re-establish his authority, but the spirit of rebellion had taken hold; he
was compelled to re-embark soon after, but he remained in Tasmanian waters
on board ship until Governor Macquarie arrived from England.

For the English Government, in due course, had heard of the state of
affairs, and woke up to the necessity for strong action. In December,
1809, there arrived in Sydney Harbour a 50-gun frigate and a transport,
bringing Governor Macquarie, with his regiment of Highlanders, the 73rd.
His orders were to restore Bligh for twenty-four hours and send home the
New South Wales Corps, with every officer who had been concerned in the
rebellion under arrest, and the regiment, as we said in a former chapter,
was disbanded; Macquarie was himself then to take over the government.

The absence of Bligh from the colony prevented his restoration being
literally carried out, but Macquarie issued proclamations which served the
purpose, and restored all the officials who had been put out by the
rebels. Macquarie soon made himself popular with the colonists, and the
best proof of his success is the fact that he governed the colony for
twelve years, and his administration, though an important epoch in its
history, cannot be gone into here as he was not a naval man.

Bligh, the last of the naval governors, arrived in England in October, was
made a rear-admiral, and died in 1817. Johnston was tried by court-martial
and cashiered, and returned to the colony, becoming one of its best
settlers and the founder of one of Sydney's most important suburbs.
MacArthur was ordered not to return to the colony for eight years. He
returned in 1817, bringing with him sons as vigorous as himself.
Ultimately he became a member of the Legislative Council, and his services
and those of his descendants will justly be remembered in Australia long
after the petty annoyances to which he was subjected and the improper