HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



7' 



no man ever heard of before? No, sir!' I endeavoured to appease him, by stating 

 that I had understood the Government at Home had particularly recommended me to 

 his notice. He replied, ' I have heard of your concerns, sir ; you have got five thousand 

 acres of land in the finest situation in the country ; but, by God, you shan't keep 



it!' We immediately after entered the Government House, where we found 



Governor and Mrs. King, and sat down to breakfast. He then renewed the conversation 

 about my sheep, address- 

 ing himself to Governor 

 King, when he used such 

 violent and insulting lan- 

 guage to him that Go- 

 vernor King burst into 

 tears." Of course, con- 

 sidering how interested 

 Macarthur was in this 

 matter, the account may 

 not be wholly unpreju- 

 diced ; indeed, we are 

 justified in regarding it as 

 considerably over-coloured. 

 The officers of the 

 regiment naturally sym- 

 pathized with Macarthur, 

 and Bligh found himself 

 standing alone, when mat- 

 ters were brought to a 

 crisis in consequence of 

 Bligh's expressed deter- 

 mination to cancel, on 



public grounds, certain grants of land which Macarthur and other officers had 

 obtained from Governor King. At this time Macarthur owned a vessel named the 

 Parramatta, from which a convict had made his escape, a fact which rendered 

 the owner liable to the forfeiture of a bond for nine hundred sterling ; Bligh 

 seized his opportunity, declared the bond forfeited, arrested Macarthur and put 

 him in gaol. The officers of his regiment immediately took him out, and knowing 

 that open war between themselves and the Governor would be the result, they 

 determined to turn the tables on him at once. Major Johnston, the Commandant, 

 was accordingly persuaded to place him under arrest, and to take the Government 

 out of his hands until a new Governor should be sent out. On the 26th of 

 January, 1808, the soldiers were marched to Government House, with band playing and 

 colours flying. Bligh was captured in a bedroom while endeavouring to secrete some 

 important documents which he was desirous of keeping from the hands of his captors. 

 He was kept in arrest ; Major Johnston assumed the position of Lieutenant-Governor, 

 which he filled until relieved by Lieutenant-Colonel Foveaux, who returned from 



BLIGH S BOAT ABANDONED BY THE " BOUNTY. 



