Le Naturaliste at Sydney.
Boullanger's boat party.
Curious conduct of Baudin.
Le Naturaliste sails for Mauritius, but returns to Port Jackson.
Re-union of Baudin's ships.
Hospitality of Governor King.
Peron's impressions of the British settlement.
Morand, the banknote forger.
Baudin shows his charts and instructions to King.
Departure of the French ships.
Rumours as to their objects.
King's prompt action.
The Cumberland sent after them.
Acting Lieutenant Robbins at King Island.
The flag incident.
Baudin's letters to King.
His protestations.
Views on colonisation.
Le Naturaliste sails for Europe.
Le Naturaliste had been unable to rejoin her consort after the tempest of
March 7 and 8. She being a slow sailer, the risk of the two vessels
parting company was constant, and as there had already been one
separation, before the sojourn at Timor, Baudin should have appointed a
rendezvous. But he had neither taken this simple precaution, nor had he
even intimated to Captain Hamelin the route that he intended to pursue.
When, therefore, the storm abated, the commander of the second ship
neither knew where to look for Le Geographe, nor had he any certain
information to enable him to follow her.
Before making up his mind as to what he should do, Captain Hamelin had
the good luck to pick up an open boat containing Boullanger, one of the
scientific staff of Le Geographe, a lieutenant, and eight sailors. They
were absent from the ship when the storm burst, and Baudin had sailed
away without them. His conduct on this occasion had been inexplicable.
Boullanger and his party had gone out in the boat to chart a part of the
coast with more detail than was possible from the deck of the corvette.
But they had not been away more than a quarter of an hour, according to
Peron, when Baudin, "without any apparent reason," bore off the coast.
Then came the tempest, night fell, the following days were too stormy for
putting off another boat to search for the missing men; and in the end,
Baudin left them to their fate. They had no chart or compass, merely
enough food and water to last for a day, and were abandoned on an
uninhabited coast, in an open boat, in bitterly cold, squally weather,
with the rain falling in sheets at frequent intervals. Here again,
British kindness saved the Frenchmen. Before having the good fortune to
perceive the sails of Le Naturaliste, the starved, drenched, and
miserable men had attracted the attention of a sealing brig, the
Snow-Harrington, from Sydney. Her skipper, Campbell, took them on board,
supplied them with warm food, and offered to convey them to Port Jackson
forthwith. They remained on the Snow-Harrington for the night, but on the
following morning sighted Le Naturaliste, and, after profusely thanking
Captain Campbell for his generosity, soon picked her up.
Hamelin, having no instructions as to where he should go, resolved to
devote himself to work in Bass Strait. Eight days were spent in
Westernport, the limit of Bass's discoveries in January 1798; and the
name French Island preserves the memory of their researches there. They
found the soil fertile, the vegetation abundant, the timber plentiful;
the port was, they considered, "one of the most beautiful that it would
be possible to find, and it unites all the advantages which will make it
some day a precious possession."
But the supplies on board Le Naturaliste were becoming exhausted, and,
being still without news of his chief, Hamelin decided to sail for Port
Jackson. He arrived there on April 24. As far as he knew, however, the
war between England and France still raged. News of the Treaty of Amiens
was not received at Sydney till the middle of June. He was therefore
gravely concerned about the reception that would be accorded him. He had
his passport, which protected him from molestation, but he feared that
the British would "at least refuse him succour," of which he was
desperately in need. Evidently the Snow-Harrington had not communicated
to him the same welcome news as the sealing craft had given to Baudin,
concerning the instructions of King George's Government.
How different was his welcome from his anticipation! He found "nothing
but sweet peace and gentle visitation." "The English received him, from
the first instant, with that great and cordial generosity which the
perfection of European civilisation can alone explain, and which it alone
can produce. The most distinguished houses in the colony were thrown open
to our companions, and during the entire length of their sojourn, they
experienced that delicate and affectionate hospitality, which honours
equally those who bestow and those who receive it." So Peron testified;
but one cannot transcribe his words without a reflection on the sort of
"European hospitality" that Matthew Flinders received by way of contrast
when he was compelled to seek, shelter in Mauritius.
Le Naturaliste was lying at anchor when Flinders' arrived with the
Investigator in May. Learning from him of the meeting with Le Geographe
in Encounter Bay in the previous month, and inferring that Baudin would
sail for Mauritius after finishing what he had to do on the southern
coast, Hamelin determined also to make his way to the French colony. He
left Sydney harbour on May 18, with the intention of rounding the
southern extremity of Tasmania, and striking across the Indian Ocean from
that point. But here again fearful storms were encountered. "The sea was
horrible; the winds blew with fury and in squalls; torrents of rain fell
incessantly"; and, increasing the misfortunes, the westerly winds were so
strong at the time when the ship was endeavouring to turn westward, that
no headway could be made. Hamelin's men were already on short rations,
but even so the supplies would not suffice for a voyage to Mauritius,
unless a fairly rapid passage could be made. The contrary winds, fogs,
and storms of "the roaring forties" offered no such assurance; and the
French captain, casting a "longing, lingering look behind" at the
comforts and hospitalities of Port Jackson, determined to double back on
his tracks. He re-traversed the east coast of Tasmania, and entered Port
Jackson for the second time on July 3, to find that his chief and the
leading ship of the expedition had been snugly berthed there during the
past fortnight. "And so," Peron comments, "were united for the second
time, and by the most inconceivable luck, two ships which, owing to the
obstinacy of the commandant, had had no appointed rendezvous, and were
twice forced to navigate independently at two periods of the voyage when
it would have been most advantageous for them to act in concert."
