History of Australia of the Corps soon became involved in the corrupt and lucrative rum trade in the colony. In the Rum Rebellion of 1808, the Corps, working closely with the newly established wool trader John Macarthur, staged the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history, deposing Governor William Bligh and instigating a brief period of military rule in the colony prior to the arrival from Britain of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810. Macquarie served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social and economic development of New
The History of the Rebellion so defaced that it is already within little more than fifty years since the murder committed on that pious prince by some men made a mystery to judge on whose side was the right and on which the Rebellion is to be charged. The second volume was published during the Tory push for the Occasional Conformity Bill that sought to strengthen the Anglican hold on power by depriving Dissenters of all offices. Hyde in his preface warned Queen Anne that the "Monarchy of England is not now capable of being supported but upon the principles of the Church of England".