DONKIN, Rufane Shawe, Sir - Despatches 1820-1821

[Selected Despatches transcribed from CO48/49 and CO48/54, at the National Archives in Kew, London]

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 53

Copy of an application made by Mr. Benjamin MOODIE to be allowed to participate in such advantages as are now granted to persons conducting emigrants to the Cape of Good Hope. Enclosure in Sir R.S. DONKIN’s Despatch No.8 dated 17 Feb 1820

Cape of Good Hope

February 11th 1820

Sir,

I have the honour to submit through your medium to His Excellency the Governor’s consideration the following circumstances, trusting that your knowledge of them will enable you to elucidate the subject, and satisfied that His Excellency will give it the attention he may deem it to merit.

At the period when Emigration under my direction left England, His Majesty’s Ministers had not decided on giving any encouragement to settlers in this colony; subsequent, however, to the date of a memorial to which the above was the substance of the answer received, I was informed that although I could expect no immediate assistance my claim would be admitted for such advantages as Ministers might afterwards be induced to offer to others. With a recommendation therefore from Earl BATHURST to Lord Charles SOMERSET, I engaged in an undertaking, the result of which has been the location of two hundred persons of the most valuable description in this colony. The success of the individuals composing this emigration has tended in a great measure to attract to this quarter the attention of the public, and the colony at the Cape of Good Hope promises not only to afford an asylum to many thousands of the distressed at present but to rival America as a receptacle for the annual emigration that must take place from a Society so far advanced in Civilization as that of Great Britain. Government having at length turned its attention to the subject have held out to those engaging in similar undertakings passages for their people free of expence, to cover which Parliament have voted £50,000. Government have also held out certain inducements in this colony to the person leading emigrations to it. To be admitted to a proportional share in these advantages is the object of my now soliciting the interference of His Excellency the Governor by application in my behalf to His Majesty’s Ministers. As the first who engaged in an undertaking fraught with so many advantages to the colony it may perhaps also appear to His Excellency that my claims are entitled to some farther consideration from the Colonial Government than those of such as may follow in my footsteps, guided by my experience, particularly as the result will show that many of my followers have amassed fortunes and all acquired competancies, my circumstances have not been improved by it.

With regard to the difficulties I have had to encounter, notwithstanding the interest the Colonial Government took in them and the support it gave me, I shall only say that as no legislative enactment could be effectual where there is not a sufficient party to support it in the community, I derived no further advantage from that Securing to Master the Services of their Apprentices than those in the expression of the approbation of Government. But it was addressed to a Society whose immediate interests as slave owners were opposed to it.

The expence I incurred for the passage of my people from Scotland to London and from London to the Cape somewhat exceeds £20 st per head.
I have the honor to be Sir,
Your most obed’t humble servant
(Signed)
Benj’n MOODIE

 

 

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 64
Despatch No.10

Government House
Cape Town
March 26th 1820

My Lord,

I have the honour of acquainting Your Lordship that the Nautilus and Chapman Transports with settlers for this Colony arrived here on the 17th instant and sail again this day for Algoa Bay.
It would be premature in me to enter into any details on this subject just now. I shall therefore only take the liberty of saying to Your Lordship that whatever difficulties the settlers will have at first to encounter (and they will have many) I feel a conviction that the measure of colonising South Africa will ultimately succeed, and produce great and favourable results, both in regard to this Colony and England, and this conviction strengthens as I consider the subject, presuming as I do from the information I have been able to collect that the numbers at first will not be too great.

Every preliminary arrangement within my power for the reception of the settlers at Algoa Bay and for forwarding them to the place of location has been made. The Landdrost of the District has received detailed instructions and orders to superintend the operation, and to put them in possession of their allotments of land, which I have fixed on for this party (being the first which has arrived) in the angle formed by the last twelve miles of the right bank of the Great Fish River and the Sea.
The Nautilus and Chapman on their arrival here were put into quarantine (as all ships at present are in consequence of the fatal Epidemy at Mauritius and the Smallpox at Bourbon) and would have been released as all ships coming from the Westward immediately are, had not the Hooping Cough prevailed in the above named two Transports; but as that disease has been very fatal here and is exceedingly dreaded the quarantine has been continued in regard to the Nautilus and Chapman. This has given rise to many complaints on the part of the settlers, some of which may possibly reach Your Lordship. I therefore have thought it right to state the circumstances, as it is, that Your Lordship may be aware that the application of the quarantine to the two transports was unavoidable and the natural consequence of a general regulation already established. The Directors, however, and some others under precautions, have been allowed to land here and make their arrangements.

