or even to write. This was mere trickery.

The next morning, January 26th (the anniversary of the founding of the
colony), the officers assembled in the court-room, and as no prisoner was
forthcoming for them to try, they wrote a protest to the governor, in
which they set forth that, having been sworn in to try MacArthur, they
conceived they could not break up the court until he was tried; that the
accused had been arrested and removed from the court; [Sidenote: 1808]
and that, in effect, the sooner the governor appointed a new
Judge-Advocate the better for all parties.

No notice was taken of this letter, but Bligh issued a summons to the
officers to appear before him at Government House to answer for their
conduct, and at the same time he wrote a second letter to Johnston, asking
him to come to town, and got a second reply from that officer, to the
effect that he was still too ill. But he was well enough to continue
plotting against Bligh.

Soon after sending this second letter Johnston rode into town, arriving at
the barracks at five o'clock in the evening. He held a consultation with
his officers, and the upshot of this was that Johnston, as
lieutenant-governor of the colony, demanded the instant release of
MacArthur from gaol. The gaoler complied, and MacArthur went straight to
the barracks, where a requisition to Johnston to place Bligh under arrest
was arranged, at the suggestion of MacArthur, on the ground "that the
present alarming state of the colony, in which every man's property,
liberty, and life are endangered, induces us most earnestly to implore you
instantly to assume the command of the colony. We pledge ourselves at a
moment of less agitation to come forward to support the measure with our
lives and fortunes." This was signed by several of the principal Sydney