Judge Therry, who came to New South Wales in 1829, in a judicial summing up of the causes of this revolt, gives Bligh full credit for his attempt to govern well, and condemns in strong terms the outrageous
conduct of the New South Wales Regiment; but he describes Bligh as a despotic man who "had proved his incapacity to govern a ship's crew whom he had driven to mutiny, yet had been made absolute ruler of a colony." Says Therry:—
"The extravagant and illegal proceedings to which these men" (the Judge-Advocate and his blackguard attorney) "had recourse contributed perhaps more than even the shortcomings of Bligh himself to the catastrophe that ensued. The governor's conflicts with many, but especially with MacArthur, were bitter and incessant through his career."
Says Dr. West, writing in 1852:—
"The governor resolved to bring to trial the six officers, who had repelled the Judge-Advocate, for treasonable practices; and, as a preliminary step, ordered that they should appear before the bench of magistrates, of whom Colonel Johnston, their commander, was one. It was now supposed that Bligh intended to constitute a novel court of criminal jurisdiction, and that he had resolved to carry to the last extremes the hostility he had declared. Colonel Johnston, as a measure of self-defence, was induced to march his regiment to Government House, and place His Excellency under arrest, demanding his sword and his commission as governor. This transaction throughout caused a very strong sensation, both in the colony and at home. Opinions widely differ respecting its origin
and its necessity. That it was illegal, it may be [a]1811] presumed, no one will deny; that it was wanton is not so indisputable. The unfortunate termination of Bligh's first expedition to Tahiti, the imputations of harshness and cruelty for ever fastened to his name, and the disreputable agents he sometimes employed in his service made the position of the officers extremely anxious, if not insecure. Bligh had become popular with the expired settlers, who reckoned a long arrear of vengeance to their military taskmasters, and who, with the law on their side or encouragement from the governor, might have been expected to show no mercy. Had Bligh escaped to the interior, the personal safety of the officers might have been imperilled. The settlers, led on by the undoubted representative of the Crown, would have been able to justify any step necessary for the recovery of his authority, and at whatever sacrifice of life."
The court-martial on Johnston was held at Chelsea Hospital, and lasted from May 11th till June 5th, 1811. Bligh complained that many of his papers had been stolen, and the want of these was detrimental to his case. Johnston, in the course of his defence, said:—
"My justification of my conduct depends upon my having proved to the satisfaction of this honourable court that such was the state of the public mind on the 26th of January, 1808, that no alternative was left for me but to pursue the measures I did or to have witnessed an insurrection and massacre in the colony,
attended with the certain destruction of the governor himself. In doing this, I have endeavoured to show not only the fact of Captain Bligh's general unpopularity, and the readiness of the people to rise against him, and the probability that they would be joined by the soldiery, but also the causes of that unpopularity, founded on the general conduct of the governor."
The court came to the following decision:—