Colony in 1808, also gave evidence. The most recent arrival and the most intelligent witness was Lieutenant Edward Lord of Van Diemen's Land, but he had no knowledge of the parent Colony. The evidence on the whole was very weak. Few witnesses appeared sure of their facts and fewer still to have observed with closeness or accuracy the colonial Government or the condition of the population. Far more valuable was the small collection of extracts from Macquarie's despatches and the letter of Ellis Bent to Lord Liverpool,[1] and it was on these that the Committee based the greater part of their report.[2] That report was on the whole sanguine. New South Wales was "in their opinion in a train entirely to answer the ends proposed by its establishment. It appears latterly to have attracted a greater share of the attention of Government than it did for many years after its foundation; and when the several beneficial orders lately sent out from this country[3] and the liberal views of the present Governor[4] shall have had time to operate, the best effects are to be expected. The permission of distillation and the reforms of the Courts of Justice are two measures which your Committee above all others recommend as most necessary to stimulate agricultural industry, and to give the inhabitants that confidence and legal security which can alone render them contented with the Government under which they are placed."[5]
The report was no doubt very unsatisfactory to those who had promoted the Committee, and for some time New South Wales was neglected by the Opposition. In 1815, however, when the Government brought in a Bill for renewing the Transportation Laws, they met with strong opposition, and the Bill was passed as a temporary measure for one year only.
On this occasion Romilly and the Hon. Henry Grey Bennet were the most prominent speakers against the Bill. Bennet had entered Parliament in 1814 as member for Shrewsbury,
- ↑ Quoted in Chapter III. above.
- ↑ See P.P., 1812, vol. ii., Appendix.
- ↑ The most important was the order for opening the ports.
- ↑ The hearty endorsement by the Committee of Macquarie's Emancipist Policy exerted far greater influence on the development of the Colony than any other part of the report.
- ↑ See conclusion of C. on T.
