Читать книгу Early Australian History. Convict Life in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land - Charles White - Страница 9

Table of Contents

HIS FIGHT WITH THE MILITARY HUCKSTERS—MR. JOHN MACARTHUR—MAJOR JOHNSTON—COWARDLY POLTROONS—CLEVER, WEALTHY, AND UNSCRUPULOUS—BLIGH'S STORY OF THE REBELLION—THE COLONY'S TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY—THE JOHNSTON-MACARTHUR ADMINISTRATION—SANCTIMONIOUS SOLDIERS—REV. H. FULTON, AN IRISH EXILE—AN ATTORNEY-GENERAL TRANSPORTED FOR SEVEN YEARS—DISTRIBUTING FAVOURS—ANARCHY, RESULTING IN IDLENESS AND PROFLIGACY—THE NEW SOUTH WALES CORPS ORDERED HOME—JOHNSTON CASHIERED AND MACARTHUR KEPT IN ENGLAND.

Governor Bligh succeeded Governor King, and imparted a vigour into the conduct of public affairs which furnished a marked contrast to the policy of hesitation pursued by King. His conduct under the mutiny of the ship Bounty, of which vessel he was in command, fully proved that he was a man of dauntless courage and stern determination. If he had been a man of tact as well, his term of office would have been fruitful of more pleasure to himself and more immediate good to the colony over which he was sent to preside. He was full of zeal, but his zeal being accompanied frequently by excessive bluntness and outbursts of passion, it occasionally brought forth evil rather than good. Judging from his conduct towards them at the start, it may be inferred that Governor King, who had not then left the colony, had given him a fair knowledge of the unscrupulous character of the military and official hucksters, some of whose movements have already been recorded, and he was prepared to play at cross purposes with them from the commencement of his rule.

He manifested a violent dislike towards Captain John Macarthur, whom he evidently looked upon as the chief sinner, the leading spirit, in the camp of spoliators, whose names were being daily cursed by the poor and struggling settlers of the colony. Within a month of the Governor's landing Macarthur proceeded to Government House in order, as he afterwards put it, "to speak to him of my affairs." He sought to button-hole the Governor when walking in the garden, but the Governor gave him to understand, in language not of the mildest kind, that his affairs were of very secondary importance indeed, and roared out at him—"What have I to do with your sheep, sir? what have I to do with your cattle? I have heard of your concerns, sir; you have got 5000 acres of land in the finest situation in the country; but, by God, you shan't keep it?"

From this out Macarthur and the Governor were sworn foes. The former deserved some credit for his energy in the sheep-breeding line, but there were two sides to his character, and the Governor looked at the side which was certainly the largest—the side which revealed his connection with a clique who have been described as 'clever, not very scrupulous, and wealthy men, of whom John Macarthur was undoubtedly the cleverest, the most wealthy, and perhaps in some respects the most unscrupulous.' It was not to be supposed that such a man would submit to a snubbing with impunity, especially as he was backed up by powerful influence in England, which had secured for him, on representations that he would be able in time to supply the British woollen manufacturers with all the fine wool required, a grant of 5000 acres of land, with shepherds and 'every other reasonable and proper means' for advancing his object. And as Macarthur was the leader of the class who had been bound together so closely by the promptings of self-interest, war with him meant war with that class—the officers and ex-officers of the New South Wales Corps. The Governor at once proceeded to deal heavy blows at the spirit monopoly established by these men, among whom he at once became most unpopular, although by the small settlers and the wealthy emancipists he was held in high esteem.

The open rupture which took place between the Governor and the Macarthur 'clan,' and which resulted in an act of rebellion and the deposition of the Governor has already been briefly sketched.

The events following Macarthur's liberation from gaol by his fellow officers are thus described by the Governor in the evidence given by him before the court martial at which Colonel Johnston was tried, in the year 1811:—

"Immediately after the order for the release of Macarthur, there followed an operation of the main guard close to the gate of Government House, and the regiment marched down from the barracks, led on by Major Johnson and the other officers, with colours flying and music playing as they advanced to the house. Within a few minutes after the house was surrounded; the soldiers quickly broke into all parts of it, and arrested all the magistrates, Mr. Gore, the provost-marshal; Mr. Griffin, my secretary; and Mr. Fulton, the chaplain. I had just time to call to my orderly-sergeant to have my horses ready while I went upstairs to put on my uniform, when on my return, as I was standing on the staircase waiting for my servant with my sword, I saw a number of soldiers rushing upstairs with their muskets and fixed bayonets, as I conceived to seize my person. I retired instantly into a back room to defeat their object, and to deliberate on the means to be adopted for the restoration of my authority, which in such a critical situation could only be accomplished by my getting into the interior of the country adjacent to the Hawkesbury, where I knew the whole body of people would flock to my standard. To this situation I was pursued by the soldiers, and after experiencing much insult was conducted below by Lieutenant Minchin, who told me that Major Johnston was waiting for me. We passed together into the drawing-room, every part being crowded with soldiers under arms, many of whom appeared to be intoxicated.

