His excellency was now pleased to enter into the reasons which had induced
him to adopt measures of such severity. He said that since our arrival in
the country, no less than seventeen of our people had either been killed or
wounded by the natives; that he looked upon the tribe known by the name of
Bideegal, living on the beforementioned peninsula, and chiefly on the north
arm of Botany Bay, to be the principal aggressors; that against this tribe
he was determined to strike a decisive blow, in order, at once to convince
them of our superiority and to infuse an universal terror, which might
operate to prevent farther mischief. That his observations on the natives
had led him to conclude that although they did not fear death individually,
yet that the relative weight and importance of the different tribes
appeared to be the highest object of their estimation, as each tribe deemed
its strength and security to consist wholly in its powers, aggregately
considered. That his motive for having so long delayed to use violent
measures had arisen from believing, that in every former instance of
hostility, they had acted either from having received injury, or from
misapprehension.
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