LAST LETTER. 3S7 'iar re-imbursing the Naval Department for the expences of their 1789 victualling and that of the twenty-five oonvicts before mentioned, during their passage out. I understand from Mr. Richards, the contractor for the convicts on board the Lady Juliana, that after the supplies necessary for the voyage are put on board, there will still be room for any Lady article of provisions or stores which may be wanting in New Soui^ SlSyrtOTw, Wales. His Majesiy has, therefore, commanded me to signify to your lordship his farther pleasure, that you do order a proportion of clothing, tools, instruments, medicines, ifec, equal to one-fourth of the quantity proposed to be sent out in the ship-of-war, to be placed on board the Lady Juliana ; and, in addition thereto, as many provisions as she can conveniently stow. The Lady Juliana, in case she should touch at Rio de Janeiro or the Gape, ought also to take on board any live stock which can without inconvenience wid live be accommodated, for the supply of the settlement. It will, therefore, be necessary that your lordships should cause the superintendent or the master of that ship to be , furnished with proper instructions in that respect previously to her sailing, which I hope and expect will shortly take place. With this letter, Sydney's official connection with the colony may be said to have closed. He remained in office Exit . . . Sydney. until the 5th June following, when he retired into private life, being then in the fifty-eighth year of his age. It may be assumed that the equipment of the ship referred to in his letter — the Guardian — ^and also the despatch of female convicts by the Lady Juliana, were carried out, partially at least, under his instructions, but there is no mention of any further exercise of his powers on the colony's behalf. The Hisiaat only communication from him on matters connected with it about the , oolony. appears in the shape of a private letter to Nepean, dated from Frognall, December 21, 1790, in which he mentioned the receipt of two letters from Phillip. He wrote in a genial strain, very suggestive of a good-natured disposition and a desire to assist his friends. It may, or may not, be some indication of the amount of attention he had paid to the affairs of the colony, that he did not know how to spell the name of the Sirius. Digitized by Google
