This memorable day, made now more memorable, makes twenty years since some of us landed with your Honour on these distant shores.* Your conduct has been uniformly manly and humane, and we exult in having an opportunity of expressing our sentiments, and of confirming their sincerity by readily and cheerfully putting ourselves under your protection. 1808 8 March. address. As we have already signed a general address† of thanks for your A previous manly and spirited conduct, we hope you will not consider this an intrusive repetition; the former was the result of a moment, and not so fully expressive of our sentiments as our gratitude would suggest. This, sir, is a confirmation and the result of deliberate and mature consid'on approving the former, and with confidence in your Honour's impartial administ'n of justice, and that none will in future be deprived of their liberty or property, but by a due course of law. We have the satisfaction to affirm that our sentiments herein are the sentiments of the free inhabitants in general, and that we do not exult in the depression of our enemies, but in having escaped their evil machinations, which would have tended inuch to hinder the prosperity and improvement of the colony. We now rest assured we shall see industry and morality encouraged, vice punished with firmness, though not with rigour, and the colony long continue a free, flourishing, loyal, and happy people. [Signed by about 210 officials and inhabitants.] GENERAL Statement of the inhabitants of His Majesty's Settlement 12 March. at Port Dalrymple, Van Diemen's Land, this 12th March, 1808. Civil Establishment.-1 Lieut.-Governor, 1 surgeon, 1 assistant surgeon, Population 1 deputy commissary, 1 deputy surveyor, 2 superintendents, 2 storekeepers, of Port Dalrymple. 2 women, 3 children above 2 years; total civil establishment vict'd, 14. Military Establishment.-1 lieutenant, 2 ensigns, 4 serjeants, 2 corporals, 2 drummers, 51 rank and file, 12 wives of military, &c., 3 children of 10 Settlers and Free People.-3 men, 12 women; total number victualled, 15. Prisoners.-103 men, 5 women, 1 child about 10 years, 2 children above 2 years, 4 children under 2 years; total number victualled, 115. Total number of persons victualled-178 men, 36 women and children above 10 years, 15 children at 4, 13 children at ; total number of full rations, 213. Total number of souls in the settlement, 242. Sir, PRINCIPAL SURGEON JAMISON TO MAJOR JOHNSTON. Sydney, 12th March, 1808. defence. Although I derived much satisfaction from the letter of the Jamison in 12th February, which you directed your secretary to write me, I deem it further necessary, in order to justify my character (so dear * Johnston arrived with Phillip as a Lieutenant of Marines. See the addresses of 27th January, 1808, ante, p. 454, and 30th January, ante, p. 458. 1808 to me) to Government, to use all the means in my power to accom12 March. plish that purpose, on which account I beg leave to trespass once more upon you. Bligh's charges. I have, sir, too high an opinion of the honor and probity of His Majesty's Ministers to fancy for a moment they would be influenced to do or believe anything injurious to the reputation of an officer without first affording him the opportunity of replying. Still, sir, a representation conveyed to them, in a public letter from the Governor of a colony, of so strong and serious a nature as that made by Governor Bligh against me, I confess myself a little alarmed lest it should impress His Majesty's Ministers' minds with Secretary of distrust as to my honor and allegiance. No doubt they do not suspect the validity of the representation, as they are not in the habit of receiving false and malicious insinuations from Governors against any of His Majesty's servants. Effect on State. Bligh withholds trial. Jamison asks for Had I been guilty of the crimes imputed to me, why did not the Governor bring me to trial? This he knew would not answer his purpose, as, before men of honor, the innocent have nothing to fear; but my accuser chose to pursue a method more secret, from which it was impossible for me to fend, because I was ignorant of any accusation. I trust his insidious attack, intended to ruin my reputation, will fall on his own guilty shoulders. I have now, sir, to request you will be so good to transmit this papers to be letter to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies sent Home. with the enclosed correspondence* which I have had the honor of holding with you on the present subject. That, I hope, and such other testimony as I shall apply for in England from the gentlemen I have had the honor of serving under in this colony (from the time the colony was first settled), will, I trust, exonerate me from the vile charges I am so unjustly accused of. At the same time, I trust His Majesty will be graciously pleased to afford me the means of obtaining that justice which His Majesty is at all times so ready to grant to officers embarked in the service of the Crown. I have, &c., THOS. JAMISON, Paterson on the arrest of Bligh. Sir, Principal Surgeon. LIEUTENANT COLONEL PATERSON TO MAJOR JOHNSTON. Port Dalrymple, Van Dieman's Land, 12th March, 1808. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 2nd ulto.,† acquainting me with the change you state you have conceived it necessary to make in the government at Port Jackson. Removed from the possibility of being able to offer an opinion, or judge of the momentous events you relate, I can only express * See Jamison's letters, ante, pp. 516 and 520, and Bayly's, ante, p. 518. + Not available. my hope that the steps you have subsequently taken, and are now pursuing, may prove for the benefit of His Majesty's service; and I have only to add that, however I would wish to avoid the necessity such unforeseen causes peremptorily impose, there remains to me no conduct to pursue but the one I have explained to His Majesty's Minister, in my dispatch to him of this date, it is my intention to adopt, for my perseverance in which I consider my future character, and the enjoyment of His Majesty's countenance, at stake. 1808 2 March. asks for a I therefore have to beg you will, as immediately as possible, cause Paterson to be despatched to me a vessel of sufficient capacity to convey conveyance myself and family to the headquarters of the regiment I have the to Sydney, honor to command in New South Wales, and of the government of these His Majesty's territories, which I should particularly wish to be His Majesty's ship the Porpoise; but, if circumstances absolutely prevent her coming, I would wish to have chartered any vessel adapted that may be or should arrive in the harbour, for the payment of which I will draw bills on the Treasury. provisions By the opportunity of the vessel you may send for the purpose and for more I point out, such supplies as are immediately wanted for the use and men. of this settlement can be conveyed, which I would recommend you to give directions should be the case, more particularly clothing, about three months dry provisions for 250 rations, an augmentation to the detachment, and a small addition to the number of prisoners. I mention these, as another means may not present itself before the expiration of the winter. I have enclosed a letter to Captain Symons, should you judge such necessary to send him. I think it necessary to further state that I do not at present purpose making any particular change in the arrangement you have formed at Sydney until I may hear from His Majesty's Ministers. I am, &c., W. PATERSON. mander-in P.S.