A royal charter from early in his episcopate portrays him as an ardent defender of the rights of his neglected see.

In the legislative council he was an ardent defender of the religious and civil rights of his co-religionists, and in 1822.

The enthusiastic media coverage the book has received suggests that all but the most ardent defenders of the system are coming round to his way of thinking.

But even its most ardent defenders have to admit that the operation came at a cost.