[*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: 'It is my express injunction,
that you always treat the Indian nations with kindness and humanity.
Gratify their wishes, and never, but in a case of the last necessity,
when self-defence requires it, shed human blood.' Are these the sentiments
of a tyrant, of a sanguinary and perfidious man?"
A general thanksgiving to Almighty God, for his Majesty's recovery,
and happy restoration to his family and subjects, was ordered to be offered up
on the following Wednesday, when all public labour was suspended;
and every person in the settlement attended at church, where a sermon,
suited to an occasion, at once so full of gratitude and solemnity,
was preached by the Reverend Richard Johnson, chaplain of the colony.
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