with directions to examine and question closely the Master as to his object in coming hither, as well as the immediate cause of his putting into Table Bay. The result was an admission on the part of the Master that he had sailed from Zanzibar with the intention of refreshing at the Cape of Good Hope. As this practice, were it admitted, would be making this Colony singularly instrumental in aiding the carrying on of the Slave Trade and would be also directly in the face of Several Acts of Parliament, as well as of the legal opinions before alluded to, I had no hesitation in determining to refuse the supplies and assistance asked for by the S. José, and I directed only 14 days water and provisions to be given to her, to prevent the unfortunate slaves on board from perishing, and, with this supply she will be enabled to make Tristan d'Acunha, or to return to Zanzibar; but it will not enable her to proceed on her voyage direct to the Havannah. The S. José was of 262 Tons with 370 Slaves on board.

Having submitted what I have done to your Lordship, I have now to express my hope that your Lordship will not disapprove of my proceeding. The Question is one of considerable embarrassment. I am disposed by duty and by inclination to do my utmost to put down that cruel traffick, the Slave Trade; but I have great doubts whether if I had ordered all the above vessels at once to sea, my doing so would have contributed at all towards that desireable object, whereas it would most certainly have exposed the unhappy slaves to the extremes of hunger and thirst, and probably to death after much suffering.

The object of the several Acts of Parliament, I conceive to be, to diminish the quantum of human misery, and, had I refused all supplies, I should have encreased it, without a certainty of any counterbalancing advantage; or, in other words, I should have caused a certain Evil of no small magnitude with a view to a contingent and barely possible good, the realization of which I myself saw no reason to expect.

The right of trading in Slaves by the Spanish Nation will now cease in a very short time, and during the continuation of that right, I shall act towards other Slave Vessels which may put in here (of whatever nation) as I have acted towards the S. José, unless particular circumstances should cause or justify a differen conduct. I have &c.

(Signed)

in

ing R, S. DON' official

[ Original.]

Letter from SIR RUFANE SHAWE DONKIN to EARL BATHURST.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, 17th February 1820.

MY LORD,—I have the honor to enclose to your Lordship a copy of an application which has been made to me by Mr. Benjamin Moodie, a Gentleman who was recommended to the protection of the Governor of this Colony by your Lordship's dispatch of the 30th January 1817.

Mr. Moodie, at two different periods, has brought Settlers to this Colony, who are now located here to the number of 200, and to the success which many of these Settlers have individually met with, may in great measure be attributed the attention and interest which the British Public has lately given to the capabilities of this place. Many of Mr. Moodie's people are established in respectable trades in Cape Town and throughout the Colony, and thus Mr. Moodie having really benefitted, by his patient and laudable exertions, the Community here, it is just that I should recommend his claims to your Lordship's favorable attention, provided they shall be found to coincide with the assurances held out to him previous to his undertaking what has been to him a most expensive speculation.

Certainly Mr. Moodie proposed to benefit himself by the undertaking in which he embarked, but it is equally true, that instead of so doing he has expended a considerable Capital in the speculation, the want of which has nearly put a stop to those exertions, which might under more favorable circumstances have been expected from a person of his talents and activity.

Mr. Moodie has not availed himself hitherto of the disposition of the Colonial Government to grant waste land to him, he preferred purchasing, on account of the locality, in the district of Swellendam, near the confluence of the Buffeljagt and Breede Rivers, the principal object therefore which he has in view, in the enclosed application, is to be allowed to participate in such advantages as are now granted to persons conducting Emigrants be this Settlement. He understands that His Majesty's GovernOfficer gives to such persons a free passage to this place; the

Mechanics and others whom he has located were brought hither from Scotland at his own expence, and he estimates that each person stood him in £20.

If your Lordship views Mr. Moodie's merits in the light I do, and admits "that it was held out to him that he should participate in such advantages as should be given to future settlers," perhaps you may think Mr. Moodie entitled to a pecuniary aid, amounting to £10 per man, according to the number he has located, to defray the expense of their passages to this place, which is the point I venture to submit to your Lordship's favorable consideration.

I have &c.
(Signed)

R. S. DONKIN.

[Office Copy.]

