As We Proceeded, The Object Of Our Hopes Soon Appeared:
A large ship,
with English colours flying, working in, between the heads which form
the entrance of the harbour.
The tumultuous state of our minds represented her
in danger; and we were in agony. Soon after, the governor, having ascertained
what she was, left us, and stepped into a fishing boat to return to Sydney.
The weather was wet and tempestuous but the body is delicate only when
the soul is at ease. We pushed through wind and rain, the anxiety of our
sensations every moment redoubling. At last we read the word 'London'
on her stern. "Pull away, my lads! She is from Old England! A few strokes
more, and we shall be aboard! Hurrah for a bellyfull, and news from
our friends!" Such were our exhortations to the boat's crew.
A few minutes completed our wishes, and we found ourselves on board
the 'Lady Juliana' transport, with two hundred and twenty-five of our
countrywomen whom crime or misfortune had condemned to exile. We learned
that they had been almost eleven months on their passage, having left Plymouth,
into which port they had put in July, 1789. We continued to ask a thousand
questions on a breath. Stimulated by curiosity, they inquired in turn;
but the right of being first answered, we thought, lay on our side.
"Letters, letters!" was the cry. They were produced, and torn open
in trembling agitation. News burst upon us like meridian splendor
on a blind man. We were overwhelmed with it: public, private, general,
and particular. Nor was it until some days had elapsed, that we were able
to methodise it, or reduce it into form. We now heard for the first time
of our sovereign's illness, and his happy restoration to health.
The French revolution of 1789, with all the attendant circumstances
of that wonderful and unexpected event, succeeded to amaze us*. Now, too,
the disaster which had befallen the 'Guardian', and the liberal and enlarged plan
on which she had been stored and fitted out by government for our use,
was promulged. It served also, in some measure, to account why we had not
sooner heard from England. For had not the 'Guardian' struck on an island
of ice, she would probably have reached us three months before, and in this
case have prevented the loss of the 'Sirius', although she had sailed
from England three months after the 'Lady Juliana'.
[*These words bring to my mind an anecdote, which, though rather out of place,
I shall offer no apology for introducing. Among other inquiries, we were
anxious to learn whether M. de la Peyrouse, with the two ships under
his command, bound on a voyage of discovery, had arrived in France.
We heard with concern, that no accounts of them had been received,
since they had left Botany Bay, in March, 1788. I remember when they were
at that place, one day conversing with Monsieur de la Peyrouse, about the best
method of treating savage people, "Sir" said he, "I have sometimes been
compelled to commit hostilities upon them, but never without suffering
the most poignant regret; for, independent of my own feelings on the occasion,
his Majesty's (Louis XVI) last words to me, de sa propre bouche, when I took
leave of him at Versailles, were:
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