Letter to the Earl of LIverpool-2

C. O. 54/42

Kings House
Colombo
29 March 1812

The Earl of Liverpool,
Secxretary of State for the War
And Colonial Department
Downing Street
London

My Lord,

I have the honor to acquaint Your Lordship that I arrived off this place on the 10th instant, after a favourable voyage of fifteen weeks from Portsmouth, and on the following day landed from His Majesty’s ship Africaine and was received with the most flattering marks of respect and distinction by Major General Wilson, the Chief Justice, and the principal officers of His Majesty’s Government.

His Majesty’s Commission appointing me Governor and Commande=in-chief in and over the British Possessions in the Island of Ceylon was immediately read and published in the usual manner in the presence of the Troops in Garrison, of the said officers, and of the principal and inhabitants, of this place, and the prescribed oaths having been administered to me by the Chief Justice, Sir Alexander Johnston, I took my seat in Council.

I have great satisfaction in acquainting your Lordship that the general state of the Colony is prosperous, and that the various branches of public business in the Civil Department appear to be carried on with effect`t, and in strict conformity to the wise and excellent system of arrangement established by my predecessor, General Maitland.

On the 16th insyant, being as soon as proper arrangements could be made, I proceeded to publish His Majesty’s Charter brought out by me of the 30th October last, revoking certain provisions in the former Charter of the 6th August 1810, in doing which I felt it my duty to observe al possible delicacy and respect to the feelings of Sir Alexander Johnston consistent with the due promulgation of the Royal Act. With this view and after consulting with the nadvocate Fiscal as to the necessary forms, I adopted the course of having the Charter opened, read and recorded in the first instance in Council, after which I proceeded with the Members of the Council to the front door of the King’s House when Charter was publicly published by being read under a discharge of twenty one guns. We then returned into the Council Chamber and the Charter was delivered to the Chief Justice to be publ9ished in the Supreme Court, which he has since reported to me to have been done, and the Original Patent remains among the records of that Court.

In acknowledging the several dispatches received from your Lordship previous to my departure from England, the first in importance is (No 2.) dated the 5th November, and which accompanied the Charter of the 30th October, enclosing and referring to a copy of Your Lordship’s letter to General Maitland of the 30th September 1810, the principal part of which the last dispatch is intended to annul - - - This letter and its enclosure was on the same day of the publication of the new Charter, read and recorded in Council, by which the powers granted to the Chief Justice by the Dispatch of the 30th September 1810 became withdrawn and reverted to the Governor as before - - - I forthwith proceeded to new model the Council as thereby directed, referring for further particulars on that subject to the Dispatch of Mr Secretary Dundas dated 13th. March 1811, where the formation of that branch of the Government is first treated of.

By that Dispatch it is signified to be thought advisable that the Council should consist of the Commander of the Forces, The Head of the Law, The Chief Secretary to Government, and the Principal Officer of Revenue, and that a fifth member should be named by the Governor. Major General Wilson not holding the Commission of Commander of the Forces, was not under the terms of Mr Dundas’s Instructions created a Member of Council ex officio, but from the situation of Lieutenant Governor in which I found him under His Majesty’s special appointment, from his high character, and from the eminent services he has rendered this Colony, and from his being by the Constitution of this Government the person entitled to be placed at the head of it in the event of any accident happening to me, I trust Your Lordship will see that I could have no hesitation in exercising in his favor the power of nomination vested in me by the dispatch alluded to.

Anxious under alluding circumstances to mark my respect and deference for the Judges of the Supreme Court, and having found the Puisne Justice, Mr Coke, a member of Council, I felt strongly disposed to continue him in that situation until the pleasure of His Royal Highness, The Prince Regent be declared, as the Council will not by his admission exceed the number of members prescribed.