Letter from EARL BATHURST to LORD CHARLES SOMERSET.

LONDON, 19th February 1820.

MY LORD,-I transmit herewith to your Lordship a Certificate of the death of Evert van Schoor, a Native of the Cape of Good Hope, and in compliance with the request of the Dutch Ambassador at this Court I have to desire that your Lordship will transmit this document to the family of the deceased. I have &c.

Letter from LIEUT. COLONEL BIRD to the LANDDROST OF

UITENHAGE.

COLONIAL OFFICE, 25th February 1820. SIR,-Referring to my letter of the 12th November last on the subject of Emigrants who may shortly be expected to arrive in these Harbours, I am directed by His Excellency the Acting Governor to acquaint you, that altho' he has no further official

accounts of their intended departure, yet it appearing from the Public Papers that 9 Transports have been taken up for the purpose of giving conveyance to the Emigrants for this Place, His Excellency deems it necessary to apprize you of the circumstance, and to acquaint you what preparatory measures it is His Excellency's intention to take to obviate the inconveniences to which these Persons might otherwise be exposed upon their arrival. I am to premise, that it does not appear to be in the contemplation of His Majesty's Government to incur any expense on account of the Emigrants, from the moment of their disembarkation at Algoa Bay; from that period it seems to be expected that the Directors, to whom these Persons have engaged themselves, shall bear all the Cost, either of Provision or Transport to the places of their respective locations, tho' His Majesty's Government has directed all necessaries to be prepared to be furnished them, in case the Directors shall require them, though at their own Cost and Charge.

His Excellency is much at a loss with respect to the numbers to be expected, but he proposes sending by the earliest opportunity Camp equipage for 1500 Persons to Algoa Bay, to be used as occasion may require, and he has instructed the Assistant Commissary General to be prepared to furnish Rations for One Month to 2,000 Persons.

His Excellency will be most anxious to have from you some account of Mr. Knobel's progress in the survey of Land, according to the Instructions communicated to you on this head, in order to decide therefrom as to the Spots to be first occupied, according to the numbers the grounds are calculated to receive, as it is highly expedient that the parties as they arrive shall be marched without delay to the places on which they are ultimately to be settled ; should His Excellency not be on the spot, this part of the arrangement will necessarily devolve upon you, and it is His Excellency's particular desire that you should in person superintend the movement of the first parties through your District to the final place of their location, that the promptest succour may be afforded them in cases of exigence, and the beneficent views of His Majesty's Government in their regard seconded in the most efficient manner. Meanwhile it is His Excellency's desire that you should ascertain with as much accuracy as possible what aid the District will want (if any) for the supply of an influx of Population calculated at

5000 Souls for Six Months; it will be desireable that you should communicate with the commissariat and with Mr. Hart on these points and report the result with the least possible delay.

His Excellency will not fail to give you the earliest intelligence of the arrival of the Emigrants here; it is not proposed that they shall be disembarked here, but that they shall proceed forthwith to Algoa Bay. I have &c.

(Signed) C. BIRD.

[Original]

Letter from JOSEPH PLANTAF, ESQRE., to HENRY
GOULBOURN, ESQRE.

FOREIGN OFFICE, February 28th 1820.

SIR, I am directed by Viscount Castlereagh to transmit to you the accompanying extract and enclosure of a letter from a Deputy Consul at Embden, representing that certain inhabitants of that City are desirous of settling at the Cape of Good Hope, and requesting to be informed whether His Majesty's Government will hold out any encouragement to them, and I am to request that you will lay the same before Earl Bathurst for his Lordship's consideration.

I am, Sir &c.
(Signed)

[Enclosure.]

JOSEPH PLANTAF.

Extract of a Letter from MR. SCHRODER, His Majesty's Deputy Consul at Embden, dated Embden 15th February 1820.

At present thirty-two Inhabitants have addressed themselves to me, being desirous to emigrate to the Cape of Good Hope, list of whom I enclose. I know not if Government still continues to allot to such subjects, upon their arrival, grants of Land, in proportion to the means and family of each Settler, and therefore beg to honour me with prolix Instructions respecting this, because the number can easily increase in a short time from 50 to 60 persons.