-I have omitted to state that I have acquainted the Duke The Comof York of my intentions, enclosing His Royal Highness a copy Chief of my dispatch to yourself and to the Minister. informed. be sent at once. I have further omitted to state that, although from the experi- A vessel to ence I have myself hitherto had of your public conduct, I have not any reason to suppose you will neglect to fulfil my requisition of immediately despatching a vessel; yet, as I conceive I shall be unable to justify myself to the Crown if I neglect to provide against all possibilities of a prevention of my taking the command at Sydney, I have directed my agent at Port Jackson, in the event of your not forwarding me a conveyance within one month from your receipt of my present dispatch, to take up, at the expence of the Crown, any vessel he can procure; and should no arrival capable of transporting me hence take place in three months from this 1808 date, I shall, concluding I am not to expect one from Port Jackson, 12 March. despatch an officer to the settlement at the Derwent, to charter round the first ship, in the name of His Majesty, that may come lose no time. in.—W.P. Paterson will Paterson informs Castlereagh of Bligh's arrest. He decides to proceed to Sydney. Awaiting a suitable conveyance. Rapid progress of Port My Lord, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PATERSON TO VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH. Port Dalrymple, Van Dieman's Land, 12th March, 1808. I have the honor to inform your Lordship of having received a despatch, dated the 2nd ulto.,* from Major Johnston, the officer I left at Sydney in the charge of the regiment I have the honor to command in New South Wales, when directed by the late Governor King to proceed to form this settlement, stating to me that he has judged it necessary to put His Excellency Governor Bligh under arrest, to annul the power His Majesty has vested in him, to make an entire change in the Government of the territory, and to himself assume the command. Distant as I am from the scene of the events that have taken place, and unacquainted with their immediate causes, I cannot venture to offer an opinion on their serious nature. I feel, however, that great and imperious duties immediately devolve on me, and that I shall not be justified to His Majesty, or discharge the duty I owe him, unless, from the calls and prerogative of my superior civil and military rank, I instantly repair to Port Jackson, however arduous and critical the task before me must be of taking the command under the particular circumstances that have occasioned it; but I am sensible how much [I] should expose my conduct to reprehension, of the injury I should do the service in general, and of the impropriety I should commit of quietly remaining here, in the direction of only a single company of the regiment 1 command, and of absolutely only 100 prisoners, while the whole of His Majesty's important territories in this part of the world, in a moment of the utmost consequence to their future welfare, are in the charge of a junior officer. I have, therefore, the honor to inform your Lordship that I should have returned to headquarters by the vessel that has brought me the intelligence, but that her size, being only a small oiling sloop, prevents it. I have, however, forwarded by her the enclosed letter to Major Johnston, which I doubt not but he would pay immediate attention to, and I shall on my arrival directly acquaint your Lordship, for the information of His Majesty, of the same. I have further to acquaint your Lordship that, as far as the means afforded me have enabled, this settlement is successfully Dalrymple. established; that its stock, of which I enclose a return (with a statement of the inhabitants), † thrive in the most rapid manner; This letter is not available. The statement of inhabitants will be found on p. 535, ante, but the return of stock is not available. 1808 and that the produce of the harvest this season offers the greatest encouragement to the cultivators. I shall, therefore, leave it in 12 March. the hands of a trusty officer, so arranged that the objects of His Majesty's Government in forming it can be realized when I receive any further instructions. I have every reason to hope and to be assured that His Majesty WM. PATERSON, L.-C., Sir, MAJOR JOHNSTON TO LIEUTENANT SYMONS.† Headquarters, Sydney, 16th March, 1808. 16 March. Home in the The disappointments I have experienced in my endeavours Proposal to to procure a passage to England with suitable accommodations for send Bligh the late Governor and his family, have left me no alternative but Porpoise. that of requesting you will be pleased to inform me whether the rules and regulations of the naval service will admit of your receiving him on board His Majesty's ship Porpoise, for the purpose of conveying him to England in arrest; and if you should be of opinion that you can receive him on board, I shall be thankful if you will have the goodness to acquaint me what accommodations can be spared. I am, &c., Sir, GEORGE JOHNSTON. LIEUTENANT SYMONS TO MAJOR JOHNSTON. His Majesty's Ship Porpoise, Sydney Cove, 16th March, 1808. will receive In answer to your letter of this day's date, I have to inform Symons you that when Capt' Bligh comes on board His Majesty's ship him as first Porpoise I must consider him as first captain, and am ready to captain. receive him when you may think proper. I further beg leave to inform you that half the Commander's accommodation belong to him. J. SYMONS. I have, &c., GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL ORDER. 16th March, 1808. from H.M. PERSONS wanting to obtain supplies from His Majesty's stores on Private their private account are to apply to the Lieu't-Governor on Mon- supplies days before ten o'clock in the morning. Any applications made stores. at any other times will not be attended to. *The signature and titles, but not the body of the letter, are in Paterson's handwriting. It is noteworthy that while Johnston communicated with Bligh only through his secretary, yet many of his letters to subordinate officers were under his own hand. |