On the grounds already submitted with regard to Major General Wilson I could not but consider him as entitled to a very leading rank in the Council, and under that conviction nominated him next in order to the Chief Justice. Mr Coke, however, has claimed that place as his by virtue of the Charter of 1807, and lodged a minute in Council containing a representation on that point, which I beg leave to submit through Your Lordship for the pleasure of The Prince Regent. In the meanwhile I have not thought the reason urged by Mr Coke of sufficient weight to overcome those upon which I grounded the resolution already stated, especially as both the appointments were optional on my part.

I must however beg Your Lordship to understand that not the most remote feeling of anger or irritation exists on this subject in any quarter, but that on the contrary the whole proceeding on a point of so much delicacy has passed with the most perfect harmony.

Sir Alexander Johnston brought the Colonial Seal into Council and delivered it to me, and I have committed it to the custody of the Chief Secretary to be used under my direction on such occasions as may be fixed by Regulations, but the description of such acts to which the application of it may be limited has not yet been fully determined on, and therefore I am not enabled to report specifically on this subject as directed by my instruction.

It was next an early object of my attention to make known to the Civil and Military Servants of His Majesty’s Government the arrangement which the goodness of His Royal Highness The Prince Regent had provided respecting the exchange of money, and the substance of Your Lordship’s Dispatch (No. 3) upon that subject, dated the fifth November last, was accordingly made public by a Proclamation of which I have the honor to enclose a copy.

In the Civil Service the latest list of salaries of which the approval has reached the Country is that of the Establishment fixed by General Maitland for the year 1810 and approved by Your Lordship’s letter of 30th September 1810, to which list alone I have determined to apply the new rate of exchange for the present.

Your Lordship is of course aware that there are a variety of salaries in the Civil Branch not comprehended in List, and consequently excluded by the terms of Your Lordship’s mletter from the benefit of the alteration. A few also of the salaries mentioned in the List have been subsequently augmented, to which extent they will remain for the present on the old footing in the rate of payment - - - and it is my intention (subject to any orders which I may receive to a different effect) that the advanced rate should take place in the former instances on the new salaries and in the latter on the recent augmentation, from the date of thus receiving His Royal Highness’ sanction.

With respect to the Military Branch, the subsistence and staff pay of Military Officers and their Island Allowances (answering Your Lordship’s description of field allowances in the nature and lieu of Batta) will all be paid at the rate of 1s 9d for the Rix Dollar - - - Also the pay for the European non-commissioned officer and soldiers, subject to a deduction for provisions (at the same rate) to the full amount fixed by His Majesty’s Warrant of the 6th. February 1799 – viz 6d per diem – Hitherto the stoppage of a private has been two pence a day, making at the old exchange about 4.5 Sterling, and it will be a satisfactory instance of the beneficial effects of the new rate, that it enables the soldier to pay the additional stoppage of very nearly 1.5 d a day, without suffering a decrease of more than 11/14th of piece (about a halfpenny sterling) from the amount he has hitherto received in the currency of the Island - - and further that the deduction from the pay of the soldier as now enforced will cover the expense of victualling the Troops - - Sundry Schedules (specified in the margin) will accompany the letter exhibiting the details of the arrangement in those instances to which it has been applied and pointing out with all necessary observations such cases as are not comprehended under it - - And I am happy to state that it has afforded a very general relief from a grievance universally complained of, and is felt both by Civil and Military as an act of most gracious consideration and attention on the part of His Royal Highness The Prince Regent to the comfort of His majesty’s faithful servants in the distant colony.

