PAPERS LEFT BEHIND. 319 The masters of the transports having left with the agents the 1788 bonds and whatever papers they received that related to the con- o July. victa, I have no account of the time for which the convicts are Traniporta- sentenced, or the dates of their convictions Some of them, by their **2?iPt??®? ' ^ ' "^ left behind. own account, have little more than a year to remain, and I am told will apply for permission to return to England or to go to India in such ships as may be willing to receive them. If lands are granted them, Government will be obliged to support them for two years ; and it is more than probable that one half of them, after that time is expired, will still want support Until I receive instructions on this head, of course, none will be permitted to leave the settle- ment j but if, when the time for which they are sentenced expires, the most abandoned and useless were permitted to go to China in Expirees any ships that may stop here, it would be a great advantage to the cwni*^° ^ settlement. The dilemma in which Phillip was placed when it was discovered that through the negligence of the Government officials and the masters of the transports, there was no means of ascertaining the terms for which the convicts had been sentenced, or even the dates of their convictions, proved an awkward one when the men concerned came forward to claim their discharge. According to the law then in force, the servitude of the prisoners had been transferred from the Crown to the masters of the transports. Transfer of who had entered into bonds for the performance of their ®*^ " ®' contracts to transport them ; and Phillip was instructed to take care, before the transports were discharged, to obtain an assignment of the servitude from the masters to himself.* The discovery that all, the official papers relating to the convictions had been left behind was no doubt made when he called upon the DM-sters to execute these assignments. Had the officials in charge of the business done their duty, he would not have been left without the necessary informa- tion. A list of the convicts sent out in the First Fleet, official list . , , of persons specifying their names, where convicted, date of conviction, transported, and the terms of their sentences, was published as an • Post, p. 483. Digitized by Google
