198 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



earning a livelihood were thought to be derogatory to the office 

 of magistrate. His convict origin also was sometimes recalled 

 by prisoners brought before him, and on such occasions unseemly 

 reproaches passed between the Bench and the dock. 1 Finally 

 the irregularity of the private lives of both Thompson and Lord 

 was notorious. 



The circumstances of these two men have been thus dis- 

 cussed in detail because it was by their appointment to the 

 magistracy that Macquarie first made known to the settlement 

 the policy he intended to pursue. Had he selected more suit- 

 able men probably no opposition would have been roused. No 

 complaint was ever made against the inclusion of the Rev. 

 Henry Fulton in the Commission of the Peace, although he 

 had been transported to the Colony. His crime had been 

 suspected complicity in the Irish Rebellion, and he had borne 

 himself in New South Wales with quiet self-respect. His 

 convict origin seems to have been forgotten that of Lord 

 never was. The other emancipists who were most favoured by 

 the- Governor and were admitted to his table on public as well 

 as private occasions, were Redfern, an assistant surgeon ; 

 Robinson, chief clerk in the Secretary's office and unofficial 

 poet to the Government ; Meehan and Evans, assistant 

 surveyors ; Lord and one or two others. Redfern, who had a 

 large private practice, was on intimate terms with a few of his 

 patients, but none of the others were ever invited to the houses 

 of the " more respectable settlers ". 2 In 1812 Macquarie asked 

 for the support of His Majesty's Ministers, and particularly for 

 the opinion of the First Gentleman of Europe. 



" Some men," he wrote, " who had been convicts, have been 

 appointed magistrates by me ; 3 some of the same description 

 of men have been honoured with his Majesty's Commission, 4 

 which in my mind is alone sufficient proof of the eligibility 



1 See Evidence of Harris, Appendix to Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. 



a Redfern had been transported for complicity in the mutiny at the Nore. 

 Robinson's crime was the writing of threatening letters. He was called the Poet 

 Laureate, and used to recite odes, etc., of his own composition, on the King's 

 birthday, at the Governor's leve and on similar occasions. These effusions may 

 be read in the Sydney Gazette. 



3 This was the first official intimation of these appointments. 



4 i.e., Fulton, Redfern, Evans and Meehan. 



