204 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



elements of his character were a domineering temper, an over- 

 weening conceit and a love of opposition. If he did in fact give 

 his support always to the weaker side, this was not so much 

 because he hated oppression as because he breathed hot enmity 

 against the Governor and the Government. 



He had scarcely left England before his troubled spirit 

 found an inattention of which to complain. He was disappointed 

 that he had not been presented to the Prince Regent and re- 

 ceived " the honour usually conferred upon professional gentle- 

 men filling similar positions to the one I now hold ". He had 

 desired the honour not for himself but in order that " the char- 

 acter of the Colony might be raised a little in the eyes of the 

 world ". 1 The reply was that the honour of knighthood was 

 not usually conferred in such cases, and that as the Judge- 

 Advocate was " for various reasons " to remain the head of the 

 judicial establishment, there would in this case have been par- 

 ticular objections to such a course. 2 Thus a grievance existed 

 before the new judge reached land, and he was not long in find- 

 ing another. " Mr. Jeffery Bent applied to me on his arrival," 

 wrote Macquarie, " to furnish him i with a house in Sydney at 

 the expense of the Crown 3 . . . considering himself entitled to 

 that accommodation by virtue of his commission as judge ". 4 



The Governor knew that Indian judges were not furnished 

 with houses, and refused Bent's request. But he offered to hire 

 a house for him and await the decision of the Colonial Office if 

 the judge would promise to refund the rent paid by the Govern- 

 ment in the event of the decision being unfavourable. " Mr. 

 Bent," wrote Macquarie, with an abruptness which suggests that 

 the battle between them had already been joined, " has declined 

 these terms." The judge took up his quarters at Ellis Bent's 

 house (which was provided by the Government) and remained 

 there for the next two years. His next demand was for 

 chambers, which he said were always allowed to English judges 

 in distant settlements ; Macquarie acceded to this request, " in 



1 Letter to Bathurst from Corunna, aist February, 1814. R.O., MS. 



J Goulburn to Bent, 1814. C.O., MS. The Judge-Advocate's four years' ser- 

 vice and his success in the office, as well as the fact that he had a military com- 

 mission, were the chief reasons. Some acquaintance with Jeffery Bent may have 

 supplied others. 



* D. n, 7th October, 1814. R.O., MS. 4 Ibid. 



