elements of his character were a domineering temper, an overweening conceit and a love of opposition. If he did in fact give his support always to the weaker side, this was not so much because he hated oppression as because he breathed hot enmity against the Governor and the Government.
He had scarcely left England before his troubled spirit found an inattention of which to complain. He was disappointed that he had not been presented to the Prince Regent and received "the honour usually conferred upon professional gentlemen filling similar positions to the one I now hold". He had desired the honour not for himself but in order that "the character of the Colony might be raised a little in the eyes of the world".[1] The reply was that the honour of knighthood was not usually conferred in such cases, and that as the Judge-Advocate was "for various reasons" to remain the head of the judicial establishment, there would in this case have been particular objections to such a course.[2] Thus a grievance existed before the new judge reached land, and he was not long in finding another. "Mr. Jeffery Bent applied to me on his arrival," wrote Macquarie, "to furnish him with a house in Sydney at the expense of the Crown[3] … considering himself entitled to that accommodation by virtue of his commission as judge".[4]
The Governor knew that Indian judges were not furnished with houses, and refused Bent's request. But he offered to hire a house for him and await the decision of the Colonial Office if the judge would promise to refund the rent paid by the Government in the event of the decision being unfavourable. "Mr. Bent," wrote Macquarie, with an abruptness which suggests that the battle between them had already been joined, "has declined these terms." The judge took up his quarters at Ellis Bent's house (which was provided by the Government) and remained there for the next two years. His next demand was for chambers, which he said were always allowed to English judges in distant settlements; Macquarie acceded to this request, "in
- ↑ Letter to Bathurst from Corunna, 21st February, 1814. R.O., MS.
- ↑ Goulburn to Bent, 1814. C.O., MS. The Judge-Advocate's four years' service and his success in the office, as well as the fact that he had a military commission, were the chief reasons. Some acquaintance with Jeffery Bent may have supplied others.
- ↑ D. 11, 7th October, 1814. R.O., MS.
- ↑ Ibid.
