248 



A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



into the Colony and also his right to refuse a marriage license. 1 

 The Governor in reply " wished Mr. Bent had spared himself 

 the trouble of writing them ; as his unsolicited opinions can in 

 no way alter the resolution of Governor Macquarie in the case 

 alluded to in those letters ".'- The young man had to return un- 

 married, and whether or no the lady followed him is not 

 recorded. 



Both these incidents were included in the petition. The 

 document was first drawn up by Vale and submitted to Bent. 

 Bent characterised it as a " miminy-piminy thing, not half se- 

 vere enough," and wrote one out himself. To this draft Vale 

 made a few additions and brought it to be engrossed on parch- 

 ment by a certain emancipated clerk. 3 It was then deposited 

 in Moore's office and all who came by were invited in to sign it. 



Vale left, taking the petition with him, in June, 1816, and 

 just before his departure Macquarie, thinking perhaps to con- 

 ciliate him, gave him a grant of land. But when he learnt more 

 exactly what were the contents of the petition, he withdrew the 

 grant. 4 



" This memorial," wrote Macquarie to Lord Bathurst in April, 

 1817, "was sent from hence for England in June last . . . which 

 I was aware of at the time, but not being so fully informed of 

 its object as I have become since, I did not feel it necessary to 

 make your Lordship any communication at that time in regard 

 to it 



"Since that time a copy of the memorial having been 



1 Macquarie sent one other man out of the Colony, an Irish Roman Catholic 

 priest, whose coming had not been sanctioned by the head of his Church in Eng- 

 land. Such a power was exercised also by the Governor at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. It was assumed that a Governor could prevent any one who did not bring 

 special authority from the Secretary of State from settling in a Colony. See 

 Campbell's Evidence, Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. Macquarie fre- 

 quently interfered to prevent marriages. In one case he refused to allow a marriage 

 on the ground that the woman was too old tor the man. The couple therefore 

 lived together unmarried. See Vale to C.O., i6th April, 1818. R.O., MS. 



2 Bent to C.O. with enclosures, i2th June, 1816. R.O., MS. 



8 This man wrote a letter to Macquarie in 1821 giving this account of the 

 petition. See letter, 2gth January, 1821. Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. 

 There is no copy of the petition to be found, and its contents can only be discovered 

 by indirect means. Jones, in 1819, said the bulk of the contents were true, some 

 things perhaps incorrectly stated and some a little exaggerated. See his Evidence, 

 C. on G. The sort of document may be easily imagined a basis of fact distorted 

 by the anxiety of two aggrieved men to impute bad motives and see each deed in 

 an evil light. 



4 Vale to C.O., i6th April, 1818. R.O., MS. 



