242 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



Macquarie was not sure whether he had been right in 

 allowing the schooner to enter and unload. He had followed 

 the colonial precedent of the time before the war 1 without at 

 the moment having any doubts at all. He had not then, at 

 the beginning of 1816, received a despatch from the Colonial 

 Office of December, 1815, warning him " that the trade of foreign 

 vessels with a British Colony is directly at variance with the 

 Navigation Laws of this country, and although this infraction 

 of them might have been tolerated at earlier periods upon the 

 plea of necessity, it cannot now be defended upon any such 

 grounds." . . . 2 After the seizure had been made he felt un- 

 easy and pointed out to Lord Bathurst that even if he had 

 felt any doubts before, he had no one in the Colony to whom he 

 could turn for advice, for he naturally shrank from appealing 

 to J. H. Bent, and he was "debarred from reference to the 

 statutes themselves by Mr. Bent retaining both the sets which 

 Government had at different times assigned for the use of the 

 Law Court". 3 He felt, however, that the precedents would go 

 far to justify him, but as it was probable that Vale and his 

 " abettors" would prosecute the business elsewhere," he asked 

 for an Act of Indemnity in case he should be proved to have 

 contravened the Navigation Act. 4 



With regard to Vale and Moore, however, he had not a 

 moment's hesitation. "Mr. Vale's conduct," he wrote, "and 

 that of Mr. Moore (both officers receiving pay under the 

 Government) being highly disrespectful, insolent and insubor- 

 dinate, in making seizure of a vessel during my absence which 

 they were fully aware had received my sanction for entry and 

 discharge, I felt it my duty to remark so much to Mr. Vale, 

 whom I sent for on the 2/th ulto. and admonished him on the 

 impropriety and great indelicacy of his conduct in this instance 

 towards me as his Governor and Commander-in-Chief ... in- 

 stead of any expression of regret, he even attempted by argu- 



1 Before this time forty-two ships under American colours had entered and 

 been cleared out. Enclosure to D. 4, 8th March, 1816. R.O., MS. 

 2 D. 60, nth December, 1815. R.O., MS. 



3 Bent did not give them up until October, 1816. See correspondence on 

 subject. R.O., MS. 



4 The Colonial Office took no steps in the matter, evidently considering the 

 entry of one American ship of very little importance. 



