Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/444

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and siib8equentl,y maiutained the King's government ona| footing consistent with the law on which Bligh in his rash- ness was trampling. Many arbitrary acta had been done by hiH predecessors, htit none of them had in%*aded the sanctity of the highest court in the colony. King had given mnch umbrage, and hatl, in spite of petitions, sent | away ships without aUowing them to land their cargoes of spu'its, and yet had put down a serious outbreak by means of the Corps, actively led by Johnston himself, which now, under the sume commander, deposed Bligh ; and though King had his difficulties to contend with amongst the military, lie left the colony fully enjoying their respect. The community had borne Bligh's acts without resistance until he laid bis hand on the sanctuary of the law. Many of them, ignorant of the Great Charter, or the Bill of Eights, yet knew by Enghsh tradition and instinct that no man could be convicted but by the law of the land. That law they saw Bligh invade. Had there been rapid com- munication with England the colonists and troops might have relied upon appeals to the Home Government. But Bligh acted so rashly that they felt, whether rightly or wrongly, that they could not wait for the tardy process of appeal. There was a suspicion that Bligh was cowardly, and i cowards are jiroverbially cruel. Acting on the advice of I Crossley, who insinuated to a passer-by like Mr. Berry, (that Macarthur's life was in jeopardy, wliat might not Bligh, and the myrmidons appointed i)y Gore, effect in a | short time at that gallows wdiich Bligh had fed so fast that already in a few months it had devoured more lives than in several years under King*? He who weighs these things, and will try to put himself, in thought^ in the position in which colonists and soldiers stood, in Sydoc^y, m Jan. 1808, must come to the conclusion that Bligh was an offender whom it was incumbent upon the community to remove from the helm when they saw him madly guiding the vessel of the State upon the rocks. The English Government was m one respect blameable. If it had yielded to King's earnest and repeated entreaties ^hat a professional man might be appomted as Judge or /n^?ge-Advoeate, there ^ould not have been an Atkins at