Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/194

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166

GROSE AND REV. R. JOHNSON.

grants of land to those who raised crops on their land already in occupation.

One phase of the misgovernment of Grose was the reversal of Phillip's policy of preventing convicts from obtaining spirituous liquors. Under the plea of facilitating the farming operations of the officers Grose allowed them to pay for convict labour with spirits, and the evil effects were immediately manifested, and entailed a lasting curse upon the community. His friends boasted that his policy extracted more labour than could otherwise have been obtained. Others protested against it, and the chaplain, the Rev. R. Johnson, encountered Grose's animosity on account of his ineffectual endeavours to stem the tide of immorality.

Before the departure of Phillip, Johnson had remonstrated (March 1792) against the neglect of the spiritual concerns of the people. The foundation of a church had been laid at Parramatta, but "before it was finished it was converted into a gaol or lock-up, and now it is converted into a granary." In Sept. 1793 Johnson applied for reimbursement of the expense of erecting under his own superintendence a place of worship in Sydney at the cost of £59 18s. in money and £9 in value of provisions. It was to hold 500 persons. Grose told the Secretary of State that he could not at all countenance the application" for reimbursement, and that Johnson was a "troublesome, discontented character."^[1] Johnson requested that the accounts might be sent to the Secretary of State, with a letter explaining his reasons for building the church.

The Secretary of State received various proofs under Grose's own hand that instead of promoting morality and the permanent welfare of the community he was, whether ignorantly or otherwise, subordinating all interests to the ill-regulated desires of his corps. Phillip had hardly

↑ MSS. Record Office, New South Wales, Vol. v. Grose said: "He is one of the people called Methodists." It appears, however, that Johnson, thongli a Moravian, was a Cambridge man, and was described by the Rev. T. F. Palmer as a "most dutiful member of the 'hurch of England." The "Historical Records of N.S. W.," Vol. 2 (p. 758), publish a letter from a convict who wrote in April 1890: "I believe few of the sick would recover if it was not for the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Johnson, whose assistance out of his own stores makes him the physician both of soul and body."

[1] MSS. Record Office, New South Wales, Vol. v. Grose said: "He is one of the people called Methodists." It appears, however, that Johnson, thongli a Moravian, was a Cambridge man, and was described by the Rev. T. F. Palmer as a "most dutiful member of the 'hurch of England." The "Historical Records of N.S. W.," Vol. 2 (p. 758), publish a letter from a convict who wrote in April 1890: "I believe few of the sick would recover if it was not for the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Johnson, whose assistance out of his own stores makes him the physician both of soul and body."

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