THE EXECUTIVE AND THE JUDICIARY. 201 



to be " particularly cautious " not to advance to the magistracy 

 any person " who shall not appear . . . fully and respectably 

 qualified ". He considered that he had heretofore acted on this 

 principle. 



He thought at this time that the " illiberality of sentiment" 

 of which he had complained was growing weaker, though those 

 who still felt it were to be found in the higher class, " where 

 a more enlightened and liberal sentiment might have been 

 reasonably expected to be cherished". 1 



It was unfortunate for the peaceful administration of the 

 Colony that he placed Ellis Bent within this unenlightened class. 

 Macquarie made the protection of the emancipists his great 

 work. He was their special providence, visiting with swift 

 displeasure all who looked at them askance or were even in- 

 different in their cause. He was as zealous for them and for 

 all that concerned them as ever a man could be for his own 

 children. In every sense " respectable " himself, stiff and un- 

 bending in conduct, 2 he easily condoned in this favoured class 

 vices which would have deeply shocked him in others. He had, 

 as it were, " discovered " the emancipist, and he had all the 

 eager advocacy of a pioneer in the cause. Because Bent did 

 not go so far as the Governor, the real liberality of his opinions 

 was overlooked. He felt that " such persons ought not to be 

 forced forward into office or society contrary to the current of 

 general feeling; and that the early received and honest pre- 

 judices of others . . . are entitled to much regard and con- 

 sideration ". He disapproved of Simeon Lord's appointment 

 because Lord had neither the respectability nor influence to 

 make him useful as a magistrate, and Bent considered that his 

 elevation " was as contrary to publick opinion as it was painful 

 to my own feeling as a member of the English Bar". 3 



To the Governor, on fire with the vision of leading the lost 

 lambs of society back within its bounds, the Judge-Advocate's 

 -sentiments appeared in quite a different light. Macquarie de- 

 clared himself" particularly hurt by the illiberal manner in which 



1 D. it, 7th October, 1814. R.O., MS. 



2 Macquarie's ideal of a man and a gentleman would probably have been Sir 

 Thomas Bertram of " Mansfield Park ". 



3 Bent to Bathurst, i4th October, 1814. R.O., MS. 



