Doubtless disappointed herself, Betsy by then must have been fully aware of Bougainville’s attentions towards Harriott Ritchie. She would have thought her foolish in seeming to accept those attentions, a married woman from one of the families of the first rank of society. But she could not have known quite how foolish Harriott was.
The following evening, Hyacinthe dined with the Corsican Rossi family, but afterwards went on to the Balcombes’, who had generously organised another small farewell gathering. But in the Frenchman’s account only one guest mattered: ‘finished off the evening at Mr Balcombe’s, where Mrs Ritchie had pledged she would be’. The layout of Balcombe’s house allowed for only one large room for entertaining, so Hyacinthe and Harriott must have slipped out into the garden, under the oak tree. That was indiscreet; but what they arranged was potentially disastrous for her: ‘We enjoyed a romantic tête-à-tête and promised to meet the next day at midnight on board.’19
The following day, common sense prevailed. A message was delivered to Bougainville on shipboard: ‘Received a letter from Mrs R. who has been obliged to go to Newington due to a prior engagement.’20 Harriott had thought better of it. Sydney was a very small town. A married woman from one of the leading families going aboard a French ship at midnight would be observed and recognised by someone, no matter how well she tried to disguise herself, and the word would spread. Her marriage would be over, her life ruined. If Bougainville had spoken of taking her with him, that was impossible. La Thétis was a French naval vessel; another French officer who took his wife on an earlier voyage through the Pacific had narrowly avoided a court-martial.21 Harriott would have been in a more contemptible situation, merely a mistress.
It is hard to sympathise with Bougainville as he wrote: ‘I suffered from deep melancholy. I struck off a reply and felt indisposed.’ That evening he called on Mrs Rossi and later ‘dined at Mr Balcombe’s’, where he ‘spent a very dull evening . . . Mrs R. haunts my thoughts . . . What a pity I became acquainted with her so late in the day! Beloved Harriott!’22
On the morning of departure, Wednesday 21 September, Bougainville ensured that all the live Australian fauna he had collected were ‘penned on the quarter-deck so that they might be better looked after’: two or three kangaroos, at least one surviving emu (the other had died and been stuffed), a black swan and various other caged birds. They left little room for the captain and officers on the deck.
He recorded that ‘a large number of people came to bid us a last adieu. As may be expected the good Captain Piper was not the least eager to do so.’ As La Thétis and L’Espérance made their way under sail they gave a 21-gun salute which was returned from Dawes’ Battery. Piper’s Henrietta Villa came into view and ‘we were saluted with his own fanfare and small artillery as we sailed past. I responded with a salvo from the frigate. This was followed by three hurrahs from both the shore and our ships.’23
Hyacinthe de Bougainville continued to be known as a ladies’ man and never married. He had clearly not recognised Betsy Abell’s much-vaunted charms, although other men would. Harriott Ritchie died as Lady Dowling in England in 1881, ‘unaware that she occupied such a special place in private diaries that were to remain unread for over two hundred years’.24
But Bougainville and his officers had made many generous friends, including the governor. Those friends would not have been happy that Bougainville was carrying the Most Secret Instructions of the Minister for the Navy, issued in Paris on 17 February 1824: ‘Europe is at present enjoying a period of peace . . . However, in the event of war breaking out we must plan ahead . . . If England were to become our enemy, the French navy may, as a result of our forward planning, enjoy considerable success . . . But for this to happen we must have at our disposal precise information regarding the fortifications of the targeted positions. You must therefore attempt to gather such information, while at the same time taking every precaution to avoid acting in any way which may arouse the suspicion of others as to our secret plans.’25
The clandestine mission had been fulfilled by Bougainville. He reported that Port Jackson was ‘far from invincible, and its defences are so negligible that one might be tempted to dismiss them as insignificant. Three batteries are the sum total of its defences.’ He described the siting of the batteries and the number of guns in each. ‘So much for the town’s fortifications. As for the defence personnel, only some 700 of the 1325 men belonging to the third, fortieth and forty-eighth regiments are posted in the Sydney and Parramatta barracks. The rest are scattered in various settlements in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land.’ It seemed, he said, that the British government despatched to New South Wales the minimum number of armed forces to keep order. They relied ‘on the colony’s remoteness from any powerful nations that might launch an offensive, as well as on the speed with which its colonies in India would be able to send relief ’. The greatest danger, he speculated, ‘would probably come from its own inhabitants. Of the 34,000 Europeans living in Australia, barely 7000 would have anything to gain [ from] defending the territory . . . But who would wish to form an alliance with such auxiliaries? Who would dare risk the infamy of such an action, and the disastrous consequences of the sudden emancipation of such a large number of criminals?’
