paragraph in that style of paternal dignity touched with pomposity which became so familiar during Macquarie's rule. The Governor hoped "that all party spirit which has unfortunately resulted from the late unhappy disturbance will end, and that the higher classes will set an example of subordination, morality and decorum; that those in an inferior station will endeavour to distinguish themselves only by their loyalty, their sobriety and their industry, by which means alone the welfare and happiness of the community can be effectually promoted".[1]
In the later Proclamation issued on 4th January, Macquarie disclosed the remainder of his Instructions. Officials appointed by the rebel Government were to be replaced by those who had acted under Bligh, and grants of land and stock made by Johnston and Foveaux were declared null and void, but with a limitation which prevented hardship. Grants to officers or men of the New South Wales Corps were revoked altogether, and all grants were called in. But after full inquiry those which had been impartially given and not as rewards for joining the insurgents, or as mere acts of friendship, were to be renewed under such conditions as the Governor thought fit. Legal proceedings were to serve as useful guides, but not to be considered of a binding nature.[2]
The second Proclamation of 4th January safeguarded the officials of Johnston's government from the dangers to which the first, by declaring their appointments illegal, would have subjected them. They were protected from malicious or vexatious actions. "Deliberately unlawful assumptions of power" were not, however, included in the indemnity.
There was thus every prospect of laying old animosities to rest. The New South Wales Corps were to leave Sydney in April, and with Bligh also gone there would be hope of peace. But so long as he stayed, he and his friends kept party spirit alive. In the beginning of April the contents of Johnston's, or as it was usually called, Macarthur's first despatch to Lord Castlereagh became generally known. Copies of this and other
