Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/60

1 AN INTRODUCTORY influence, lie was not much more successful than Matra — probably owing to the fact that he, too, was in favour of sending out the American loyalists. There can be no doubt, however, that this second appeal had the effect of driving the matter still further into the official mind; so that when another year had been suffered to go by, it was at last resolved that the materials supplied by Matra and Young should be utilised for the purpose of framing a little plan of an essentially different character — one which would exactly meet the political difficulty of the hour, while it carefully excluded the purely enthusiastic idea of found- ing a great colony of the old heroic type. Slow as the progress was and tedious the delay, let it be remembered that, but for the really important person who stood behind the scenes, the negotiations which occupied the interval between August 1783 and August 1786 might have extended over a much longer space of time ; and might peradventure have come to nothing after all. The idea of founding a colony at Botany Bay clearly originated with Banks ; it was proposed by him in 1779 ; from him it passed to others, and was at last formu- lated in set terms for the approval of the Government by men who quoted Banks as the great authority on the subject. Ministers in their turn consulted him with as much confidence as the pro- moters of the scheme had done ; and it was undoubtedly on his strong persuasion that the order was at last given for the equip- ment and despatch of an expedition tQ the shores of New South Wales. Digitized by Google