212 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



The Colonial Office had to deal with this dispute together 

 with the difficulties arising over the emancipist attorneys, and 

 their action must be considered with a knowledge of both. 



By February, 1815, all but official intercourse between 

 Governor and Judges had come to an end. The court-rooms 

 at the hospital were ready for use, and that fact " had been 

 officially signified to Mr. Justice Bent." l The Governor had 

 taken that opportunity to suggest " the expediency and neces- 

 sity of appointing an early day for the opening of the Supreme 

 Court ". Bent declined to do this until Mr. Garling, the solicitor, 

 arrived, a reason which Macquarie characterised as " very 

 frivolous and ridiculous ... as it is very possible that Mr. 

 Garling may never arrive at all in this Colony, and as there 

 are several attorneys (exclusive of Mr. Moore, the solicitor, 

 already arrived) here who have hitherto practised before the 

 former courts . . . but," he added ruefully, " as I ;have no con- 

 trol over Mr. Justice Bent, in virtue of the new patent, I can only 

 remonstrate with him . . . which I have already done more 

 than once without effect ". 



The pretext was not really a frivolous one. The presence 

 of the two solicitors sent out by Government would have been 

 invaluable to Bent in the coming struggle. But Garling's arrival 

 was so long delayed that finally the opening of the courts 

 could be no longer postponed. 2 



It was true that there were other attorneys in the Colony, 

 and the conditions under which they practised have been 

 already described. 3 Moore and Garling had been encouraged 

 to emigrate, and given salaries by the Government for no other 

 reason than to bring to an end the employment of these convict 

 attorneys. 



The chief was George Crosley, who had for a long time 

 held the whole of the law business of the Colony in his hands. 

 But a year before J. H. Bent's arrival, Eager, another convict, 



to pass and their authority was higher than Wylde's. After that Wylde said no 

 more, and the Regulations, with some alterations from those submitted to Bent, 

 were published in 1819. See Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. 



1 D. 4, 24th March, 1815. R.O., MS. 



2 Garling came in the Frances and Eliza, a male and female convict trans- 

 port, which was captured by an American privateer and afterwards recaptured. 

 He arrived after many adventures late in 1815. 



3 Chapter III. 



