Jeffery Bent was furiously indignant at being recalled and protested hotly against his treatment. Until the beginning of 1817 he remained in New South Wales, harassing the Governor and stirring up discontent. He arrived in England after a long voyage by way of India in May, 1818, and began an attack on the Colonial Office. His first demand, for a refund of the expenses of his homeward voyage, was successful, but he failed in the next. This was a request for a clear acknowledgment that he had been recalled for political reasons, and also for a temporary provision till he should regain his position at the Bar. He also suggested that he should be appointed Civil Governor of New South Wales. Finally his persistency was rewarded by the Chief Justiceship of Grenada.[1] From that time he passed altogether out of the history of New South Wales. But during the period between the closing of the Supreme Court in 1815 and his departure in 1817 he had by no means been idle, nor had his zeal been altogether fruitless.
- ↑ See Colonial Office Correspondence, 1818 to 1820, R.O. Major-General Bayly to Goulburn, 3rd January, 1820, R.O., MS., speaks of him as Chief Justice for Grenada.
free solicitor off the rolls of his court. There was much discussion in the Colony upon the matter. The free solicitor died soon after—some said from a broken heart, others from injuries received in a fall from his horse owing to his great corpulency. There were few free attorneys left, and Crosley and Eager were allowed to practise occasionally under the same terms as previously before Ellis Bent. Crosley was a rascal but competent, and one of the few attorneys who understood court business. See Appendix, Bigge's Reports, R.O., MS. and Report II.
