AND HIS STAFF. 191 appointment as a magistrate.* Collins says (p. 14) that lie 1787-92 was " sworn in as a Justice of the Peace, taking the oaths necessary on the occasion, by which he was enabled to punish such petty offences as might be committed among his people, capital crimes being reserved for the cognisance of the Adminis- Criminal Court of Judicature established here." But as justice, almost all offences were capital crimes at that time, the dis- tinction had very little meaning, except when a really serious case, such as murder, might occur. Soon after his arrival, for instance. King detected one of the marines in the act of stealing rum out of a small vessel in his (King's) tent, w"here it had been placed for safety. The offence was serious, and had it been committed at Sydney Cove, the case would have been tried before the Criminal Court, and would have resulted in a sentence of death. One of the most painful stealing in cases brought before it was that of a young convict who, availing himself, as Collins says (p. 32), of the opportunity that was given on the evening of his Majesty's birthday, when everyone was abroad looking at the bonfires, entered an officer's tent for the purpose of stealing, but was sur- prised and secured after a struggle in which the thief re- ceived a sword wound from the officer, A peculiar interest attaches to this case, arising from a pathetic letter written a pathetic by, or rather for, the offender to his mother on the eve of his execution, and published by Tench. f There was no es- sential difference between that case and the one mentioned by King; but while one offender suffered death within twenty-four hours after his conviction, the other was much more mercifully dealt with. King might have reserved the
- The Commission given to King was short and simple : —
By His Excellency Arthur Phillip, Esq., &c. By virtue of the Power and Authority vested in me I do hereby consti- tute and appoint you, Philip Gidley King, Esq., Superintendant and Com- mandant of r^orfolk Island and of the settlement to be made thereon : — You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of Superintendant and Commandant of the same, by performing all and every such instruction as you have or may hereafter from time to time receive from me, for the cood of his Majesty's service. Given under my hand and seal, this twelfth day of February, 1788. t Narrative, p. 112 ; post, p. 525. Digitized by Google
