_My Conduct at Hawkesbury.—Continue for three Years to give
Satisfaction to my Principal.—Ordered by Governor King into the
Secretary’s Office.—Give way to the Temptations with which I am
surrounded, and begin to lead a dissipated Life in company with
some other Clerks.—Concert a System of Fraud upon the King’s
Stores, which we practise successfully for some Time.—The
Imposition is at length detected.—I am in consequence dismissed
the Office and sent to hard Labour, for the first Time in my
Life._
Mr. Baker received me with kindness, and great pleasure, as, my
predecessor having quitted him some weeks before, he was at a loss for a
proper assistant. In a few days I had a comfortable residence assigned me
by the commanding officer of the settlement, and my duty being exempted
from all hard labour, and of such a nature as I found pleasure in
performing, I soon felt myself comparatively happy.—With retrospective
satisfaction, I can truly say, that I behaved in this situation with so
much propriety as to obtain the favour of my principal, and the good
opinion of the resident magistrate, Dr. Arndell, whose four children I
attended at my leisure hours, in the quality of preceptor. Both this
gentleman and Mr. Baker vied with each other, in shewing me every mark
of kindness in their power.—Mr. Baker informed me that Governor King
made frequent and particular inquiries of him respecting my conduct,
and I felt the highest gratification from the reflection that I had
happily falsified his Excellency’s uncharitable prediction as to my real
character. Mr. Palmer also, who had been the first kind promoter of my
good fortune, made similar inquiries of Mr. Baker, and from the report he
received of my talents, expressed a desire to transfer me from Hawkesbury
to the Commissary’s Office at Sydney, in which department there was then
a great press of business, and expert clerks were not, at that period,
so numerous as at present. Mr. Baker, however, being unwilling to part
with me, paid no attention to the wish of Mr. Palmer, until the latter
gentleman at length ordered in direct terms, by an official letter,
that I should be immediately sent to Sydney. The Governor coming up
to Hawkesbury a day or two afterwards, Mr. Baker represented to his
Excellency, the inconvenience he should suffer, if he was deprived of my
assistance, and obtained an order from him to retain me in his service.
This arrangement was not at all satisfactory to me, for I had long felt
an earnest desire to be employed in the commissariat, as the public
accompts therein kept, were of such a description as I always took
delight in, and I still flatter myself that from my quickness in figures,
I should be perfectly at home in such a situation. However I was not to
be gratified on that occasion, and I continued in the service of Mr.
Baker about three years. I had, in fact, reconciled myself to the idea
of serving out my full term of banishment with this worthy man; but on a
sudden, a letter was received by Mr. Arndell from Governor King, ordering
my instant removal to Sydney, for the purpose of assisting as a clerk in
the Secretary’s Office, which, as it was then established might be, and
was generally, called the Governor’s Office, being attached to Government
House, and under the immediate personal direction of the Governor
himself. Though this preferment seemed to hold out a prospect of future
advantage, and to confer increased respectability, it was with some
regret I quitted my comfortable little house and garden at “The Green
Hills[44],” where I had led a life of innocence and peaceful retirement;
whereas I was now about to enter a vortex of dissipation, folly and
wickedness, for such was Sydney compared to my late place of abode.
The Governor received me very graciously, allotted me a neat brick-house
in the vicinity of the office, and a government-man, victualled from
the King’s-stores, as a servant. For two or three months I continued
very steady, and formed but few acquaintances. The Governor behaved
to me with great liberality, and refused me no reasonable request. By
degrees, however, I began to degenerate. I increased my acquaintance
among the Commissary’s and some other clerks, most of whom lived an
expensive and dissipated life. All I can say in my own favour, is that
I continued to be regular in my attendance at the office, and was never
found defective, or incapable of my duty; but no sooner was I at my own
disposal than I eagerly sought my dissipated companions, and spent the
rest of the day in drinking, and other irregularities, sometimes at
public or disorderly houses, and frequently at my own, where I had often
the expensive pleasure of entertaining a large party of my fellow-scribes
at my own cost. This course of life unavoidably drew me into great
expenses, and I contracted several debts. Governor King, whose vigilant
observation nothing of this sort could escape, gave me frequent and
serious admonitions for my good; but I was so infatuated as to disregard
all advice, and only thought of devising pecuniary means to continue my
licentious career. This was no easy task, as the nature of business in
the Secretary’s Office afforded few opportunities of realizing money by
fraud, at least without the assistance of one or more confederates in a
neighbouring department. The expensive rate at which the Commissary’s
clerks constantly lived, had become matter of surprise to the Governor
as well as the magistrates, and was the theme of much conjecture among
the inhabitants of Sydney. Still, though it was palpable they had
recourse to fraud, they managed matters so adroitly that no irregularity
could be detected; and the efforts of the executive authority, to
develope their system, continued unavailing.
It was the custom of Governor King, as I have before observed, to use
only his initials as a signature on common occasions, and by application
and practice I acquired a knack of imitating this sign-manual with
sufficient accuracy to impose upon the parties to whom the superscription
was addressed. Finding these three letters to have the magical effect of
procuring for me whatever articles I required, from the King’s-stores,
I availed myself of their talismanic power, and converting the goods
so obtained into money, I discharged my debts, and figured away with
increased _eclat_, among my fellow-clerks. As it was, however, both
impolitic and dangerous to carry this branch of fraud too far, or
practice it too frequently, I at length found means to form a connexion
with two or three of my most experienced friends, and we concerted such a
system of ways and means as promised liberally to supply our wants, and,
while we continued true to each other, seemed to preclude a possibility
of detection.
