Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/245

 AND DAWES. 207 played on this occasion. In his letter of the 6th November, 1791 1791, he informed the Governor that " after so long a time having elapsed, and repeated reflections on the subject, I feel at this instant no reason to alter the sentiments I then entertained/' A second expedition was sent out a few days after theThotwrd return of the first ;* but Lieutenant Dawes persisted in his refusal to take part in it, and the language he used to the Governor on this occasion constituted the third charge of " unofficerlike behaviour." His expressions, Phillip stated, UnoiDcor- " were such as would have subjected him to a Court-martial beha'iour. had he been amenable to one.'' In regard to this part of the charge. Lieutenant Dawes, who appears to have been of a very impulsive disposition, disclaimed (in a letter to Phillip dated nearly a year after the event) any intention to " express anything either in word or manner in any degree improper or disrespectful," and he was " exceedingly pained " to find that such an idea was entertained. He explained that having conceived that a direct charge had been made against him by the Governor of " leaving the Observatory without suffi- cient cause," he had only done justice to himself in denying the charge " in terms sufficiently clear and expressive to leave no possibility of misconception."t It thus happened that while the Home Department was endeavouring to make arrangements for his stay in the colony. Lieutenant Dawes was doing his best to render it i*e •^ .,___. ^ . ^ ° ^ . /r. . 1 relations impossible for him to remain, at all events m any official between capacity. The Governor appears to have entertained no Dawes, personal animosity towards the lieutenant, and he would have been glad to keep him in the colony, ^'provided he had seen his error," not only because it was the wish of the British Government that he should remain, but because ''his services were wanted in surveying and marking out allotments of land for settlers." Instead, therefore, of • Tench, Complete Account, p. 98. t Historical Hecords, Tol. i, purt 2, p. 645.