1788 13 Oct. Governor's commission. it is intended they shall be under any other a particular Act of the Legislature has been deemed necessary. The situation then of that part of the corps of marines that is serving in New South Wales, under the Government of his Majesty's Governor-in-Chief and Captain-General of that territory, is attended with the following peculiarities:- A commission has issued from his Majesty empowering the said Governor-in-Chief to assemble general courts-martial for the trial of any officer or soldier of the troops under his command, and to confirm or set aside their sentence. The usual Act of Parliament for the regulation of the marine forces while on shore, passed a month or two before the departure of the detachment from that corps ordered for New South Wales, without any alterations or new provision being made for their particular situation. A Judge-Advocate was appointed by the Admi❜lty, who was instructed in their warrant to keep the Act of Admiralty Parliament constantly for his rule. No other power than the Admiralty is authorized to grant a warrant for their holding general courts-martial, and the members are sworn to the same oath of secrecy as their brethren at home. The prisoner also is to wait the approval of the Admiralty before he can know his fate. Only the can order general courtsmartial. The warrant Under all these circumstances and considerations, the officers directed to assemble for the purpose of holding a general courtmartial are humbly of opinion that, being officers of his Majesty's Governor's marine forces, they cannot sit for that under the warrant purpose insufficient. of his Excellency the Governor, and beg leave to represent the unpleasant situation they feel themselves placed in, hoping that this statement of it may be transmitted to the Right Hon'ble the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, under whose direction they always consider themselves, and from whom they hope such remedy will be applied as their Lordships may think expedient. Obedience to law. At the same time they solicit that in this business they may be understood to be acting only in conformity to an Act of the British legislature passed expressly for their regulation while on shore in any part of his Majesty's dominions; and that they have not in any shape been wanting in the respect that belongs to the high authority of his Majesty's commission, or to the officer invested with it in this country. JAS. CAMPBELL, Captain. JNO. CRESWELL, ROBT. KELLOW, JOHN POULTON, Camp, Sydney Cove, 13th October, 1788. DAVID COLLINS, Judge-Advocate. My Lord, GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO LORD SYDNEY. 1788 30 Oct. sent to the 30th October, 1788. By his Majesty's ship Sirius I had the honor of informing your Lordship of my reasons for sending that ship to the Cape The Sirius of Good Hope*; the loss of all the seed wheat, and the greatest Cape. part of the other grains and seeds, brought from England, which had been heated in the long passage, and very little of which, when sown, ever vegetated; all the seed wheat put on board the Supply at the Cape of Good Hope had likewise been destroyed by the weevil; and after sowing the ground a second time with what seed had been brought from Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope there did not remain sufficient to sow a single acre ; and the crops in the ground are exposed to various accidents in our present situation. to be purchased. The Sirius sailed the 2nd instant, to go round the South Supplies Cape; and Captain Hunter has directions to purchase for the use of the garrison what flour the ship can receive, after having compleated his own provisions; the quantity will not be very considerable (at present we have 18 months' bread in store). Necessarys for the hospital were likewise ordered to be purchased, none of any kind being sent out either for the detachment or convicts after they landed. slow. Your Lordship will see by my former letters the little progress Cultivation we have been able to make in cultivating the lands, and, I presume, the necessity of a few proper persons being sent out to superintend the convicts, as well as settlers, who have been used to cultivation; for at present this settlement only affords one person that I can employ in cultivating the lands on the public account. Most of the officers have cultivated a little ground, but it is merely for their own conveniency, and none more than a single acre, except the Lieutenant-Governor, who has about three acres. I have sixteen at a small farm on the public account. settlers repeated It must, my Lord, be settlers, with the assistance of the convicts, Request for that will put this country in a situation for supporting its inhabitants; nothing but the uncertainty of the time in which my letters may reach England, and the possibility of those last written being the first received, would make me trouble your Lordship in this letter with a repetition of what I have fully explained in my former letters-that people who are not convicts are necessary for the stores, from which provisions or stores are Storedelivering almost hourly, and that we want for superintending the keepers convicts such as have been brought up in the line in which they are to be employed. If the ships that bring out provisions were such as could receive on board black cattle at the Cape of Good Hope, I think we shall in future be able to preserve them; and a ship to remain here as a * Ante, p. 188. necessary. 1788 30 Oct. Convicts killed by natives. store-ship would be attended with many advantages. It is still a doubt whether the cattle we lost have been killed by the natives, or if they have strayed into the country.* .* I fear the former, and am sorry to say that the natives now attack any straggler they meet unarmed; and though the strictest orders have been given to keep the convicts within bounds, neither the fear of death or punishment prevents their going out in the night; and one has been killed since the Sirius sailed. The natives, who appear strictly honest amongst themselves, leave their fizgigs, spears, &c., on the beach, or in their huts, when they go a-fishing; these articles have been taken from them by the convicts, and the people belonging to the transports buy them at the risk of being The natives prosecuted as receivers of stolen goods, if discovered. The natives, as I have observed, revenge themselves on any they meet unarmed; it is not possible to punish them without punishing the innocent with the guilty, and our own people have been the aggressors. revenge themselves. They convicts. Officers asked to assist in The natives still refuse to come amongst us, and those who are supposed to have murthered several of the convicts have removed from Botany Bay, where they have always been more troublesome than in any other part. I now doubt whether it will be possible to get any of those people to remain with us, in order to get their language, without using