THE EXECUTIVE AND THE JUDICIARY. 231 



To Ellis Bent, Lord Bathurst wrote in a tone of moderate 

 rebuke. Recent correspondence had pointed out " too clearly 

 that your uneasiness is excited ... by the feeling that the 

 system of government . . . and the nature of the situation which 

 His Majesty's Government have thought it advisable that you, 

 as its principal judicial officer, should continue to hold, render 

 it impossible for you to discharge your duty with advantage to 

 your country or to the Colony V 



The despatch to his brother was curt and uncompromising. 



The Judge- Advocate was no longer alive when his letter of 

 recall was written. Wylde thus filled an office left doubly 

 vacant when he and Field left England in May, 1816. Shortly 

 before their departure Wylde happened to see a newspaper 

 paragraph referring to the emancipist attorneys in New South 

 Wales. This was the first time he had heard of the matter, 

 and at once he and Field pressed Goulburn to give them in- 

 structions how to act if further attempts were made to allow 

 these attorneys to practise. Goulburn then told them that the 

 Governor knew Lord Bathurst's opinions, and they must apply 

 to him when they reached New South Wales. This they did, 

 addressing to Macquarie a joint letter requesting to be furnished 

 with instructions " in conformity with the directions and pleasure 

 of his Majesty's Government as made known to your Excel- 

 lency". 2 Macquarie quoted in reply a passage from Lord 

 Bathurst's despatch of pth April, :8i6. 3 This he said was the 

 only instruction on the point with which he had been honoured. 



He gave, however, no publicity to this despatch, and to 

 Riley and Broughton he stated simply that Lord Bathurst " did 

 not confirm the practice of the men we had supported ". 4 But 

 for a few years after the arrival of Wylde and Field the ques- 

 tion remained in the background, and the emancipists no longer 

 appeared in the courts as attorneys. 5 



1 Goulburn to Wylde, aoth May, 1816. C.O., MS. 



2 See letter in Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. 



3 Macquarie to Field and Wylde, nth March, 1817. Appendix, Bigge's 

 Reports. R.O., MS. Macquarie says i8th April, but the despatch is dated 8th 

 April. See extract above, p. 230. 



4 Riley, C. on G., 1819. 



5 The question arose again in 1819. Crosley and a free settler, who was a 

 solicitor, entered into a partnership, the former to do the real work, the latter to 

 appear in court. The compact coming to the knowledge of Field, he crossed the 



