Confident in the future, he "did not doubt (July 1788) that the country would prove the most valuable acquisition Great Britain ever made; at the same time no country offers less assistance than this does, nor do I think any country could be more disadvantageously placed with respect to support from the mother country on which for a few years we must entirely depend." Fifty farmers would do more in one year than a thousand convicts in producing food.
The free settlers for whom Phillip had sighed did not arrive during his term of office, but as they were sent out in response to his entreaties, their landing may properly be mentioned in the record of his services.
On the 15th Jan. 1793 a ship was sighted, and at night "a large fire for the information of the stranger was lighted at the South Head." She was the Bellona, with stores and provisions, a few female convicts, and five free settlers with their families. It does not seem that general information had induced them to immigrate, for four of the new settlers had, in the Sirius and Lady Juliana, visited Sydney before. On this occasion the English Government paid their passage-money, gave them implements, guaranteed to them two years' provisions, and assigned to them convict labour free of expense, with one year's clothing and two years' rations for each convict so assigned.
Man is gregarious, even when pecuniary profit might prompt him to separate from crowds, and the new settlers[1] clung to the neighbourhood of Sydney and Parramatta instead of selecting their farms at the Hawkesbury. They called their selection "Liberty Plains," only one convict
- ↑ The Bellona settlers are in situations of their own choosing."—Despatch from Grose. Cf. supra, p. 43 and n.
ment lasted until 1854, when exigencies of war caused the creation of a separate War Department, and the Colonial Department had also its Principal Secretary of State. Phillip's correspondent (until 5th June 1789) was Lord Sydney, who was succeeded by Mr. Grenville, who gave way to Mr. Dundas in 1792. The Duke of Portland held the seals for a short time (1794), but in 1795 Mr. Dundas (strongly entreated) resumed them as Secretary for the Colonies and War. He was succeeded in 1801 by Lord Hobart. In 1804 Lord Camden, in 1805 Lord Castlereagh, in 1806 Mr. Windham, in 1807 Lord Castlereagh, in 1809 the Earl of Liverpool, successively held the office. In 1812 Earl Bathurst accepted it, and held it until 1827, when he was succeeded by Lord Goderich.
