Hunter could not entertain them,[1] and Margarot made
defamatory entries about him in his journal although,
when King became Governor, Margarot addressed him thus:—
"Sydney, 13th May, 1800.
"Sir,—Hazardous as is this step, my duty to society urges me to take it and to confide in your discretion; otherwise delicacy towards His Excellency Governor Hunter, whose most sincere well-wisher I am, would prevent my paying my respects to his successor until, by his departure, and by the introduction of Mr. Commissary Palmer, I could do so more conformably to rules and forms. As I am much confined by sickness, unless you are possessed of any private orders of ministry relative to me, and require my attendance to impart them, there is little chance of my having the good fortune to meet with an opportunity of conversing with you. Yet if you feel inclined to give birth to any accident which may occasion you at any time to enter my habitation, you shall find that an hour will not be there spent unprofitably, and that I can throw light on several of the transactions of this colony which may not perhaps have reached you in the shape they will then assume. I, moreover, will then submit to your perusal several papers the contents of which it is important you should be early acquainted with.
"Maurice Margarot."
King paid no attention to this missive, and Margarot in his secret journals coarsely assailed the Governor and his family. Mr. Commissary Palmer fared no better. Constantly Margarot records the receipt of kindnesses from Palmer, but as constantly records false charges against him. Margarot wrote:—"1801. May 9. La courte ration commença. May 19. Palmer m'envoya sept livres de beurre et quatre et demi gallons de Rum; Smith m'envoya demander une B de Rum!!!"
The wife, who is stated by the Scotch writer to have died of grief, was sometimes a thorn in the flesh to the "martyr," for we find him writing-" Jour maudit de blanchissage" and "Betsey humeur de diable."
This hybrid politician, who would dethrone the law in England, appealed to it in Sydney. The records of the
- ↑ Hunter, though he did not accede to the request of Margarot, appears to have been somewhat puzzled by a demand of freedom for Muir, Palmer, and Skirving on the ground that on landing in Sydney they were free to go to any part of the world except Great Britain. He wrote, "I am obliged to confess, my lord, that I cannot feel myself justified in forcibly detaining them in this country against their consent." He asked the Secretary of State to instruct him.