The Garland, a private ship with settlers, arrived here on the 22nd instant. I shall dispose of them in the best manner I can after the arrival of their Director, who is said to be in the Amphitrite, which is daily expected. I think a number of their detached and independent settlers may be able to find employment in and about Cape Town.
I hope to be able to proceed myself to the Frontier by the middle of next month, to superintend the location of the settlers, the majority of whom will I hope have arrived and gone on from this place by that time and when I shall probably be enabled to form a tolerable judgement as to the numbers of settlers to be expected in all.
I must not omit mentioning to Your Lordship that Captain MORESBY of the HM Ship Menai has in the handsomest manner offered to accompany these settlers to Algoa Bay, there to superintend their landing and to employ his carpenters and people generally in the construction of sheds and other cover for their immediate accommodation, and to facilitate the landing of stores and other matters. I have expressed my thanks to Captain MORESBY and accepted his offer.

I have the honor to be, My Lord

Your Lordship’s most obedient humble servant

R.S. DONKIN

PS
While closing this despatch the Northampton, with stores for the settlers, has arrived, but most unfortunately has had the smallpox on board, of which five persons have died. This will probably render a strict quarantine at this place necessary, but I hope to be able to send her on immediately to Algoa Bay and that no evil may arise from landing the stores and the settlers there, which shall be done under our precautions.

 

 

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 68
Despatch No.11

Government House
Cape Town
March 28th 1820

My Lord,

Since closing the accompanying despatch I have received such a report from the Health Officer, relative to the Northampton, as has enabled me to relax the quarantine and to permit the Heads of Parties, the Captain and a few other persons to land here under certain precautions, and I am in expectation that the Northampton will be able to proceed immediately to Algoa Bay with her stores and land them and the settlers there without danger of infection to this Colony

I have the honor to be, My Lord

Your Lordship’s most obedient humble servant

R.S. DONKIN

 

 

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 72
Despatch No.13

Government House
Cape Town
April 24 1820

My Lord,

In my despatch of the 26th 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 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 Zuurveld, 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 colonization I have taken it on myself to make in the instance of the 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 Capt. GRANT will be located separately. They will most probably be placed on the Baviaans 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 favourable one for the Highlanders and, by placing on it a hardy and active race of man, an effectual stop will be put to the inroads of Kaffers into the Graaf 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 Saetendal’s Valley, east of this town and near the southern coast.
In making these selections of place as well as in conducting the general arrangements 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 acknowledgements.

I have before mentioned to give Your Lordship my opinion as to the ultimate success of this important measure of colonization and the more I contemplate and become familiarized 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 that 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 scarcely be said to exist, and to the encouragement of which I shall give my best endeavours.

I hope to be able to make Your Lordship a favorable report of the location in the Zuurveld on my arrival there, but I am prepared to hear many complaints and to find many difficulties to encounter. Such as are removable shall be removed and I must say that most of the Heads of Parties I have yet seen seem well disposed to endure and make the best of such hardships as are unavoidable in such an operation as is now going on.

I have the honor to be, My Lord

Your Lordship’s most obedient humble servant

R.S. DONKIN

 

 

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 95
Copy

Spanish Reed
5 June 1820

To His Excellency Major General Sir Rufane Shaw DONKIN KCB, Acting Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, Commander in Chief