As the two French vessels lay at Sydney for nearly six months, during
which time the officers and men mingled freely with the population of the
colony, whilst the naturalists and artists occupied themselves busily
with the work of their special departments, the occurrences have a
two-fold interest for one who wishes to appreciate the significance of
Baudin's expedition. There is, first, the interest arising from the
observations of so intelligent a foreign observer as Peron* was,
concerning the British colony within fifteen years after its foundation;
and there is, secondly, the special interest pertaining to the reception
and treatment of the expedition by the governing authorities, their
suspicions as to its motives, and the consequences which arose therefrom.
(* Curiously enough, there was another Peron who visited Port Jackson in
a French ship in 1796, and gave an interesting account of it in a book
which he wrote--Memoires du Capitaine Peron, two volumes Paris 1824. But
the two men were not related. The nautical Captain Peron was born at
Brest in 1769.)
Apart from Peron's writings, we have a considerable body of documentary
material, in the form of letters and despatches, which must be
considered. We cannot complain of an insufficiency of evidence. It covers
the transactions with amplitude; it reveals purposes fully; the story is
clear.
What Peron saw of the infant settlement filled him with amazement and
admiration. "How could we fail to be surprised at the state of that
interesting and flourishing colony," cried the naturalist. It was only so
recently as January 26, 1788, that Captain Arthur Phillip had entered the
commodious and beautiful harbour which is not eclipsed by any on the
planet. Yet the French found there plentiful evidences of prosperity and
comfort, and of that adaptable energy which lies at the root of all
British success in colonisation. Master Thorne, in the sixteenth century,
expressed the resolute spirit of that energy in a phrase: "There is no
land uninhabitable, nor sea innavigable"; and in every part of the globe
this British spirit has applied itself to many a land that looked
hopeless at first, and has frequently found it to be one:
"whose rich feet are mines of gold,
Whose forehead knocks against the roof of stars."
We need hardly concern ourselves with Peron's survey of the
administrative system, social factors, education, commerce, agriculture,
fisheries,, finance, and political prospects, valuable as these are for
the student of Australian history. Nor would it further our purpose to
extract at length his views on the reformative efficacy of the convict
system, as to which he was certainly over sanguine. The benevolent
naturalist dealt with the convicts in the next paragraph but one from
that in which he had described the growing wool trade; and it would
almost seem that observations which he had intended to make relative to
sheep and lambs had by chance strayed amongst the enthusiastic sentences
in which he related how transportation humanised criminals. "All these
unfortunates, lately the refuse and shame of their country, have become
by the most inconceivable of metamorphoses, laborious cultivators, happy
and peaceful citizens"; "nowhere does one hear of thieves and murderers";
"the most perfect security prevails throughout the colony"; "redoubtable
brigands, who were so long the terror of the Government of their country,
and were repulsed from the breast of European society, have, under
happier influences, cast aside their anti-social manners"; and so forth.
On this subject Peron is by no means a witness whom the sociologist can
trust; though it should not escape notice that the generous temper in
which he described what he saw of the convict system in operation, and
his view of it as a noble experiment in reformation, indicate his desire
to appraise sympathetically the uses to which the British were putting
their magnificent possessions in the South Seas.
Captain Baudin's impressions of the young colony, contained in his letter
to Jussieu,* (* Moniteur, 22nd Fructidor, Revolutionary Year 11.
(September 9, 1803).) are also interesting, and may with advantage be
quoted, as they appear to have escaped the attention of previous writers.
"I could not regard without admiration," he wrote, "the immense work that
the English have done during the twelve years that they have been
established at Port Jackson. Although it is true that they commenced with
large resources ["grands moyens"; but, indeed, they did not!] and
incurred great expenditure, it is nevertheless difficult to conceive how
they have so speedily attained to the state of splendour and comfort in
which they now find themselves. It is true that Nature has done much for
them in the beauty and security of the harbour upon which their principal
establishment is erected; but the nature of the soil in the vicinity has
compelled them to penetrate the interior of the country to find land
suitable for the various crops which abundantly furnish them with the
means of subsistence, and enable them to supply the wants of the European
vessels which the fisheries and commerce attract to this port."
The French visitors were far more genial in their view of the affairs of
the colony than many British writers have been. It was concerning this
very period that Dr. Lang said that the population consisted, apart from
convicts, "chiefly of those who sold rum and those who drank it."
The reader must not, however, be hurried away from the subject of the
convict population without the pleasure of an introduction to a
delightful rascal, under sentence for forgery, with whom Peron had an
interview. The ironical humour of the passage will lighten a page; and
the plausible character revealed in it might have escaped from a comedy
of Moliere. Morand was his name, and his crime--"son seul crime," wrote
Peron in italics--was in having "wished to associate himself with the
Bank of England without having an account there."