No intelligence having yet been received here of the arrival of Sir Samuel Hood in India, nothing has been done on the subject of Your Lordship’s letter of the 5th. November (No. 4) and its enclosures, respecting the formation of a naval establishment at Trincomalee - - Commodore Broughton commanding His Majesty’s Navy in these seas has written to Major General Wilson signifying his intention of visiting Trincomalee in the course oif the ensuing month, accompanied by Commissioner Paget from Madras, on which occasion I should certainly have met them there, but am informed the rains of the South West Monsoon now about to set in would render the roads impassable for my return. I have written to Commodore Broughton mentioning my wish to meet him and the reason which prevents my doing so, and have informed him that Lt. Colonel Hayter, the Commanding Engineer, who is proceeding towards that quarter, for the purpose of inspecting and reporting on the practicability of repairing the Giants Tank for agricultural purposes, would be ordered to proceed to Trincomalee, if the Commodore should think his presence of any service towards promoting the objects under consideration. I have further to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship’s letters (5 & 6) of the 5th November respecting the repayment in this country of monies advanced from the Treasury in England - - One of which letters (No. 5) relates to sums advanced sometime ago on account of the Colonial Regiments and Gun Lascars and the other (No. 6) to such sums as maybe advanced hereafter in consequence of Mr Peels letter to Mr Harrison of the 23rd. October 1811 proposing that the Paymaster General should pay to the Agent the amount of sums due annually from the Island of Ceylon in England, recoverable by the Deputy Pay Master in this Island out of the Treasury here.

I have also received your Lordship’s letter of the 7th. November (No. 18) conveying the accounts of the Colonial Agent Mr Huskison for the year 1807 enclosing a letter from Mr Harrison to Mr Peel dated the 21st. October.

The several appointments mentioned in Yourf Lordship’s letter of 2nd. October, not numbered, and your two letters (No. 8 & No. 9) of the 5th. November have been duly notified and taken effect viz; below Mr Charles Brownrigg to be a writer on the Civil Establishment.

The Reverend Mr Bisset to be Assistant Colonial Chaplain and Messers Bletterman, Turnour, Sawers, and Tolfrey, to be placed on the Civil Establishment. Of the four gentlemen last named only two are at Colombo, Mr Bletterman and Mr Tolfrey, who have expressed in grateful terms their acknowledgments for the favor conferred on them.

The only other letter from Your Lordship which remains to be noticed, is one of the 5th. Of November (No. 7) authorizing the Governor to retain in the Civil Service for a limited period those servants whose time may have expired, and to pay them in addition to their salaries, the sum they may be entitled to receive from the pension fund - - Mr Boyd at the head of the Revenue Department, is the only person entitled at present, to claim the benefit of this provision, in whose behalf I should certainly wish to exercise the option left to me of granting it, but it happens unfortunately that Your Lordship’s letter by specifying a period of twelve years service, does not in terms apply to Mr Boyd, who came out originally in the First Class of Civil Servants, and by Lord Hobart’s plan of the pension fund, became entitled to retire on a pension after eight years service, which period has expired. As Mr Boyd’s case comes distinctly within the intention of General Maitland’s representation to which Your Lordship alludes, I am led to believe that it did not occur to Your Lordship’s notice that there was still a servant remaining of the First Class, and that there was no intention of limiting the effect of the arrangement in question, to that class whose period of service was originally fixed at twelve years.

Under this conviction t is my intention f Mr Boyd choose to remain n the service, which I sincerely hope may be the case, to allow him the additional payment until I shall have been honored with His Royal Highness The Prince Regent’s pleasure on the subject.

Adverting to the subjects which occur in the Dispatches of Major General Wilson the short period which has elapsed since his last letter, and the recent date of my own arrival here, and do not enable me to add much to what he has communicated.

No event of importance appears to have taken place within the Candian (Kandyan) Territory, since the Capital Punishment inflicted on the First Adigar and other persons high in office reported to Your Lordship by Major General Wilson in his Dispatch of the 15th. July last - - perfect quite prevails on the frontier and if an opinion can be formed of the public feeling towards the British, it might be said to be favorable by the tenor of a recent correspondence between the Disave’s of the Seven Corles (Korales) and of the Saparagamuwa (Sabaragamuwa) and Mr D’Oyley, the Chief Interpreter of Government, of which I have the honor to transmit copies. I beg to assure Your Lordship that I shall steadily pursue the policy laid down by General Maitland, by abstaining from every act which can by any possibility lay the foundation of hostility.

