Bennet, on the strength of the important evidence before them, and the proofs they had of the terrible conditions under which the female convicts lived in the Colony, proposed to the House, by means of an address to the Regent, to delay the sailing of a vessel with female convicts until the Report of the Committee had been made. "Never was a clearer case," wrote Wilberforce. "I seconded it in order to soften, and to induce them to stop the ship by stating that its being thought that some remedy might be devised for the evils of the middle passage and of New South Wales was a reason sufficient. Greatly beat, alas!"[1]
The Committee went on gathering evidence, and meanwhile the Government brought in their Bill for legalising duties in New South Wales and also indemnifying the Governor for having previously levied them. But in this form it was strenuously opposed, especially by Bennet, and the indemnity clauses had to be dropped. Bennet "thought it strange that in the last week of the session the Hon. Gentleman should call on the house, not only to legalise the duties but to indemnify the person who had unwarrantably imposed them. Governor Macquarie was not here, nor likely to be here for some time, and therefore such an Act could not be necessary at present. There could be no need for the Bill before the next session of Parliament, when the Governor might be in this country, when he might be examined on the subject, and when circumstances might be brought to light either to criminate or exculpate him. He complained of the taxes imposed by Governor Macquarie as most injudicious and ruinous, being twice as high on exports as on imports, and that the moment these things were made known to the public the Hon. Gentleman came down to the house to propose the continuance of the taxes and the indemnification of the Governor. Among other duties he stated that a poll-tax was levied on every person who left the Colony, and that it was not applied to the payment of the naval officer or to any other public service but went into the pocket of Governor Macquarie's secretary. Upon the whole, when he looked to the circumstances of the Governor's case, and considered that Parliament would meet in time to adopt any measure that
- ↑ Hansard, vol. xxxix., p. 1434-1441, 7th April, 1819, and Life of Wilberforce, vol. v., p. 16.
