Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/158

( 133 ) real or fictitious bankruptcies. Hence the partiality with which the English are viewed here. Their return is openly wished for, even by those who were formerly their greatest foes. In fact, the Dutch government at the Cape, as well as at home, is entirely under French influence; and it is probable that in the boundless ambition of the Corsican usurper, he considers the Cape of Good Hope as one of the steps by which he intends to mount to Asiatic thrones.

The Dutch, as well as the English, who have any floating property in the colony, are anxious to remit it to England, and therefore bills bear, a premium of from 30 to 35 per cent. for paper money, which is the only currency here, and which rises from 6d. to 100 rix-