Should any person neglect this necessary regulation, and any property be destroyed thereby, they will, on conviction, be obliged to make good all losses sustained by such neglect. No persons whatever are to smoke pipes or light fires near any wheat stacks, public or private. GOVERNOR BLIGH TO THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM WINDHAM. Sir, [Extracts]. Government House, Sydney, New South Wales, 5th November, 1806. 1806 2 Nov. 5 Nov. districts. By ships which sailed on the 26th August and 7th Septem- Bligh visitber,* I had the honor to inform you of my arrival and taking the ing country command of this colony. Since that time I have been arduously employed in visiting the different parts of it, and endeavouring to possess myself of a general knowledge both of its state and the immediate things to be done for its advantage, concerning which my constant attention for some time longer will be required to mature the plans which may be adopted. The distresses occasioned by the inundation of the Hawkesbury Results of River has required great attention to relieve the wants of the flood. unfortunate settlers in that part of the country, and the losses they sustained powerfully effecting the other parts of the colony, very extensive aid in provisions has been necessary to be given the poor generally. In the midst of those difficulties, great exertions have been Scarcity of necessary to the preservation of the ensuing harvest of wheat and grain. barley, and planting maize corn to secure seed, for which I have adopted every means, and have every hope that we shall do well, although the ensuing crops will not be very abundant; but here I must express my confidence that the calamity will make the grower of corn more cautious, and set a juster value on the produce of his land. The harvest will soon begin. Some barley will be cut in the Potatoes. course of a week if the weather turns fine, but at present it is unseasonable. The gardens are now giving supplies of potatoes, and, as I demanded personally the exertions of every one to this culture, I have the satisfaction to know we have so succeeded that in the course of a month I shall be able to reduce our expences of victualling from the public stores, and the settlers in general convinced they must depend more on themselves than they have done hitherto. Government Farm, at Castle Hill, has at present one hundred Government and fifty acres of wheat; but it has been so much worn out the * See Bligh's letter to Windham of 26th August, ante, p. 175. farm at Castle Hill. 1806 5 Nov. Buildings in want of repair. Morals of the inhabitants. The old and infirm. Governor 8 Nov. Delay in sailing. returns will be but small. In maize we shall be productive, and particularly in the latter crops, the worm having done some injury in the beginning of the season. When the wheat comes in, we shall be prepared to receive it securely, to which end such artificers as we have here have been employed repairing the granaries and finishing a new wind-mill. The public stores and Government houses require great repairs, and building the church here, and what will be required at Parramatta, will considerably add to the expences of the first year or two of my government; nevertheless, the aggregate will, I trust, be found moderate. In the customs and manners of the people here a great deal is to be corrected.* The settlers in general, and particularly those from prisoners, are not honest, have no prudence, and little industry, besides being burthened with debts. Great chicanery is used in all their dealings, and much litigation. All this will require a vast deal of attention on my part to remove, to which end the rising generation shall be watched over and educated, while the pernicious customs of the place shall be checked by every means in my power. To the general expences which the colony bears will be observed as soon as I can have time to ascertain them the very great proportion of old and infirm persons who do no work for Government ; and I take the liberty to make this observation on account of the selections of prisoners which appear to have been sent out from England. Governor King, who has suffered much ill-health and has but little intermission from the gout, expects to sail the latter end of this month, by whom I shall have the honor of again writing to you. This conveyance will take the Gazettes from the 31st August last to the 2nd instant; the others of prior date were sent with my former despatches. I have, &c., W'M BLIGH. EX-GOVERNOR KING TO SECRETARY MARSDEN. (King Papers.) Sir, 8th November, 1806. As settling the Colonial accounts and arranging many public objects to facilitate my successor's gaining a competent knowledge of the trust he has undertaken, and the necessity of waiting until some supplies of bread can be got from the commencing harvest, I shall not be able to leave this place before the latter end of the month. See Marsden to Cooke, 21st November, 1807, post, p. 380. 