AKD THE PUBUC. 363 and Tmimportazit. His lordsliip did not take a very promi- 1789 nent part in politics of any kind ; but so far as the affairs of Hie colony are concerned, He seems to have been curiously indifferent on the subject. No communication was addressed no reply to to Phillip from the Home Office during 1788, because none ^' had been received from him ; but although his despatches, written in May and July, were received and read by Sydney, he did not send a line in reply. If, however, he suffered no anxiety about the fate of the* settlement with which his name has since been so closely identified, there is reason to believe that the publication of Phillip's first despatches in the newspapers of the day gave puMc rise to considerable speculation in the public mind.* The awakened, interest excited by the official documents was sustained by the publication of Captain Tench's little book — the Narra- Tench's tive of the Expedition, — ^which appeared in April, and was so eagerly read that it passed through three editions before the- end of the year. It was widely read on the Continent also, judging from the fact that translations were published in the Dutch, French, and Swedish languages. On the 1st of May appeared the official volume entitled The Voyage- of Grovemor Phillip to Botany Bay, with an account of the PhiiUp's Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island. That also passed quickly through several editions, and was translated into French and German soon after it& appearance in London. The impression made upon the reading public by these publications was undoubtedly wide and deep, notwithstanding the tendency in many quarters to sneer at the colony on account of the settlers selected
- ' The Annual Register for 1789 did not give much prominence to the
news. In its chronicle of events (p. 256), it announced under the headings— '^Account of the New Settlement at Botany Bay/* that *'an authentic account has been received that his Majesty's ships the Sirius and Supply, under the command of Commodore PhillipB, with the transports under their convoy, having the convicts on board for Botany Bay, have made good their passage." Then followed a short account of the principal events mentioned m the despatches. Equal importance seems to nave been attached by the editor to another " authentic account " which immediately follows the news from Botany Bay— containing a description of *' the much talked-of fight between Perrins, of Birmingham, and Johnson, of London**' Digitized by Google
