Macquarie being not the man who evinced a change of heart and character by a change of habits and practice, but the man who had succeeded in acquiring wealth, by any means however unworthy, and who, perhaps, notoriously expended that wealth in the grossest licentiousness.
Governors, it is well known, being generally military officers, are a class of men who are usually extremely jealous of their delegated authority, as the representatives of majesty; and this jealousy is, for the most part, in exact proportion to their distance from the mother country, and the comparative minuteness or insignificance of their governments. Having situations of emolument and other substantial favours at their disposal, it is impossible in the nature of things, but that their exercise of their own discretion, in appointing to such situations or in distributing such favours, should give offence in some quarter or other. Thus, if Mr. A. has had a useful convict mechanic assigned to him, while Mr. B. has only had a common Irish labourer; or if Mr. C. has had a young bull and a few heifers lent him from the government herd, while Mr. D. is told that there are none for him, or that he must wait till the following season,—hasty and inconsiderate expressions, either of disappointment or of anger, are apt to be uttered by the said Mr. B, or
