420 PHILLIP 1780 Governor for the questions and their answers, but Major Ross 26 August has never mentioned that business to me, and I have therefore thought it best to let it rest in its present state. This was the concluding paragraph of Phillip^s despatch^ which may be taken as an illustration of his method of Dipiomacy. dealing with matters requiring some diplomacy. While he had every right to feel annoyed with the line of conduct adopted towards him by the head of the military force, to whom, as he said, he had naturally to look for support, he contented himself with quietly reporting the proceedings to the Admiralty and the Home Office, leaving it to the Govern- ment to dispose of the matter ad it might think fit. Depend- ent on the military, as he knew himself to be, he could not Bayonets safely havc dealt with the Major as his temper would have ground. prompted him to do, and was consequently obliged to tem- porise and make concessions, instead of resenting his aggres- sions at once. But he contrived to have his own way in the end, notwithstanding; and all through the struggle he appears to have made Ross feel that he was determined to have it. This result could not have been accomplished with- out considerable tact, patience, and self-control ; for if he had been as hot-headed and irascible as his adversary, nothing could have prevented a violent collision between them. Official The extent to which official jealousy operated on Boss's ^^ ^' mind was shown in a much more ludicrous form shortly after the termination of this discussion. On the 26th August, he addressed the Governor in a formal letter Another respecting another grievance of which he had to complain ; and as it furnishes perhaps the best specimen on record gf his peculiar weaknesses, it deserves attention. In the first three paragraphs, he unconsciously shows us how inflated he was with the sense of his importance as Lieutenant- Governor, and at the same time how sensitive to anything that appeared at all likely to lessen it. His allusion to the west side of the cove " renders it necessary to explain that as soon as the settlement had been formed, Phillip placed griovanoe. Digitized by Google
