law was obsolete. The
particular object of Eagar was, to suppress the competition in the sale
of tea, which the superior trading connection of Messrs. L. Mestre and
Co. enabled them to offer. The French merchant very fairly pleaded the
attaint of the plaintiff, and Judge Field, in giving judgment, insisted
on the obvious injustice of the suit; that men, whose trading was
permissive--themselves the creatures of indulgence--and who, by
connivance, were allowed to become wealthy and prosperous--should
endeavour to rouse forgotten and restrictive statutes, to put down
useful commerce, and abuse privileges conceded by the clemency of the
court; to force the court to become the instrument of oppression: he
therefore allowed the plea of the merchants to bar the action of the
plaintiff.

All this, on the face of it, was just; but the emancipists saw that it
gave to the judge a discretion which laid them helpless at his mercy:
the same plea might be offered, to cover a fraudulent debtor, or deprive
a large majority of traders of legal protection. Nor was it a competent
answer, that the policy of the colony had been of an opposite
description: to stand on suffrage, was to stand in peril.

Prompted by this feeling, the emancipists formed themselves into
committees at all the settlements, and obtained the countenance of the
Governor to a plan for moving the British legislature, to correct the
anomalies of the law. At a public meeting, Mr. Redfern presiding, the
administration of Governor Macquarie was the subject of their glowing
eulogy. They predicted, that his name would be immortalised by the
gratitude of their descendants, who would remember his policy with
veneration. Against this meeting the judges protested, and professed to
foresee great peril to the dignity of their tribunals, and to the public
safety; but the calm and guarded proceedings of the emancipists avoided
the scandal, and gained their cause some support. The indignation of the
judges was unreasonable: in the administration of justice they had
usually protected the equitable rights of the emancipists; but it was no
reason for astonishment, that a large trading interest felt uneasy in
holding by indulgence privileges of so great importance, and were
anxious to obtain, by a declaratory statute, the remedy of their
grievances. Mr. Eagar was nominated secretary to their body, and
instructed to obtain parliamentary support: in this he was successful.

In the discus