And the indignant Macarthur in due time went to
England, and was therefore absent from the colony during
the stirring time of the insurrection of 1804. He sailed by
way of India. McKellar was sent with Macarthur's sword,
and with despatches, by another conveyance. Paterson
and King considered that McKellar's testimony would be
required in England.
There was a court-martial on Piper on a charge of breaking his word of honour by coming out of arrest under the order of 21st Sept. and not keeping his word afterwards. The court, composed of his brother-officers, acquitted him. King asked for their reasons, which they declined to give. King told the Secretary of State that, being himself prosecutor, he would decide nothing in such a case, but submitted it for His Majesty's consideration, "confident of experiencing that justice which may be deemed admissible in support of the situation I have the honour to hold." The Judge-Advocate-General (Dec. 1802) replied that as the court had adhered to its decision, Piper was entitled to the benefit of acquittal." His Majesty did not doubt that the "decision was the result of an impartial judgment,' but as no ground was stated for it, could only gather that a letter of apology from Piper, and his being allowed to do duty in the regiment, had influenced the court. His Majesty thought it proper that this should be understood, as there was very little doubt upon the whole that a part of Captain Piper's conduct was open to blame, nor did the line of defence which he adopted seem calculated to help his cause. His Majesty's decision was to be communicated to all the military, but was not directed to be "declared in Public Orders." Distance weakened the arm of the War Office, or it is improbable that it would have issued a decision calculated to palsy authority in the colony, and which, being kept from public view, lost any virtue contained in the implied censure of the verdict of the court.
Insubordination against the civil authority and partiality of the officers to their own corps were fomented by the course adopted. Macarthur wrote from England to congratulate Piper (9th Nov. 1803) on the fact that the "tyrant has not been able to fix his fangs upon you." In the same letter he animadverted upon McKellar as an
