earning a livelihood were thought to be derogatory to the office of magistrate. His convict origin also was sometimes recalled by prisoners brought before him, and on such occasions unseemly reproaches passed between the Bench and the dock.[1] Finally the irregularity of the private lives of both Thompson and Lord was notorious.
The circumstances of these two men have been thus discussed in detail because it was by their appointment to the magistracy that Macquarie first made known to the settlement the policy he intended to pursue. Had he selected more suitable men probably no opposition would have been roused. No complaint was ever made against the inclusion of the Rev. Henry Fulton in the Commission of the Peace, although he had been transported to the Colony. His crime had been suspected complicity in the Irish Rebellion, and he had borne himself in New South Wales with quiet self-respect. His convict origin seems to have been forgotten—that of Lord never was. The other emancipists who were most favoured by the Governor and were admitted to his table on public as well as private occasions, were Redfern, an assistant surgeon; Robinson, chief clerk in the Secretary's office and unofficial poet to the Government; Meehan and Evans, assistant surveyors; Lord and one or two others. Redfern, who had a large private practice, was on intimate terms with a few of his patients, but none of the others were ever invited to the houses of the "more respectable settlers".[2] In 1812 Macquarie asked for the support of His Majesty's Ministers, and particularly for the opinion of the First Gentleman of Europe.
"Some men," he wrote, "who had been convicts, have been appointed magistrates by me;[3] some of the same description of men have been honoured with his Majesty's Commission,[4] which in my mind is alone sufficient proof of the eligibility
- ↑ See Evidence of Harris, Appendix to Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS.
- ↑ Redfern had been transported for complicity in the mutiny at the Nore. Robinson's crime was the writing of threatening letters. He was called the Poet Laureate, and used to recite odes, etc., of his own composition, on the King's birthday, at the Governor's leveé and on similar occasions. These effusions may be read in the Sydney Gazette.
- ↑ This was the first official intimation of these appointments.
- ↑ i.e., Fulton, Redfern, Evans and Meehan.
