daughter, Mrs. Annie Petril, who was in
1852 granted, by the joint Governments of New South Wales and Victoria, a
pension of L200 a year, which she enjoyed until her death in 1892.

CHAPTER X.

BLIGH AND THE MUTINY OF THE "BOUNTY"

Bligh arrived in New South Wales, and relieved King as governor, in
August, 1806. His two years' administration in the colony is noteworthy
for nothing but the remarkable manner of its termination. Just as Sir John
Franklin's name will live as an Arctic explorer and be forgotten as a
Tasmanian governor, so will the name of Bligh in England always recall to
mind the _Bounty_ mutiny and scarcely be remembered in connection with
Australian history.

Any number of books, and a dozen different versions, have been written of
the mutiny. There is Sir John Barrow's _Mutiny of the "Bounty,"_ which,
considering that the author was Secretary to the Admiralty, ought to be,
and is, regarded as an authority; there is Lady Belcher's _Mutineers of
the "Bounty,"_ by far the most interesting, and probably, notwithstanding
a strong anti-Bligh bias, an impartial account of [Sidenote: 1806]
facts. It is no wonder Lady Belcher was no admirer of Bligh. Heywood, the
midshipman who was tried for his life, was her step-father, and she had
very good reason to remember Bligh with no friendly feeling. There are
other books, some of them as dull as they are pious and inaccurate, others
containing no quality of accuracy or piety, and only dull; and there is
Bligh's own narrative of the affair, remarkable for its plain account of
the mutiny and the writer's boat voyage and the absence of a single word
that could throw a shadow of blame upon the memory of Captain Bligh.
Byron's poem of "The Island" is, of course, founded on the _Bounty_
mutiny, but the poet has used his licence to such an extent that the poem,
which, by the way, some of the poet's admirers say is one of his worst,
has no resemblance to the facts. In 1884 Judge McFarland, of the New South
Wales District Court, wrote a book on the mutiny, and this work, for the
reason that it was published in a remote part of the world, is little
known; yet it is probably the best book on the subject. The Judge marshals
his facts with judicial ability, and he sums up in such a manner the
causes leading to the mutiny, that if Bligh were on trial before him we
are afraid the jury would convict that officer without leaving the box.

A critic whose opinion is