[Copy.] Letter from INSPECTOR G. T. ROGERS to LIEUTENANT OFFICE FOR THE ENREGISTREMENT OF SLAVES, CAPE TOWN, April 17th 1820. SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 1st Instant, with the copy of a letter from the Right Honorable the Secretary of State, covering the copy of an Act of Parliament (not before received in this Colony) relative to the formation of an office in London for the general enregistration of all slaves in the several Colonies appertaining to the British Dominions, and directing me to furnish without delay a copy of the list of all the slaves enregistered in this office. I should have done myself the honor to have acknowledged at a more early period the receipt of your letter, and of informing you that I shall use every possible diligence in complying with this Command, but I was desirous of being able by a Calculation upon our last week's exertions, to name a period by which I hope to have the lists completed, and which I have ascertained will not be practicable, with the fixed Establishment of my Office, in less than fourteen weeks from the present time consistent with the accurate performance of the regular duties thereof, which if once permitted to fall into arrear will be productive of confusion and consequent serious inconvenience. I therefore presume to submit the expediency of my being permitted to engage two Temporary clerks at forty Rixdollars each per month, with which assistance, I trust, I shall be able to lay the lists before you in a complete state by the expiration of the eleventh week. I have &c. [Original.] Letter from the REVEREND WILLIAM WRIGHT to HENRY COMPSEY COTTAGE, CALLAN, Co. KILKENNY, IRELAND, April 18th 1820. SIR,-The Secretary to the Society for propagating the Gospel has written to me to say that I have been respectably recommended and that it was agreed to accept of my services provided my testimonials accompanied by a certificate from my Bishop were approved of. I therefore applied to the Bishop of Waterford, in whose diocese I was employed, and received the enclosed certificate. In consequence of some conversation which I had with the Bishop, I think it might serve me to have his certificate laid before Lord Bathurst, by doing which you will oblige me very much, after which I will thank you to have it forwarded to the Society for propagating the Gospel together with the enclosed letter, which contains my other testimonials. It seems from the Secretary's letter that my appointment will probably be to Cape Town in the Southern extremity of Africa, for the instruction of the natives and the superintendence of the National Schools. The Society have desired that I would forward my testimonials as soon as convenient, and I confidently hope that you will not be offended with me for the trouble which I have been giving you. Letter from THOMAS LACK, ESQRE., to HENRY GOULBURN, ESQRE. OFFICE OF COMMITTEE OF PRIVY COUNCIL FOR TRADE, WHITEHALL, 20th April 1820. SIR, The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade having had under their consideration the copy of a letter from the Agent of the Cape of Good Hope (transmitted in your letter of the 25th August last) submitting the expediency of relaxing for a time, in regard to that Settlement, some of the restrictions of the Navigation Law, and the Regulations of our Colonial System; I am directed to acquaint you, for the information of Earl Bathurst, that the Lords of this Committee think that it would be expedient to extend to the Cape of Good Hope the same facilities, in respect to Foreign Trade, as it is in their contemplation to apply to the Trade of the Mauritius, whenever a renewal of the Act, which is about to expire, shall enable their Lordships to submit a new Order to His Majesty in Council. I am &c. Letter from HENRY GOULBURN, ESQRE., to MAJOR GENERAL LONDON, 24th April 1820. SIR,-The bearer of this letter is Margaret Haydon, a female who accompanied the Countess Montholon to this Country, and who has received Earl Bathurst's permission to return to this Country. She has been provided with a passage to the Cape of Good Hope at the public expence, and I have to convey to you his Lordship's desire that you should provide her with a conveyance to St. Helena. I have &c. Letter from SIR RUFANE SHAWE DONKIN to EARL BATHURST. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAPE TOWN, April 24th 1820. MY LORD,—In my Dispatch of the 26th of March last (No. 10) I had the honor of acquainting Your Lordship that the first party of Settlers in the Nautilus and Chapman Transports, had arrived here. These vessels, as well as the Ocean, have since reached Algoa Bay, and the Settlers began landing there on the 11th of this month. The Northampton with stores, which left this harbour about the same time, was hourly looked for at Algoa Bay. The John sailed yesterday from this and the Stentor will immediately follow. This operation having now made a certain progress, I deem it my duty to put in execution my former intention of going to the place of location, and I shall leave Cape Town on Saturday the 29th of this month for the Frontier. The other ships with Settlers will be forwarded, successively, to Algoa Bay, as they arrive here, in the same manner and under the same preliminary arrangements as the preceding ones. I have the honor to enclose for Your Lordship's information, a plan of the ground already located on the right bank and vicinity of the Great Fish River. I now beg leave to state to your Lordship my apprehension, that if a very great number of Settlers is poured at once into the Zuureveld, the adjacent Country will not be able to furnish them with subsistence between this and the Season when they may be expected to reap their first crops, and a sudden aggregation of people on one spot will cause other inconveniences, which, as well as the fear of scarcity may be removed by an occasional and timely drawing off of parties of Settlers to other districts of this Country, where they may be located with advantage to the Colony and themselves. Such a diversion of the stream of Colonisation I have taken it on myself to make in the instance of Messrs. Griffiths with a party from Wales and with whom I intend to place Mr. Campbell, with Settlers, as I understand, from the same Country, when he arrives. The spot I have selected is about 40 miles east of this Town, on the banks of the Zonder End River. The District (which I lately visited) seems to want only hands to become one of the finest in this Colony, but at present it is a waste; and the establishment of a number of English Settlers there will not only render it productive, but will be of great benefit to Cape Town, ultimately, as well as to the interjacent Country. In obedience to Your Lordship's Commands, the 400 Scotch families coming out with Captain Grant will be located separately. They will most probably be placed on the Baviaan's River, where a survey is now making of 40,000 Acres with a view to their occupying them. This situation will at once be a favorable one for the Highlanders, and, by placing on it a hardy and active race of men, an effectual stop will be put to the inroads of Kaffers into the Graaff Reinet District. I have it further in contemplation to establish a party on the Olifants River to the Northward of St. Helena Bay, and another, in Soetendal's Valley, East of this town and near the Southern Coast. In making these selections of place, as well as in conducting the general arrangement, I have been most materially assisted by Colonel Bird, the Colonial Secretary, whose local information and active research after the resources applicable to the occasion, are entitled to my very particular acknowledge ments. I have before ventured to give to Your Lordship my opinion as to the ultimate success of this important measure of Colonisation, and the more I contemplate and become familiarised with it, the more I am confirmed in my persuasion that it will ultimately succeed. The agricultural and commercial advantages which will accrue hereafter are subjects which your Lordship has so well weighed and anticipated, that it would be presumptuous in me to dilate upon them; but there is a consideration of a military nature, which, from the habits of my life, I may perhaps be permitted to touch on, which is the security which will be given to this Colony by our having a body of British Militia in the Interior, which, in case of invasion, would operate in such a manner upon the Rear of the invading Force as to ensure either by cutting off supplies, or by actual attack, the relief of Cape Town, and thus the whole Military System of defence and tenure of this Colony will be entirely and most advantageously changed, for the sovereignty of the Colony would not only not be lost by the capture of Cape Town and its defences, but that capture itself would be rendered, if not impossible, at least infinitely more difficult than it has been. Moreover such a Militia as I am contemplating for some future period would be a saving to the Mother Country, by rendering a much smaller Garrison necessary than heretofore in time of War. I anticipate also by the introduction of British industry and enterprize the creation of a Coasting Trade, which at present can XIII. I |