Of Major Davie, no accounts to be relied upon have been received subsequent to those communicated to Your Lordship in Major General Wilson’s letters of the 26th. Of February. It would be most truly gratifying to me if our relations with the Court of Candy (Kandy) could be placed on that footing of good understanding which might enable me to obtain the liberty of that unfortunate officer.

The road projected and partly executed by Major General Wilson along the borders of the Candyan (Kandyan) country from the Caltura (Kalutara) District to that of Chilaw continues in progress.

As Major General Wilson’s letter of the 26th. February contains ample detail of the amount of receipt and Expenditure and actual funds to nthe end of the last year, it will only be necessary for me to furnish Your Lordship with a statement of the money in the Treasury on the 10th of March, the day of my arrival here, with an abstract of the latest returns from the Cutcherries (Kachcheri’s) at outstations, being down to the 29th. of February. The very limited amounts of funds exhibited by these statements, will suggest to Your Lordship the probability of my being obliged to have recourse to some mode of raising money for the exigencies of the current year, beyond what the ordinary Collections of Revenue will supply. A heavy disbursement continues to be made in the Recruitment Service by which also a daily increase arises in the expense of the Colonial Regiments. The alteration in the exchange of money will form a very considerable addition to the amount of expenditure both Civil and Military.

Some expense will also be necessarily incurred on the public works, as I shall have occasion to state more particularly to Your Lordship in a subsequent part of this letter.

From these and some other indispensable objects of Extraordinary Expense, and deprived as we are of the aid of a Pearl Fishery which I fear there is no prospect of undertaking for two or three years to come our expenditure will no doubt greatly exceed the amount of receipt from the ordinary revenues and it will unavoidably arise as a matter of consideration, in what manner the necessary funds can be raised with the least inconvenience to His Majesty’s Government at home.

I do not expect that any aid of consequence will be afforded by the honorable the East India Company’s Governments and as far as I can foresee, the choice will be between raising a loan on Colonial obligations, and drawing on the Lord’s of the Treasury. A subject of s jmuch importance requires more consideration than I have yet had it in my power to give to it, but I request Your Lordship will believe that in adopting any measure for this purpose, I shall be guided by the most anxious attention to the public interest and scrupulously confine myself to that amount which the occasion may absolutely required.

It was the practice of General Maitland to fix the establishment of the various departments for some certain period, and all charges occurring within that time were placed on the contingent list and drawn for by special authority. The last arrangement of this kind made by him was to the end of the year 1810 - - He left the Island to soon afterwards and too much reduced by ill health to have been able to settle the Establishment fr any subsequent period. In the meantime a variety of changes have taken place, and a good deal of detail has arisen in the public offices from the authorities necessary to be issued in those instances. I have therefore directed a present state of the several departments to be collected into a schedule, and have fixed that as the Establishment for the remainder of the present year.

A copy of this schedule I have now the honor to enclose, and as it will bring under Your Lordship’s notice in one view the several new appointments of partial changes made by general Maitland and a few of small consequence made by Major General Wilson, I avail myself of this circumstance to solicit that Your Lordship will be pleased to take an early opportunity of submitting them to the favorable consideration of His Royal Highness. The particulars contained in this enclosure render it unnecessary for me to trouble Your Lordship with any remarks on the changes in question except as to those instances that have occurred in consequence of the new Charter and the Dispatch accompanying it.

On the revival of the Provincial Courts it was of course my wish thatg the gentleman who lately presided in them should be restored to their situations and as I learnt that their characters were perfectly unexceptionable, I have had great pleasure in reappointing them which has accordingly been done as follows.

