ig6 
SIR JOSEPH BAXKS. 
From a letter by Banks, dated 19th April, 1805,* * * § we learn that 
he was empowered by the Government to offer the governorship 
of New South Wales to Captain Bligh. Banks to Bligh, 17th Septem- 
ber, 1805,f is on the subject of Bligh’s going out as a Naval Governor, 
and not in a civil capacity, as had been proposed. 
The correspondence was continued for many years afterwards, 
including the period during which he was Governor of New South 
Wales. In one of his letters, dated 30th June, 1808, he gave his patron 
a lengthy “ account of the Rebellion,” headed by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Johnston. On both these occasions Bligh’s first thought evidently 
was to place Sir Joseph Banks in possession of the facts of his case, 
reporting events to him with as much minuteness as if he had been 
writing a despatch to the official head of his department. 
Banks to Bligh, 25th August, 1808, J assures Bligh of his unchanged 
friendship ; he writes a cordial letter and speaks of his own failing 
health. 
Ere this letter was received, Bligh had been deposed (26th January, 
1808), by Lieut.-Col. Johnston and the officers of the New South Wales 
Corps. He returned to England the following year, and died in 1817. 
As in Mrs. Flinders’ case so in Mrs. Bligh’s, Banks was a kind friend 
to the wife of his protege who had got into trouble. 
Mrs. Bligh to Banks, 14th January, 1808,§ informs him that she 
hears disquieting reports that Captain Bligh has been superseded, 
and proceeds to “ stick up ” for her husband. She is an admirable 
letter-writer, obviously a woman of considerable education. She 
appeals to Sir Joseph in her trouble. See also 1st February, 1808,|| 
and 21st December,^) of the same year, written during her time of 
anxiety, when disquieting news concerning her husband was coming 
from Sydney. 
Banks’ kind and reassuring letter to Mrs. Bligh is dated 24th 
December, 1808.** 
Bligh was commemorated by a sapindaceous tree — “ Blighiae, no\u 
ex Sapindteorum Ordine naturali Generis, Descriptio.” Auct. C.K. 
(Charles Konig.) “ Annals of Botany,” ed., Chas. Kunig’and John Sims. 
Vol. ii, 569-74. With 2 plates of Blighia sapida. 
4. Lieut.-Col. David Collins, Royal Marines. He was Judge- 
Advocate of New South Wales, author of “An Account of the Enghsh 
Colony in New South Wales” (1798), and subsequently first Lieut. - 
Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). 
• Hist. Rec., V, 590. 
t Ib., 692. 
t Ib., Vi, 705. 
§ lb., 417. 
II Ib., 461. 
^ Ib., 815. 
•• Ib., 816. 