Morand shall be permitted to tell, in his own bland, ingenuous way, how,
like a patriot, he tried to achieve financially what Bonaparte failed to
do by military genius; and doubtless in after years he reflected that if
his own efforts brought him to Sydney Cove, Napoleon's landed him at St.
Helena.
"The war," said Morand, "broke out between Great Britain and France; the
forces of the two nations were grappling; but it appeared to me to be
easier to destroy our rival by finance than by arms. I resolved,
therefore, as a good patriot, to undertake that ruin, and to accomplish
it in the very heart of London. If I had succeeded," he cried with
enthusiasm, "France would have held me in the greatest honour; and
instead of being branded as a brigand, I should have been proclaimed the
avenger of my country. Scarcely had I arrived in England when I commenced
my operations; and at first they succeeded beyond all my hopes. Assisted
by an Irishman not less skilful than myself, and who, like me, was
actuated by a noble patriotism, desiring even more fervently than I did
the downfall of England, I was soon enabled to counterfeit the notes of
the Bank with such perfection that it was even difficult for us to
distinguish those which came from our own press from the genuine paper. I
was at the very point of a triumph; all my preparations were made for
inundating England with our manufactured notes; nothing was wanting
except some information in regard to numbering them--when my companion,
whom up till then I had regarded as AN HONEST MAN,* (* The italics are
Peron's.) took it into his head to steal some of the notes, which were as
yet defective, inasmuch as they lacked a few trifling but indispensable
formalities. He was arrested almost immediately; and as he had behaved
dishonourably towards me, he did not hesitate to relapse into sin in
another aspect. He revealed everything to the authorities; I was arrested
and plunged into prison with him; all my instruments, all our bank notes,
were seized--and Great Britain was saved from the ruin which I had
prepared for her!
"Evident as were the proofs of our project, I did not despair, thanks to
the nature of the criminal laws of England, of escaping death; but such
were the feebleness and fright of my wretched partner, that I had no
doubt of our common downfall if I were compelled to appear before the
tribunals in association with that cowardly wretch. To obviate the
aggravation of my own misfortunes, which could not have prevented his, I
determined to endeavour to get rid of him; and, as the author of both our
disasters, it was quite right that he should suffer. In a speech to him
that was very pathetic, therefore, I tried to prove to him, that, our
death being inevitable, we had nothing better to think about than how
best to sustain the sadness and ignominy that had come upon us; and that,
death for death, it was better to fall like men of honour than under the
hand of the executioner. The Irishman was moved, but not yet resolved. I
then made him feel that if his own infamy did not touch him, he ought at
least to spare his children the disgrace of being pointed at as the
offspring of one who had been hanged; and that, if he had not been able
to leave them wealth, he should at least, by an act of generous devotion,
save them from that shame.
"These last reflections inflamed the Irishman with a fine courage. We
managed to procure a strong corrosive acid; I feigned to take some of it;
but he took it really, and died; when, disembarrassed from that silly
rascal, I avoided the gallows which assuredly awaited me had I been tried
with him. I was, instead, sentenced to transportation to this colony,
where I am condemned to pass the remainder of my days. But the period of
my servitude in prison is now finished; I follow with advantage two of my
early trades, those of goldsmith and clockmaker.* (* He was an
emancipist; that is, a convict liberated from prison confinement on
probation. His two "knaves" were also convicts. Transported men could
often earn their liberty by exemplary behaviour. When Flinders went north
in the Investigator, he was allowed to take nine convicts with him as
part of his crew, on the promise that a good report from him would earn
them their liberty; but that experiment was not a marked success. Morand,
as I understand it, escaped the death penalty because the suicide of his
companion prevented his being tried for conspiracy. The punishment for
forgery was transportation.) The two knaves who work for me increase my
profits threefold. In a few years I shall be one of the wealthiest
proprietors in the colony; and I should be one of the happiest if I were
not constantly tormented with regret at having so unfortunately failed in
an honourable enterprise, and at being regarded on that account as a vile
criminal, even by those among you, my compatriots, who cannot know the
noble principles [sic "nobles principes"!] which actuated my conduct, or
who cannot appreciate them."
As the good Peron does not mention discovering that his pockets had been
picked after his interview with this choice and humorous rogue, it will
be agreed that he escaped from the interview with singular good fortune.
The naturalist presented a lively picture of the port of Sydney, which
even in those very early days was becoming a place of consequence. There
were ships from the Thames and the Shannon, brought out to engage in
whaling, which was an important industry then and for many years after;
ships from China; ships laden with coal bound for India and the Cape;
ships engaged in the Bass Strait sealing trade; ships which pursued a
profitable but risky business in contraband with the Spanish South
American colonies; ships fitting out for the North American fur trade;
ships destined for enterprises among the South Sea Islands; and, lastly,
there was the ship of "the intrepid M. Flinders" getting ready to
continue the navigations of that explorer in northern and north-western
Australia. "All this ensemble of great operations, all these movements of
vessels, give to these shores a character of importance and activity that
we did not expect to meet with in regions so little known in Europe, and
our interest redoubled with our admiration." Above all, one is glad to
notice, Peron was interested in the boat in which George Bass had
accomplished that "audacieuse navigation," the discovery of Bass Strait,
in 1797 and 1798. It was, at the date of this visit to Sydney, preserved
in the port with a sort of "religious respect," and small souvenirs made
out of a portion of its keel were regarded as precious relics by those
who possessed them. Governor King believed that he could not make a more
honourable present to Baudin than a piece of the wood of the boat
enclosed in a silver frame, upon which he had had engraved a short
statement of the facts of Bass's remarkable exploit.
