1787 supplies. The clothing of the convicts and the provisions issued 25 April. to them, and the civil and military establishments, must be accounted for in the same manner. and Supply islands for And whereas the Commissioners of our Admiralty have apThe Sirius pointed Capt. Hunter to repair on board the Sirius, to assist you in the execution of your duty, and to take the command of the ship whenever you may see occasion to detach her from the settlement, and also to station the Supply, tender, under your orders, and to be assisting to you upon occasional services after your arrival. And whereas it is our royal intention that measures should be taken, in addition to those which are specified in the to go to the article of these our instructions, for obtaining supplies of live stock, and having, in consequence of such intention, caused a quantity of arms and other articles of merchandize to be provided and sent out in the ships under your convoy, in order to barter with the natives either on the territory of New South Wales or the islands adjacent: It is our will and pleasure that as soon as either of these vessels can be spared with safety from the settlement you do detach one or both of them for that purpose, confining their intercourse as much as possible to such parts as are not in the possession or under the jurisdiction of other European powers. live stock. Amply supplied with The increase of the stock of animals must depend entirely upon the measures you may adopt on the outset for their preservation; and as the settlement will be amply supplied with vegetable productions, and most likely with fish, fresh provisions, excepting vegetables. for the sick and convalescents, may in a great degree be dispensed with. For these reasons it will become you to be extremely Caution as to cautious in permitting any cattle, sheep, hogs, &c., intended for slaughtering propagating the breed of such animals to be slaughtered until a stock. competent stock may be acquired, to admit of your supplying the settlement from it with animal food without having further recourse to the places from whence such stock may have originally been obtained. It is our will and pleasure that the productions of all descriptions acquired by the labour of the convicts should be considered as a Public stock. public stock, which we so far leave to your disposal that such parts thereof as may be requisite for the subsistence of the said convicts and their families, or the subsistence of the civil and military establishments of the settlement, may be applied by you to that use. The remainder of such productions you will reserve as a provision for a further number of convicts, which you may expect will shortly follow you from hence, to be employed under direction in the manner pointed out in these our instructions More convicts to follow shortly. your to you. From the natural increase of corn and other vegetable food from a common industry, after the ground has once been cultivated, as 1787 25 April. well as of animals, it cannot be expedient that all the convicts which accompany you should be employed in attending only to the object of provisions. And, as it has been humbly represented to us that advantages may be derived from the flax-plant which Flax, is found in the islands not far distant from the intended settlement, not only as a means of acquiring clothing for the convicts and other persons who may become settlers, but from its superior excellence for a variety of maritime purposes, and as it may ultimately become an article of export, it is, therefore, our will and pleasure that you do particularly attend to its cultivation, and that you do send home by every opportunity which may offer samples Samples to of this article, in order that a judgment may be formed whether home. it may not be necessary to instruct you further upon this subject. be sent And whereas we are desirous that some further information Exploration should be obtained of the several ports or harbours upon the of the coast. coast, and the islands contiguous thereto, within the limits of your government, you are, whenever the Sirius or the Supply, tender, can conveniently be spared, to send one, or both of them, upon that service. and long.* east Norfolk Island to be settled. Norfolk Island, situated in the lat.* from Greenwich about* being represented as a spot which may hereafter become useful, you are, as soon as circumstances will admit of it, to send a small establishment thither to secure the same to us, and prevent it being occupied by the subjects of any other European power; and you will cause any remarks or observations which you may obtain in consequence of this instruction to be transmitted to our Principal Secretary of State for Plantation Affairs for our information. And whereas it may happen, when the settlement shall be brought into some state of regulation, that the service of the Sirius may not be necessary at the said settlement, and as we are desirous to diminish as much as possible the expences which the intended establishment occasions, you will, whenever the service of the said ship can be dispensed with, order Capt. Hunter to return with her to England. And as from such an arrangement the sirius to emoluments of your station will be diminished, it is our royal England. intention that the same shall be made good to you by bills to be drawn by you upon the Commissioners of our Treasury. return to You are to endeavour by every possible means to open an intercourse with the natives, and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with them. And if any of our subjects shall wantonly destroy them, or give The natives them any unnecessary interruption in the exercise of their several to be prooccupations, it is our will and pleasure that you do cause such offenders to be brought to punishment according to the degree of the offence. You will endeavour to procure an account of the numbers inhabiting the neighbourhood of the intended settle * Blanks in MS. tected. 1787 ment, and report your opinion to one of our Secretaries of State 25 April. in what manner our intercourse with these people may be turned to the advantage of this colony., Religion. Public worship. Women to be brought from the islands. tion. Grants of land to emancipa And it is further our royal will and pleasure that you do by all proper methods enforce a due observance of religion and good order among the inhabitants of the new settlement, and that you do take such steps for the due celebration of publick worship as circumstances will permit. And whereas, as from the great disproportion of female convicts to those of the males who are put under your superintendance, it appears advisable that a further number of the latter should be introduced into the new intended settlement, you are, whenever the Sirius or the tender shall touch at any of the islands in those seas, to instruct their commanders to take on board any of the women who may be disposed to accompany them to the said settlement.