116 THE DISPOSAL OF 1791 The colony is now in siich a situation that a few honest settlers Free setUora who have been bred to agriculture, being sent out> may, in a very expenditure, short time, be the means of taking off the heavy expense which ' Government has hitherto been at for supplying this colony with provisions."* To Dundas^ in March following, he wrote :— " I have, sir, in all my letters pointed out the great advantages which would attend our having a few intelligent farmers as settlers. They would do more for the colony than five hundred settlers from soldiers or convicts."t ^"to?" It will be seen from these extracts, culled from Phillip^s <"«reg»«i«>. despatches during the first four years of the life of the settlement, what importance he placed upon the introduc- tion of agricultural immigrants ; and what little heed was taken of his oft-repeated requests and warnings. The persistent manner in which the Imperial authorities ignored Phillip's recommendations in this, as in other mat- ters, forces us to the conclusion that the management of Colonial affairs at Whitehall — eo far at least as New South Wales was concerned — ^was delegated to subordinates.j: Shortly after Phillip's first despatches reached England, Grenville took charge of the Colonial Office ; but, like his predecessor, he appears to have failed to appreciate the sig- nificance of the undertaking. Neither in his voluminous miscellaneous correBpondence§ nor in his Parliamentary GrenviUe's utterances can any allusion to the colony be found. The apathy. . . . . T despatches and instructions to Phillip, which emanated from
- Historical Records, toI. i, parfc 2, p. 657. t lb., p. 697.
X Henry Taylor, who commenced his official life as a clerk in the Colonial Office, mentions in his Autobiography (toI i, p. 70), that while but a young man, and during the first decade of liis serrice, the Goremor of an important colony was recalled at his instance. The Secretary of State was, at first, not prepared for so strong a measure ; but, " Nowise discouraged by his reluctance, I proceeded to draw up an elaborate and Toluminous despatch, recapitulating the GoTemor's errors and misdoings from the commencement of his adminis- tration, and ending with his recall. The Secretary of State gare way, the despatch was signed, and the Governor came home accordingly. § See Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George III — ^By the Duke of Buckingham and Chandoo.
