Читать книгу The English Colony in New South Wales (Vol. 1&2). Narrative of the British First Settlement in Australia 1788-1801 онлайн

246 страница из 309

A report having been circulated soon after the establishing of this settlement, that a considerable sum of money had been subscribed in England, to be expended in articles for the benefit of the convicts who embarked for this country, which articles had been entrusted to the Rev. Mr. Johnson, to be disposed of according to the intention of the subscribers after our arrival, Mr. Johnson wrote to his friends in England to confute this report; and by accounts lately received, it appeared that no such public collection had ever been made; at Mr. Johnson's request, therefore, the governor published a contradiction of the above report in the general orders of the settlement. The convicts had hitherto imagined that they had a right to the articles which had from time to time been distributed among them; but Mr. Johnson now thought it necessary that they should know it was to his bounty they were indebted for them, and that consequently the partakers of it were to be of his own selection.

The female convicts who had lately arrived attending at divine service on the first Sunday after their landing, Mr. Johnson, with much propriety, in his discourse, touched upon their situation, and described it so forcibly as to draw tears from many who were the least hardened among them.