1808 13 Feb. RETURN of Government stock for 13th February, 1808. Increase, decrease, and remains to 20th February, 1808. Bligh's refusal to appear against Jamison. PRINCIPAL SURGEON JAMISON TO MAJOR JOHNSTON. Sydney, 14th February, 1808. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th ins't,* with the enclosures, and I am much concerned to learn that the late Governor declines coming forward to prove his allegations against me before a General Court-Martial, feeling conscious of not deserving such censure. It is particularly gratifying to me to find you acquit me, and that you attribute my dismissal from the office of magistrate to the cause of attending as a friend to witness an interesting conversation, and the enclosed letter from the late Governor a few hours after that event strongly warrants the conclusion. * Ante, p. 518. lambs. I shall, under these circumstances, let the matter drop in this country, trusting I shall be enabled at a future period to prove the rectitude of my conduct to His Majesty's Ministers. A COPY of the letter of dismissal from the office of Magistrate alluded to in the above from Edmund Griffin, Secretary, to Thomas Jamison, Esq'r'. Sir, Government House, Sydney, 22nd September, 1807. 1808 14 Feb. I am commanded by His Excellency to inform you that he Jamison has no further occasion for your services as a magistrate. I am, &c., EDMUND GRIFFIN, Secretary. dismissed from magistracy. 17 Feb. witnesses. GOVERNOR BLIGH TO MAJOR JOHNSTON. Sir, Government House, Sydney, 17th February, 1808. On the other side I send you a list of persons that will be Bligh's necessary for me to have sent to England, and have to request that you will be pleased to take the requisite steps for providing them with a passage accordingly. I am, &c., W'M BLIGH. Court. IT having been represented to the Lieut.-Governor that Mr. Constitution Moore, master builder, cannot discharge the duty of a member of of the Civil a Civil Court without neglecting his other duties, the Acting Judge-Advocate has been directed to draw for another member, and that lot having fallen upon John Blaxland, Esq're, he is hereby ordered to sitt as a member. Of these officers, only Campbell, Palmer, Gore, Griffin, Fulton, Divine, and Oakes gave evidence for the prosecution at the Court-Martial, held in May, 1811, on Major Johnston. The Judge-Advocate, Richard Atkins, went over to the other side, and was called by Major Johnston. 1808 17 Feb. Members of the Court. The charges against Wentworth. COURT-MARTIAL ON D'ARCY WENTWORTH.* New South Wales, 17th February, 1808. PROCEEDINGS of a General Court-Martial, held by virtue of a warrant under the hand and seal of His Honor George Johnston, Esquire, LieutenantGovernor of His Majesty's territory of New South Wales, &c., &c., &c. Captain Anthony Fenn Kemp, President; Lieut. Will. Moore, Lieut. Wm. Lawson, Lieut. Thos. Laycock, Lieut. C. Draffin, members; Charles Grimes, Esq'r., Deputy Judge-Advo'te. THE several warrants appointing the president, members of the Court, and Deputy Judge-Advocate being read, and the members and Judge-Advocate being sworn,— D'Arcy Wentworth, Esquire, Assistant Surgeon in New South Wales, brought before the Court, and the following charges exhibited against him by Charles Grimes, Esquire, Deputy Judge-Advocate: 1st. In employing servants of the Crown who were entrusted to his care in labour on his own grounds, and in taking charge of his own stock. 2ndly. In employing for his private emolument settlers' servants who have been sent into the hospital sick, to the great loss and injury of their masters, and thereby subjecting Government to an heavy expence for the maintenance of the men so improperly kept on the sick or convalescent lists.t Plea-Not guilty. Letter from the Judge-Advocate to William Bligh, Esq'r., dated 16th of February, 1808, and William Bligh, Esquire's, answer to LieutenantGovernor Johnston, read to the Court :- Johnston "HIS Honor the Lieutenant-Governor has directed me to transmit to you willing for Bligh to be the copy of the charges against Mr. D'Arcy Wentworth, and at the same time represented. to acquaint you that His Honor wishes to know if there is any person you may wish to appoint as prosecutor before the General Court-Martial to be held tomorrow; or, if there is any particular manner in which you are desirous that the prosecution should be conducted. CHARLES GRIMES." Bligh refuses. Evidence of "Sir, 66 "Government House, Sydney, 16th February, 1808. "I have this day received a letter from Mr. Charles