In vain did Mr. Marsden appeal to the governor; even he was afraid to breast the torrent, which for a time bore all before it. "He found no reason to interfere with the colonial law." Mr. Marsden prayed him at least to bring the matter before a full bench of magistrates, in whose hands he would leave his character; this, too, the governor declined, whereupon as a last step, he laid the affair before the supreme court for its decision; prosecuting the magistrates, and obtaining a verdict for the amount of the fine so unjustly levied. They now affected to triumph in the small amount of the damages in which they were cast, "wishing," he says, "to make the world believe that the injury I had sustained was proportionally small." And thus even his forbearance and his Christian spirit in rendering good for evil, were turned against him; for he had instructed his solicitor expressly, not to insert in the indictment the count or charge of malice, but merely to sue for the recovery of the amount of the fine. He states the case thus in simple and forcible language. "I may here observe, the only error it appears I committed originally was in not prosecuting the magistrates for vindictive damages before the supreme court. Had I alleged malice, I must have obtained a verdict accordingly; but I sought for no vindictive damages; I sought redress no further than to set my character right with the public. To have done more than this would not have become me, according to my judgment, as a minister of the gospel, and I instructed my solicitor, Mr. Norton, merely to sue for the amount of the award which had been levied on my property by warrant and distress of sale. The court gave me the amount I prosecuted for, with costs of suit, and with this I was perfectly satisfied."
For two whole years this miserable affair lingered on. The unfortunate man Ring at length gave way to despondency, made his escape from the colony, and found his way to New Zealand, but was never heard of more. Mr. Marsden was much concerned for Ring's misfortunes, and deplored his rashness in making his escape when all his sufferings were unmerited. "I knew," he says, "if he should return to England and be apprehended as a returned felon, his life would be forfeited." Such even to a recent period was the severity of our penal code, an escaped felon was consigned to the gallows. With a view of preventing this additional calamity, he wrote to the Right Honourable Mr. Robert Peel, his Majesty's secretary of state for the home department, under date of July 1824; and having stated the case, he says: "I feel exceedingly for Ring; should he return to England and fall a sacrifice to the law, I should never forgive myself unless I used every means in my power to save him. The above statement of facts might have some influence with the executive in saving his life, if the circumstances of the case could reach the throne of mercy." The contents of this letter were transmitted by Mr. Peel to Lord Bathurst the colonial secretary, and his lordship ordered the governor of New South Wales to establish a formal inquiry into the case. A court was accordingly summoned at Sydney, consisting of the governor assisted by two assessors, the chief justice and the newly-appointed archdeacon Scott, before which Mr. Marsden was cited to appear. He did so, the whole affair was investigated, and the result was, as the reader will have anticipated, not only Mr. Marsden's entire acquittal of the charges which wantonness and malice had preferred, but the establishment of his reputation as a man of high courage and pure integrity, and a Christian minister of spotless character.