502 LETTEHS Johnson to Nepean:— Health and welfare. Another letter to Nepean, written by the Rev. Richard Johnson, and dated from Port Jackson, July 13, 1788, contains an allusion to the general state of affairs in the settlement which may be com- pared with Major Ross's description of it : — Port Jackson, in the County of Cumberland, Hond. sir, New South Wales, 12 July, 1788. Though I have nothing particular to mention to you, I cannot think of letting the Fleet return to England without droping you a single line to inform you of my health and welfare. It would be unnecessary for me, sir, to give you any account of the various circumstances or incidences respecting the Fleet during our late pa.ssage from England to this distant point of the globe, as no doubt you will receive ample information respecting these matters, together with a description of this country as to cLimat^^ natives, &c., &c., from his excellency Arthur Phillip, Esq., our (Governor, and others. Everything here is as yet, as you may easily suppose, very- unsettled, but hope in time our situation will be rendered more No reason to comfortable ; and even now, all things considered, thank God, I complain, jjave no reason to complain. You may remember, sir, a circumstance which greatly interested the publick a little before our leaving England. This was re- specting the Norwich gaoler and two convicts, Cabel and Holmes, which, with a child, were removed from the Norwich Gaol to Plymouth, in order to be embarked on board one of the trans- ports bound to New South Wales. These two persons I married soon after our arrival here. Some persons made a charitable con- tribution for these two persons ; collected the sum of £20, and laid this out in various articles, at the same time requesting that I would see this delivered to them upon our arrival here. Un- fortunately these have not been found. This circumstance has First^case In been brought before the Civil Court here, when a verdict was "*"" ^"' found in their favor against the Captain of the Alexander. Am sorry this charitable intention and action has been brought to this disagreeable issue, the more so because the publick seemed to be so much interested in their welfare. The child is still living — of a weakly constitution — but a fine boy. Hope, sir, you excuse my freedom in directing these few lines to you — my chief intention, as I have already mentioned, being to inform you of my health and welfare. Evan Nepean, Esq. Perhaps Mr. Jolmson had more " reason to complain" than any one else in the settlement, seeing that he was left wholly unpro- vided with the necessary means of conducting religious services and attending to the wants of his congregation. the Civil Court. Digitized by Google
