Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/66

 50 rSE WfiBCK €^ ^^V thrown in the w&y by Ihmda». The prolmbilitf is that when k; eajne to the poiacii the rehiotaiioe of Mr. WQber- f orce's protege had deepened into a reeKdntkm to decline the responsibilitj of missionaiy work in New Sooth Wales. Buttar In the meantime Mr. Johnson had to labonr on hj him- chapiAin. self, undoT Terj great disadrantages. He found anongli to do when the conntrj was first occnpied^ but the rapid increase in the eonrict papulation^ and the establishment of settlements at Pftrramatta and Toongabbie, placed the work bejond the power of one man. He was left in this ^^ predicament until Maich^ 17d4, when the Ber. Samuel g^^;^^^®* Marsden, who had accepted the position of assistant chaiilain^ arriTed by the ship WiHiam. Altogether, the loss of the Guardian was a severe blow to the colony. She contained a large quant^ ef stores Anemr of which it would havo been more prudent to distribute among several Tessek. The mistake was pointed out by Phillip, and it was not repeated, but when the (Suardian struck the iceberg the mischief had been done. Sike left England before the settlement was in actual want, and if no disaster had hi^pened she would have arrived before the worst 7>inch was felt. In January, 1790, when she should have .arrived at Port .Jackson, the ration had only been sightly reduced, operations in the fields had not been ser io a a ly interfered with, the live stock had not been sacri fi ced, and the Governor had not even considered the pwip r ietj ' of liiecBM- sending a large portion of the people to Norfolk Idand. But by the time the Lady Juliana arrived witii news of the accident to the Guardian the ration had been brought down almost to starvation point, the people were so reduced in strength that they were unable to cany on the cultiva- tion of the soil except in a desultory and ineffective way, and the Sirius had been sent on her disastrous voyage to Norfolk Island. A single accident is rarely followed by such grievous cotisequences. If the Guardian had come into port in