Grimes, Acting Judge-Advocate, enclosing a copy of charges against Mr. D'Arcy Wentworth, stating that His Honor the Lieut. -Governor had directed him to transmit to me the same, and at the same time to acquaint me that His Honor wishes to know if there is any person I may wish to appoint as prosecutor before the General Court-Martial to be held to-morrow, or if there is any particular manner in which I am desirous that the prosecution should be conducted. "In reply to which I have only to refer you to my letter of the 10th instant, and to inform you that I cannot enter into any such circumstances until I return to England, and where I can only assign reasons for any act of mine in this colony. "I am, &c., "W'M BLIGH.” Edmund Griffin, secretary to the late Governor Bligh, sworn, and the letter, with the accompanying depositions of Oakes and Beldon, from Governor Bligh to the Right Honorable William Windham, sent by the Duke of Portland, read. ‡ Q. from the Prosecutor. § Are the letter and deposition produced true copies of those sent to England by the ship Duke of Portland?-A. They are. See also Wentworth's letter to Castlereagh and its enclosures, printed ante, p. 313. † See the depositions of Oakes and Beldon, enclosed in Bligh's letter of 31st October, 1807, ante, p. 369. See Bligh to Windham, 31st October, 1807, and its enclosures, ante, p. 368. § It does not appear who the prosecutor was; probably Grimes, as Deputy Judge-Advocate, acted pro forma. As in the trial of Macarthur, in February, 1808, there was really no prosecution, and the decision was a foregone conclusion. 1808 Q. by the Prisoner to the evidence. Did you overhear the late Governor mentioning any settler's name who had complained of my having detained 17 Feb. their men in the hospital improperly, or has any person ever accused me to you officially?-A. I cannot recollect, but no person has complained The second officially to me. charge. Q. Did I not officially apply thro' you to Governor Bligh, on or about the Wentworth 18th of April last, to be allowed to take two Government servants off the applies for public stores; and, if I did, what reasons did I assign for doing so?-A. assigned I recollect an application to take two men off the store to take care of your horses. servants. Q. On being refused my request, did I not beg you again to state to the Refused by Governor "that having no servant allowed me by Government, that it the would be impossible for me to carry on the duties of my office unless he Governor. would allow me to have two men off the store to take care of my horses, which I used for Government purposes"?-A. Yes. Q. On being refused a second time, did I not beg you to tell the Governor that it would be impossible for me to attend the sick at Castle Hill as I was ordered by the Principal Surgeon, and that I should be compelled to order the sick of every description into the hospital at Parramatta?-A. You did. Constable Francis Oakes, late Chief Constable, sworn :States to the Court the irregularities committed by Mr. Wentworth, as Evidence of Assistant Surgeon, in employing convalescents to his own private purposes. Conta A few days prior to Mr. Wentworth's suspension I was directed by the late Governor by letter to go to Mr. Wentworth's premises, and take four men that were employed by him without permission. I went to Mr. Wentworth's house and found two men, and sent a constable to Mr. Wentworth's farm, who took two other men; but one of the men specified in the Governor's letter was out with Mr. Wentworth's cattle, and came and gave himself up in the evening. I was directed by the Governor's letter to get an account of the number of days that the men I found on Mr. Wentworth's premises had been employed; also to send the men found to Government labour at Government Castle Hill. I found five men, and sent them to Castle Hill, and reported men ono the next day in writing the men's names, and the time they had been farm. employed, which is as stated in the deposition. Q. by the President. Did you acquaint Capt'n Abbott, the officer in command, and magistrate at Parramatta, with the orders that you had received from the late Governor ?-A. I believe I did. I shewed him the letter. Wentworth's Q. from the Prisoner. In your depositions before Mr. Atkins, you have Abuses at related many other irregularities which happened in the hospital at Parra- the hospital. matta ;-can you point out a single person from whom money was taken to get admittance into the hospital, or any person who was discharged thro' the influence of W- the clerk of the dispensatory ?"