his conduct to have been such as he can justify." What Meredith did to incur Boss's displeasure is not expressly stated, either in the charge or in the finding of ^^in^"** the Court-martial ; but the general accusation against him Meredith, ^^^^^g c< ^ehaviug highly improper as an officer, and in his (Boss's) opinion tendening to the subversion of all sub- ordination and injurious to military discipline." A more serious charge could scarcely be brought against an officer, but it was without foundation. For committing at the most a trifling fault this officer was placed in strict arrest, which lasted for two years and a half. During the whole of that time Captain Meredith was under the stigma which attaches to officers in such a position, and lost any chance of promotion which might have occurred in the interval. t HiBtorioal Becords, toI. i, part 2, p. 324 ; vol. ii, pp. 448, 471-473, 477« 478,481.
 * Historical Becords, toI. ii, p 482.