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[Original.]

Letter from ROBERT WILLIMOTT, ESQRE., to ROBERT PEEL, ESQRE. DOWNING STREET, February 29th 1812.

SIR, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a letter, with its enclosure, which I have received from Sir John Cradock, on the subject of the extension of the Trade of the Cape of Good Hope; and I have to request you will be pleased to lay the same before Lord Liverpool for his Lordship's information and consideration. I have, &c.

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Extract of a letter from SIR JOHN CRADOCK to ROB. WILLIMOTT, ESQ., dated Cape Town, 10th December 1811.

The first point on which I would trouble you is to engage your most active representation that the Cape of Good Hope (unless some local objection should appear) may be placed on the same footing with the Island of Ceylon, and that a similar permission may be obtained for three vessels to pass from hence to Ceylon, under the same restrictions as specified in the extract I inclose from the resolutions of the Court of Directors, and also, if attainable, to procure the same relaxations for a trade to the Isles of France and Batavia.

I am anxious to urge the extension of the commerce of the Cape, and in the regulations that must now be in contemplation relative to the trade between the late conquests of His Majesty in the Eastern Seas, that the situation of the Cape of Good Hope may be fully considered, and that this settlement may be relieved from some of those injurious restrictions that prevail at present, and which in fact, though so destructive to the prosperity of this place, are not at the same time of positive value to the East India Company, but in a great measure proceed upon the principle to keep in full force the exclusion established by their charter.

It is so well known that it is scarcely necessary to state, that little or nothing can be undertaken for the advantage of the Cape while it labours under the existing restrictions, for, as the export

to England, from the distance and expence of freight, is in most respects out of the question, and the communication with South America is of no avail, if all intercourse with the Eastward be debarred, there can be no means for the farmer to dispossess himself of either the excess in wine or corn beyond domestic consumption. It is but barely permitted at present, and often subject to refusal, to export either wine or corn, the produce of the Cape, and, as the inhabitants of the Isles of France and the other possessions of His Majesty in the East, either have not money to return, or would certainly prefer a repayment by the exportation of their own produce. As the case stands at present the occasional relaxations granted by the agent of the East India Company, who will not altogether sanction the mutual interchange, are of little or no avail. It is very necessary that all this should be well understood, for the anxiety at home to promote agriculture at the Cape cannot take place with spirit, or even safety, unless the power to dispose of the surplus produce be secured.

[Enclosure B in the above].

Extract of a letter from W. RAMSAY, ESQ., Secretary to the Hon'ble East India Company, dated 3rd November 1810, to J. PRINGLE, Esq., agent to the Hon'ble E. I. Company at the Cape of Good Hope.

In consequence of a proposal made to the Court of Directors by W. Huskisson, Esq., colonial agent for Ceylon, for opening a commercial intercourse between Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope, and which has received the Court's acquiescence, they hereby authorise and instruct you, upon application from the Governor of Ceylon for the time being, and jointly with him, to grant licenses, not exceeding three in the whole in any one year, for ships belonging to Ceylon, and not exceeding 300 tons each, to trade between that island and the Cape, provided no articles shall be allowed to be carried from the one or the other of those settlements on board any such ship except such as may be the growth, produce, or manufacture of the one or the other of those settlements, or if not of such growth, produce, or manufacture (as for instance the coarse cloth of Tuttocom) such only as shall be specified and enumerated both as to their quantity, quality, and

origin in the licence aforesaid under the joint signature of the governor of Ceylon and of the president in council at Madras, or of you as the Company's agent at the Cape of Good Hope.

[Original.]

Letter from SIR JOHN CRADOCK to the EARL OF

LIVERPOOL.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAPE TOWN, March 4th 1812.

MY LORD, I have now the honor to lay before your Lordship the subject of the Tenure of Land in this extensive Colony in the fullest manner, with the hope that your Lordship will take this important question into the earliest consideration, and favor me with such instructions as may enable me to proceed in exact obedience to the intentions of His Majesty's Government.

I divide the papers submitted to your Lordship into two parts. The first contains the letters of Mr. Bird, Deputy Colonial Secretary, Mr. Baumgardt, Surveyor General of Crown Lands, and His Majesty's Fiscal, upon a former occasion when the subject was under discussion by direction of my predecessor the Earl of Caledon, and they embrace much original and various information.

