Extremely rare: the ephemeral record — prepared on the instructions of Bligh himself — of the verdict and sentence of the court martial of George Johnston for deposing Bligh as Governor of New South Wales.

Extremely rare: the ephemeral record — prepared on the instructions of Bligh himself — of the verdict and sentence of the court martial of George Johnston for deposing Bligh as Governor of New South Wales.

This printed document was "privately printed and distributed in a few copies by Captain William Bligh" (Ferguson): he had been vexed and alarmed by reports in the newspapers that although the Duke of York had accepted the guilty verdict of the court, he had added words to the effect that Johnston's conduct had been mitigated by Bligh's oppressive conduct. As a result, Bligh not only rushed to reassure some of his friends that no such criticism existed but personally distributed this printed announcement among his friends and supporters. It is known to be of surpassing rarity and is now considered a highlight of any Bligh collection. Over the last forty years Hordern House have handled only this example and have seen it move through two other private collections before joining the original Warrant in the Whitmont collection (item 22 in our Catalogue II of the Whitmont collection: search 5001023 at hordern.com).

"Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston is Guilty of the Act of Mutiny as described in the Charge, and [we] do therefore sentence him to be Cashiered." This sheet is one of the rarest and most significant of all pieces associated with William Bligh. In modern times the Davidson copy has been sold, but Ferguson was initially unaware of this broadside; several years into publication of his Bibliography he was able to record the then unique Mackaness copy at the end of his fourth volume — and that copy is still the only one recorded in the 1986 Ferguson Addenda (it was sold in 1968 from the second Mackaness catalogue for A$1250, three times the price of Bligh's Voyage in the same catalogue). Copies remain very rare indeed, although it is now recorded in the catalogues of the SLNSW, NLA, and the Sutro Library (California).

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Bligh had been appointed Governor of New South Wales specifically to resolve the long-standing British dissatisfaction with the administration of New South Wales. Indeed, from the moment he took office at the end of 1806, Bligh set about breaking the political and monopolistic stranglehold of the corrupt Rum Corps officers. His main opponent was the discordant and corrupt ex-soldier, John Macarthur.

When Macarthur was charged with a breach of Port Regulations in January 1808, he deliberately raised the stakes and had six of his Rum Corps cronies, sitting illegally as a court, grant him bail. When Bligh refused to recognise this improperly constituted 'court', the weak and vacillating commander of the New South Wales Corps, George Johnston, was persuaded to arrest Bligh and take command of the settlement to avoid the "insurrection and massacre" that Macarthur claimed were imminent if the disaffected populace – in other words, Macarthur and friends – should rise against Bligh's "tyranny". For a full year Bligh remained in the colony, powerless until the new governor, Lachlan Macquarie, arrived to reinstate and relieve him. When finally the leaders of this extraordinary coup were brought to trial only Johnston was court-martialled while the other rebels escaped criminal proceedings on a legal technicality.