Henry Layard Esquire, Provicnial Judge of Matura (Matara)
John Deane Esquire, Provincial Judge of Colombo
James Richardson Esquire, Provincial Judge of Jaffna

The Provincial Court of Galle was vacated even before the establishments of the Landraads, Mr E Tolfrey the late Judge having proceeded to England for his health; General Wilson had intended Mr Scott to succeed him, but on the arrival of the former Charter, he was made Vice-President at Matura (Matara) as the greatest jurisdiction, in which situation I found him and under those circumstances. I have thought it right to appoint him Provincial Judge at Galle. Mr Douning who had been transferred from the office of sitting Magistrate at Trincomalee to be Vice President at Galle remained to be provided for - - and as no situation was open for him, I have on the explanation of General Wilson that a Revenue Officer and Sitting Magistrate had long been much wanted at Mannar , for the purpose of giving him a clerk and interpreter and peons attached to the last mentioned department and thus saving the necessity of an Establishment for the business of Magistrate.

Your Lordship will already have been informed by major General Wilson’s Dispatch of the 26th. February of a deficiency experienced in the sea Customs and General Revenue of the District of Jaffnapatnam (Jaffna) during the late year, occurring to a failure in the usual demands of Tobacco by the Rajah of Travancore and connected with a monopoly which he has found means to establish in that article, and a separate letter of the 1st. March communicated to Your Lordship the receipt of letter from Lt. Colonel Munro the Resident at the Court of Travancore, on the part of the Madras Government by which it appeared that the Rajah had not voluntarily diminished his purchases but had been deceived and disappointed by an Agent who had failed to make the proper provision, and against whose property he solicited the interposition of His Majesty’s Government.

The request was so far complied with by Major General Wilson, that the property of the Agent was stopped at the Custom House, by which a sufficient time was afforded to proceed against it in the Provincial Court - - and I have finally thought it necessary to refer the case to that Tribunal as the pri9ncipal point was purely judicial.

To a certain degree the communication from Lieutenant Colonel Munro serves to throw a favorable light on the intentions of the Rajah, but the principal grievance still remains, and the plan suggested and partly acted on by Major General Wilson of making a trial of small consignments to Java, the Mauritius, and the Cape, with a view of opening new markets for the tobacco of this Island, appears to me a measure of great judgment and expediency, and I have given orders for carrying it into full effect to the consignors, and the directions respecting them will be found in the enclosed copy of a letter from the Chief Secretart to Messers Arbuthnot & Company, the Colonial Agent at Madras.

On the subject of the permission obtained from the Court of Directors of the East India Company for trading from this Island to the Cape of Good Hope and London, I have jnothing to add to the particulars and correspondence communicated to Your Lordship by Major General Wilson’s letter to Mr Peel of the 31st. ctober last, and the further letters added on the transmission of the duplicate.

My impression on the subject collected from the papers alluded to is, that such a privilege in so far as it may be left at the discretion of the Indian Governments is not likely to receive a construction beneficial to the interests of this Colony.

Connected with this observation and one of a similar tendency which I had occasion to make in speaking of the state of art resources it is proper to lay before Your Lordship a correspondence which had lately occurred with respect to a supply of 35,000 bags rice, applied for by General Wilson to the supreme Government of India on the emergency of an expected failure in the rice crops. Instead of affording this accommodation, His Lordship in Council transferred the application to the Agents of the Island at Calcutta by whom the rice is accordingly to be consigned here but will cost more than double the usual price.

The motives of General Wilson’s measure appear to me to have been perfectly correct, and the disappointment expressed in his leller to me very natural, but not wishing the matter to grow into a discussion, I have put an end to it bu enclosing a copy of General Wilson’s letter in a private one from myself to Lord Minto, copies of which are enclosed. This instance will however prepare Your Lordship not to expect in any case of any difficulties occurring here in piint of finance that we shall experience any material support from the neighboring Governments.

The arrangements intimated by General Wilson as intended in lieue of the situation held by Mr Daniel and vacated by his death had not taken place at my arrival and still remains under consideration. To procure of wood likely to be in demand at the Settlements on the Continent and at such an expense as would leave a reasonable profit, is an object of obvious importance to the prosperity of the Colony. The plan also connects itself with the intended naval establishment at Trincomalee, and subject to any objection in practice, which may not yet have appeared deserves in my opinion to be seriously and favorably considered of.

