The Colonial Office had to deal with this dispute together with the difficulties arising over the emancipist attorneys, and their action must be considered with a knowledge of both.
By February, 1815, all but official intercourse between Governor and Judges had come to an end. The court-rooms at the hospital were ready for use, and that fact "had been officially signified to Mr. Justice Bent."[1] The Governor had taken that opportunity to suggest "the expediency and necessity of appointing an early day for the opening of the Supreme Court". Bent declined to do this until Mr. Garling, the solicitor, arrived, a reason which Macquarie characterised as "very frivolous and ridiculous … as it is very possible that Mr. Garling may never arrive at all in this Colony, and as there are several attorneys (exclusive of Mr. Moore, the solicitor, already arrived) here who have hitherto practised before the former courts … but," he added ruefully, "as I have no control over Mr. Justice Bent, in virtue of the new patent, I can only remonstrate with him … which I have already done more than once without effect".
The pretext was not really a frivolous one. The presence of the two solicitors sent out by Government would have been invaluable to Bent in the coming struggle. But Garling's arrival was so long delayed that finally the opening of the courts could be no longer postponed.[2]
It was true that there were other attorneys in the Colony, and the conditions under which they practised have been already described.[3] Moore and Garling had been encouraged to emigrate, and given salaries by the Government for no other reason than to bring to an end the employment of these convict attorneys.
The chief was George Crosley, who had for a long time held the whole of the law business of the Colony in his hands. But a year before J. H. Bent's arrival, Eager, another convict,
- ↑ D. 4, 24th March, 1815. R.O., MS.
- ↑ Garling came in the Frances and Eliza, a male and female convict transport, which was captured by an American privateer and afterwards recaptured. He arrived after many adventures late in 1815.
- ↑ Chapter III.
to pass and their authority was higher than Wylde's. After that Wylde said no more, and the Regulations, with some alterations from those submitted to Bent, were published in 1819. See Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS.
