Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/21

 PHILLIP AND BOSS. 5 rejoinder. Prom Phfllip's own account* it is apparent that ^'■^ Boss from the first regarded himself as slighted. He was oflsoiai entitled, he considered, to share in the counsels of the Governor, but he was not asked for assistance or advice — he was passed over. One matter in connection with which Boss thought himself '^entitled to more confidence than had been placed in him '^ was the selection of the site of the settlement. We have not his complaint in his own words ; but the purport of it can be gathered from Phillip's account of the circumstances. It appears that some months after the landing at Sydney Cove, Boss, in conversation with Phillip, professed his ignorance, real or pretended, of Phillip's inten- tions in regard to continuing at Sydney Cove or abandoning it for a more eligible site, remarking at the same time that, ^^**°* before leaving England, he had been given to understand by Lord Howe — then first Lord of the Admiralty — that the exact part of the coast on which the settlement was to be made had not been finally determined upon. This, however, was not a special piece of information confided to Major Boss alone. It was generally known that the commander of the expedition had authority to abandon Botany Bay and plant the settlement elsewhere if he con- sidered it advisable to do so ; and Lord Howe, doubtless, meant no more than this. But after the selection of Sydney sydneyCove Cove no one but the Major seems to have had a thought of upon. change. Not the faintest idea of such a thing is to be found in the writings of Collins, Tench, White, or Hunter, and no trace of it can be discovered either in Phillip's official despatches or in his private letters to his friend Nepean. Ross's grievance, therefore, if put forth in good faith, was purely imaginary. It is true that Phillip had reason to think afterwards that Parramatta would have been a better site, but at the time he was not aware that such a place existed. One would think from the nature of Boss's complaint that he was under the apprehension that the little colony was
 * Historical Beoords, toI. i, part 2, p. 302.