Terre Napoleón; a History of French Explorations and Projects in Australia

by Sir Ernest Scott

Captain Baudin's impressions of the young colony, contained in his letter to Jussieu,* (* Moniteur, 22nd Fructidor, Revolutionary Year 11. (September 9, 1803).) are also interesting, and may with advantage be quoted, as they appear to have escaped the attention of previous writers. "I could not regard without admiration," he wrote, "the immense work that the English have done during the twelve years that they have been established at Port Jackson. Although it is true that they commenced with large resources ["grands moyens"; but, indeed, they did not!] and incurred great expenditure, it is nevertheless difficult to conceive how they have so speedily attained to the state of splendour and comfort in which they now find themselves. It is true that Nature has done much for them in the beauty and security of the harbour upon which their principal establishment is erected; but the nature of the soil in the vicinity has compelled them to penetrate the interior of the country to find land suitable for the various crops which abundantly furnish them with the means of subsistence, and enable them to supply the wants of the European vessels which the fisheries and commerce attract to this port."

The French visitors were far more genial in their view of the affairs of the colony than many British writers have been. It was concerning this very period that Dr. Lang said that the population consisted, apart from convicts, "chiefly of those who sold rum and those who drank it."

The reader must not, however, be hurried away from the subject of the convict population without the pleasure of an introduction to a delightful rascal, under sentence for forgery, with whom Péron had an interview. The ironical humour of the passage will lighten a page; and the plausible character revealed in it might have escaped from a comedy of Moliere. Morand was his name, and his crime--"son seul crime," wrote Péron in italics--was in having "wished to associate himself with the Bank of England without having an account there."

Morand shall be permitted to tell, in his own bland, ingenuous way, how, like a patriot, he tried to achieve financially what Bonaparte failed to do by military genius; and doubtless in after years he reflected that if his own efforts brought him to Sydney Cove, Napoleon's landed him at St. Helena.

"The war," said Morand, "broke out between Great Britain and France; the forces of the two nations were grappling; but it appeared to me to be easier to destroy our rival by finance than by arms. I resolved, therefore, as a good patriot, to undertake that ruin, and to accomplish it in the very heart of London. If I had succeeded," he cried with enthusiasm, "France would have held me in the greatest honour; and instead of being branded as a brigand, I should have been proclaimed the avenger of my country. Scarcely had I arrived in England when I commenced my operations; and at first they succeeded beyond all my hopes. Assisted by an Irishman not less skilful than myself, and who, like me, was actuated by a noble patriotism, desiring even more fervently than I did the downfall of England, I was soon enabled to counterfeit the notes of the Bank with such perfection that it was even difficult for us to distinguish those which came from our own press from the genuine paper. I was at the very point of a triumph; all my preparations were made for inundating England with our manufactured notes; nothing was wanting except some information in regard to numbering them--when my companion, whom up till then I had regarded as AN HONEST MAN,* (* The italics are Péron's.) took it into his head to steal some of the notes, which were as yet defective, inasmuch as they lacked a few trifling but indispensable formalities. He was arrested almost immediately; and as he had behaved dishonourably towards me, he did not hesitate to relapse into sin in another aspect. He revealed everything to the authorities; I was arrested and plunged into prison with him; all my instruments, all our bank notes, were seized--and Great Britain was saved from the ruin which I had prepared for her!

"Evident as were the proofs of our project, I did not despair, thanks to the nature of the criminal laws of England, of escaping death; but such were the feebleness and fright of my wretched partner, that I had no doubt of our common downfall if I were compelled to appear before the tribunals in association with that cowardly wretch. To obviate the aggravation of my own misfortunes, which could not have prevented his, I determined to endeavour to get rid of him; and, as the author of both our disasters, it was quite right that he should suffer. In a speech to him that was very pathetic, therefore, I tried to prove to him, that, our death being inevitable, we had nothing better to think about than how best to sustain the sadness and ignominy that had come upon us; and that, death for death, it was better to fall like men of honour than under the hand of the executioner. The Irishman was moved, but not yet resolved. I then made him feel that if his own infamy did not touch him, he ought at least to spare his children the disgrace of being pointed at as the offspring of one who had been hanged; and that, if he had not been able to leave them wealth, he should at least, by an act of generous devotion, save them from that shame.

