36 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



On his arrival Lieutenant-Governor Collins received him with 

 the honours due to a Governor-in-Chief, but proclamations 

 from Paterson and Bligh's own unreasonableness made him 

 change his tactics, and Bligh had to take to his ship again. 

 For some months a war of petty vexations and counter-pro- 

 clamations was kept up. The Porpoise harassed the craft in 

 the Derwent, while Collins cut off her communications with 

 the shore. 



It was while here that Bligh heard with satisfaction the 

 rumours that a regiment and eight ships had sailed to his assist- 

 ance. Probably he looked forward to the bombardment of 

 Sydney, a course he had urged, when under arrest, upon Captain 

 Kent of the Porpoise as a means of accomplishing his release. 



Johnston and Macarthur were in England before Macquarie 

 reached Sydney. The Colonial Office, probably hearing that 

 they were on their way, sent all the papers bearing on their 

 case for counsel's opinion. This was in September, 1809. 

 Counsel declared that both Macarthur and Johnston were guilty 

 of high treason and that the civilians and officers who aided 

 them or confirmed their action afterwards, as Foveaux had done, 

 were alike implicated in the crime. But though they had 

 "levied war against the King in his realm," they could be tried 

 only in the Colony, " and by the judicature there erected." l 

 Johnston, however, was amenable to military law also and so 

 might be tried by a court-martial in England for mutiny. Mac- 

 arthur would have to be sent back to New South Wales to stand 

 his trial there. 



Before this advice could be acted upon, Macarthur was in 

 England and actively at work seeking political support. John- 

 ston's patron, the Duke of Northumberland, and the Honour- 

 able Arthur Elliot, Lord Minto's brother, seem to have been 

 the allies upon whom chiefly he relied, but he was busy making 

 acquaintance with many members of parliament. Ministers 

 preserved complete secrecy as to any intentions they might 

 have. In October Lord Liverpool, with C. C. Jenkinson as 

 .Under-Secretary, replaced Castlereagh and Cooke at the Colonial 

 Office. The change was greeted with joy by Macarthur, who 



1 Opinion of Harris. H.R. VII., p. 209, 12th September, 1809. 