The Memorial of George MARTINSON

Humbly sheweth

That Memorialist came to this Colony as a settler under the direction of Mr. CROSSE [sic – should be CRAUSE], that in November last Memorialist went on board the Nautilus Transport to provide for and make arrangements for the comfort of his family previous to their embarkation. The vessel dropt down the river and, proceeding to sea, got on the Goodwin Sands, that on the ship’s righting she finally proceeded to sea without stopping either at the Downs or at Portsmouth, at one of which places Memorialist had been assured by Mr. WALTON the Master the ship would touch and remain at least for a week, and where Memorialist had determined to embark his family.
Memorialist therefore humbly hopes Your Excellency will be pleased to forward this or what other statement Your Excellency may judge requisite on an occasion of such a nature to His Lordship the Earl BATHURST, Colonial Secretary, recommending Memorialist’s case, and Memorialist thereby hopes again soon to feel the enjoyments of life so much to be desired (that of again having his family with him) and trusts that his wife and family who were so unfortunately left in England will be sent to this Country.

Any information or direction to his wife how to act will be gratefully received by being addressed for Sarah MARTINSON to the care of T. PEMBERTON, Foreign Post Office or to R. CALLOW, 12 Archers Street, Haymarket. And Memorialist as in duty bound will ever pray.

(Signed)
George MARTINSON

 

 

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 121
Copy

Harewood
12 July 1820

To His Excellency Major General Sir Rufane Shaw DONKIN KCB, Acting Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, &c &c

The Petition of John BRAITHWAIT

Most humbly sheweth

That Petitioner came to this Colony as a settler, that under peculiar circumstances was obliged to leave his wife & family behind, she being then quite far gone in a state of pregnancy and enjoying at the same time a very ill state of health, and no doctor being on board the vessel in which Petitioner was ordered to embark, together with her timidity rendered such a separation absolutely necessary, or Petitioner must ultimately have lost the chance then offered by Government to emigrate to this Colony. Under these cases Petitioner humbly hopes that Your Excellency will be pleased to intercede with the Colonial Secretary in England in order that a passage may be granted free of expence for Petitioner’s wife and family to this Colony. On a grant of Petitioner’s request his wife & family will proceed to Portsmouth or any other port directed by a letter directed to her at Knaresbro, Yorkshire. And Petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray.

(Signed)
John BRAITHWAIT

 

 

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 123
Copy

Blue Krantz
14 July 1820

To His Excellency Major General Sir Rufane Shaw DONKIN KCB, Acting Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, Commander in Chief

The Petition of Christopher ADCOCK

Most humbly sheweth

That Petitioner intends carrying on the trade of Tallow Chandler to some extent to supply the settlers of the Colony with that necessary article of consumption, candles, but that not having implements for this purpose Petitioner humbly hopes that Your Excellency will be pleased to forward his intentions to the Colonial Secretary in England requesting that the necessary articles, which will be provided by Petitioner’s friends, may be sent free of freight to this Colony. Petitioner’s brother, who will send out the articles required, can be consulted on application to Mr. R.H. ADCOCK, No.71 Wardour Street, Soho. And Petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray.

(Signed)
C. ADCOCK

 

 

 

National Archives, Kew, CO48/49, 142
Despatch No.23

Government House
Cape Town
October 30 1820

My Lord,

Amongst the settlers who have come out to this Country is a Mr. William PARKER from Ireland, whose proceedings towards his followers and this Government have been so marked by neglect and dishonesty towards the former, & by extravagant and inadmissible demands on the latter, that I have been obliged to break up his Party & to permit the individuals of it to choose their own Head, in order to ensure their settlement and future maintenance.

I should not have resorted to a measure of this nature had it not become my duty to rescue the unfortunate persons who have trusted themselves to Mr. PARKER from the misery into which they were rapidly sinking from his total neglect of them and from his having finally abandoned them to come and reside at a place called Bonteberg, near Cape Town, at a distance of full 100 miles from his place of location.
He forced me to know and to notice his entire desertion of his party by a letter, from which I have the honor to enclose an extract, and I have in consequence taken these poor people under the immediate protection of this Government, and I have sent instructions to the Deputy Landdrost of their district how to proceed, of which instructions as well as of the letter written to Mr. PARKER on the occasion, copies are also enclosed.

