Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/22

 PHILLIP AND BOSS. 1789 An interview. Aoompro- The peace of the ■ettlement. liable to be uprooted and packed off to some other part of the coast at a week's notice, to suit the caprice of the Governor. Finding the Lieutenant-Governor in this frame of mind, Phillip did what he could to '' remove so groundless a cause of discontent." Boss, at his request, came to him the next day, when " I read to him," wrote Phillip, '' every part of my Instructions relating to the settlement, and he left me, I thought, fully satisfied and contented." But he was anything but satisfied, as his subsequent actions show, and Phillip could only obtain peace and quietness by sending him to Norfolk Island as Lieutenant-Governor. After the interview at which the Instructions were read over, Phillip discussed at some length with Ross matters affecting the welfare and management of the settlement, and it was agreed that he should take charge of the convicts on the west side of the Cove, while Phillip kept control of those on the east side. '^The Lieutenant-Governor," added Phillip, ''then very well understood what I expected and wished, and on every occasion I readily acknowledged the assistance I received ; but a warmth of temper, which has been the source of many discontents, has obliged me for some time past to avoid, so far as the service permits, calling on the Lieutenant-Governor otherwise than as the Commandant of the detachment." One of Boss's complaints was directed against that part of Phillip's letter of 27th August, 1789,* in which he asked that the peace of the settlement might not be disturbed, and that the Lieutenant-Governor would be a little more guarded when speaking to the convicts. In dealing with this matter, Phillip is more animated than usual : — " The Lieutenant-Governor has complained of that part of my letter in which I request that the peace of the settlement may not be disturbed, but have I not had sufficient cause to make that request ? Has not representation or complaint been too frequent 1
 * Historical Becords, vol. i, part 2, p. 265.