Having had occasion to know while in England that a steam engine of great power is making up to be sent to this Island for the purpose of treating paddy into rice, I have thought it advisable, to put a stop to all further expense and preparation for the erection of paddy mills here.

An experiment of some extent is in progress at the Island of Delft for improving of the culture of Flax, with a further intention, as I understand, of manufacturing into cloth. The result of the present crop will enable the persons concerned to furnish me with more specific information, and proper specimens, to submit to Your Lordship’s consideration on the subject of this undertaking.

Nothing further has been done towards the formation of an Agricultural Society, nor have I yet been furnished with any particular report about the plants sent to the Morua Carle [Morawak Corale?]. Mr Ker appointed from Home to superintend these intended establishments, is not arrived from Canton.

In the suit of the King against Mr. Turnour and his Assignees, I am informed that an answer has lately been filed in the part of the Defendants to the appeal lodged by Government and the papers will be ready for transmission by the October ships.

A subject of the first importance to he retaining of this Colony as a part of the British Dominions, remains to be stated to Your Lordship viz; the dilapidated state of the Fortifications of this place and those of Trincomalee. Which has been repeatedly represented by my predecessors - - as the possession of this Island in the case of an attack from an invading European Force must depend on those Fortresses being held in a respectable state of defence, I must seriously lament that they have been suffered to fall nearly into decay and strongly impressed as I am with the fatal consequences must ensue from further neglect, I shall consider it an imperious duty resting upon me, at least to stop the progress of decay and to put them into a situation so as to gain the time necessary to oblige an enemy to open trenches before them, until succour maybe obtained from the continent of India, which intention I hope will be honored with Your Lordship’s approbation. I shall take the earliest opportunity of personally inspecting the works of Trincomalee as I have done those of this Fortress, and of sending for Your Lordship’s consideration the report of the Commanding Engineer, as to what may be the absolute extent of necessary repairs or new works and the expense of them. In the meanwhile the expense to be incurred shall be kept within the least possible bounds.

I shall address myself particularly to His Royal Highness The Commander in Chief, respecting the state and composition of the military force in Ceylon: as far as my observation and information has yet enabled me to form a judgment in regard to it. I have the satisfaction of saying that the troops are healthy but the amount of effective Rank and File being,

Europeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,568
Natives or Blacks . . . . . . . . . . . 2,878
(including 296 Gun Lascars). 4,446

falls . . . . short of the number which has always been considered the requisite Military Force of this Island. On referring to the documents already in Your Lordship’s possession I believe it will be found that General Maitland has repeatedly given it as his opinion, that independent of any apprehension of attack from an European Enemy, it never aught to consist to less than two nRegiments of Europeans of 1,000, Rank and File each, of three Regiments of Natives or Blacks of 1,200 each, and of three companies of British Artillery of 100 Rank and File each, and 300 Gun Lascars, making a total of 2,300 European Soldiers and 3,900 Native Troops.

Looking to Kandy, and the possibility of internal commotion, we can be under no apprehension, with our present means but calculating on the growing Naval Power of France at the period of my leaving England, I must suppose that the British possessions in India will form one of the primary objects of that increased power, should it ever reach a sufficicnet degree of maturity, and as this Island is a poiunt from where an enemy could with most effect subvert the British Dominion in India, I must feel anxious that the deficiency, the European Force should be made good here, and consequently hope that circumstances at home will admit of our being reinforced by an effective Battalion of the Line, and the company of Artillery in lieu of that sent from hence to Java, and this I the more strongly request to urge on Your Lordship’s attention while the two principal places of Colombo and Trincomalee continue in their present almost defenseless state.

