Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/285

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Syed with regard to the complamts of his officer, icial relations were continued with apparent concord. His officers sat on boards with those of the colony in naval affairs. At King's reqnesfc he allowed two of them to remain in the colony to assist in forming a new settlement. He carried Flinders' charts to the Admiralty for King, who .said it was " the first safe opportunity'* he had had. But on the day of his leaving, Colnett's wrath was great at the loss of his Briseis, for he wrote to King that by the Admiralty he always had the honour of behig treated liJce a ca])tam of one of His Majesty^s ships, and not as a master of a petty coaster /-^^ It was on the report of such a nian^ that Lord Hobart founded his unjust rebake. King kept unfaltering on his way. In Dec. 1804 he called Lord Hobart*s attention to the appearance, in a list of pardons, of a free pardon to a female convict sentenced for life. It was JP* given in ^oufonnity to nj}^ promiae to the commander of H,M,S, Glattoiij kfter her being here one year, and iiothiug but a respect for my word induced me to extend that indidgenuo to the objeut benefited by it. Had I, my Lord, abused the authority delegtited to His Majeaty'a Goveraor of this territory by gmntiiig Captain Coinett a free pardon for this woman before she landed^ for the purpose of retmning to England with him, and ^^lad acquiesced in other refiwisitions eqimlly, if not more, extravagant and ^Hbpposite to the dictates of my bounden duty, yoar Lordship and the Lords ^^EonimiaBioners of the Admiralty wouhl Dot have l>een troubled with any ^^pommunication from Captain Coinett respect Lng his unprovoked and ^Iprovokin^ conduct/* t Chance has thrown in the iittthor's way a bound copy of Colnett's MS. state- ments, which, without knowledge of his oflieial correspondence in the colony* nrottld form a lieavy indivitmeiit againat the tioveruor* By the light of that lorrespondeuce the charges ouly piove King's difficulties and bis reaolution. r -' M8. original j in possessioa of P, O. King, Esq., Banksia, Double Bay, Sydjiev. Governor Mactiuarie gave the woman a free pardon in 1810, ^^ There was another cause of umbi-ago between Kitig and Coinett. T}ie former, in order to secure *' full advantage to the inhabitants and His Majesty's subjects in general," was unwilling to grant lands on the islands where fishing was pursued. Coinett applied for and was refused a grant ^^bf 100 acres at King's Island. This refusal, King stated, ** waa one cause ^^Bf bis unofficerdike treatment to me.*'^ — Deapatcli to Lord Hobart, *20tb ^B)ec, 1804. ^H^ Captain Coinett^ when leaving, mahed to obtain receipts in fuH for the ^Bionvicts transported by the Glatton, There were three, two men and ^Hmio woman, unaccounted for. King gave a certificate acknowledging the ^^V'lin^^i's l^tided, with the addition that he had "received information" ' that the missing three were *V8towed away in the GlaUoji without the know- ledge of the captain or oiiicera of the ship.— DeapatcAi, l^tt ^^^ , '^'^*