had been compelled to abandon the oversight of his affairs,
and "to submit to the severe suffering of living separated
from his family." "And as I am informed that the same
cause which has so long imposed this painful separation still
exists with unabated vigour, I am compelled to throw myself upon your Lordship's candour, humanity, and justice,
for relief." (Of the accusations under which he laboured
he was—) "almost entirely ignorant, but the fearlessness
of an upright heart prompts me to declare that I am, and
always have been, prepared to submit both my private and
public life to the severest scrutiny." He was sensible of
the delicacy of the subject, but owed it to himself "and his
family to submit in silence no longer."
"Your Lordship has the power to give me the opportunity of stripping these unjust accusations of their borrowed garb, and it is the only favour that I at present presume to ask. Let me, my Lord, be informed upon what evidence the proscription under which I now suffer was issued, and why it was thonght right to select me as a solitary victim from an almost entire population." . . . "I shall be able to offer ench a justification as will convince your Lordship that I am at least entitled to expect from His Majesty's Government the fullest security that the remainder of my life may be passed in the bosom of my family, free even from the possibility of molestation on account of the part that I felt myself compelled to take in the affair, from the consequences of which I am now on many accounts so anxious to obtain relief. Every act of mine in the unhappy transaction to which I am solicitous to draw your Lordship's attention proceeded from the impulse of a fatal necessity, and to prevent consequences which no man would be more ready to deplore than your Lordship; and if I might be permitted the indulgence of a short interview I cannot fear but that I should produce the most convincing proof of what I affirm."
The draft was shown to the Under-Secretary, Mr. Goulburn, who saw objections to its terms. The prudent friend[1] who exhibited it dissuaded Macarthur from sending such a bold, though imploring letter. Another was prepared, which dwelt upon Macarthur's patriotic efforts in promoting pastoral and agricultural pursuits, and trusted that
"it might be reconcilable with Lord Bathurst's strict sense of propriety to direct an act of oblivion to be passed . . . as to all those measures in which I was most reluctantly involved, and thereby enable me, with my two sons,[2] to return to the colony to the bosom of my family, where my"
- ↑ Mr. George Watson Taylor.
- ↑ James and William. With customary energy their father made use of the time of exile by travelling with them on the continent and studying olive and vine cultivation. Sir William Macarthur was known to more than one generation as the amiable and wise dispenser of the knowledge he acquired in youth.