I should not have troubled Your Lordship so much at length concerning an individual were it not that Mr. PARKER very early began to menace this Government with the consequences that would ensue if his demands were not complied with, and amongst these consequences was the bringing of his case before Parliament, which from certain correspondents he appears to have he might perhaps find means to do; it becomes therefore my duty to enable His Majesty’s Government to answer any questions or statement which may be made in Parliament, which I now beg leave to do, by assuring your Lordship that any member of His Majesty’s Government may distinctly and clearly assert that every possible attention has been shewn to Mr. PARKER ever since his arrival in this Colony; that a strong disposition existed on my part, and on that of the Public Officers of this Government, to assist Mr. PARKER; and that this disposition, as well as every thing which has actually been done, or has resulted from it, has been rendered wholly nugatory by Mr. PARKER’s want of faith towards his people, his visionary and monstrous schemes, his unreasonable expectations and finally by his utter abandonment of those unfortunate persons who trusted to him. I advance all this on my own responsibility and I pledge myself that any assertions to the above effect that may be made by His Majesty’s Government shall be amply and fully made good by abundant documents from the Colonial Office here.

I have said nothing of the arrogance and disrespectfulness of Mr. PARKER’s style of correspondence with this Government, and I can assure your Lordship that it has not been permitted to operate in the least to his prejudice, although his letters have been highly offensive, as your Lordship will perceive should it hereafter be necessary to send documents from this to repel any statements made by Mr. PARKER.
A strong opinion prevails here that this individual is suffering under a degree of mental derangement and I have sometimes been disposed to adopt this opinion; which, however, it is difficult to reconcile with the persevering consistency with which he has all along kept his own interests in view, to the total disregard of those of his followers.

I have the honor to be, My Lord

Your Lordship’s most obedient humble servant

R.S. DONKIN

[Transcriber’s Note: The extremely lengthy 1819 correspondence of William PARKER (see transcriptions of CO48/45) means that this letter can have come as no surprise to Lord BATHURST. Two complete files of correspondence on the case are held separately at Kew, which I will be forgiven for not transcribing! The first is CO48/87 (Mr.PARKER’s complaint against the Colonial Government) and the second is CO48/88 (Mr. PARKER’s complaint – Report of the Commissioners of Enquiry). William PARKER returned to Ireland in 1822 but obviously did not cease his letter writing. HO44/17 at Kew (Home Office Correspondence) has an entire file entitled ‘Mr. William PARKER regarding Emigration Committee, Agricultural Reform & Problems of the Irish Poor’]

 

 

 

National Archives in Kew, CO48/54, 220

Bathurst

5th June 1821

My Lord,

Your Lordship will observe from the date of this Despatch that I have carried into execution the intention I had the honor of mentioning to Your Lordship before I left Cape Town of visiting the settlers in Albany, and it is with great satisfaction that I have to report that I find the best spirit and feeling generally prevalent amongst them and a much greater progress made in their buildings and improvements than I could have hoped for after the severe calamity of an universal blight in their crops.

The general health of the settlers is quite unexampled I believe in any other instance of colonization. The District Surgeon here tells me that within his knowledge the deaths do not exceed a dozen in the last year, whereas the births have been considerably more than one hundred.
This Town, as a control point for the locations, has far outstripped my expectations – above twenty houses are already built and nearly finished since I last had the honor of addressing your Lordship from this spot this time last year, when I fixed the site of Bathurst and, at a sale of building lots which took place here on the 1st instant, they averaged in price near £50 sterling an acre. In consequence of this demand

I have ordered six more lots to be sold in about a month.
On Sunday last, the 3rd of June, Divine Service was performed here for the first time in public on the spot intended for the church.
Your Lordship is aware that the Town of Bathurst is near the Kowie River. I have great satisfaction in reporting to your Lordship that having lately visited the mouth of that river accompanied by seafaring and other experienced people I have every reason to hope both from my own inspection and from all the reports I have received that the mouth of the Kowie will prove to be safely accessible to small vessels and thus become a place of export for the corn and other productions of Albany. It is impossible to describe to your Lordship the effect this prospect has had with the settlers, and the additional value it has conferred upon Bathurst. One characteristic of the mouth of the Kowie is remarkable, and perhaps not elsewhere to be found in this Colony, which is that from the shortness of its course and the gentleness of its declivity, a great volume of water is not disembogued at once into the sea and consequently no obstacle properly called a Bar is thrown up, thus in fact the mouth of the Kowie is rather an inlet of the sea, running several miles up into the country, than the debauchure of one of those torrents which usually empty themselves from the continent.

