THE SUCCESSORS OF COOK 507 



Then the plot hardened. In 1756 de Brosses had Laperouse 

 proposed a French convict colony in New Britain, and Bay^Ta'rfto 

 in 1788 Phillip, after a few days in Botany Bay, founded March 1788. 

 a British convict colony in Port Jackson. Eight days 

 after Phillip had arrived in Botany Bay, two French ships 

 sailed into the Bay under Laperouse, and excellent books 

 still make the comment that England only won Australia 

 by those few days. 1 The comment is entirely wrong. 

 There is not the smallest reason to suppose that Laperouse 

 had designs on New South Wales. 2 His voyage, as both 



1 Phillip arrived on January i8th. Laperouse got sight of land on 

 January 24th, but was unable to enter the bay till January 26th. 

 Phillip left Botany Bay to explore Port Jackson on January 2ist ; and 

 the British ships sailed to Port Jackson on January 25th and 26th, 

 leaving the French, as Laperouse wrote, " alone and masters of the 

 Bay." He sailed on March loth. 



2 Laperouse's very elaborate " Instructions " had been drawn up 

 in 1785 by the Comte de Fleurieu, who had probably more complete 

 knowledge of the geographical problems of the Pacific than any other 

 living man. The object of the voyage was to clear up these geographic 

 problems. There was no suggestion of French settlement. It was 

 declared that " the distance of the Pacific islands " seems likely to 

 prohibit nations of Europe from forming establishments there." In 

 Australasia, Laperouse was to sail through " Endeavour Strait," to 

 survey the Gulf of Carpentaria and the West coast, and " inspect 

 more particularly the Southern coast, of which the greatest part has 

 never been explored." Then he was to call at Van Diemen's Land, 

 and to sail thence to Queen Charlotte Sound, where he was to discover 

 if the British have made a settlement. No reference was made to 

 Botany Bay, or to British plans of settlement there. Laperouse's 

 correspondence shows that, so late as the 7th of September, 1787, his 

 intention was to sail from Avatscha, not to Botany Bay, but, in accord- 

 ance with his Instructions, to New Zealand. On the 28th of September, 

 however, he wrote to the French minister that, in consequence of orders 

 just received from him, he will touch at Botany Bay. The French 

 minister's letter has x not, I think, been printed. It seems clear that 

 it contained information about the proposed English settlement at 

 Botany Bay, and that it ordered Laperouse to call there. But it is 

 impossible to believe that it contained instructions to annex New 

 South Wales. New South Wales had been formally annexed by Cook 

 in 1770. If Laperouse had arrived at Botany Bay before Phillip, 

 and had fronted him with a French annexation, the act would have 

 been equivalent to declaration of war on Great Britain, for a locality 

 which the French had shown no desire to possess. It seems certain 

 that Laperouse was told to visit Botany Bay in the spirit in which, in the 

 original instructions, he had been told to visit New Zealand. It was 

 to be a visit of curiosity, though the facts learned would be interesting 

 to French politicians as well as to French philosophers. A Sydney 

 soldier (Paterson) says that Laperouse expected to find a town built 

 and a market established. 