-A. I was informed by a man of the name of N, who applied to me for a pass to go to Sydney to the Principal Surgeon, that he had been turned out of the hospital because he would not give W- the clerk, the sum of two pounds. Q. Do you know of any person taken into or discharged from the hospital improperly since I had the charge?--4. No. Q. Can you mention the name of any settler's servant who was received into the hospital and detained there from improper motives during the time that I had the charge?-A. No. Q. Can you inform the Court of any person let out of the hospital to go The clerk at about the country doing mischief since I had the charge, and who has been the punished and sent to Castle Hill for the offence?-A. No. Q. What authority had you to say that W- - had a great influence over me, and that he made use of the public medicines for his own private See the deposition of Oakes, ante, p. 369. dispensary. 1803 17 Feb. Wentworth's garden. Depositions taken secretly. Men Went worth's farm. purposes?-4. I do not believe I did say so. I do not think he has any influence on Mr. Wentworth, or that he does make use of the public medicines for his own purposes. Q. Do you know that I employed the hospital gardeners in my own private garden, except in their own time?-A. Yes. 2. Was the hospital garden, at the time I was put under arrest, not in good order?-A. No. Q. Did you ever hear that I had neglected to attend the sick during the time I had charge of the Parramatta Hospital?—A. No. Q. by the President. As you know Mr. Wentworth was intirely unacquainted with the depositions you had made against him before the Governor and the Judge-Advocate, I ask you upon your oath, did any person enjoin you to secrecy that you should not divulge the depositions you had made?-4. No. Q. Where were the depositions taken against Mr. Wentworth, and who was present?-A. At Government House, in the presence of the Governor, the Judge-Advocate, and Mr. Griffin, the Governor's secretary. Q. Did you ever disclose to any person the questions you had been asked by the late Governor; if not, what were your reasons for keeping them secret?-A. I never did disclose them to any person. I had no reason for keeping them secret. Q. Did it not appear to you that the questions asked by the Governor were for the purpose of injuring Mr. Wentworth, if he had employed men improperly?-A. Yes. Q. You have said that many men have been taken from the hospital by employed at Mr. Wentworth and employed about his farm and farm-house for different purposes ever since he came from Norfolk Island ;-state your reasons for the assertion?-A. There have been men; F— H - and L-K have been employed on his farm very often. Q. When L- K was brought by you before the magistrates for being absent from the hospital, and had been working at Mr. Wentworth's farm, what was the decision of the magistrates?-A. The magistrates were of opinion that it was improper that the hospital patients should be working about the country and that they would put a stop to it. The Q. Did you ever receive private instructions to look after the hospitals during Mr. Wentworth's having charge?-A. Yes, repeatedly, from the magistrates, but no particular ones during the time Mr. Wentworth had charge. Q. from the Court. How long have you been chief constable at Parramatta? A. Above two years. Q. Is it not customary for individuals to employ servants of the Crown employment after they have done their Government labour?—A. Yes. of convicts by private persons. Men from Q. Were not the two gardeners allowed to the hospital at liberty, with the permission of the Surgeon, to go to work for themselves when the garden was in good order?-A. Yes. Q. Is it not common to give the servants of the Crown a task?-A. Yes. George Beldon sworn : Q. from the Prosecutor. Do you know of Mr. Wentworth, the Assistant the hospital Surgeon, employing the hospital patients to his own private advantage working for during the time he had charge of the Parramatta hospital?-A. I know Wentworth. that Mr. Wentworth had four men employed-two at his house and two at his farm-and had been employed some time at labor for his advantage. at his farm and J- Mand T L S and M D. K about his house. I informed Rouse, the superintendent, how these men were employed, and Rouse informed the late Governor and the men were taken from Mr. Wentworth and sent to Castle Hill to public labour. F— H · had been employed by Mr. Wentworth, but was |