I am making all necessary and possible arrangements while I am on the spot to give activity and efficacy to a trade between Bathurst and Cape Town by means of the Kowie.

In a Despatch I had the honor of addressing to your Lordship before I left Cape Town I submitted my conviction of the necessity of uniting the Civil and Military Authorities on this Frontier in the hands of one person and that I proposed to place Major JONES (an officer whose talents and character I have long known and can answer for) in the offices of Landdrost and Military Commandant. The necessity of this measure became more and more obvious every day; the difficulty was to find a military man of sufficient rank who has some knowledge of civil administration. I can assure your Lordship that if I had not believed Major JONES properly qualified I should never have placed him here; and I hope he will answer the expectations I have formed of him, but, whether or no that particular officer fulfils my expectations, I have no hesitation in submitting my opinion that the union of the Civil and Military Authorities on the Frontier is absolutely necessary for some time to come for the wellbeing of the settlers and for the effectual protection of themselves and property.

While addressing your Lordship I have the honor of receiving your Lordship’s Despatches of the 29th October and 2nd December 1820. As these Despatches relate to the settlers and to the country I am now in, I shall here submit to your Lordship whatever may be necessary in reply to them.

The first dated October 29th conveys your Lordship’s instructions for me to carry on the [fine/five?] Frontier works formerly planned by Lord Charles SOMERSET and an impression seems to be made on your Lordship’s mind that I had wholly suspended their progress. This I have not done, but instead of allowing a ponderous fortress of stone, cannon proof, to be erected under the name of Fort Willshire at an immense expence, and which would not have been near finished at this day, I caused a Fortified Barrack perfectly adequate to every defence against Caffers to be constructed in its stead, which has long been completed and occupied by 250 men, the number originally intended for Fort Willshire.
The Second Fort has not yet been begun upon because when I was last here the Chief Engineer and myself on reconsidering the ground both concurred in thinking that instead of placing it where first proposed it might be placed more advantageously nearer the sea, but I have had it in contemplation to locate a body of the disbanded African Corps in that direction and if I can accomplish this it will afford a fortified village as a Right Flank to the Colonial Frontier Line of Africa.

Should this prospected location of part of the African Corps prove impracticable I shall not fail to give orders for placing a Fortified Barrack similar to the one I have placed in the Keis Kamma on the best military point I can select.

Your Lordship’s Despatch of December 2nd related to the Rations and I am relieved by finding from the general tenor of it that in case of aggravated distress the issue of rations to settlers, to be ultimately paid for, would not be disapproved of by your Lordship. That case has arisen from the universal destruction of the crops, and rations have accordingly been issued with a distinct and clear understanding that they are to be paid for hereafter, for which payment the Heads of Parties are to be personally answerable and their lands mortgaged.
I take this opportunity of suggesting that perhaps it will be advisable as a matter of future consideration and favor that the several Heads of Parties shall be allowed to pay back their rations to the Commissariat in kind. This would be holding out a near and palpable encouragement to industry and would be opening a certain market for all the cattle and produce they may have to dispose of for some time to come.
I have adopted this principle in regard to seed corn, which has been ordered up hither and which is now distributing. I have told the settlers that they may repay that corn hereafter in kind, so that this Government will furnish them seed corn now, when its price is exceedingly high, on condition of receiving hereafter an equal quantity at whatever rate the market may be.

I beg leave now to express my acknowledgements to your Lordship for having made me the organ of communication to convey to the settlers the additional aid afforded them by His Majesty’s Government in regard to waggon hire. I shall do this immediately and I am sure great gratitude will be felt by them all.

For the favor and aid they have already received they are really grateful, as your Lordship will perceive by the address which all the Heads of Parties near this who could assemble, presented to me soon after my arrival at Bathurst and of which I take the liberty of enclosing a copy. Whatever there may be in it flattering to myself I can have merited only by acting upon and by obeying your Lordship’s instructions. I regret that your Lordship’s Despatch did not reach me before the address was presented, as I am sure that the very great indulgence extended by it to the settlers in regard to waggon hire would have been specifically noticed by them in expressions of warm and grateful acknowledgement.

