HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



59 



THE TOMB OF LE RECEVEUR AT BOTANY BAY. 



rate there were just eight months' stores left in the colony. While the Governor was 

 racked with anxiety, the Justinian arrived at the Heads. She brought a considerable 

 quantity of stores with her. But just as she was standing in, the wind changed, and 

 blew with such violence out to sea, that she was driven a long way to the north and 

 nearly wrecked ; indeed, the colonists had lost all hope of seeing her, when after all her 

 perils she once more appeared, 

 and to the great joy of the 

 community entered the Harbour 

 in safety. But their happiness 

 was damped by the arrival, a few 

 days later, of three more trans- 

 ports, bringing a large number 

 of prisoners and a detachment of 

 the New South Wales Corps a 

 body of soldiers enlisted in Eng- 

 land for special service in the 

 colony, to which ordinary soldiers 

 disliked to go. These vessels 

 brought no provisions, but they 

 brought to the famishing colony 

 a fever-stricken crowd that filled the hospital with patients and the residents with dismay. 



In the beginning of 1791 things began to brighten. The Supply, accompanied by a 

 chartered vessel, arrived from Batavia loaded with provisions which more than doubled 

 the stores of the colony. Crops began to be gathered at Rose Hill. A number of free 

 men, mostly soldiers or sailors, obtained grants of land, and began farming in something 

 like a systematic way. And so matters went smoothly forward till September, when nine 

 more vessels arrived, bringing with them over two thousand fresh convicts ; but as they 

 brought abundance of supplies, the famine troubles of the colony were practically over. 

 In the following year, Phillip, whose health had been gradually declining, petitioned the 

 Home Government to relieve him of his arduous duties and allow him to return to 

 England. After some delay his request was granted, and on the roth of December, 

 1793, he took his departure, after a command of five years. His memory will always be 

 held in respect, not only as that of the first Governor, but as that of a man who, 

 under the most trying conditions, did at all times what he believed to be his duty, and 

 when he left the colony it was with the respect and esteem of all classes and amid 

 public expressions of general regret. 



The Government of the colony now passed into the hands of Major Francis Grose, 

 Commandant of the New South Wales Corps, who had just arrived bearing a commission 

 as Lieutenant-Governor, and the appointment of this officer initiated a condition of 

 affairs which was practically a military despotism. Events soon began to show that he 

 was not qualified for his position. The good order established by Governor Phillip 

 speedily disappeared. The source of Grose's misgovernment appeared to lie in his 

 sympathy with his brother officers. He superseded the civil magistrates and appointed 

 officers in their place ; he disregarded the express instructions of the Imperial Govern- 



