and do away, in as far as the Case will admit, All Retrospect of former bad Conduct. This appears to me to be the greatest inducement that Can be held out towards the Reformation of Manners of the establishment, and I think it is Consistent with the gracious and humane Intentions of His Majesty and His Ministers. Macquarie welcomed the emancipists into society, he appointed them to positions in the public sector, reversing the previous policy towards former convicts. Most likely D’Arcy Wentworth had advocated on their behalf, for Macquarie had assumed he was an emancipist. He listed for Castlereagh the men who gave the most liberal assistance to government and conducted themselves with the greatest propriety, whom he had: admitted to my table,namely Mr D’Arcy Wentworth, principal Surgeon; Mr William Redfern, Assistant Surgeon; Mr Andrew Thompson, an opulent Farmer and Proprietor of Land; and Mr Simeon Lord, an opulent Merchant., On 26 July 1811, Lord Liverpool acknowledged the principles Macquarie had outlined. The Governor resolutely pursued his new Line of Conduct, championing emancipists of good conduct, raising them into key positions of authority and to a new rank in society. His approach startled and dismayed the Exclusives and wealthier free settlers, and met immediate opposition within the barracks, from the officers of the 73rd Regiment, sent to the Colony to replace the discredited Rum Corps. The most vigorous opponents of the Governor’s new inclusiveness were the clergy and judiciary. They worked to frustrate and denigrate his progress, and complained noisily to London. They petitioned Members of Parliament, the Colonial Office and influential spokesmen within their own hierarchies, belaboring them with an increasing stream of grievances and gossip. D’Arcy, working close to Macquarie, became an easy target for much of the venom directed towards the Governor. In London, Opposition support for their campaign spurred the Secretary of State, Earl Bathurst, to propose in April 1817: the appointment of commissioners who shall forthwith proceed to the settlement with full powers to investigate all the complaints which have been made, both with respect to the treatment of convicts, and the general administration of the government. John Thomas Bigge & his Report Nearly two years later, on 19 January 1819, John Thomas Bigge was appointed Commissioner of Inquiry, with a private instruction from Earl Bathurst to end Macquarie’s dream of an inclusive society in the Colony. Bigge did not attack Macquarie directly in