on hearing that the danger of mutiny was not so great as Mr.
Dudman had represented, sent word to Dr. Tytler he might
walk the decks as usual ; but was thereafter" to hold no
conversation with the officers of the ship.”

Now, for our part, we do not see how Captain Dillon could
have acted with more mildness. We heard Chief Justice
Forbes say the other day, that if a commander really thought,
and had fair occasion to think, a mutiny was on foot, he had
a right to inflict punishment on his crew. Of course, we
should imagine, arrest is the proper punishment of an officer,
who gives like “ fair occasion"' to a sane commander to be.
lieve he, the mutineer, wishes to oust him of his command
frɔm malicious or other sinister motives, by pretending that
be is a lunatic! Let every man put himself into Captain
Dillon's situation, and say how he would like to be divested
of the command, and treated as a madman on board his
own ship, merely because he had been angry; and when
subsequent events proved he was just as, and perhaps in fact
more sane, than his accuser.

Yet for this arrest was Captain Dillon immured in the common gaol of Hobart Town, where convicts are confined, and made to pay £50; the law-suit costing him altogether (as must have been known to the judge in some measure), the enormous sum of £500! A sum which in itself was a most grievous punishment for Captain Dillon's offence (supposing him to have committed one). But we trust those who appointed Captain Dillon to the command, will not allow him to lose this sum.

Colonel Arther did not allow Captain Dillon to remain in goal more than eight days; which act would have been well substituted, by his

granting him a remission altogether of the imprisonment'; however delicate he might have felt towards the judge in the affair.

On the whole, we shall learn no more to feel surprised at the decisions of the Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land ; so long at least as Judge Pedder presides there, and Colonel · Arther continues Lieutenant-governor.

The base, servile, licensed press of Van Diemen's Land, we see, is now exerting its chained tongue and puny voice, to villify Captain Dillon, and east a slur on his late delightful discovery. But the records of Paris, and of the arsenals of France, will soon put to silence the barkings of a degenerate enslaved press, that makes Van Diemen's Land a disgrace to the English name, and the derision of this quarter of the globe.

(From the New South WALES MONITOR, Jan. 28, 1828.)

It is evident that the hostility of the Gazette to his contemporaries arises not altogether from political hostility, but

from envy, hatred, and malice, &c., and the dislike of seeing other shops besides his own in the trade. Because, if it did arise from honest public feeling, he would not, when they happened to agree with him in sentiment, sneer, and grin, and shew his teeth. We knew Captain Dillon fifteen years ago; but as he had communicated with the editor of the Sydney Gazette, we did not like to interfere, till that editor had done with the subject. The late trial at Hobart Town, and the conduct of Colonel Arthur and Judge Peddar, coupled with our hearty acquiescence with Mr. Howe's support of Captain D., at length induced us to take up the subject, thinking that the worthy commander in question would not be injured by some other than the Government Journal advocating his cause. Having done so, if Mr. Howe's friend. ship for Captain Dillon had been as sincere as our own, he would have felt gratified with our remarks. But no-the man's views are evidently sinister; for, in lieu of expressing his satisfaction in noticing our intentions towards Captain D., he uses the following unworthy expressions, and which we offer as another proof that the Gazette is read “for its absurdity."

“ We are quite amazed, after we had succeeded in proving to the colonial world, that the enterprize in which Captain Dillon, of the H. E. I. C. cruiser Research, has been crowned with the most undoubted success, that one of our contempo. raries should at last deign to follow in our wake, and bespatter Caplain Dillon with its empty praise. If the Monitor, or any other colonial journal, had possessed proper feelings towards Captain Dillon, they would long since have come forward with their support, and with their meed of praise; but no, not one of them, &c. &c."

The remains of the ill-fated Astrolabe are now packed up, and stowed away in the hold of the Research, which sails to-morrow for Calcutta. Captain D. has certainly manifested a very contrary disposition in New South Wales, to that represented by Dr. Tytler and others at Van Diemen's Land. His courtesy to strangers in exhibiting the many curiosities, and his affability in their repeated exhibition in detail for the gratification of the public, have been great. The worthy Captain gave an entertainment on the evening of Wednesday, and succeeded each toast with the report of his guns.

(From the Calcutta Government Gazette, April 10,

1828.) La Pérouse. The results of Captain Dillon's voyage in search of vestiges of La Pérouse, are calculated, we learn, to

clear up, in the most unequivocal manner, all uncertainty
with regard to the fate of that able and regretted navigator.
A full report of Captain Dillon's proceedings has, we under.
stand, been prepared, which may possibly be committed to
press hereafter, as containing much novel and important mat-
ter, regarding the tracts he has visited. We have not yet
seen the report, nor have we been favoured with any written
documents relating to the voyage; but we have collected
from other sources the following general outline.

