416 THE OFFICEBJS EXAMINED. 1789 6 May. Question put; not the right one. A road for retreat. Captain Tench answers the question. sit as members of the Criminal Court established in this coontiy. This the Governor desires as Major Ross, their Commandant, is of opinion they do not think it a part of their duty. Captain Campbell having already given his opinion, the Governor does not wish to press him further on that head. Thereupon — the date of this proceeding was the 6th May — the Major assembled the officers and put the question, to them one by one : — Whether they look upon sitting at the Criminal Court as a military duty or an extra duty in compliance with an Act of Parliament^ and whether they had any knowledge of it before their arrival in this country ? That was not the question which the Governor had desired to be put. He wanted to know whether the officers con- sidered it their duty to sit ; not whether they looked upon it as a military or an extra duty — a point in which he was not in the least concerned. Anticipating a defeat^ the Major appears to have drawn this distinction so that those officers whose consciences would not allow them to take his view of the matter, might still have the appearance of supporting him. If they answered the question as he put it, they would say that they looked upon the Court business as an extra duty, and he would then be able to raise some further contention with Phillip. Thirteen officers were present and recorded their answers ; the first on the list being Captain Tench, who expressed himself as follows : — I had no knowledge of the Act of Parliament previous to my arrival in this country ; from the moment I read it I looked on it as Captain Tench's duty to sit on Criminal Courts whenever ordered, and still look on it as such. The others answered to the same effect; all agreeing that since they had heard the Act of Parliament read, they considered it their duty to sit as members of the Criminal Court whenever ordered. There were only two of them who had seen the Act in England. None of them took any notice of the distinction put before them in the question Digitized by Google