As I do not conceive myself justified in exposing either the parties who
were my colleagues, or the particular nature of our artifices, let it
suffice to inform the reader, that (as is indeed usually and deservedly
the fate of all sinister practices) a mere and most unexpected accident,
and for which none of us could attach blame to ourselves, discovered
to the Governor a principal branch of that prolific tree of fraud and
imposition, from whose productive fruitfulness we had so abundantly
derived the means of gratifying our folly and intemperance, which we at
that time miscalled a love of pleasure; but (to continue the metaphor)
the root and body of this tree, still remained hidden from the strict
and rigid search set on foot by the Governor, and after this transitory
alarm had subsided, proved to its remaining adherents, a source of supply
for a considerable time. It so happened that I was the ostensible party
in the particular affair which led to this discovery; and Governor King
immediately took the most active measures to effect a full developement
of that system which he well knew to be the ground-work of mal-practices
to a considerable extent.
With this view I underwent several private examinations before his
Excellency and some of the principal officers, and great promises were
held out to extract information from me, but without effect, as I was
determined not to betray my friends, whose ruin could not at all
palliate my guilt, or, as I conceived, render me a whit more deserving
of mercy. I therefore persisted in asserting my innocence of the present
charge, and disclaimed all knowledge of fraud in any other person.
The Governor was so much exasperated at my obstinacy, that he at length
had recourse (as a _dernier resort_,) to the expedient of flogging to
extort confession. I must, however, (for justice sake,) acknowledge
that such cruelty was rarely exercised by Governor King, who in his
cooler moments was a most humane character. To the honour of our present
governor (Macquarrie,) be it recorded, that not only this inhuman
practice is exploded, but corporal punishment is seldom inflicted at all,
and when rendered necessary, it is used with moderation.
To resume, the Governor finding me firm in my resolution to give him
no satisfaction, ordered Dr. Harris, who was present, to take me to
the jail-yard, send for the public executioner, and there to give me
five-and-twenties, (this was his phrase,) till I confessed the whole
truth. Pursuant to this order I accompanied Mr. Harris to the appointed
spot, and while the finisher of the law was arranging matters for the
approaching ceremony, the Doctor used all his art of persuasion to induce
me for my own sake, to avoid the disgrace and pain of a correction, which
he must, if I continued obstinate, inflict in its fullest extent.
There was certainly much justice in this gentleman’s arguments, and,
although I am confident I could have summoned up resolution to have
continued silent under the threatened chastisement, yet, on mature
reflection, I was convinced of the folly of such a conduct, as there was
already sufficient and incontrovertible proof of guilt against me. I,
therefore, determined to acknowledge my errors, and submit my fate to
the Governor’s pleasure. Of this intention I acquainted Mr. Harris, who
immediately stayed the proceedings about to take place, and supplying me
with pen and paper, desired me to write my declaration, which he would
himself convey to the Governor. In the letter I hastily composed, I
informed his Excellency, that feelings of remorse and regret for my ill
conduct, rather than a fear of punishment, had induced me to confess to
him that I was guilty of the charge brought against me on the present
occasion, and with shame I acknowledged having repeatedly transgressed
in a similar manner, in order to defray the expenses of the unbecoming
course of life I had imprudently fallen into. But I positively declared
that no other person whatever was privy to my numerous acts of fraud,
as those counterfeit documents framed by me, had passed through the
usual official channels as genuine; and, consequently, the parties who
had admitted and sanctioned them, were utterly guiltless of connivance,
and had done no more than their duty. I added, that I knew how justly
I deserved to suffer for my faults; but I also knew that mercy was the
predominant sentiment in His Excellency’s bosom, and on that mercy I
therefore most humbly threw myself.
Doctor Harris immediately proceeded to Government-house with my letter,
and I was soon afterwards summoned to follow in person. His Excellency
seemed not displeased at the course I had adopted, and he was now in a
very mild and placid mood. After expatiating at some length, and in a
serio-comic strain, with his usual eccentricity, on the ill return I had
made for his favours, and so forth, he was pleased to order me back to
the jail, but in a tone that indicated no severity of intention. It gave
me much concern, however, that notwithstanding all I had before said,
or could now protest on the subject, the Governor ordered a young man
in a confidential situation under government, to be dismissed from his
office, under an impression that he was privy to the fraud in question.
It is true indeed, this person, by the injudicious defence he made, was
the cause of his own misfortune, and had very nearly, from his statement
being at variance with mine, contributed to ruin all my hopes of belief.
But the Governor, who though shrewd at times, was not at all times a
Solomon, thought proper to credit my assertion, and reject the evidence
of the other party, as too improbable to be received.
The next morning early, an order came to the prison from his Excellency,
that I was to be double-ironed, and put to the hardest labour, in
common with those incorrigible characters composing what is called the
jail-gang: I was in consequence set to work at mending the public-roads,
_&c._ _&c._, and as I had never before used a heavier tool than a
goose-quill, I found this penance to bear hard upon me, and repented me
of the evil which had brought me to this woeful condition.