SETTLEMENT IN 1792. 213 Batavia, and the supply intended to be forwarded to you from l^W Calcutta, you would not, at least for the present, be in want of flour or rice. I shall, however, before the departure of the next ship,* endeavour to form the best opinion I can from your com- munications, of the exact state of the settlement in this respect ; and shall then make such preparation as may appear requisite for furnishing you with such further supplies as you may be supposed to stand in need of."t Collins alleged that when Dundas wrote this despatch. (5th July, 1791) lie had before him Phillip's letter to Gran- ville of the 17th July, 1790,t which was sent home by the Justinian, and in which the Secretary of State was informed that '^ after two years from this time we shall not want any further supply of flour." As a matter of fact, Collins was wrong ; and Dundas has been unjustly blamed. The Jus- tinian, after landing her stores, proceeded to China for teas, and did not arrive in England until some months after the Pitt had sailed. Dundas was consequently quite in the The dark, and had, when he wrote the despatch quoted above, state in^he no later advices from Sydney before him than those of April, 1790, of which Lieutenant P. G. King was the bearer. He was, perhaps, too sanguine in placing so much reliance upon the flour intended to be sent from Calcutta. It appears that in August, 1 790, some Indian merchants, having heard Provisions from Indin. of the wreck of the Guardian, proposed to Dundas, through Lord Cornwallis — Governor-General of India — to furnish the settlement with stores. About the same time Dundas wrote to Lord Cornwallis informing him that it was intended to send one of the transports to Calcutta for this express purpose, after she had landed her convicts at Sydney. The letters crossed. Cornwallis, relying upon the return of the An transport, took no further action in the matter. Dundas, ooirfaaio?, on the other hand, concluded that Cornwallis had contracted with the merchants for the hire of a storeship. Hence it
- She was to leave in the autumn of 1791.
i* Historical Becorde, toI. i, part 2, p. 497. i Oollina, vol. i, p. 201 ; Historical Becoids^ vol. i, part 2, pp. 859-363.