Throughout the long stay made by Baudin's vessels, the utmost kindness
was shown to the whole company by the British. The governor himself, and
the principal citizens, were hospitable; the scientists were permitted to
go wherever they chose; and guides were provided for them on their inland
excursions; and the scurvy-tortured sailors were attended by Dr. Thomson,
the chief medical officer of the colony, with "the most touching
activity." In addition to this, Governor King gave the French commandant
unlimited credit to obtain whatever stores he needed, even supplying him
with official requisition forms which he could fill up at his own
pleasure; "and these schedules, without any other guarantee than the
signature of the commandant, were accepted by all the inhabitants with
the most entire confidence." The generosity of King in this respect was
all the greater, in that the Government stores were for the time being
short of requirements, and the governor had to reduce temporarily the
rations of his own people in order to share with the French. The
settlement was not yet self-supporting, and the delay of supply ships,
through storms or other hindrances, meant "short commons" for all. At the
time of the arrival of the French, the stock of wheat was very low,
because floods on the Hawkesbury had destroyed a large part of the
harvest; and to meet the requirements of one hundred and seventy extra
men taxed the resources of the administration somewhat severely.
But what King had to offer he gave with a graceful liberality. "Although
you will not find abundant supplies of what are most acceptable to those
coming off so long a voyage, yet I offer you a sincere welcome," he had
written; and, happy as he was to be able to announce that news of the
peace had been received on the day previous to Baudin's arrival--no doubt
the vessel that brought the despatch reported to the governor that Le
Geographe was near the heads--"yet the continuance of the war would have
made no difference in my reception of your ships, and offering every
relief and assistance in my power." Not only Baudin and Peron
acknowledged gratefully the fine courtesy shown by the British, but other
members of the expedition also expressed themselves as thankful for the
consideration extended to them. Bailly the geologist made an excursion to
the Hawkesbury and the mountains, in the interest of his own science,
when boats, oarsmen, guide, interpreter, and everything were furnished by
the Government, "our chief having refused us even the food necessary for
the journey." No more could have been done for a British expedition.
Baudin obtained permission for his officers to erect their tents for the
making of astronomical observations at the same place as had been
appointed for the tents of Flinders' officers, one of whom, delegated for
this service, was the young John Franklin. This proximity of men engaged
in similar work seems to have extended friendly feelings amongst them. It
was possibly on occasions of their meeting in this manner that Flinders
showed his charts to Baudin to illustrate what the Investigator had
already done; and it was after an examination of the drawings that
Freycinet made a remark that reflected the regret of a keen officer for
the procrastination that conduced to the failure of their own expedition
in a geographical sense. "Ah, captain," said Freycinet, "if we had not
been kept so long picking up shells and collecting butterflies at Van
Diemen's Land, you would not have discovered the south coast before us."*
(* Flinders, Voyage 1 190.) That was a mild statement of the case. If
Baudin had applied himself to his task of exploration with diligence
intelligently directed, he would have discovered the south coast before
Flinders reached Australian waters. It was at this time, also, that the
French officers learnt of the existence of Port Phillip, and probably
obtained a copy of a chart of it.
The perfect friendliness prevailing during the whole period of the stay
of the discovery ships was disturbed by only two incidents, neither of
which is of surviving importance. One consisted of a charge against
junior officers of having sold ashore rum which had been purchased, by
permission of the governor, for use during the voyage. The case was
investigated, the accusations broke down, and apologies were made to the
officers affected. The second incident arose out of a misunderstanding of
the French method of honouring the British flag on King George's
birthday. It was an affair of no consequence, and a brief explanation
soon put matters right. A British officer deemed the French mode of
"dressing" their ships to be disrespectful, but Baudin was able to show
that what was done was in accordance with the regulations of his
country's navy, which provided that "the place of honour for the flag of
a foreign nation which we intend to distinguish, must be on the starboard
of the main-yard arm." The fact that these two trivial incidents were the
only recorded elements of misunderstanding during a period of nearly six
months, at a time when animosities between English and French people--and
especially sailors--were extraordinarily acute, testifies to the good
manners of the French, the hospitable feeling of the English, and the
pleasant temper of all parties.
Governor King, notwithstanding his benevolent disposition, was mindful of
his responsibilities. Before a French sail was sighted he had been
advised of the fact that Baudin's ships were to visit Australian waters,
and it is quite clear that, in common with most of his contemporaries, he
was very suspicious of Gallic designs. He was a naval officer himself,
and British naval men at that period were pretty well unanimously of
Nelson's opinion, when he wrote to Hugh Elliot, "I never trust a Corsican
or a Frenchman; I would give the devil ALL the good ones to take the
remainder." The arrival of Flinders in the Investigator on May 9, and his
reports as to the presence of the French on the southern coast, made the
governor wary and watchful; and on May 21 he wrote to the Duke of
Portland suggesting the establishment of a colony at the newly discovered
Port Phillip. "I am more solicitous respecting forming this settlement
from the probability of the French having it in contemplation to make a
settlement on the north-west coast, which I cannot help thinking is the
principal object of their researches."* (* Historical Records of New
South Wales. The north-west coast referred to is, of course, north-west
Tasmania.) The letter exhibits the suspicion in King's mind, and his
alertness to frustrate any attempt to threaten the interests and security
of the colony under his charge by the planting of a foreign settlement in
its neighbourhood.
