twelve days of her arrival the Britannia went whaling, and
in fifteen days returned to Sydney with oil. Other vessels
followed her example.
Thus, under the ministry of Pitt, and the guidance of the first Governor of the colony, was the foundation laid for the fortunes of the English in the Great South Land. The seed was sown in dishonour in one sense, but the plant has grown to honour. Crime was not confined to the convicts sent to New South Wales. The contaminating source was, after all, in the mother country; and if the finger of scorn be not raised except by those who are pure, it never can be raised at all. Phillip, the right hand, selected for the work as Wolfe had been selected to wrest Canada from the French, returned to England and received a pension "in consideration of his meritorious services." His name will vainly be sought in many biographies published in England; but must ever live in Australia, as that of an upright English sailor, born to govern: gentle and yet just, cautious and yet decided; shrinking from no responsibility in the hour of need, and spending himself cheerfully in the service of his country. By cessation of toil, or change of air, his life seems to have been prolonged, but he was ever weak.[1] He lived until 1814, dying then in his 77th year.
At Phillip's departure (Dec. 1792) the government devolved upon Major Francis Grose, commandant of the New South Wales Corps, who had arrived in the beginning of 1792, bearing a commission as Lt.-Governor. The latter appointment being incidental to the former, it is not surprising that the peculiar qualities which fit a man for the office of Governor were wanting in Grose.[2]
On the 11th Dec. 1792, Phillip had sailed in the ship Atlantic, and the following month Grose found that he
- ↑ In Sept. 1808, his old friend King, ill himself, visited Phillip at Bath, and wrote to his son:—"I found Admiral Phillip much better than I could possibly expect from the reports I had heard, although he is quite a cripple, having lost the entire use of his right side; but his intellects are very good, and his spirits are what they always were." King himself died a few days after writing this about his old comrade and patron.
- ↑ In answer to a complaint made by Grose in Oct. 1792 that the rations issued to his corps were "reduced and unwholesome," Phillip wrote:—"I cannot acquiesce with you" in thinking the ration unwholesome. "I see it every day at my own table."
