and representative institutions. Nor did he stand alone; beside him was his able partner, Dr. Wardell, a man of force of character and courage, himself free of any criminal taint. His foremost follower was a still more notable man, Dr. William Bland [q. v.] With such colleagues Wentworth formed the ‘Patriotic Association;’ not content with stirring up opposition to the governor and his officials in the colony itself, they actively engaged in agitation in the English parliament, and men of high mark like Henry Lytton Bulwer and Charles Buller were their agents in the House of Commons. Wentworth's struggle with Darling culminated in what is known as the ‘Sudds and Thompson Case.’ In 1826 two privates of the 57th regiment had committed an act of robbery in order to procure their discharge from the army and to be enrolled as criminals, in the hope of sharing in due course in that prosperity of the emancipated convicts which had filled the soldiers with envy (Tregarthen, Australian Commonwealth). This case was by no means an isolated one; ‘the perpetration of crimes was common among the soldiery, who hoped thereby to escape further service and enter the happy ranks of the convicted.’ Governor Darling determined to put this state of things down with a high hand. Sudds and Thompson were sentenced to hard labour on the roads in irons, stripped of their uniforms, clad in convict garb, and drummed out of the garrison; nor did this severe sentence relieve them from subsequent military service. Sudds died of a fever within a few days of his degradation, whereupon Wentworth wrote a letter of impeachment to the secretary of state (20 July 1826). It fills thirty-five folio pages, and the evidence taken by the governor and by Wentworth in the colony filled another eighteen. With characteristic vehemence Wentworth set on foot an agitation in the English parliament for the recall of the governor, and, although Sir Ralph Darling was acquitted by a select committee of the House of Commons, he was eventually in October 1831 recalled in obedience to this clamour. To accept (as some writers do) Wentworth's impeachment as an historical document is to mistake the denunciations of the criminal prosecutor for the summing up of the judge. Wentworth's ablest and most thoroughgoing panegyrist, Mr. G. W. Rusden, disproves most of the charges against Darling, who, it must be remembered, was supported in his policy by the humane Saxe Bannister [q. v.], attorney-general, and by Alexander Macleay [q. v.], colonial secretary.
At the public meeting held in Sydney in honour of the accession of William IV, Wentworth carried an amendment to the customary loyal address, in which he besought his majesty ‘to extend to the only colony of Britain bereft of the right of Britons a full participation in the benefits and privileges of the British constitution.’ The succeeding governor, Sir Richard Bourke [q. v.], strove to placate Wentworth without alienating the old ruling caste. To the disgust of many, Bourke made Wentworth a magistrate and personally visited him at his estate, and at all times was greatly guided by his advice. Wentworth's old opponent Macleay was superseded by Deas Thomson as colonial secretary. The general community prospered under the régime of a governor who was wise enough to be advised unofficially by its ablest member. Bourke was succeeded by Sir George Gipps [q. v.], who originally intended to recommend Wentworth for nomination to the legislative council, but an historic dispute led to the withdrawal of that nomination. Early in 1840 seven Maori chiefs were in Sydney, and they were invited to sign at government house a declaration of their willingness to accept the queen as their sovereign. They attended and heard the necessary document read; each of them received ten pounds, and they were to return to the governor in two days to sign the declaration. They did not return. To a message sent to them, one of their English hosts replied that they had been advised to sign no treaty which did not contain full security for the natives. It appeared that Wentworth had so advised. But Wentworth had meanwhile personally entered into independent negotiations with the seven Maori chiefs who did not keep their appointment at government house. He had promised them two hundred pounds a year for life after they had nominally sold to him a hundred thousand acres in the northern, and twenty million of acres in the middle, island (Rusden, History of New Zealand, i. 224). For two days Wentworth spoke and cited authorities in favour of the claims which he had thus acquired before the governor in council, but Sir George Gipps at once pronounced the alleged purchase invalid and repugnant to the laws of the realm, and declared that all the ‘jobs done since Walpole’ sank into insignificance in comparison with that which the ‘Australian patriot’ desired him to sanction. Wentworth threw up his commission as a magistrate, while Gipps withdrew his nomination to the council, and the two men were thenceforth inveterate foes.
On 5 Sept. 1842 Lord Stanley (afterwards