force; they see no advantage that can arise from us that may make amends for the loss of that part of the harbour in which we occasionally employ the boats in fishing. If my former letters have reached your Lordship the situation Officers and of this settlement is known, and as most of the officers have declined any kind of interference with the convicts, except when immediately employed by themselves, the little progress made in clearing land that requires so much labour will be accounted for. A letter sent from the Admiralty to the commanding officers of marines at Portsmouth and Plymouth is what the officers say they govern themselves by, and in which they say no extra duty supervising is pointed out. What I asked of officers was so very little, and so far from being what would degrade either the officer or the gentleman in our situation, that I beg leave to report once more to your Lordship the request I made soon after we landed, and which was made in the following words :-"That officers would, when they saw the convicts diligent, say a few words of encouragement to them, and that when they saw them idle, or met them straggling in the woods, they would threaten them with punishment." This I only desired when officers could do it without going out of their way; it was all I asked, and was pointedly refused. They declared against what they called an interference with convicts, and I found myself obliged to give up the little plan I had formed in the passage for the government of these people, and which, had even that been proposed to the officers, required no more from them than the hearing any appeal the overseer convicts. They refuse. Ante, p. 149. 1788 might find it necessary to make, and a report from the officer to me, or to the Judge-Advocate, if he thought it necessary, but 30 Oct. which never has been asked of the officers, as they declined any kind of interference. Island. The Golden Grove store-ship sailed for Norfolk Island the 2nd Norfolk of October, with provisions and some stores, and carried a midshipman, two seamen, a serjeant, corporal, and five privates, with twenty-one men and eleven women convicts. Their numbers will be increased in the course of the summer. The Fishburn is now fitting for sea, that she may sail with the Golden Grove, as soon as that ship returns from Norfolk Island. The same reason which makes me trouble your Lordship with tedious extracts from my former letters makes it necessary to point out in this letter that we at present depend entirely for provisions being sent from England; and I beg leave to observe that if a ship should be lost in the passage it might be a very considerable time before it could be known in England. The Sirius, Anxieties. from the length of the voyage, would not be able to supply this settlement from the Cape, and though the Islands may furnish refreshments in great abundance to one or two ships, if the Sirius was employed between the Islands and this settlement, the quantity procured would be but small for so great a number of people; but, my Lord, I hope a very few years will put this country in a situation Prospects. to support itself, for I have the pleasure of seeing what land has been cleared in a very flourishing state. ment. I am now preparing to go up the harbour with a small detach- A new settlement of one captain, two lieutenants, and twenty privates, who are to protect some convicts intended to clear land near the head of the harbour,* where it is a fine open country, having very little timber, and being perfectly free from underwood. The Supply remains here, as I think that vessel necessary in the harbour at present, and which was my reason for sending the store-ship to Norfolk Island. Returns of the detachment and the quantity of provisions in store are enclosed to Mr. Nepean. I have, &c., A. PHILLIP. JUDGE-ADVOCATE COLLINS TO UNDER SECRETARY NEPEAN. Dear Sir, 15 Nov. courts Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, 15th November, 1788. I beg leave to trouble you with the enclosed paper. It con- General tains my opinion on the question respecting general courts-martial martial. in this country, and the expedient that I proposed for getting over the difficulty that was started by myself, and adopted by the officers here. I beg you to rest assured, and through the whole of your consideration on this affair, to take this with you—that nothing 1788 10 Nov. Doubts. Stationery and law books. 13 Oct. Officers cannot legally act, but should sit and ask indemnity. would give me more pain than to be thought to start difficulties for the sake of throwing obstacles in the way of the service. The doubts that occurred to me were deemed satisfactory to the officers of marines here, and the resolution adopted that you will find among the public letters from the Governor. I sincerely wish the expedient I proposed had also been adopted. I sincerely hope you enjoy your health, and remain, with great esteem,DAVID COLLINS. I should be glad of a fresh supply of paper, and would be extremely obliged to you if you would order Cooper to send me Blackstone's Reports, any author that treats on costs, and any law publication of note that has appeared since my departure, with whatever Acts of Parliament you may think necessary. [Enclosure.] Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, 13th October, 1788. To the question, "Whether a general court-martial formed of marine officers can assemble by virtue of a warrant from his Majesty's Governor-in-Chief of this territory, having a commission to grant the same,” I reply, I am of opinion that, being marine officers, they cannot comply with the directions of the Act of Parliament passed for their regulation while on shore in any part of his Majesty's dominions, and hold a general court-martial under the warrant of his Excellency the Governor of New South Wales. But when I consider the time that must elapse before a remedy can be applied—when I consider how much his Majesty's service may and must suffer from the want of a tribunal to which officers should be amenable-when I consider that although the strict letter of the law is against their sitting, it has been clearly the intention of every branch and department of his Majesty's Government that there should be such a tribunal in this country, I am of opinion that, waving the privilege of being assembled in conformity with their own Act of Parliament, they should sit under the authority of the King's commission and Governor of this territory, throwing themselves, with the strong plea of necessity, on the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for procuring them an indemnification for their having so acted. I have, &c., DAVID COLLINS, 16 Nov. My Lord, Judge-Advocate. GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO LORD SYDNEY. Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, November 16, 1788. Since I closed my letter of the 30th of October to your Lordship the Golden Grove has arrived from Norfolk Island, where |