40 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



paragraph in that style of paternal dignity touched with pom- 

 posity which became so familiar during Macquarie's rule. The 

 Governor hoped " that all party spirit which has unfortunately 

 resulted from the late unhappy disturbance will end, and that the 

 higher classes will set an example of subordination, morality and 

 decorum; that those in an inferior station will endeavour to 

 distinguish themselves only by their loyalty, their sobriety and 

 their industry, by which means alone the welfare and happiness 

 of the community can be effectually promoted "- 1 



In the later Proclamation issued on 4th January, Macquarie 

 disclosed the remainder of his Instructions. Officials appointed 

 by the rebel Government were to be replaced by those who had 

 acted under Bligh, and grants of land and stock made by 

 Johnston and Foveaux were declared null and void, but with a 

 limitation which prevented hardship. Grants to officers or 

 men of the New South Wales Corps were revoked altogether, 

 and all grants were called in. But after full inquiry those 

 which had been impartially given and not as rewards for joining 

 the insurgents, or as mere acts of friendship, were to be renewed 

 under such conditions as the Governor thought fit. Legal pro- 

 ceedings were to serve as useful guides, but not to be considered 

 of a binding nature. 2 



The second Proclamation of 4th January safeguarded the 

 officials of Johnston's government from the dangers to which 

 the first, by declaring their appointments illegal, would have 

 subjected them. They were protected from malicious or 

 vexatious actions. " Deliberately unlawful assumptions of 

 power " were not, however, included in the indemnity. 



There was thus every prospect of laying old animosities to 

 rest. The New South Wales Corps were to leave Sydney in 

 April, and with Bligh also gone there would be hope of peace. 

 But so long as he stayed, he and his friends kept party spirit 

 alive. In the beginning of April the contents of Johnston's, or 

 as it was usually called, Macarthur's first despatch to Lord 

 Castlereagh became generally known. Copies of this and other 



1 H.R., VII., p. 252, ist January, 1810. 



a Amongst other trials the unfinished hearing of Macarthur's case had been 

 completed. It was a good example of judicial farce, and needless to say he was 

 acquitted. An account of the trial may be found in H.R., VII., pp. 465-510, 

 2nd February, 1808. 



