THE STIRRING OF POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS. 283 



right to remonstrate with Macquarie, and even direct his ad- 

 ministration as well as to inquire into the whole conditions of 

 the Colony. He arrived in 1819 and left in 1821, and, as was 

 perhaps inevitable, he and Macquarie were more than once en- 

 gaged in arguments. Twice their disputes led to a complete 

 rupture in their relations, and on each occasion Macquarie was 

 certainly in the wrong. It is useless to raise the dust over all 

 these past contests again, for the time was not one when they 

 could lead to further result. It was a period of waiting ; the 

 time of Macquarie s departure was growing near ; the Governor's 

 administration had been assailed in the House of Commons and 

 in two pamphlets by the Hon. H. Grey Bennet, M.P., and it 

 was well known that, so soon as Bigge's Report had been pre- 

 sented, great changes would be introduced. 1 It was what had 

 happened before Bigge's arrival rather than what happened 

 while he was in the Colony that was of real importance. That 

 Macquarie should dislike the commission was natural, for what- 

 ever Bigge's finding, his appointment in itself was a reflection 

 upon Macquarie's administration by showing that inquiry was 

 felt to be necessary.' 2 His resignation also had been neglected, 

 and he wrote in 1820 in a tone of extreme depression to Lord 

 Bathurst, saying, "Two years and two months having now 

 elapsed since the sailing of the Harriett for England, I cannot 

 conceal from your Lordship the regret and mortification I feel 

 at your Lordship's not condescending even to notice the receipt 

 of my letter of resignation, and thereby leaving me utterly at a 

 loss to know when I am to be relieved. 



" After the arduous and harassing duties I have had to per- 

 form in the administration of the Colony for now upwards of 

 ten years, the constant counteraction I have experienced here 

 even to my best measures, and the cruel and base calumnies 

 circulated to the prejudice of my character at home, I must con- 

 fess, my Lord, I am now heartily tired of my situation here, 

 and anxiously wish to retire from public life as soon as pos- 

 sible. 



1 See Chapter X. 



2 Macquarie did all that was fitting in the way of public ceremonial with a 

 very good grace, and wrote of Bigge except when quarrelling with him with 

 respect and admiration. 