His conclusion for his superiors in the French navy was that ‘New South Wales is a master-piece of the spirit of colonisation, and all civilised peoples should strive to imitate rather than to destroy such a beautiful establishment’.26
CHAPTER 34
THE TREASURY UNDER THE BED
The Balcombes and Betsy had settled into New South Wales society, in the perfectly respectable if rather racy second tier where the ‘fashionables’ disported themselves. But the lines between their group and those of the ‘first rank’ were not strictly defined and were occasionally quite fluid. Sir John Jamison, with a mansion and an extensive property on the Nepean, was colonial ‘landed gentry’, but as the convivial sort, a lover of parties and horse racing, he at first moved easily enough between the two social groups. Francis Forbes and his wife Amelia were happy to attend some of Captain Piper’s entertainments and dinners, and were initially welcomed by the ‘Parramatta party’ too, although they later fell out with the latter over what were viewed as the chief justice’s too liberal judgements. The wealthy and often remote Blaxlands of Newington had enjoyed Piper’s hospitality, and had also been entertained by the Balcombes’ during the recent visit by Commodore Bougainville.
Despite greatly increased revenue from various sources, the Treasury office continued to operate well enough, but with an enormous workload for James Harrison, who, according to his proud father, ‘managed the NSW Treasury’.1 Balcombe had obtained a stout brass-bound padlocked box for the public revenue and, still lacking a vault or more secure storage, stashed it under his bed, his blunderbuss and pistols beside it.
Meanwhile, he was extending his landholdings with further grants and purchases. He had leased a small property at Petersham on the edge of Sydney, probably a temporary holding for his stock before sale, and had paid the down payment on a cottage on a Church estate, ‘Glebe Farm’.2 The family visited The Briars at Bungonia when they could, and their friendship with the Reids, their neighbours at Inverary Park, deepened.
Life was good and Balcombe had more prestige in the community than he had ever had at St Helena. He was gratified to be asked to become a governor or trustee of the Sydney Public Free Grammar School (today the Sydney Grammar School), promoted by John Macarthur and opened in early October 1825; trustees were expected to subscribe at least 50 guineas. Among the trustees of the new college were ‘several Macarthurs and both judges of the Supreme Court but also five leading ex-convicts’.3
Balcombe also became a member of the local Masonic Lodge, transferring his membership from the St Helena branch.4 (The Free Masons’ movement in France was known for its large number of pro-Bonapartists.5) By then the Balcombes were acquainted with the small number of French expatriates in Sydney. Th
ere was the police chief Francis Rossi, a Corsican (who hated his infamous former compatriot), and Nicholas Bochsa, who had actually been Napoleon’s harpist at the Tuileries. The merchant Prosper de Mestre, son of a French officer who had fled France during the Revolution, was on the board of the Bank of New South Wales, so Balcombe came to know him well.
Balcombe was making many visits to the Bank, where his friend Captain Piper was chairman of directors, and had taken to depositing Treasury funds there.
If William Balcombe was riding a wave of success, Sir Hudson Lowe’s career was drifting in the shallows on an ebb tide. While remaining commander of the 93rd Regiment, a position he clearly felt beneath him, he had applied for the governorship of Ceylon but was overlooked. Unpopularity followed him wherever he went. When his name came up in articles about Bonaparte, it was suggested that he, as the prisoner’s torturer, had brought shame on Britain.