But Captain Baudin was very frank. In his first letter to the governor,
dated June 23, and written on the day after his arrival in port, he
requested permission to remain for some time, "as we all want a little
rest, having been at sea for nine consecutive months"; and he added the
assurance that "I shall at the first interview it will be your pleasure
to grant me, furnish you with all the information which may be of
interest to you, concerning the expedition which I am making by order of
the French Government."
Baudin kept his promise. He handed over to King his journals, "in which
were contained all his orders from the first idea of his voyage taking
place," and also the whole of the drawings made on the voyage.* (* King's
letter to Banks, Historical Records of New South Wales 5 133.) The
governor was able to examine these at his leisure, and that he made use
of the opportunity is apparent from his brief summary of the orders. "His
object was, by his orders, the collection of objects of natural history
from this country at large, and the geography of Van Diemen's Land. The
south and south-west coast, as well as the north and north-west coast,
were his particular objects. It does not appear by his orders that he was
at all instructed to touch here, which I do not think he intended if not
obliged by distress." Evidently he did not, as was indicated by Hamelin's
resolve to go to Mauritius in May. King had to confess, after a perusal
of the papers, that he was left with merely "general ideas" on the nature
of the French visit to Van Diemen's Land. These, however, he communicated
to Baudin, who "informed me that he knew of no idea that the French had
of settling on any part or side of this continent."* (* King's letter to
Banks, Historical Records of New South Wales 5 133.) It does not appear
that the governor showed any of the French papers or charts to Flinders,
whose statements in his book indicate that he had not seen them.
The governor, then, commenced his relations with the French commandant by
being doubtful and vigilant; but frequent personal interviews, and an
examination of the whole of the ships' orders, journals, and charts,
convinced him that the suspicions were not justified, and that there were
no designs, about which he need be concerned, behind the pacific
professions of the voyagers. From this time forth Baudin and King met
almost daily; and from the beginning to the end of the visit the governor
had not the faintest reason for doubting the good faith of his guests. On
July 11 he gave his authority for Baudin to purchase the little
colonial-built Casuarina, with which to explore shallow waters, thus
facilitating the pursuit of the objects of the expedition.
Baudin's letter of farewell was a worthy acknowledgment of the benefits
he had received. On leaving the colony," he wrote, "I bequeath to the
French nation the duty of offering to you the thanks which are due to you
as governor for all you have done as well for ourselves as for the
success of the expedition; but it is for me to assure you how valuable
your friendship has been and will ever be to me...It will be a
satisfaction for me to correspond with you from whatever country events
may bring me to. It is, as you know, the only means which men who love
and esteem one another can make use of, and it will be the one of which
we shall reciprocally avail ourselves if, on your part, I have been able
by my conduct to inspire you with the feelings which yours has inspired
me with."* (* Historical Records 4 1006.) Baudin also wrote a general
letter, addressed to the administrators of the French colonies of
Mauritius and Reunion, setting forth the aids which Governor King had
rendered to his people, and expressing the hope that if at any time a
British ship whose commander carried a copy of the letter should be
compelled to call at either island, it would be shown that the French
were not less hospitable and benevolent.* (* Ibid 4 968.) Twelve signed
copies of this letter* (* Ibid page 133.) were given to King, who,
however, does not seem to have given one to Flinders when he sailed with
the Cumberland. It is doubtful whether the possession of one would have
made any difference in General Decaen's treatment of the English
navigator, as he was quite well aware of the services rendered to
Baudin's expedition by the British at Port Jackson. In fact, it is not
known that King made any use of the document. A copy of it was found
among his papers after his death.
It was not till after Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste had sailed away
(November 18) that a piece of gossip came to King's ears that caused him
uneasiness. According to the rumour, Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson, of the
New South Wales corps, had stated that one of the French officers had
told him that one of the purposes of the expedition was to fix upon a
site for a settlement in Van Diemen's Land. Paterson did not report this
story to the governor, as it was his obvious duty to do were it true that
he had been so informed. Had he reported it, King could have confronted
Baudin with witnesses before his ships left the harbour. "I should have
required a positive explanation from the French commodore, and would have
taken a vessel up to have preceded any attempt of that kind they might
have in contemplation."
King sent for Paterson, and questioned him as to what he had heard. His
excuse for not personally communicating the story which he had allowed to
drift to the governor's ears by chance, was that he thought that what he
had heard must have come to King's knowledge also: a supine and almost
flippant explanation of neglect in a matter which was serious if the
allegations were true. He affirmed also that one of the French officers
had pointed out to him on a chart the very place where they intended to
settle. It was in what is now known as Frederick Henry Bay, in the south
of Tasmania.* (* Backhouse Walker, Early Tasmania page 15.)
The governor took prompt action. He at once fitted out the armed schooner
Cumberland--the vessel in which Flinders afterwards sailed to
Mauritius--and placed her under the command of Acting-Lieutenant Robbins.