"These last reflections inflamed the Irishman with a fine courage. We managed to procure a strong corrosive acid; I feigned to take some of it; but he took it really, and died; when, disembarrassed from that silly rascal, I avoided the gallows which assuredly awaited me had I been tried with him. I was, instead, sentenced to transportation to this colony, where I am condemned to pass the remainder of my days. But the period of my servitude in prison is now finished; I follow with advantage two of my early trades, those of goldsmith and clockmaker.* (* He was an emancipist; that is, a convict liberated from prison confinement on probation. His two "knaves" were also convicts. Transported men could often earn their liberty by exemplary behaviour. When Flinders went north in the Investigator, he was allowed to take nine convicts with him as part of his crew, on the promise that a good report from him would earn them their liberty; but that experiment was not a marked success. Morand, as I understand it, escaped the death penalty because the suicide of his companion prevented his being tried for conspiracy. The punishment for forgery was transportation.) The two knaves who work for me increase my profits threefold. In a few years I shall be one of the wealthiest proprietors in the colony; and I should be one of the happiest if I were not constantly tormented with regret at having so unfortunately failed in an honourable enterprise, and at being regarded on that account as a vile criminal, even by those among you, my compatriots, who cannot know the noble principles [sic "nobles principes"!] which actuated my conduct, or who cannot appreciate them."

As the good Péron does not mention discovering that his pockets had been picked after his interview with this choice and humorous rogue, it will be agreed that he escaped from the interview with singular good fortune.

The naturalist presented a lively picture of the port of Sydney, which even in those very early days was becoming a place of consequence. There were ships from the Thames and the Shannon, brought out to engage in whaling, which was an important industry then and for many years after; ships from China; ships laden with coal bound for India and the Cape; ships engaged in the Bass Strait sealing trade; ships which pursued a profitable but risky business in contraband with the Spanish South American colonies; ships fitting out for the North American fur trade; ships destined for enterprises among the South Sea Islands; and, lastly, there was the ship of "the intrepid M. Flinders" getting ready to continue the navigations of that explorer in northern and north-western Australia. "All this ensemble of great operations, all these movements of vessels, give to these shores a character of importance and activity that we did not expect to meet with in regions so little known in Europe, and our interest redoubled with our admiration." Above all, one is glad to notice, Péron was interested in the boat in which George Bass had accomplished that "audacieuse navigation," the discovery of Bass Strait, in 1797 and 1798. It was, at the date of this visit to Sydney, preserved in the port with a sort of "religious respect," and small souvenirs made out of a portion of its keel were regarded as precious relics by those who possessed them. Governor King believed that he could not make a more honourable present to Baudin than a piece of the wood of the boat enclosed in a silver frame, upon which he had had engraved a short statement of the facts of Bass's remarkable exploit.

Throughout the long stay made by Baudin's vessels, the utmost kindness was shown to the whole company by the British. The governor himself, and the principal citizens, were hospitable; the scientists were permitted to go wherever they chose; and guides were provided for them on their inland excursions; and the scurvy-tortured sailors were attended by Dr. Thomson, the chief medical officer of the colony, with "the most touching activity." In addition to this, Governor King gave the French commandant unlimited credit to obtain whatever stores he needed, even supplying him with official requisition forms which he could fill up at his own pleasure; "and these schedules, without any other guarantee than the signature of the commandant, were accepted by all the inhabitants with the most entire confidence." The generosity of King in this respect was all the greater, in that the Government stores were for the time being short of requirements, and the governor had to reduce temporarily the rations of his own people in order to share with the French. The settlement was not yet self-supporting, and the delay of supply ships, through storms or other hindrances, meant "short commons" for all. At the time of the arrival of the French, the stock of wheat was very low, because floods on the Hawkesbury had destroyed a large part of the harvest; and to meet the requirements of one hundred and seventy extra men taxed the resources of the administration somewhat severely.