Here again, for want of evidence, he got clear of the charge brought against him; but, notwithstanding this, he was unexpectedly detained at the instance of Mr. Duncan Campbell, the superintendent of the convicts, for having returned to England in violation of the condition on which his majesty was pleased to grant him a remission of the punishment which he was sentenced to undergo on board the hulks; and the consequence of the detainer was, that he was made what is called a fine at Newgate, during the unexpired part of the time that he was originally to have served on the Thames. When the period of his captivity in this prison expired, he was, as a matter of course, set at liberty; and as usual, no sooner obtained his liberty, than he returned to his former practices. He, however, was now more cautious; and being connected with some accomplices of his own cast, he was not so easily detected as he might have been with others less experienced.
In a state of alarm and anxiety, he lived a considerable time in the society of the most profligate and abandoned characters of the metropolis, when he was seen to pick the pocket of Mr. Le Mesurier, at Drury-lane playhouse, and was immediately apprehended. Charge of him was given to one Blandy, a constable, who, through negligence or corruption, suffered him to make his escape. The proceedings against him were carried on to an outlawry, and various methods were made use of to detect him, for nearly two years, without effect.
But while the lawyers were outlawing him, and the constables endeavoring to take him, he was travelling in various disguises and characters through the northern counties of this kingdom. He visited the great towns in those parts as a quack-doctor, or as a clergyman; sometimes he went with an E. O. table, and sometimes he pretended to be a rider to a manufacturing house at Birmingham or Manchester; and travelling on horseback, with a decent deportment and grave appearance, the account which he thought proper to give of himself was credited, without any difficulty, by those who questioned him.
But, in spite of all these precautions, it sometimes happened that he was known by gentlemen whom he met, once particularly in Lincolnshire; yet no one offered to molest or intercept him, until he arrived at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where, on being recognised, he was suspected of picking pockets, and, on inquiry, was discovered to be an outlaw: upon which he was removed by a writ of habeas corpus to London, and imprisoned in Newgate, where he arrived miserable and so dejected, that on learning his circumstances, some of his friends made a subscription for him, by which he was enabled to employ counsel, and to take legal measures to have the outlawry against him reversed.
This being effected, he was tried for the original offence, that of stealing Mr. Le Mesurier’s purse; but, through the absence of the Rev. Mr. Adeane, a material witness for the prosecution, he was acquitted. Being once more enlarged, he again set off for Ireland, in company with a young man of the name of Hubert, well known in town for his fraud on the duke of York. With this accomplice, he was so infatuated as to endeavor to carry on his depredations in Dublin, where it was never his fortune to remain for any length of time undetected; for, Hubert being taken in the act of picking a gentleman’s pocket, and handing the property to Barrington, he with great difficulty made his escape to England, where he rambled about for some time previously to his arrival in the capital, which he had scarcely entered, when he was taken into custody for picking Mr. Henry Hare Townsend’s pocket of a gold watch.
Hubert, his accomplice, was tried at Dublin, and sentenced to transportation for seven years; but he afterwards contrived to make his escape.
On Wednesday morning, September 15th, 1790, Barrington was put to the bar to be arraigned on an indictment charging him with stealing, on the 1st of September, 1790, in the parish of Enfield, a gold watch, chain, and seals, the property of Henry Hare Townsend, Esq. Upon this occasion Barrington displayed all the talents which it has been universally admitted he possessed; but in spite of a long speech, which professed, whether sincere or assumed, great contrition for his past offences, and a determination to amend his life for the future, he was convicted, and sentenced by the judge to seven years’ transportation.
During the voyage to Port Jackson, Barrington rendered an essential service in quelling a mutiny in the vessel. Upon this occasion the captain evinced his gratitude for the services he had performed, and when they had reached the Cape, at the recommendation of the former, he received a hundred dollars reward for his zeal and activity.
On their arrival at Port Jackson, Barrington having been recommended to the governor, was placed in the first instance at Tamgabbe as a subordinate, and was soon advanced to be a principal watchman, in which situation he acquitted himself as a useful and active officer; insomuch that the governor determined to withdraw him from the convicts; and at the same time that he received his instrument of emancipation, he was presented with a grant of thirty acres of land at Paramatta. He was subsequently appointed superintendent of the convicts; and although not permitted to return to England, was invested with all the immunities of a freeman, a settler, and a civil officer, and had the satisfaction to know that his diligence and activity were not only without suspicion, but were fully appreciated.
It was here that Barrington resolved to revise the notes he had taken during the voyage, and of describing more fully the places they had touched at. He has accordingly produced a very useful and instructive work.