AND THE MILITARY. 1 1 3 or defy the Major of marines. He was no doubt considerably 1790 galled when he was afterwards told about the " bayonets"; and he felt it due to himself to explain his position when writing his account of it to Sydney. He did so by adding the following paragraph in a parenthesis :— Here I beg leave to observe to your lordship that the last sentenoQ, respecting the bayonets, was never mentioned to me till this business was settled. I should not have been induced wouid not yield to • to withdraw the order which directed the night-watch to stop a threats, soldier by so pointed a menace, for I should not have thought it could tend to the good of his Majesty's service. But the Major now felt that he was even with Phillip. If he had been obliged to give way on the Criminal Court question, he had compelled the Governor to withdraw his obnoxious order. This was the spirit in which the Lieu- tenant-Governor played fast and loose with the public The Major's service. It was nothing to him whether or not the soldiers under his command stole other people's vegetables, in a time of famine, every night ; the corps was not to be in- sulted by placing them under the control of the police. Nor did it matter much in his eyes whether or not the Criminal Court was prevented from sitting, and offenders were allowed to go free ; it was an " oppressive duty " for an officer of marines to take part in the administration of justice, unless he was paid for it. It was a very fortunate thing that the Major was not avii always successful in checkmating the Governor. Had he S^jeolS^y. succeeded on the Criminal Court question, for instance, the administration of law would have been brought to a dead stop, the Governor's authority would have been set at defiance, and the convicts would have been left to do as they pleased. The Major's tendency to carry things to ex- tremes was displayed but too clearly in this instance. Apart from all sense of public duty, the terms of the Act were so clear that no room for a reasonable doubt could have been left in the mind of any officer who read it. Captain Tench Digitized by Google