On quitting Van Diemen's Land, Captain Dillon touched
at Port Jackson, to endeavour to procure a person to accom-
pany the expedition as naturalist. Being disappointed in this
object, he sailed to New Zealand, where he had some diffi-
culty in preserving his passengers, the young New Zealand
chief and his attendant, from the maws of his countrymen;
the tribe in the Bay of Islands being at war with the tribe to
which those persons belonged, and having lately sustained a
defeat with the loss of one of their chiefs. Captain Dillon
was, however, able to secure the personal immunity of his
guests, without exciting the angry passions of the hostile
savages. From New Zealand Captain Dillon proceeded to
Tonga-ta-bou. Here, also, he heard of the French vessel
the Astrolabe, which was upon a voyage of research in the
same direction. From Tonga Captain Dillon sailed to Tu-
copia, where he obtained a pilot to Mannicolo. Having
made this place, he continued there several days, examining
the vicinity, and communicating with the natives ; whose in-
formation corroborated that procured on his former voyage,
of the wreck of two large ships many years ago on the south
of the island, the escape of part of the crew, and their con-
struction of a small vessel, in which they finally took their
departure. The island, which is about twenty miles in
either direction, is completely hemmed in by a rampart of
coral reefs, at some distance from the land. Between the
reefs and shore is deep water, and several bays on the coast
form commodious harbours. There are occasional openings
in the coral belt, through which vessels may enter; but they
can only be discovered by careful search, and a ship.standing
towards the island, unaware of the existence of the reef, is in
great danger of being lost, as was the case with Pérouse's
ships. The natives point out the spot on the southern reef,
where one struck and sunk, and where the other was brought
up, which enabled the people to save their lives, and gave
them the means of building their cutter. In proof of the
accuracy of their traditions, the natives produced various
articles evidently of European and French manufacture, as
the bottom of a silver candlestick, the handle of a silver
sword, a silver ewer, and other things; but the satisfactory

evidence was obtained from the reef 'itself, where articles too ponderous to be removed by the natives were found by Captain Dillon himself. These were brass guns, part of the ship’s stern, the iron tiller, and two ship's bells, one bearing the inscription Bazin m'a fait. The guns are numbered, and the numbers will no doubt lead to their verification in France, as well as the inscription on the bell. Although therefore Captain Dillon has not been so fortunate as to meet with any of the survivors of the wreck, he has earned the credit of determining a question of great interest to humanity and science, and will have his name for ever associated with the recollection of La Pérouse.

(From the BENGAL HURKARU, Friday, April 11, 1828.)

From the Sydney Papers we insert another extract relative to Captain Dillon's expedition, and shall to-morrow republish from them, a list of the numerous articles which he has brought here in the Research, in proof of the complete success of it, in so far as respects the elucidation of the sad fate of the lamented French navigator, and his brave companions. The skill and enterprize and indefatigable perseverance of Captain Dillon, in bringing the expedition to such an issue, reflect infinite credit upon himself, and shed lustre on the national character.

A French national vessel, the Astrolabe, had arrived at the Derwent before Captain Dillon left Sydney, and he waited some time at that place in the expectation of her arrival there. She is commanded by a distinguished scientific of. ficer; but in so far as regards the fate of his countryman La Pérouse, he is already aware that little is left for him to do, but to verify perhaps by further examination the discoveries which Captain Dillon has made.

(From the CALCUTTA Government Gazette, May 8,

1828.) Captain Dillon, we understand, proceeds in the Mary Arne to England, in charge of the relics which he collected at the islands of Manicolo and Tucopia, or, as pronounced by the natives, Tuccopeea.

It is a curious fact that the discovery of the wreck of La Pérouse's ships arose out of a massacre at the Fejee Islands, in 1813. The particulars of this massacre were published in the Government Gazette of the 6th of February 1817; but as few of our readers may recollect the circumstance, we repeat them here.

Massacre at the Fejee Islands. From Mr. Dillon, master of the Elizabeth cutter, which sailed from hence in November last, as tender to the ship Hunter, Captain Robson, we receive the melancholy infor: mation of a number of persons being unhappily cut off by the natives of an island called Highlya, among whom were three youths belonging to this colony, with whose parents and relatives we most sensibly lament their premature destiny. The ship arrived at the above islands for the purpose of procuring sandal-wood, &c. the 19th of February, and was not joined by the cutter, which had sailed from hence before her, till the 1st of May. In the course of duty, the vessels were frequently from 50 or 60 miles apart; and by the beginning of September had procured a cargo of about 150 tons of sandal-wood, and 2 tons of beche de mar, which the Hunter has taken on with her to Canton. On the neighbouring island of Bough several Europeans and other strangers had for some time resided in very social habits, and assisted in procuring the cargo. These persons were Charles Savage, John Graham, Michael M'Cave, Terence Dunn, Joseph Atkinson, William Williams, two Lascars, a Chinaman, and an Otaheitan. These persons had done considerable service to the natives of that island, and were upon that account much disliked by the Highlyans, with whom they were frequently at war.

About the 4th of September, a letter was received on board the cutter from Mr. Norman, chief officer of the ship, which was then about 40 miles distant, informing the people that a plot had been formed to cut them off first, as all the Europeans, except himself and Captain Robson, were with the cutter, and afterwards fall upon the ship, which was manned with Lascars only. On receipt of this information, eight of the natives who were considered the most forward in the design were made prisoners and sent on board. The ship in the mean time got aground, lost her false keel, and sustained much other injury. The cutter likewise had been several times aground, and for the safety of the crews it was considered necessary they should both be hove down and repaired. The friendly natives of Bough represented the step as dangerous, as long as the Highlyans were in possession of their numerous canoes, with which they could attack them at pleasure in very large numbers, and therefore advised the capture of their canoes. The

appearance, shortly after, of a fleet of not less than 150 well-manned canoes, seemed to justify the proposed measure; the fleet was attacked accordingly, and 14 canoes taken, in performing which, one native of Highlya was unfortunately killed. Four of the canoes