Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/471

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I piesetn.'e is uaseiitiallj tieteiisary, mmX to the Uinlal>le nud lieneficial pur- j Biiita in whicii the pahlic good is aa much couefiriitid lis niy priv^ite advantage, with security tn iiiy person, and relieved from those molesta- Itttions to the possibilily of which I am at pieeeut expc>Bed, find which opcmtt* lis a baiiis}iiii£'iit fnnn everything that is inoHt valuable in life,*' The worser Eni^lish was more pleaBiiig to Mr. Goiilbnrn, I who was directed hy Lord BathiuBt to aay, that considering 'Macarfchiir's long exile from his family, his exertions to promote the agriculture and prosperity of the colony, and "iibmc all the assuraneeB thai his Lordship has received from various <juartevs that you are fully aensiblo of the impropriety of conduct whhih letl to your departun- fnjni the colony, Lon! Batiuirst no longer- objects to your return. His LfOrdship M'iil therefore transmit the necessary instruc tioiiB to the fioveruoi' not to offer any molestation to y<ju on account of past I trauaaettous, noi' to atbjpt with re8pect to you any meiwsiire other than your I Inture conihict in the colony nuiy appear to him to require." The temptation was great. To the heart'n coi-e Macarthur had been longing to rejoin the devoted wife who, in his absence, tended his affairs, and wrote loving letters about the chihh'en from whom he was parted. But above all, iracartluir loved that honour without which, in his wife's [presence, he would have hung his head in Bliame, The r'kisB, long as his exile/' for which he burned, would have [scorched his lip if he had felt that it was obtained by the [confession of wrong-doing in that act by which he believed in his heart he had dune liis part to prevent Bligh from wreaking on the wortliier colonists the bad passions o( the scomidrel who was as ready to take life from the living; as [he had been by forgery to obtain false evidence of the will of the tlead. His counsellor, Mr. Taylor, who played the part of Menenius. in this instance yielded to Macarthur's resolve, but did not trust further negotiations to his fiery principal. Macarthur wrote to Taylor. Taylor told Mr. Goulburn that Macarthur, '* in a very gentlemanly manner, has put it to me whether, for any cotiaideration whatever, he can become a party to his own dishonour; and I reall}^ think more highly of him for not being disposed to compromise his honour, and catch at a most important object upon ainf irrnfH, to which a man of relaxed principle is ton ready to mibmit." Mr. Taylor suggested that, instead of recording a stigma on himself, Macarthur should merely state that he intended to ** devote undivided attention to ^ vso^cvYftxv^»