Lowe became even more embittered when he discovered—coming upon the news rather late in the piece—how well Bonaparte’s former providore was doing in a senior government position in New South Wales. He expressed his resentment from Paris in a letter of 26 October 1825 to the Colonial Office, brooding on Balcombe’s suspected former dealings: ‘It is a fact known to all the followers of Bonaparte and I believe to the Foreign Commissioners that the person spoken of received clandestinely (upon whatever ground this may have been done) the sum of £3000 from Bonaparte in direct violation of the trust reposed in him by his office & of the regulations established for Bonaparte’s safe custody & afterwards became one of the most active agents (as recorded under his own hand) of that conspiracy which was formed against me.’ (If Lowe’s estimate of £3000 was correct, and we follow the calculations of the editor of Regency Recollections and multiply by a factor of fifty for a rough modern equivalent, Balcombe had received something like £150,000.6) Lowe’s letter appears to have been intended for Wilmot Horton, but may have been a draft not sent, for the addressee is not named.
A small paragraph appeared in the Sydney Gazette in early December that must have caught Balcombe’s notice: ‘Sir Hudson Lowe, late Governor of St Helena, has been appointed second in command at Ceylon.’7 Balcombe was not one to bear grudges and probably wished him well, while realising that ‘second in command’ was not what Lowe would have wanted.
The Colonial Treasury was in need of additional resources, and James Harrison was overworked: revenue in the colony in 1821 had been a little over £32,000; with the tremendous growth in trade, agriculture, capital transfers and settler population, by 1825 it had increased, mainly from land fees and import duties, to almost £72,000 and was still growing rapidly.8 Balcombe convinced Governor Brisbane that he needed a second clerk to support Harrison. He had composed a request to Lord Bathurst, which Brisbane promised to personally deliver. For Balcombe to appeal directly to the Secretary of State for the Colonies was another example of his insouciance (he had, incidentally, repaid Henry Goulburn the £50 loan). That Brisbane was willing to act as messenger and advocate indicates his liking for Balcombe; he must have realised that his support for a new government appointment at the end of his own tenure would annoy his successor, but that his lordship would probably not wish to deny it and further anger him over his abrupt recall. (Brisbane still had strong supporters such as the Duke of Wellington.) One of Brisbane’s last acts as governor was to grant provisional approval for a ‘confidential clerk’ at the Treasury. John Wallace soon proved very capable.9 (Despite Bathurst’s caution over colonial staff increases, he did not prevaricate on this occasion, and accepted the appointment.10)
Governor Brisbane’s departure was preceded by a flurry of farewell dinners and addresses of appreciation which became heavily political. The ‘Parramatta party’ of pastoralists had invited the governor to a dinner at Walker’s Hotel in Parramatta. When Wentworth discovered that this was to be ‘exclusive’, he made much of that in the Australian. A separate dinner was organised by another group, principally emancipists. When Brisbane asked the Parramatta group to invite at least the organisers of the other function to theirs, the original invitation to Walker’s was withdrawn, snubbing the governor. When this became known, the governor was overwhelmed with further invitations.
On the first day of December 1825, Sir Thomas Brisbane, his wife, sister-in-law and new aide-de-camp Robert Stirling, departed from New South Wales on the Mary Hope, bound for Europe.
Just over two weeks later, on a wet windy Saturday, 17 December, the ship Catherine Stewart Forbes dropped anchor in Sydney harbour, bringing the new governor, His Excellency Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling, as well as his family and staff. As the rain was pelting down—which some later saw as an augury—the decision was made that they should stay on board and be formally welcomed to the colony when the weather improved.