She carried a company of seventeen persons in all, including the
Surveyor-General, Charles Grimes; for Robbins was also instructed to take
the schooner on to Port Phillip after finding the French, and to have a
complete survey made.
Robbins was directed to ascertain where the French ships were; to hand to
Baudin a letter, and to lay formal claim to the whole of Van Diemen's
Land for the British Crown; to erect the British flag wherever he landed;
and to sow seeds in anticipation of the needs of settlers, whom it was
intended to send in the Porpoise at a later date. It was a bold move, for
had Baudin's intentions been such as he was now suspected of
entertaining, the one hundred and seventy men under his command would
surely have had little difficulty in disposing of the handful whom young
Robbins led.
But no assertion of force was necessary at all, and one can hardly read
the letters and despatches bearing upon the incident without feeling that
the proceedings fairly lent themselves to the ridicule which the
nimble-witted French officers applied to them. Baudin and his people had
not gone to Frederick Henry Bay; they had not planted the tricolour
anywhere in Tasmania; they had not even called at any port in that
island. Instead, they were discovered quietly charting, catching insects,
and collecting plants at Sea Elephants Bay, on the east of King Island,
which, it will be remembered, they had missed on the former part of their
voyage.
But Acting-Lieutenant Robbins was young, and was surcharged with a sense
of the great responsibility cast upon him. A more experienced officer,
having delivered his message, might have waited quietly alongside the
French until they finished their work, and then seen them politely "off
the premises," so to speak; in which event Governor King's purpose would
have been fully served and no offence would have been given. But instead
of that, after lying at anchor beside Le Geographe for six days, on
friendly and even convivial terms with the French, Robbins landed with
his army of seventeen stalwarts, fastened the British flag to a tree over
the tents of the naturalists, had a volley fired by three marines--he was
doing the thing in style--and, calling for three cheers, which were
lustily given, formally asserted possession of King Island. There was no
need to do anything of the kind, for the island had been discovered four
years before, and was at this very time occupied by British people, who
used it as the headquarters of the Bass Strait sealing industry.
Robbins' action, though strictly in accordance with the instructions
given to him on the supposition that the French would be found in
occupation of territory in Tasmania, was, in the circumstances, tactless
to the point of rudeness, though it caused less indignation than
amusement among them. It is to be noticed that the flag of the Republic
had not been erected over the tents of the visitors, nor anywhere on the
island. Otherwise, we may suppose, Acting-Lieutenant Robbins would have
gone a step further and pulled it down; and what would have happened then
we can but surmise.
Baudin was on his ship, which was anchored a little way off the shore,
when the "hurrahs" of the assertive seventeen directed his attention to
Robbins' solemn proceedings. In a private letter to King he described
what had happened as a "childish ceremony," which had been made more
ridiculous "from the manner in which the flag was placed, the head being
downwards, and the attitude not very majestic. Having occasion to go on
shore that day, I saw for myself what I am telling you. I thought at
first it might have been a flag which had been used to strain water and
then hung out to dry; but seeing an armed man walking about, I was
informed of the ceremony which had taken place that morning."* (* Baudin
to King, Historical Records 5 829.) He asserted that Petit, one of his
artists, had made an amusing caricature of the ceremony, but that he,
Baudin, had torn it up, and directed that it was not to be repeated.
The tone of Baudin's letters betrayed more annoyance than his language
actually expressed; but assuming that his professions were true, it must
be admitted that he had reason to feel offended. He had left Sydney on
excellent terms with the governor, who had not only wished well to his
undertaking, but had assisted in its prosecution by enabling the
Casuarina to be purchased. He now found himself pursued by a youthful and
exuberant officer, presented with a letter which suggested intentions
that he had explicitly disavowed, and the British flag was virtually
flapped in his face in a somewhat unmannerly fashion. King's letter to
him explained the rumour which had led to the despatch of the Cumberland,
and contained the following passage: "You will easily imagine that if any
information of that kind had reached me before your departure, I should
have requested an explanation; but as I knew nothing of it, and at
present totally disbelieving anything of the kind ever being thought of,
I consider it but proper to give you this information."
Baudin wrote two letters in reply, one officially, and the second, by far
the more interesting document, a personal and friendly epistle. In the
official answer he said: "The story you have heard, of which I suspect
Mr. Kemp, captain in the New South Wales corps, to be the author, is
without foundation, nor do I believe that the officers and naturalists
who are on board can have given cause for it by their conversation. But
in any case you may rest well assured that if the French Government had
ordered me to remain some days either in the north or south of Van
Diemen's Land, discovered by Abel Tasman, I would have stopped there
without keeping my intention secret from you." Baudin's additional
statement that, prior to the flag incident, he had taken care to place in
four prominent parts of the island "proofs sufficient to show the
priority of our visit," must, however, have brought a smile to King's
lips, and certainly makes one wonder what Baudin meant by "priority";
since King Island had previously been visited by Flinders, had been fully
charted, and was the frequent resort of sealers. As a matter of fact, the
Snow-Harrington, which had succoured Boullanger and his boat crew of
abandoned Frenchmen in the previous March, had, after that fortunate
meeting, stayed at the island ten weeks, when there were killed the
enormous number of six hundred sea-elephants and four thousand three
hundred seals.* (* Backhouse Walker, Early Tasmania page 21.) Besides,
Baudin assured King that "I intend" that the island "shall continue to
bear your name," forgetful that it would not have had a name already if
his own visit had been "prior" to others.
