at ten and at four in the afternoon I preach at Parramatta. I fear, however, I shall not be able to continue this much longer, especially as the winter is now approaching, unless some places be erected for the purpose. Besides my public duty I have to visit the sick, which at present both at Sydney and Parramatta are a great many; numbers dying every day. Last month above sixty died, and I fear before this expires there will be again near the same number.'
It was no wonder that in such circumstances Phillip was compelled to issue an order that convicts who neglected to attend public worship without good reason would be punished by having part of their flour ration stopped. When the first church was built, Johnson himself worked upon it, and its cost was paid by him.
The chaplain wrote asking to be reimbursed for his outlay, and Grose not only refused to support the application, but did all he could to obstruct the clergyman. To such an extent was this carried that King, in a letter to the Home Department, written when Johnson resigned, said he (Johnson) 'had met with much persecution from Grose when he commanded here.'
William Wilberforce had a high opinion of the chaplain at Botany Bay. In 1794 he wrote to Dundas, who was then at the head of the Home Office, a letter which not only concerns Johnson, but, as the following extract proves, shows there were
