Brickfields*, to lie in wait for him; and where, if possible, they intended to kill him; he having, as they suspected, killed a man near Botany Bay. This he positively denied having done, and the governor dispatched him to the place, guarded by some of the military, where he explained to his countrymen that he had not killed the man in question, or any man; and that the soldiers were sent with him, to convince them that the governor would not suffer him, his old friend and fellow voyager (it must be remembered that Bennillong returned from England with the governor in His Majesty's ship Reliance), to be ill treated by them on any false pretence; and that he was determined to drive every native away from Sydney who should attempt it. This threat had a good effect. Many of them were much alarmed when they saw in what manner and by whom Bennillong was attended; and to be driven from a place whence they derived so many comforts, and so much shelter in bad weather, would have been severely felt by most of them.

[* Adjacent to the town of Sydney.]

In the first part of the month the weather was not very good; about the middle some showers fell very seasonably for the harvest; and towards the latter part the regular land and sea breezes had set in, which kept the weather cool and pleasant.

November.] The month of November opened with the arrival of the Prince of Wales, victualler, from England. She had been close in with Botany Bay the preceding day; but, there being little wind, the master had been obliged to stretch out from the land during the night; and the next morning, a pilot getting on board, she was brought in. She had sailed in company with the Sylph, which also had provisions for the settlement on board, but which did not arrive until the 17th. They brought the information, that a Dutch fleet, consisting of ten sail of ships of war, bound to the East Indies had been captured off the Cape of Good Hope, by His Majesty's fleet, under Admiral Sir Geo. Keith Elphinstone (now Lord Keith), which had followed them from England.

The useful regulation of numbering the different houses in the town of Sydney, particularly those in the occupation of the convicts, was followed up by another equally serviceable, which directed the inhabitants of each of the four divisions of the town (for into that number it was portioned off) to meet, and from among themselves elect three of the most decent and respectable characters, who were to be approved by the governor, and were to serve for the ensuing year as watchmen, for the purpose of enforcing a proper attention to the good order and tranquillity of their respective divisions. Many of the soldiers being allowed to occupy houses for their families in the vicinity of the barracks, the commanding officer was desired to appoint his own watchmen for the military division of the town, and to order them to report to him.

A few days previous to the arrival of the Sylph, the Colonial schooner returned from Norfolk Island, and brought letters from the Reliance, Supply, and Britannia, which ships left that island on the 25th of the last month, and the day following her arrival (the 14th) Richard Atkins, esq was directed to officiate as judge-advocate of the colony, in the absence of the gentleman who had filled that situation since the first establishment of the settlement, and who had now proceeded to England in the Britannia.

This judicial appointment having taken place, a criminal court was held on the 23rd, and continued sitting, by adjournment, until the 29th, when sentence of death was passed upon eight prisoners who were capitally convicted; one, of the wilful murder of the man whose body had been found on the north shore the 16th of last month, and seven of robbing the public store-houses at Sydney, and the settlement at the Hawkesbury. Two others were found guilty of manslaughter.

Of these miserable people five were executed pursuant to the sentence of the court. At Sydney*, Francis Morgan, for wilful murder, with Martin McEwen (a soldier) and John Lawler (a convict), for robbing the public stores. Matthew McNally and Thomas Doyle, convicts, suffered at Parramatta, on the following day, for the same offence.

[* On the 30th of November, and the others on the 9th and 10th of December.]

Having thus satisfied the public justice of the country, the governor extended the hand of mercy to the three others who had been capitally convicted of the same crime, viz John McDouall (another soldier), Thomas Inville, and Michael Doland (convicts), by granting them a conditional pardon.

It was much to be lamented, that these people were not to be deterred by any example from the practice of robbing the public stores, which had of late been more frequent than heretofore, and for which there could not be admitted the shadow of an excuse; as the whole of the inhabitants of every description were at this very time on a full and liberal allowance of provisions and clothing, neither of which were in any scarcity in the settlement. But the cause was to be found in the too great indulgence in the use of spirituous liquors which had been obtained among them for a considerable time past. The different capital crimes which had lately been brought before the court of criminal judicature, together with the various petty offences that daily came under the cognisance of the magistrates, did not proceed from an insufficiency either of food or clothing; but from an inordinate desire of possessing, by any means whatsoever, those articles with which they might be able to procure spirits, 'that source--as the governor expressed himself in an order which he published directly after these executions--that source of the misfortunes of all those whom the laws of their country, and the justice that was due to others, had launched into eternity, surrounded with the crimes of an ill-spent life.'

The court having ordered that Francis Morgan should be hung in chains upon the small island which is situated in the middle of the harbour, and named by the natives Mat-te-wan-ye, a gibbet was accordingly erected, and he was hung there, exhibiting an object of much greater terror to the natives, than to the white people, many of whom were more inclined to make a jest of it; but to the natives his appearance was so frightful--his clothes shaking in the wind, and the creaking of his irons, added to their superstitious ideas of ghosts (for these children of ignorance imagined that, like a ghost, this man might have the power of taking hold of them by the throat), all rendering him such an alarming object to them--that they never trusted themselves near him, nor the spot on which he hung; which, until this time, had ever been with them a favourite place of resort.

The Prince of Wales, having been cleared of her cargo, sailed on the 23rd for China. Previous to her departure, the master having complained of the conduct of his ship's company, the governor appointed a day for their appearing before him; when the differences which subsisted between them were inquired into by his excellency, and settled to the satisfaction of all parties.

The public works in which the people at Sydney had been employed during this month, consisted in receiving the cargoes of the two victuallers, and in clearing out the tanks or reservoirs for water, which had become a necessary work, as they never had been emptied or cleansed since they were first cut and filled in the year 1792.*

[* The principal tank contained about 7996 gallons of water. Vide Vol I, Chapter XVII. "The works during this month . . ."]

December.] On the 6th of December the Sylph, having been discharged from government employ, proceeded on her voyage to China. On searching her, two male convicts were found concealed, who were brought on shore, and punished for their attempt to escape from the place of their transportation.

The ill success with which