The second, unofficial, letter which Baudin wrote to the governor
repeated his positive assurances that the suspicions concerning his
objects were without foundation, but on account of the personal regard
which he entertained for King, he determined to tell him frankly his
opinion regarding the forming of European settlements and the
dispossessing of native peoples. The view expressed by him bears the
impress of the "ideas of '89," ideas which laid stress on the rights of
man and human equality, and professed for the backward races a special
fraternal tenderness. "To my way of thinking," said the commodore, "I
have never been able to conceive that there was any justice or equity on
the part of Europeans, in seizing, in the name of their governments, a
land for the first time, when it is inhabited by men who have not always
deserved the title of savages, or cannibals, which has been given to
them, while they were but children of nature, and just as little savages
as are actually your Scotch Highlanders* (* Had Baudin been reading about
the Sage of Lichfield? "Well, sir, God made Scotland." "Certainly,"
replied Dr. Johnson, "but we must always remember that he made it for
Scotchmen; and comparisons are odious, Mr. Strahan, but God made Hell."
Caledonian Societies, of which there are many in various parts of the
world, will observe with gratitude Baudin's concession that Highlanders
did not eat their fellowmen.) or our peasants of Brittany, who, if they
do not eat their fellowmen, are nevertheless just as objectionable. From
this it appears to me that it would be infinitely more glorious for your
nation, as for mine, to mould for society the inhabitants of the
respective countries over whom they have rights, instead of wishing to
dispossess those who are so far removed by immediately seizing the soil
which they own and which has given them birth. These remarks are no doubt
impolitic, but at least reasonable from the facts; and had this principle
been generally adopted you would not have been obliged to form a colony
by means of men branded by the law, and who have become criminals through
the fault of the Government which has neglected and abandoned them to
themselves. It follows, therefore, that not only have you to reproach
yourselves with an injustice in seizing their lands, but also in
transporting on a soil where the crimes and the diseases of Europeans
were unknown, all that could retard the progress of civilisation, but
which has served as a pretext to your Government. I have no knowledge of
the claims which the French Government may have upon Van Diemen's Land,
nor of its designs; but I think that its title will not be any better
grounded than yours."
After this taste of Baudin's reflections, it is really a pity that we
possess so little from his pen. Had he lived to be the historian of the
expedition, his work would have been very different in character from
that of Peron; though it is hardly likely that an elaboration of the
views expressed in the personal letter to King would have been favoured
with the imprint "de l'Imprimerie Imperiale." Peron's anthropological
studies among Australian aboriginals led him to conclusions totally at
variance with the nebulous "state of nature" theories of the time, which
pictured the civilised being as a degenerate from man unspoiled by law,
government, and convention. The tests and measurements of blacks which he
made, and compared with those of French and English people, showed him
that even physically the native was an inferior animal; his observations
of ways of life in the wild Bush taught him that organised society, with
all its restraints, was preferable to the supposed freedom of savagery;
and he deduced the philosophical conclusion that the "state of nature"
was in truth a state of subjection to pitiless forces, only endurable by
beings who felt not the bondage because they knew of no more ennobled
condition.* (* A more distinguished man was cured of his early
Rousseauism by an acquaintance with peoples far higher in the scale of
advancement than Australian aboriginals. "Up to sixteen years of age,"
said Napoleon in a scrap of conversation recorded by Roederer, "I would
have fought for Rousseau against all the friends of Voltaire. Now it is
the contrary. I have been especially disgusted with Rousseau since I have
seen the East. Savage man is a dog.") Baudin carried away from his visits
to the abodes of untutored races no truer notion than came from his own
unsubstantiated sentiments, nourished by no contact with facts, but
imbibed uncritically from the rhetorical rhapsodists of Rousseau's
school. Crabbe summed them up in half a dozen lines:
"Tis the savage state
Is only good, and ours sophisticate!
See! the free creatures in their woods and plains,
Where without laws each happy monarch reigns,
King of himself--while we a number dread,
By slaves commanded and by dunces led."
Peron spoke of savage peoples, not with less sympathy but with a sympathy
grounded on knowledge; and he wasted no words about the "injustice" of
occupying lands which the aboriginal only used in the sense that lands
are "used" by rabbits and dingoes. Peron's appreciation of well-observed
facts gave him some political insight in the philosophical sense, and he
comprehended the development of which the country was capable. Could
Baudin's shade visit to-day the shores that he traversed more than a
century ago, he would surely acknowledge that orchards of ripening fruit,
miles of golden grain, millions of white fleeces, the cattle of a
thousand hills, great cities throbbing with immense energies, and a
commerce of ever augmenting vastness, ministering to the happiness of
free and prosperous populations, are, in the large ledger of humanity, an
abundant compensation for the disappearance of the few companies of naked
savages whom, when civilisation once invaded their ancestral haunts,
neither the agencies of government nor philanthropy could save from the
processes of decay.