* You will, however, take especial care that the officers who may happen to be employed upon this service do not, upon any account, exercise any compulsive measures, or make use of fallacious pretences, for bringing away any of the said women from the places of their present residence. And whereas we have by our Commission, bearing date [2nd April] 1787, given and granted upon you full power and authority Emancipa- to emancipate and discharge from their servitude any of the convicts under your superintendance who shall, from their good conduct and a disposition to industry, be deserving of favour: It is our will and pleasure that in every such case you do issue your warrant to the Surveyor of Lands to make surveys of and mark out in lots such lands upon the said territory as may be necessary for their use; and when that shall be done, that you do pass grants thereof ted convicts. with all convenient speed to any of the said convicts so emancipated, in such proportions and under such conditions and acknowledgments as shall hereafter be specified, viz. :—To every male shall be granted 30 acres of land, and in case he shall be married, 20 acres more; and for every child who may be with them at the settlement at the time of making the said grant, a further quantity of 10 acres, free of all fees, taxes, quit rents, or other Conditions acknowledgments whatsoever, for the space of ten years: Provided vations. that the person to whom the said land shall have been granted shall reside within the same and proceed to the cultivation and improvement thereof; reserving only to us such timber as may be growing, or to grow hereafter, upon the said land which may be fit for naval purposes, and an annual quit rent of † expiration of the term or time before mentioned. You will cause Grants to be copies of such grants as may be passed to be preserved, and make a regular return of the said grants to the Commissioners of our Treasury and the Lords of the Committee of our Privy Council for Trade and Plantations. and reser recorded. after the *This part of the Instructions was not carried out. + Blank in MS. 1787 25 April. And whereas it is likely to happen that the convicts who may after their emancipation, in consequence of this instruction, be put in possession of lands will not have the means of proceeding to their cultivation without the public aid: It is our will and pleasure that you do cause every such person you may so eman- Emancipists cipate to be supplied with such a quantity of provisions as may be sufficient for the subsistence of himself, and also of his family, for twelve twelve months, together with an assortment of tools and utensils, and such a proportion of seed-grain, cattle, sheep, hogs, &c., as be proper, and can be spared from the general stock of the may settlement. to be sup plied for months. of free And whereas many of our subjects employed upon military In view service at the said settlement, and others who may resort thither settlement, upon their private occupations, may hereafter be desirous of proceeding to the cultivation and improvement of the land, and as we are disposed to afford them every reasonable encouragement in such an undertaking: It is our will and pleasure that you do, with all convenient speed, transmit a report of the actual state report on and quality of the soil at and near the said intended settlement, the probable and most effectual means of improving and cultivating the same, and of the mode, and upon what terms and conditions, according to the best of your judgement, the said lands should be granted, that proper instructions and authorities may be given to you for that purpose. the land. And whereas it is our royal intention that every sort of inter- All intercourse between the intended settlement at Botany Bay, or other course with foreign ports place which may be hereafter established on the coast of New South prohibited. Wales and its dependencies, and the settlements of our East India Company, as well as the coast of China, and the islands situated in that part of the world, to which any intercourse has been established by any European nation, should be prevented by every possible means: It is our royal will and pleasure that you do not on any account allow craft of any sort to be built for No sailing the use of private individuals which might enable them to effect be built. such intercourse, and that you do prevent any vessels which may at any time hereafter arrive at the said settlement from any of the ports before mentioned from having communication with any No comof the inhabitants residing within your Government, without first from ship receiving especial permission from you for that purpose. G.R. SIR CHARLES MIDDLETON TO UNDER SECRETARY NEPEAN.* Dear Sir, vessels to munication to shore. the convicts. The Navy Board, in contracting for the victualling of the Victualling convicts on their passage, have observed the same rule that has *No date or address; the letter, a private one, was sent, apparently, in April, 1787, to Under Secretary Nepean. 1787 been always followed with soldiers on board of transports—that is, two-thirds of what is allowed to the troops serving in the West Indies, spirits excepted. When it is considered that the confinement on shipboard will not admit of much exercise, this allowance will be found more advantageous to the health of the convicts than full allowance, and when compared to bread and water, which I take for granted Abundance. is the prison allowance, may be termed abundance. No alteration. For these reasons, and the impossibility of altering the contracts without adding considerably and unnecessarily to the expence of the public, and probably increasing the mortality by detaining the transports in this climate, I am of opinion no alteration should take place. In consequence of a letter lately received from the Treasury, the contractor proceeds to Portsmouth on Saturday to furnish the sick with fresh provisions and vegetables, and which may be extended to ye convicts and marines in general if an order is sent from the Provisions, Treasury for that purpose, as also wine for ye sick; and if flower is preferred to rice, Captain Philips may direct a preference on ye passage, and repay it out of the storeships on their arrival, but the substitute of rice for flower is agreable to ye Army contract, and so paid by the Treasury. &c., for the sick. Two years' allowance. In short, the convicts cannot suffer from short allowance, as they are provided with two years' stock of provisions, independent of what is laid in for their passage. I am, &c., Com instructions. CHAS. MIDDLETON. LORD SYDNEY TO GOVERNOR PHILLIP. Whitehall, 27th April, 1787. I transmit you herewith his Majesty's commission* under the Great Seal appointing you Captain-General and Governor-inChief of the territory of New South Wales, together with a commission, also passed under the Great Seal, for establishing a missions and court of civil jurisdiction within the said territory, and instructions under the Royal Sign Manual‡ for your guidance in the execution of the affairs of the territory to which you are appointed Governor. The commission for the trial of pirates, and that appointing you Vice-Admiral, and for other officers to form an Admiralty Court, I find are not yet compleated, but those commissions will be sent to you. I am, &c., Anxieties. Dear Sir, SYDNEY. MAJOR ROSS TO UNDER SECRETARY NEPEAN.S Portsmouth, 27th April, 1787. Before I bid a long farewell to you and home, will you give me leave to remind you of my being about to leave Mrs. Ross and very small tho' numerous family behind me. *Ante, p. 61. Ante, pp. 70-76. Ante, pp. 85-91. § A private letter. |