AND raS WORK. 107 own hut, and concluded by assuring his friend that although 1788-92 he might have '^ a flattering public account " he need not rely upon it ; adding that every gentleman here, two or three excepted, concurs with me in opinion, and sincerely Wsoon. wish that the expedition may be recalled/^ Surgeon White, ooionista. whose Journal is scrupulously free from any remarks cal- culated to prejudice the colony in the eyes of the British public, described it in a subsequent letter to Sir Joseph Banks as '^ a country and place so forbidden and so hate- ful as only to merit execration and curses."* He was not the only one who held that opinion ; Major Boss, in a letter to Nepean, said he did not scruple to pronounce that in the whole world there is not a worse country than what we have yet seen of this."* Phillip seems to have stood almost alone in his disregard of present privations and his confidence in the future of the country. The grievances which appeared so unendurable Looking to to the men who surrounded him, he spoke of as the little difficulty^ we have met with, which time and proper people for cultivating the land will remove." The spirit in which he had settled down to his work may be judged from the assurance he gave Lord Sydney while in the midst of his troubles : — Anxious to render a very essential service to my coontry by the establishment of a colony which, from its situation, must hereafter be a valuable acquisition to Great Britain, no perse- verance will be wanting on my part, and which consideration alone would make amends for the being surrounded by the most OcmDensa- infamous of mankind. Time will remove all difficulties. As to personal myself, I am satisfied to remain as long as my services are **^ ^**' wanted; I am serving my country, and serving the cause of humanity. ♦ Post, p. 507 ; p. 60a Digitized by Google