The account given by Peron of the flag-raising incident was quite
accurate, but he presented his readers with a wholly untrue version of
Governor King's letter to Baudin. With the document before us, we must
doubt whether Peron ever saw it. The passage printed by him in quotation
marks bears hardly a resemblance to the courteous terms of the actual
letter, which did not contain any such threat as that "all these
countries form an integral part of the British Empire," and "it will be
my duty to oppose by every means in my power the execution of the design
you are supposed to have in view." It seems probable that Peron heard the
letter read, or its contents summarised, but, in writing, mixed up the
substance of it with blustering language which may have been used by
Acting-Lieutenant Robbins.* (* Backhouse Walker also held this view.
Early Tasmania page 18.) At all events, King used no word of menace,
while conveying plainly that the establishment of a French settlement
would require "explanation."
There is no good reason for disbelieving Baudin's disclaimer. It was
plain and candid; and there was nothing in his actions while he was in
Australian waters which belied his words. The baseless character of the
gossip promulgated by Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson, and the alleged
exhibition of the map indicating the exact spot where the French intended
to settle in Frederick Henry Bay, were disposed of by the fact that
Baudin's ships went nowhere near that place after leaving Sydney. If any
French officer did show Paterson a chart, he must have been amusing
himself by playing on the suspicions of the Englishman, who was probably
"fishing" for information. Baudin's conduct, and that of his officers,
never suggested that search for a site for settlement was part of the
mission of the expedition; and, in the face of the commodore's emphatic
denials, positive evidence, or a strong chain of facts to the contrary,
would have to be forthcoming before such a story could be entertained.
Suspicions were natural enough in face of the strained feelings, the
wars, the plots and counter-plots of diplomacy, Napoleon's menaced
invasion of England, and all the other factors that made for racial
animosity at the beginning of the nineteenth century; but viewing the
circumstances in the perspective made by the lapse of a hundred years,
cool judgment must dismiss the jealous alarms of 1802 as being unfounded.
Yet a patriotic Frenchman, as Peron was, could not witness this
remarkable growth of a new offshoot of British power in the South Seas
without regret and misgiving. "Doubtless," he commented on Robbins'
action, "that ceremony will appear silly to people who know little about
English polity; but for the statesman such formalities assume a much more
serious and important character. By these public and repeated
declarations England seems every day to fortify her pretensions, to
establish her rights, in a positive manner, and to devise pretexts to
repulse, even by force of arms, all other peoples who may wish to form
settlements in these distant countries." We shall not honour Peron the
less because he expressed an opinion so natural to a man solicitous for
his country's prestige.
It has been stated by one or two writers that the action of Robbins put
an end to the cordial relations which had previously existed between him
and the French. But that is an error. They had cause to be offended, but
the young man was treated with indulgence. Peron records that both Grimes
and Robbins visited the tents of the French after the flag incident, and
shared their frugal dinner; and Baudin informed King that, the Cumberland
having lost an anchor, his forge was at work for a whole day supplying
the wants of the British schooner--a service akin to heaping coals of
fire on the head of the zealous acting-lieutenant. At the same time,
other members of the French expedition experienced very kind treatment
from British fishermen. Faure, one of the scientific staff, was sent in a
small boat to complete a chart of the island. A violent storm compelled
him to go ashore on the western end, where he and his sailors were for
three days most hospitably entertained by sealers, who, on their
departure, forced upon them some of their finest furs as presents. "How
is it," comments Peron, "that such touching hospitality, of which voyages
offer so many examples, is nearly always exercised by men whose poverty
and roughness of character seem to impose such an obligation least upon
them. It seems that misfortune, rather than philosophy and brilliant
education, develops in mankind that noble and disinterested virtue which
induces us to minister to the woes of others."
Le Naturaliste sailed for Europe from King Island on December 8, carrying
with her all the plants and natural history specimens collected up to
date, as well as the charts. The collections were, as King wrote to Sir
Joseph Banks, "immense."* (* Historical Records 4 844.) Le Geographe and
the Casuarina left on December 27, and sailed direct for Kangaroo Island,
to resume in that neighbourhood the charting which Baudin had abandoned
in the previous year. They did not, as the logs show, make any attempt to
examine Port Phillip. Robbins and his seventeen guardians of British
rights on the Cumberland remained for some time longer making a thorough
examination; after which they sailed for Port Phillip, and Grimes made
the first complete survey of that great sheet of water.
It is only necessary to add that King reported to the Admiralty his
approval of Robbins' action, and that to "make the French commander
acquainted with my intention of settling Van Diemen's Land was all I
sought by this voyage." But it is obvious from a letter which he wrote to
Banks, after Baudin's death, and after his soul had been moved to
righteous wrath by the iniquitous treatment of Flinders--whom he so
warmly admired and so loyally aided--that suspicion, once implanted in
King's mind, was not eradicated by explicit disavowals. Had Baudin lived
another year, he said, "I think it very possible that the commodore would
most likely have visited the colony for the purpose of annihilating the
settlement." But surely here, if ever, the lines were applicable:
"In the night imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!"
Baudin, after his remarkable exploits in 1800 to 1804, was the last man
whom Napoleon would have chosen to try to annihilate a British settlement
anywhere. Rather, in such an unlikely event, would his own crew have been
in danger of annihilation from his methods.