1806 8 Nov. Lieutenant Houstoun, who has acted by my orders as second commander of the Buffalo since Captain Kent was lent to the Investigator, has been very active in the command of the ship on the different voyages she has gone to Norfolk Island and the new Houston. settlements, and is a very sober and assiduous good officer. Lieutenant Mr. John Oxley has acted as lieutenant of the Buffalo since John Oxley. March, 1805, on Lieut. B. Kent being lent to the Investigator. He is a very active, sober, and attentive young man. As no opportunity offered of his passing his examination for a lieutenant until the arrival of Capt. Bligh, I have requested that officer to give Mr. Oxley another acting order after the date of his passing. Kent. Mr. William Kent* also passed at the same time, and he has William acted as a lieutenant of the Buffalo by my order since August, 1805, on Acting-Lieutenant Robbins being lent to go to Val- Charles paraiso, as stated in a former letter. That officer not being * The reader is liable to confuse the various members of the Kent family who served in these waters. Captain William Kent, commander of H.M.S. Buffalo, mentioned in the above letter as lent to the Investigator, was a nephew of Governor Hunter (his father had married Hunter's eldest sister). His services in the Navy were as follows: 27th October, 1781, appointed lieutenant; 15th February, 1795, sailed in command of Supply for New South Wales, in company with his uncle, Captain Hunter, in the Reliance; 1795 to 1800 engaged in Colonial service in New South Wales and dependencies; 1800 to 1802, voyage to England and back in the Buffalo; October, 1802, appointed commander; April, 1803, sent to Calcutta and the East Indies for cattle, discovering on his way (19th May, 1803) the harbour of Port St. Vincent, New Caledonia; 1805, sent Home in charge of the Investigator; 22nd January, 1806, advanced to post rank; November, 1808, appointed to the Agincourt, and from her moved to the Union, of 98 guns, in command of which he died off Toulon, 29th August 1812. It was William Kent who, in conjunction with Lieutenant Waterhouse, brought the first Spanish sheep to this country. Lieutenant Bartholomew Kent, also mentioned as lent to the Investigator, was the eldest son of Captain William Kent's brother--John Kent, steward of the Royal Naval Hospital, at Plymouth. His services were as follows: He commenced his naval career at the age of thirteen, serving on various vessels in the Channel Fleet, until 1801, when he joined his uncle, Captain William Kent, as lieutenant on H.M.S. Buffalo; 1802-1805, on service in the Buffalo at New South Wales; June, 1805, appointed first lieutenant of the Investigator, then returning in charge of his uncle, Captain William Kent, to England; January, 1806, appointed lieutenant on the Thames, frigate, in active service at the blockade of Boulogne; March, 1807, first lieutenant of the Hussar, and present at the bombardment of Copenhagen. His subsequent service was mostly in American and Indian waters. In October, 1815, the troopship Weser, of which he was commander, was paid off, and we do not find any record of further active service. In 1823 he married his cousin, Penelope Percival, only surviving child of his uncle, Commander Henry Kent. In the Sydney Gazette, of 10th March, 1805, a detailed account of the death of a Lieutenant B. Kemp, in an action off the French coast, appears. The chronicler, mislead by the identity of name, concluded that it was the same officer who had served on the Buffalo, and dilated at length upon his virtues and heroism. Kent had the singular experience of reading his own obituary notice. The officer who was killed was his cousin, first lieutenant of the Goliath. William George Carlile Kent, referred to in the above letter as Mr. William Kent, was a younger brother of Bartholomew Kent, and therefore a nephew of Captain William Kent. His services were as follows: 1798 to January, 1802, midshipman on various vessels, mostly in the Mediterranean and Channel fleets; January, 1802, joined the Buffalo, commanded by his uncle, and sailed for New South Wales; August, 1805, appointed by King acting-lieutenant (commission not signed by Admiralty until 17th May, 1809); January, 1807, appointed by Bligh acting first lieutenant of the Porpoise, and later, commander of the Lady Nelson; in 1808, when commander of the Porpoise, he was placed under arrest by Bligh, in connection with the deposition of the latter; January, 1811, tried by Court-Martial and honorably acquitted on all Bligh's charges (see Marshall's Naval Biography, vol. iv, part 1, p. 162); 1812 to 1814, acted on various services as lieutenant and commander. An accident, by which his eye-sight was permanently injured, occurred to him when commander of Sparrowhawk, 15th June, 1814, and terminated his active services-so far at least as existing records disclose. An erroneous impression exists in some quarters that Kent-street in Sydney was named after the family; it was named in honor of the Duke of Kent. Robbins was never afterwards heard of. His fate resembles that of the unfortunate Bass. It is conjectured that he was either massacred by savages, imprisoned by the Spaniards, or that the vessel foundered in mid-ocean. Robbins. 