His Majesty has received intelligence [re Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet, 5 January 1788]

[Editor: This brief untitled news item, regarding information received from Arthur Phillips (on the First Fleet, during the voyage to Australia), is an extract from the “London” section published in the The London Chronicle (London, England), 5 January 1788.]

[His Majesty has received intelligence]

His Majesty has received intelligence from Captain Phillip, on his passage to Botany Bay, dated from the Brazils, which states, that he has had a prosperous voyage, and has only lost seven of the convicts since his departure from this country.

He states his plan at large, which is founded in good sense and observation. He does not mean that any of the convicts shall be sent on shore, till a strong fortress is erected, in order to keep them in proper subjection, which the more effectually to confirm, the provisions are to be administered to them daily, in proportion to their industry in the cultivation of the island.

The Captain writes in the most sanguine terms, as to the probable success of his enterprise, and hopes to see the time when the place shall be of more use to this country, than merely draining it of its degraded inhabitants.

Source:
The London Chronicle (London, England), vol. LXIII no. 4867, 3-5 January 1788 [“From Thursday, January 3, to Saturday, January 5, 1788”], p. 24 (8th page of that issue), column 1

Also published in:
The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure (London, England), vol. LXXXII, January 1788, p. 51, columns 1-2

Editor’s notes:
Botany Bay = a bay located to the south of the City of Sydney (New South Wales), located in the south-eastern section of Sydney’s greater metropolitan area; it was discovered in 1770 by the English explorer James Cook (1728-1779); Botany Bay was intended as the location for the first British settlement in Australia, but Governor Arthur Phillip (1738-1814) decided that the area was unsuitable, and instead founded the settlement further north, in Sydney Cove (in Sydney Harbour, Port Jackson, New South Wales), but, despite the change of location, the settlement was often referred to as “Botany Bay” for many years
See: “Botany Bay”, Wikipedia

His Majesty = a title of respect used regarding a male monarch (a king); in the context of the British Empire, the King of the United Kingdom

Phillip = Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), commander of the First Fleet, and the first Governor of New South Wales
See: 1) B. H. Fletcher, “Phillip, Arthur (1738–1814)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Arthur Phillip”, Wikipedia

[Editor: Changed “Captain Phillips” to “Captain Phillip”; “da ed from” to “dated from”.]

[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]