When they had brought them on shore,
they undressed them, kindled a fire and dried their clothes, gave them
fish to eat and conducted them to Sydney.
The other instance was of a soldier lost in the woods, when he met a party
of natives. He at first knew not whether to flee from them, or to implore
their assistance. Seeing among them one whom he knew, he determined
to communicate his distress to him and to rely on his generosity.
The Indian told him that he had wandered a long way from home, but that
he would conduct him thither, on the single condition of his delivering up
a gun which he held in his hand, promising to carry it for him and to
restore it to him at parting. The soldier felt little inclination
to surrender his arms, by which he would be put entirely in their power.
But seeing no alternative, he at last consented; on which the whole party
laid down their spears and faithfully escorted him to the nearest part
of the settlement, where the gun was given up, and they took their leave
without asking for any remuneration, or even seeming to expect it.
The distressful state of the colony for provisions continued gradually
to augment until the 9th of July, when the Mary Anne transport arrived
from England. This ship had sailed from the Downs so lately as
the 25th of February, having been only four months and twelve days
on her passage. She brought out convicts, by contract, at a specific sum
for each person. But to demonstrate the effect of humanity and justice,
of 144 female convicts embarked on board only three had died, and the rest
were landed in perfect health, all loud in praise of their conductor.
The master's name was Munro; and his ship, after fulfilling her engagement
with government, was bound on the southern fishery. The reader must not
conclude that I sacrifice to dull detail, when he finds such benevolent
conduct minutely narrated. The advocates of humanity are not yet become
too numerous: but those who practise its divine precepts, however humble
and unnoticed be their station, ought not to sink into obscurity,
unrecorded and unpraised, with the vile monsters who deride misery
and fatten on calamity.
July, 1791. If, however, the good people of this ship delighted us
with their benevolence, here gratification ended. I was of a party
who had rowed in a boat six miles out to sea, beyond the harbour's mouth,
to meet them; and what was our disappointment, on getting aboard,
to find that they had not brought a letter (a few official ones
for the governor excepted) to any person in the colony! Nor had they
a single newspaper or magazine in their possession; nor could they
conceive that any person wished to hear news; being as ignorant
of everything which had passed in Europe for the last two years
as ourselves, at the distance of half the circle. "No war - the fleet's
dismantled," was the whole that we could learn. When I asked whether
a new parliament had been called, they stared at me in stupid wonder,
not seeming to comprehend that such a body either suffered renovation
or needed it.
"Have the French settled their government?"
"As to that matter I can't say; I never heard; but, damn them,
they were ready enough to join the Spaniards against us."
"Are Russia and Turkey at peace?"
"That you see does not lie in my way; I have heard talk about it,
but don't remember what passed."
"For heaven's sake, why did you not bring out a bundle of newspapers?
You might have procured a file at any coffee house, which would have
amused you, and instructed us?"
"Why, really, I never thought about the matter until we were off
the Cape of Good Hope, when we spoke a man of war, who asked us
the same question, and then I wished I had."
To have prosecuted inquiry farther would have only served to increase
disappointment and chagrin. We therefore quitted the ship, wondering
and lamenting that so large a portion of plain undisguised honesty
should be so totally unconnected with a common share of intelligence,
and acquaintance with the feelings and habits of other men.
By the governor's letters we learned that a large fleet of transports,
with convicts on board, and His Majesty's ship Gorgon, (Captain Parker)
might soon be expected to arrive. The following intelligence
which they contained, was also made public.
That such convicts as had served their period of transportation,
were not to be compelled to remain in the colony; but that no
temptation should be offered to induce them to quit it, as there
existed but too much reason to believe, that they would return
to former practices; that those who might choose to settle in the
country should have portions of land, subject to stipulated
restrictions, and a portion of provisions assigned to them on
signifying their inclinations; and that it was expected, that
those convicts who might be possessed of means to transport
themselves from the country, would leave it free of all
incumbrances of a public nature.
The rest of the fleet continued to drop in, in this and the two
succeeding months. The state of the convicts whom they brought out,
though infinitely preferable to what the fleet of last year had landed,
was not unexceptionable. Three of the ships had naval agents on board
to control them. Consequently, if complaint had existed there,
it would have been immediately redressed. Exclusive of these, the
'Salamander', (Captain Nichols) who, of 155 men lost only five; and the
'William and Anne' (Captain Buncker) who of 187 men lost only seven,
I find most worthy of honourable mention. In the list of convicts brought out
was Barrington, of famous memory.