In settling the allowance I found myself unprovided with any instructions from His Majesty’s Government in England or any precedent of a General Officer on the staff of this Island not holding the situation of Governor or Lieutenant Governor. I was therefore naturally led to refer to the allowance to His zmajesty’s Officers of similar rank serving under the neighboring Presidency of Madras and I hope to receive the approbation of His Royal Highness The Prince Regent in having fixed the allowances of major General Wilson at the same rate, until His Royal Highness may be pleased to communicate His orders on the case. His Royal Highness will no doubt be aware of the utter impossibility of a Major General maintaining the respectability of his situation in this very expensive Country on the staff pay of his Rank viz; 37s. 11d. a day. His income by the plan I have ventured to adopt will be made up of 400 Pounds a year.

I deem it my duty to report that I have drawn one half of my salary as Governor from the 4th. of October last, the date of my Commission, to the 10th. of March inclusive, being the day of my arrival here. Major General Wilson as being in the exercise of the Civil Government received the remaining half to that period. This measure I rest satisfied will be considered as fair and just by His Royal Highness The Prince Regents Government, the more particularly as Your Lordship will I am sure take into consideration the heavy expense which has attended my outfit, a sum which I can assure Your Lordship has exceeded 7,000 Pounds. - -

Your Lordship will herewith receive the copy of a proclamation issued by my direction on the 18th instant, by wshich the Civil and Military departments are referred to the Regulations established by General Maitland. Also the copy of the Regulation of Government which I intended to publish, respecting the transmission of public letters and the franking of private ones, a privilege hitherto enjoyed by the Members of Council and now confirmed by me, on which subject a copy of my minute in Council is enclosed.

On the occasion of appointing a circuit of the Supreme Court for the Northern Districts, it arose for consideration, whether any measure was necessary on my part, in consequence of that clause of His Majesty’s last Charter, which authorizes me to put an end to the Division of the Supreme Court if after communication with the Judges I should deem it expedient to do so.

The expediency as applied to a permanent Division into separate Districts, seems naturally to follow from the restriction of the powers of the Court in point of Civil Jurisdiction - - But it has been represented to me by both the Judges that the power of dividing the Court for Circuits would effect a considerable saving in expense, at the same time that the Dispatch of Business would be greatly felicitated by their being enabled to act separately - - And as the Charter of August 1810 was not followed by any actual separation of the Judges who had determined to sit together for the Trial of Criminal cases in arrears, it was their idea that the declatory Resolution which the last Charter provides to be made by me was not necessary, and that my withholding it would preserve the power of making separate Circuits.

Being strongly impressed with the solidity of these reasons, it only remains for me to be satisfied that there was no legal objection. And as Mr Gifford, the Advocate Fiscal concurred with the JNUdges in that opinion, and in thinking that the Charter was not mandatory on me to kmake such a Resolution I have determined to withhold it in order that the power of separation which bis understood now to exist may be exercised for the purpose of separate Circuits when occasion may required.

For Your Lordships further information I forward with this Dispatch a coipy of the opinion delivered to me by the Judges on this point. - -

The Circuit about to be undertaken at present will be a joint one, conformably to the intention of the Judges (which I have already mentioned) of trying the old cases by a full Court.

Having had the honor to state to Your Lordship the measures which have arisen out of the Dispatches delivered to me in England, I shall feel extreme gratification if I have been fortunate enough in these early instances to have acted (as has undoubtedly been my anxious endeavor), conformably to the spirit of Your Lordship’s Instructions. And in the General Management of the Great Charge which it has pleased His Royal Highness The Prince Regent to entrust to me I shall think it the surest mode of proving myself worthy of His Royal Highness’s confidence, to pursue with constant attention that Body of Regulations and precedence which has been established for the Government of this valuable Colony by the long experience and distinguished talent of my predecessor General Maitland. The Homeward bound East India ships having sailed from Point De Galle ten days previous to my arrival, no direct conveyance for England is likely soon to present itself. This Dispatch I send to the Mauritius by the return of a Schooner belonging to that Government with a request from me to His Excellency Governor Farquhar, that he will have the kindness to foreward it by the first opportunity.

I have the Honor to be
My Lord,
Your Lordships, Most Obedient,
Humble Servant,

Robert Brownrigg