- apostate ;" and, apparently if:jnoraiit of the Idndly feeling
entertained by Governor King for Barrallier, attributed the misfortimes of the latter to King's enmity, and pledged himself, therefore, to be Barrallier' b friend. He hoped to be the bearer in 1804 of tidin<^s of a new Governor, if indeed he should not accompany him to Sydney. He told Piper that he was ** up to tbe ears in papers for carrying on the war against our common enemy.'* He failed. The despatches of Kinjy; convinced Lord Camden that the Governor was the right man for his post, and though writers imact|uainted with the truth have assailed King as a weak man, the facts still speak in his justification. Macarthur himself was less fortunate at the Horse Guards than his friend Piper, although King w^as blamed for sending him to England. The War Office did not wait for the arrival of JIcKellar, or for further information, but considered King ill-judged in sending Macarthur to England, and ordered that Macarthm' should be remanded to Sydney (released from arrest), the Commander-in-Chief conceiving that '" in consequence of the difficulty which occurs in the assemlding of a court-martial/' for the trial,
- Governor Khig will not be desirous to bring the charges
against Cayitain Macarthur before a military tribunal." The Commander-hi-Chief thus practicall}^ admitted, as King had urged, that it was futile to try Macarthur in Sydney. The Secretary of State blamed King for sending him to England, The case was of sufficient importance to neces- sitate a new General Order in England. The Commander- in-Chief (1st Feb. 1804) made it known — "in consequence of recent occurrences — that the practice of sending from
- foreign stations officers with articles of accusation pending
against thera, without the same having been duly hivesti- gated, is detrimental to tlie king's service, and except in cases of the most urgent necessity should be avoided/' It might relieve the local commanders from embarrassment, but ** seldom failed to transfer them with increased diffi- culties to head-quarters.
- Hi3 Royal Highneajs jiulgea it expedient to take this oppoi-tuoity of
controverting an erroneous opinion, that an otficer who has been put under an arrcBt has a rights as it ia termeil, to demand a eourt-martial on hinuielf^ autl may persist in ct>n side ring hini^elf still under the reatvaiat qI ^x^V -a-TL arrest although pahlidy wleasGil therehoiii by Ike awpeTOT *i^^^^ N^xa