The new governor had brought with him his wife Eliza, her two brothers, captains Henry and William Dumaresq, and Lieutenant Stoddart, the governor’s aide-de-camp. Darling established his difference from his predecessor by settling them all into the uncomfortable and rambling Sydney Government House. Three days after his arrival, he got down to business, calling a meeting of the first executive council to be set up in New South Wales. Chief Justice Forbes was taken aback when the new governor appointed his brother-in-law Henry Dumaresq as clerk to the executive council. Four days later, the other brother-in-law, William, was placed in temporary charge of the Civil Engineers Department.11
Lieutenant-General Darling, aged 53, had been a military officer all of his adult life—in the West Indies, at Corunna in Spain, and during the disastrous Walcheren expedition. At the Horse Guards in London, Darling had been commander-in-chief under the Duke of York, a position later occupied by General Sir Henry Torrens. He was appointed acting governor at Mauritius from August 1818 to July 1820, and was afterwards military commandant there. The colonists—colons—were mainly French, the island having been wrested from their nation eight years earlier. Its economy was based on sugar plantations worked by 70,000 African and Malagasy slaves. Darling was determined to end the traffic in slaves, who were mainly smuggled from the island of Madagascar. The French colons hated him for that.12
One biographer has said that ‘Darling’s brief dictatorship over an alien population in Mauritius was an unfortunate preparation for his heavier and much more complex responsibilities in New South Wales. His concept of government was one of military simplicity: strict adherence to regulations, and the unquestioning personal allegiance of his subordinates.’13 After the relaxed style of Sir Thomas Brisbane, many government officials were astonished by the new governor’s abrupt commands. Balcombe would not have been—he had seen that style before.
Not long after the arrival of Darling, an ‘event’ occurred that caused Balcombe to resign from the Agricultural Society on Christmas Day 1825. It appears to have been some personal and deeply wounding insult. It can only be speculation that it may have been related to his former connection with Bonaparte. Robert Howe, editor of the Sydney Gazette, described the ‘event’ as most regrettable and Balcombe as blameless. He made his resignation a big story:
The Agricultural Society: From undoubted authority we have just ascertained that that highly respected and much valued Public Officer, Mr Balcombe, has forwarded his resignation to Mr Berry, the Secretary of this institution. The only reason that Mr Balcombe assigns for depriving the Society of his powerful influence is a ‘recent event’. That this ‘event’ must be extremely painful to beget so decided a step, we are constrained to admit, and from what the numerous members of the Agricultural Society know of Mr Balcombe and his amiable and interesting family, we are certain that they will fully sympathise with him in the cause which has led to so disagreeable an ‘event’; since we feel assured, that the whole body of the Colonists, from certain reports which have been flitting about, will feel profound regret that Mr Balcombe should be obliged to forego further connexion, with one of the most respectable and weighty Bodies in New South Wales. If Mr Balcom
be were only a private individual in our Society, he might be indifferent to our regard, but we esteem him as one of the Members of the Colonial Government, of high rank, and unsullied honour, and it is the knowledge of such facts that renders it imperative on us, as we stand connected with the Society, and also with the Public, to notice a resignation which, at least, we fervently hope, will be enquired into; it being our opinion, that so efficient a Member should not be lost to the Agricultural Society, unless upon good grounds.14
Almost as much fuss was being made about Balcombe’s departure from the Society as had been made over Governor Brisbane’s from the colony. In the light of later developments, this glowing endorsement of Balcombe can be looked back upon as the apex of his colonial career.
If the new governor startled with his stern efficiency, his wife Eliza won praise for her active concern to help the young women of the colony, daughters of convicts or native-born ‘currency lasses’. In January 1826, a month after her arrival, she became involved with the Female Orphan School. Established by Governor Philip Gidley King, the school was free for girls who had lost one or both parents and was government-supported.15
Eliza made it her business to get to know the gentlewomen of the colony and to encourage them to join her in other philanthropic projects. She set up a ladies’ committee to organise sewing classes at the Female Factory at Parramatta (a gaol for convict women, where they were employed manufacturing cloth), a Benevolent Society to care for women in childbirth, and a Female Friendly Society which operated like a savings bank for poor and convict women. At his wife’s insistence, the governor agreed to set up the Sydney Dispensary, offering medical advice to the poor, dependent upon voluntary expertise.16
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