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RECORDS OF THE CAPE COLONY.

[Original.]

Letter from VICE ADMIRAL BERTIE to the
HONOURABLE W. W. POLE.

Raisonable, SIMON'S BAY, 31st May 1809.

SIR,-I have the honor to communicate to you for the information of their Lordships that His Majesty's Ships Clorinde and Iphigenia anchored in Table Bay on the 18th ultimo. The former having been detained here until the 5th instant in consequence of its being discovered that in the Gale she encountered in the Channel, one of the anchors having given way, had nearly worked through two of the planks in the Bows, underneath the Copper, which required her being brought by the Stern and lightened, in order to their being shifted. This repair being completed, she sailed under Orders, a Copy of which is sent herewith, and which I deemed it expedient to give Captain Briggs, from the reasons therein stated. Captain Lambert sailed on the 3rd instant in the Iphigenia to take the command of the detachment of the Squadron stationed off the Isle of Bourbon. The Sirius arrived here on the 7th instant, and sailed again on the 15th under Orders, a Copy of which is also herewith transmitted. On her passage out she captured a French Government Schooner bound from Nantes to Senegal, and also recaptured a Portuguese Brazil Ship which had been taken by the French frigate Bellona, by which vessels Captain Pym received the Intelligence, the particulars of which accompany this. The only information I have received from the Mauritius subsequent to the Ships of the Squadron resuming the Blockade has been by the Racehorse (which Vessel was obliged to return into port, her Foremast and Main Yard having been very badly sprung

in the hurricane she experienced with the Nereide), the substance of which is herewith transmitted, and previously by a small prize sent in by the Racehorse, the prisoners from which report the Hurricane not to have reached them; that the harvest of Indian corn had been productive, and that one Ship had arrived from Batavia laden with Rice. They are however very exact relative to the arrival of the Venus from France, a frigate quite new, of the first class, commanded by M. Ameline, who formerly commanded the Naturaliste; that strong reinforcements in frigates and smaller vessels were daily expected, and which is so fully corroborated by the information obtained from the vessels captured by the Bellona as to be reduced to a certainty. The prize to the Racehorse sailed from the Isle of Bourbon on the 8th April, and was captured on the 10th. At that time I have reason to believe the British Force off the Isle of France to have been as per margin.

Leopard,
Sapphire,
Otter,
Charwell,
Harrier,
Racehorse.

From the foregoing statements it appears that the Enemy's strength in this quarter must be computed at seven Frigates, besides smaller Vessels of war, without including those said to have sailed from the Loire. To execute their Lordships' Orders and to prevent all intercourse with the Isle of France and Bourbon, the force I have cannot be kept collected, but must in point of situation be placed according to the motions of the Enemy; nor to fulfil their Lordships' intentions, and execute their Commands, is it possible to relieve the Ships in a regular routine, as some must necessarily be returning from casual circumstances; but I hope by sending up provisions, stores, vegetables, and particularly Lime juice, which I am taking every means to procure, the Squadron will thus be enabled to remain to the commencement of the hurricane months, by which time I hope to know their Lordships' further pleasure, and am particularly to request they will be pleased to signify to me in what manner they would have the squadron disposed of during that season. The risk of keeping the ships on their cruising station is certainly great, at the same time it is during these months they chiefly send supplies and reinforcements.

I transmit herewith a copy of a Letter from His Excellency the Governor of Mozambique to the Earl of Caledon, sent to me by the latter; also a Copy of a Letter from Rear Admiral Sir Sidney Smith addressed to me, by which it appears the Portuguese

A

Government have given instructions in their African Settlements to the interdicting all intercourse with the French Islands. Frigate and Sloop are absolutely requisite in the Mozambique and at Zanzibar to prevent the Enemy from destroying their Settlements, which I am convinced they will attempt as soon as they are apprized of this interdiction, and I more than ever suspect they are increasing their intercourse on the Mozambique since we have so narrowly watched the Eastern side of Madagascar. To gain information, and for other purposes, I have sent Captain Tomkinson in the Caledon under Orders, a Copy of which is hereby transmitted, which will fully explain to their Lordships my motives for the Instructions given to him.

I am to acquaint you, for the information of their Lordships, that the Boadicea arrived yesterday. I have &c.

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Letter from the EARL OF CALEDON to VISCOUNT STRANGFORD.

CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE, June 5th 1809.

MY LORD, Mr. Musgrave, who will have the honor of delivering to your Excellency this dispatch, was the bearer of a letter from the Commandant of Monte Video to my address soliciting (as your Excellency will perceive by the enclosure) the assistance of this Government in a supply of two or three thousand stand of arms.

When I inform your Excellency that I have not been instructed from home with the line of policy which His Majesty has been pleased to adopt towards the Spanish settlements on the River Plate, I need scarcely add that I have felt considerable embarrassment as to the part which I should take whether of acceding to or rejecting the proposal of General Elio, but as I feel confident that in any assistance His Majesty may be pleased to extend he will have maturely weighed the interests and connection between the Portuguese and Spanish powers and have acquainted your Excellency with his royal pleasure, I have deemed it most prudent to adopt the precautionary measure of submitting this point for your Excellency's decision, and under such circumstances have

delivered to Mr. Musgrave 2000 stand of arms, for which he has made a deposit in specie in the Colonial Treasury equal in amount to their estimated value, and has entered into double security that he shall in the first instance sail to Rio de Janeiro, there to abide by the instructions which he may receive.

I hope my Lord by thus endeavouring to consult the interests of Great Britain and those of her faithful ally I may not have imposed upon your Excellency the necessity of declining to assist those who declare themselves disposed to resist the attacks of the common enemy, but rather that the more pleasing office be afforded your Excellency of accelerating the much wished for succour. I have etc.

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Letter from the EARL OF CALEDON to VISCOUNT STRANGFORD.

CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE, June 5th 1809.

MY LORD! I sincerely hope that I may not have transfer'd to you any share of the embarrassment which I felt on the receipt of Genl. Elio's dispatch, but, as I observed in my official letter that I am totally unapprized of the intentions of Great Britain as to the Spanish settlements on the River Plate, and as your Lordship is doubtless informed upon this subject, as also upon the degree of amity actually existing between the Portuguese and Spanish powers in South America, it appeared to me on every account preferable that the delivering or refusal of the arms should be the result of your Lordship's determination.

If the former (and that your Lordship approves of the mode) may I beg that Mr. Musgrave be permitted to continue his voyage, and that the letter to Genl. Elio's address be entrusted to his care. If the latter, your Excellency will then I hope be pleased to order Mr. Musgrave to deliver the arms to any person to whom you shall think fit, and in that case if Mr. Musgrave be permitted to prosecute his voyage, that your Excellency will be pleased to transmit or suppress the letter as you may judge best, and if suppressing it, that you will have the goodness to communicate with Genl. Elio upon the subject.

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