and of establishing a superintendent, will, if you approve of it, be very trifling, compared with the advantages which may follow—even the pecuniary advantages: for the more decently and orderly the colony will be maintained.'
According to Joseph Holt, the Irish rebel who arrived in the colony, a prisoner, in 1800, Johnson's position was then greatly improved. Holt, in his Memoirs, says that in the same year as he arrived, the worthy clergyman returned to England, having acquired a large fortune before leaving by selling his stock and his farm of 600 acres.
We are told that Phillip entertained the officers after the inauguration ceremony, and on royal birthdays, with 'a cold collation,' and Collins relates how, on the arrival of the Second Fleet of transports, 'we learned that our beloved Sovereign had been attacked and for some months afflicted with a dangerous and alarming illness, though now happily recovered. Our distance from his person had not lessened our attachment, and the day following the receipt of this information, being the anniversary of His Majesty's birth, it was kept with every mark of distinction that was in our power. The Governor pardoned all offenders who were under confinement, or under sentence of corporal punishment; the ration was increased for that day that everyone might rejoice; at the Governor's table, where all the officers of the settlement and garrison were met, many prosperous and