1806 8 Nov. James returned, it is my intention to keep him open in the books until the probability of his joining the Buffalo in those seas is over, when I shall give Mr. Kent another acting order consequent on his passing his accounts as lieutenant of the Buffalo. Mr. James Symons having served as acting-lieutenant of the Lady Nelson, and having conducted himself in the command of that vessel much to my satisfaction, on his passing his examination I have requested Captain Bligh to give him an acting order. 14 Nov. Assistant- Introduced vaccination into colony. History of Savage's movements. A volunteer. Sir, PHILIP GIDLEY KING. DR. JENNER TO THE RIGHT HON. W. WINDHAM. Cheltenham, 14th November, 1806. I trust that you will pardon the great liberty I take in thus addressing you. The gentleman who will present this letter to you is Mr. Savage, who has served his country in the capacity of surgeon both in the Army and Navy; but being now without an appointment, I beg leave to solicit for him the post of surgeon to any regiment in which there may be at present a vacancy; it would of course be more agreeable if that regiment were not going to the West. Indies. My presuming to ask this favor of you, sir, arises from motives of gratitude towards Mr. Savage, for his zeal in introducing and establishing vaccine inoculation in some of the British settlements abroad, particularly in New South Wales. His name has often been mentioned with great respect in my correspondence with the medical gentlemen in India, and equally so among my friends at Home. Should these considerations obtain for him your sanction, I shall deem myself particularly fortunate in having made this application; and have the honor to subscribe myself with great deference, sir, EDWARD JENNER. [Enclosure.] THE MEMORIAL OF MR. JOHN SAVAGE, ASSISTANT-SURGEON TO That on the 8th of August following he embarked for that colony, where he arrived on the 11th of March, 1803. That he performed the duties of his profession from the date of his arrival until the 18th June, 1805, during the greater part of which time he had charge of the hospital and district of Parramatta. That he commanded the Loyal Volunteer Association of that district by commission of the Governor. That he was in the Commission of the Peace and performed the duties attached thereto-duties attended with much fatigue, and the expense of keeping a horse. That he was a member of the Civil Court. That he introduced the cow-pock into the colony. 1806 14 Nov. A J.P. That he inoculated and furnished matter for the inoculation of Vaccination. nearly one thousand children. That in consequence of his succeeding in the introduction of the cow-pock, and the failure of the acting Principal Surgeon and others to introduce it, they became his inveterate enemies, and at length succeeded in materially injuring his circumstances. That in June, 1805, he was brought to trial by a General Court- Charged Martial at the instance of Mr. Thomas Jamison, acting Principal of duty. with neglect Surgeon, upon a groundless charge of neglect of duty in not attending a case of midwifery.* That midwifery was no part of his duty. That had it been so, he did not neglect it, as appears by the proceedings of his trial. That the Governor could not carry the sentence passed upon Suspended. him into execution. He was therefore suspended from all public duties until His Majesty's pleasure should be received thereon. That His Majesty's decision could not be expected to arrive in that colony for two years. That not being a man of independent fortune, he judged it improper to remain in a state of idleness and uncertainty for so long a period, and in so remote a part of the world. That he solicited and obtained leave of absence to proceed to Returns to England in order to acquire the earliest information respecting England, His Majesty's decision. That he came to England charged with dispatches for Government. That His Majesty disapproved of the sentence (which was that Restored he should be cashiered) and restored him to all the functions of his commission. That he obtained a copy of the proceedings of his trial from the Judge-Advocate General's Office, upon the face of which perjury is manifest, and in which there is no evidence whatever upon which to have convicted him-on the contrary, such only as ought to have acquitted him most honourably. to his situation. That during his passage of seven months to the colony, and Half-pay from the date of his suspension, he has been allowed only half-pay only on by the Colonial Agent. exer voyage. That he was absent from England nearly four years; that he Absent four resided two years and a half in New South Wales; that his years. tions for the good of His Majesty's service and the general benefit of the colony were unremitting; and that his conduct was such as to give entire satisfaction to the Governor and every person of respectability in the settlement. * See Surgeon Jamison's report of the case, vol. v, p. 667. |