"I then received a letter brought by Lieutenant Moore, and signed by Major Johnston, (calling himself Lieutenant-Governor), requiring me to resign my authority, and to submit to the arrest under which he placed me, which I had scarcely perused, when a message was delivered to me that Major Johnston wished to speak to me in the adjoining room, at the door of which he soon afterwards appeared, surrounded by his officers and soldiers; and in terms much to the same effect as his letter, he there verbally confirmed my arrest. Martial law was proclaimed, my secretary and my friends were prevented from seeing me, and I was left alone with my daughter and another lady.

"By Major Johnston's orders several persons seized my cabinet and papers, with my commission, instructions, and the great seal of the colony. These were locked up in a room guarded by two sentinels, and several others were placed around the house to prevent my escape.

"The same evening committees were formed with a pretended view of examining into my government, but in reality to discover all such persons as were attached to me. In this Macarthur took an active part. On the following day Lieut. Moore came with Major Johnston's orders and carried away my swords and what firearms he found in the house; at noon three volleys were fired by the soldiers and twenty-one guns from the battery, while the royal standard was displayed; His Majesty's Commissary, the Provost-Marshal, the Judge-Advocate, and the Chaplain were suspended from their offices; all the magistrates were dismissed, and others appointed in their room; the most extraordinary and mutinous proclamations were issued, and even my broad pendant as Commodore on the station was ordered by Major Johnston to be struck. Thus was the mutiny complete; those who were concerned in it had got possession of the government, had turned out all the civil officers and substituted others in their room, and imposed on me an arrest which continued from the time of the mutiny till the 20th February, 1809."

It may be mentioned here, as a rather curious fact that Governor Bligh's arrest took place on the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the settlement—26th January,1808.

Some of Bligh's enemies have charged him with cowardice on the occasion of his arrest, declaring that when the soldiers went to Government House he ran to the servants' room and hid under a bed; but this was clearly disproved by him at Major Johnson's trial in England.

After the Governor's arrest Major Johnston assumed the reins of Government, but the very men who had made a catspaw of him in leading the rebellion were the first to thwart his efforts to properly conduct public affairs. Macarthur was virtually the Governor, although only holding office as Colonial Secretary, to which position he had appointed himself. Every officer and magistrate who was known to be favorable to Bligh was dismissed from office, and personal friends, and members of 'the mess,' were put in their places. Even the chaplain. Rev. Henry Fulton, was suspended, the meek-faced rascals who had usurped authority and power having issued the following pious 'General Order':—

"The Rev. Henry Fulton, is suspended from discharging in future the office of Chaplain in the colony."

"The officers, civil and military, are ordered to attend divine worship on Sunday next, at the New Church; and every well-disposed inhabitant is requested to be present to join in thanks to Almighty God, for his merciful interposition in their favour, by relieving them without bloodshed from the awful situation in which they stood before the memorable 26th instant."

Referring to this case, Bennet says—"The fate of this gentleman was singular. He had been exiled from Ireland for some participation in the rebellion of 1798. Here, on the contrary, he was punished for his loyalty!" He was father of one of the first settlers on the western side of the Blue Mountains, which had not at that time been crossed, and the name of Fulton is yet held in the highest esteem in the Bathurst and O'Connell Plains district.

The provisional Johnston-Macarthur Government carried matters with a rather free hand. They sent the deposed provost-marshal to gaol for a term, and sentenced the attorney who had drawn up the indictment against Macarthur to seven years' transportation. Thus they dealt with their enemies; but their friends they rewarded. Rum from the King's store; permits to land and licenses to retail ardent spirits; grants of land and Government cattle—these were distributed largely to that part of the free population who expressed approval of their measures; while friends not free were freely pardoned and received lesser indulgences. "In this way," says Dr. Lang, "a number of persons of the worst character were turned loose upon the colony, to the great annoyance of the free settlers, and as an idea also got abroad among the convicts that the colony had now become free, and that it was no longer obligatory to labour, the result was a state of anarchy that produced a general neglect of the cultivation of the soil, and was otherwise distressing in the extreme to the well-disposed part of the population."

Governor Bligh was kept in confinement until he was superseded by Lieutenant-Colonel Foveaux, who had returned from England with the appointment of Lieutenant-Governor, and who in turn was superseded by Colonel Patterson. Bligh was then offered the command of a vessel to proceed to England, and after delays of little historical interest he sailed for England on 12th May, 1810, about six months after the arrival of the next Governor proper of the colony—Macquarie.

As previously recorded, Johnston was subsequently tried before a court-martial in England and cashiered; and Macarthur was prohibited for eight years from returning to the colony.

And the New South Wales Corps, or the 102nd Regiment, were ordered home; but not a few of the officers stayed behind to live upon the wealth which they had accumulated by extortion, violence and fraud. If for nothing else, Governor Bligh deserves to be held in everlasting remembrance by the colonists for the part he played in breaking up this band of wholesale plunderers.