I have the honor to be, my Lord

Your Lordship’s most obedient humble servant

R.S. DONKIN

 

 

National Archives in Kew, CO48/54, 226

[The following address was printed in the Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser of Saturday June 23 1821 and a cutting enclosed with Government Despatches. ]

[Pencilled in margin: I beg leave respectfully to observe that this entirely voluntary address is a complete refutation of the complaints of certain disappointed individuals at Cape Town who say they were deceived in England and have been neglected here. RSD]

Bathurst
June 1st 1821

To His Excellency Major General Sir Rufane Shawe DONKIN KCB, Acting Governor and Commander in Chief &c &c, Cape of Good Hope

We the undersigned Heads of Parties and other British Settlers in Albany beg leave to address Your Excellency to express our gratitude for the liberal manner in which we were provided and sent to this Colony, for the precautions which were previously taken and for the ample supply of stores of all sorts which were furnished by the Government at home to ensure our future success and stability on our several locations.
We further beg leave to convey the expression of our thanks to Your Excellency, to the Officers of this Government and to the local authorities here for the zeal and kindness with which the instructions of the Government at home have been carried into effect, and for the constant care and attention with which our wishes have been met and our wants even anticipated.

We feel it particularly incumbent upon us to acknowledge our gratitude to Your Excellency for kindly continuing to us the issue of rations after the total failure by blight of all our crops, thereby assuring us a subsistence, until our endeavours by the blessings of Providence may procure us such necessaries as may render our situation easy and independent.

In conclusion we are cheered and encouraged by feeling and knowing that in transplanting ourselves to the shores of Southern Africa we have not been removed beyond the fostering influence and protection of His Majesty’s paternal care and Government, and we hope Your Excellency will be pleased to convey these our sentiments most dutifully to our Sovereign.

(signed)
Duncan CAMPBELL
George PIGOT
Alex’r BIGGAR
George DYASON
D.P. FRANCIS
John SMITH
Henry LLOYD
Wm. BOARDMAN
Charles HYMAN
Edward FORD
Samuel JAMES
Arthur BARKER
William GRIFFITHS
Alexander BISSET
J.H. GREATHEAD
Thomas PHILIPPS
Miles BOWKER
Jas. RICHARDSON
Wm. CURRIE [sic]
W. SHAW
Geo. SOUTHEY
Wm. WAIT
Wm. HOLDER
Dr. O’FLINN MD
Geo. WATSON
Thos. HEWSON
Geo. ANDERSON
Thos. MAHONY
Sam’l BENNET
Geo. SMITH
Jos’h RHODES, COCK’s Party
John JARMAN
J. Centlivre CHASE
Peter CAMPBELL
Samuel Harper BRADSHAW
C.T. THORNHILL
John BAILIE
Isaac DYASON

[The above address was printed in the Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser of Saturday June 23 1821 and a cutting enclosed with Government Despatches. The following notices of potential interest were on the back]

ARRIVAL IN TABLE BAY
19 June Duke of Marlborough Eng. Ship Wm.HOLLETT Master, from Plymouth 5th April, cargo sundreies from London for this place.
Passengers: The Rev. J.L. HODGSON, Missionary, Mrs. HOLLETT, Mrs. LUTTERMAN and child, Misses STRETCH and RENS, Messrs BOWNESS and WELSFORD, Merchants, Mr.& Mrs. JUBBER and child. Mrs. JAMES and 4 children, A. BURGIE, J. GEODAIR, E. PAINTER, T. GRIMES, Mrs. SANDERS and child and Master WAINSCOTT (Settlers).

ARRIVAL IN PORT ELIZABETH
4 June Mary, Coasting Brig, H. STEWARD Master from Table Bay 25th May, cargo Government stores.
Passengers: Mr. BOWIE, Mr. PERRY, Surgeon, Mr. REED, Mr. WYNAND, P. FLAMMY and S. HELINGAM