522 • LA P^ROUSE 1788 Aide-de-Camp to the Governor : — George Johnston. Officer of Engineers and ArtUlery : — William Dawes. Hospital Establishment. Surgeon-General: — John White.* First Assistant : — Dennis Considen. Second Assistant : — Thomas Arndell. Third Assistant : — ^William Balmain. LA PEROUSE AT BOTANY BAY. Justice should be done to the memory of La P^rouse and his comrades with respect to certain matters in which they have been accused of serious wrongdoing towards the natives during their stay at Botany Bay. The French have been charged [Rusden^ Two History of Australia, vol. i, p. 131] with having "wantonly fired c orges. upon » them, and also with having spread the small-pox among them — a disease which swept them off in great numbers. There does not seem to be any foundation, beyond mere conjecture, for either of these imputations. There is certainly no evidence that Firing at ^^^ natives were killed by the French. No statement of the kind tho natives, can be found in any contemporary writer. Captain Tench, who had good opportunities for a.scertaining the truth, referred to the matter in the following passage (Narrative, p. 99) : — Tench's ^^^ ourselves, the French found it necessary, more than once, statement ; to chastiso a spirit of rapine and intrusion which prevailed among the Indians around the bay. The menace of pointing a musket to them was frequently used ; and in one or two instances it was fired off, though without being attended with fatal consequences. Indeed, the French Commandant, both from a regard to the orders of his Court, as well as to our quiet and security, showed a modera- tion and forbearance on this head highly becoming. Collins (p. 17) mentions that "M. de la P^rouse had been com- pelled to fire upon the natives," but he does not state that any of them were killed. And he adds : — Collins's. ^^ ® were, however, perfectly convinced that nothing short of ' the greatest necessity could have induced M. de la P^rouse to take such a step, as we heard him declare that it was among the particular instructions that he had received from his Sovereign to • Returned to England in December, 1794. Digitized by Google