It

And the second comprehends its revival. This part consists of my private and confidential letter to Messrs. Alexander and Bird, Colonial and Deputy Colonial Secretaries (with their answers) wherein I have detailed all my views, and requested from them an equally unreserved communication of their sentiments. contains also the opinions of Messrs. Ryneveld and Truter, the President of the Court of Justice and His Majesty's Fiscal, but I have to remark that from obvious reasons I did not communicate to these gentlemen, however eminently loyal and respectable, the whole contents of my letter; but only requested in general terms the delivery of their sentiments. It might not have been discreet altogether, even to them, to have imparted any doubtful reasoning upon the permanency of the British dominion over this territory, a subject of all others the most delicate, and upon which

I may venture to say the attachment of this Colony principally rests; and in addition I wished to obtain from these enlightened persons a clear and unbiassed judgment upon points where it might be necessary to collect the common notions and prejudices of the Settlement (one so long established) and even a knowledge of its real interests.

To avoid the unnecessary repetition, I beg to refer your Lordship to the letter referred to, as I have therein stated all the circumstances that make a strong impression on my mind, but which, if founded in error, will, I trust, receive apology in the limited period since my arrival in this Country.

I have satisfaction, however, in finding that the principal points coincide very much with the opinion of the other gentlemen to whom I have resorted for advice, and that as alone the tenure in succeeding grants, by Quit Rent, seems to best promote the interest of the revenue and the dignity of Government, so the gradual exchange of the loan places for similar tenures, if acted upon with all the delicacy and circumspection such an alteration of property would require, will not only give a great increase of permanent income, but confer a general happiness upon every individual concerned by the security thenceforward established in his property and the power afforded to him to make provision for the different branches of his family by the subdivision of his land, no part of which can he now effect from the right of resumption of the whole grant, which Government assumes, though may not perhaps exercise.

I take the liberty to urge the increase of the permanent Revenue by every means of which it is capable, as it appears to me to be the only real foundation (in every prospect of events independent of such guaranty as the British Government may choose to attach) of security to the paper currency of this Settlement; and that the present nature of the security in public buildings and houses, which seems to gain the attention of the public, is of a very weak and inferior description.

I cannot close a dispatch of this nature without venturing to express to your Lordship that this Settlement, if it meets the views of His Majesty's Government, may be carried to any extent in the production of excellent wine, corn, and provisions, at very moderate prices; the detail of which at a very early period it will be my duty to lay before your Lordship.

In the view of Manufactures, it does not yield any prospect, but considering fairly the relative situation of a Colony with the Mother Country, such pursuits are perhaps rather to be avoided than encouraged.

It appears only necessary to add that the situation of Surveyor of Crown Lands is vacant by the resignation of Mr. Baumgardt, who through age and infirmities is no longer able to perform his duties.

Circumstanced as this rising Colony is, it requires the succession of a person of science, great activity, and approved integrity. I have endeavoured, but without success, to make a proper choice, and am therefore obliged to request that your Lordship will consider this essential subject in the extensive and complicated view submitted to your Lordship's judgment.

It cannot be expected that on the very moderate salary 1200 Rixdollars or £240 currency annexed to the situation, any gentleman duly qualified will be found to accept it, and it therefore seems required that the appointment should be more appreciated, and an adequate provision directed. It may be fairly hoped that if the appointment be faithfully executed it will amply compensate the charge. I have &c. J. F. CRADOCK.

(Signed)

[Copy.]

Proclamation by SIR JOHN CRADOCK.

Whereas serious apprehensions are entertained that the small pox has made its appearance in this colony; and in consequence thereof, for the greatest security against any infection spreading, I have caused the removal of the persons supposed to be infected, and of all those who have been in contact with them, to Paarden Island: I do therefore hereby strictly forbid all intercourse whatever with the island, until further notice.

And in order the better to enforce a due attention to this regulation, I hereby declare that any person after the publication hereof found upon any part of the said island will incur a penalty of 500 Rds. and be subject to six months imprisonment, and in case

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