THE DEPOSITION OF BLIGH. 23 



discontented. Bligh's scrupulousness was treated with extreme 

 dryness by the Colonial Office, and he was instructed to comply 

 with the private agreements already before him. 1 Another 

 important complaint was that lodged with the Commander-in- 

 Chief by Major Johnston, and referred to the Colonial Office 

 in June, i8o8. 2 This letter dealt in detail with the Governor's 

 harsh, arbitrary and abusive behaviour towards the military, and 

 his occasional interference with the orders of their commanding 

 officer. 



But of many troubles the Colonial Office were informed 

 by Bligh's accounts alone. More absorbing than all the rest 

 were the tortuous windings of his quarrels with John Macarthur, 

 that turbulent spirit who had been at daggers drawn with each 

 succeeding governor, and who as agriculturist, merchant and 

 trader stood head and shoulders above the rest of the colonists. 

 Bligh, who had been warned of the temper and the guile of 

 this " Botany Bay perturbator," as Governor King called him, 

 was foolish enough to treat him with insulting lack of courtesy 

 from the outset, and in the case of Bligh alone did Macarthur 

 and not Macarthur's opponent have public opinion behind him. 



The Home Government, long accustomed to these quarrels, 

 were not much disturbed, and it was probably thought natural 

 that some friction should arise between the military forces and 

 the naval officer whom it was then thought fit to have at the 

 head of the Colony. The responsible Minister may well have 

 hoped to maintain Bligh's government undisturbed, supporting 

 him against his turbulent subject, while admonishing him to 

 adopt a more conciliatory tone towards the soldiery. At that 

 moment, indeed, Lord Castlereagh and his Under-Secretary 

 Edward Cooke, who were responsible for the administration of 

 what was then the one Department of War and the Colonies, 3 

 had good reason to wish that New South Wales should remain 



1 Castlereagh to Bligh, 3ist December, 1807. H.R., VI., p. 399. 



2 Johnston to Lieut.-Colonel Gordon, Military Secretary to Commander-in 

 Chief, 8th October, 1807. H.R., VI., p. 652. Sent to Colonial Office, i3th June, 

 1808. 



3 In 1794 " Mr. Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville), who was then Secretary 

 of State dealing with the Home affairs of the Department, was appointed 

 1 Secretary for War,' and also nominally Secretary of State for the Colonies, but 

 the Departments of War and the Colonies were not actually united until 1801, 

 when Lord Hobart was created Secretary of State for the War and Colonial 

 Department." Colonial Office List, p. xi. 



