proceedings, and to which I returned the following an

swer:

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Dominica, March 28, 1802.

"MY LORD,

"UPON my return to Dominica this morning from Martinique, where urgent public business with the Commander in Chief had called me, I had the honour of your letter of the 21st January. The packet is already getting under way, and as the situation of the merchants, relative to insurance, renders it impossible for me to detain her, I must content myself with briefly answering the last paragraph of your Lordship's letter.

executing the agreement; and you requested to be empowered to grant possession of the land mentioned in the agreement, as well as some smaller lots under the same predicament, to any other parties who might be found qualified to fulfil the contract upon the same terms.

In reply to this letter, the Duke of Portland acquaints you, on the 22d of April, 1799, that, in consequence of the circumstances which you had represented of the death of Mr Bell, and the inability of Mr Gillittle, there would be no objection to your granting the lands to persons of property and respectability, who might be willing and equal to undertake their drainage and cultivation upon the terms of the original agree

ment.

This last dispatch was received in Dominica during your absence from the island, by Mr President Matson, who proceeded with the zeal the subject was so well calculated to excite, to communicate with the engineer department, and to collect the best information which could be procured upon every point connected with it. He was accordingly enabled to transmit, on the 6th of September, 1799, several papers relating to the subject; and amongst them, a memorial from Mr Gillittle, and the heir of Mr Bell, containing a statement, confirmed by Mr Matson, of their ability to have fulfilled the conditions of the agreement which had been proposed by them: the expences they had incurred in expectation of its being executed in their favour, and their desire still to prosecute the undertaking; and further representing the hardship and loss to which they must be exposed, in consequence of a lease of the same lands having been granted by you to Mr Laing.

With regard to this lease, I do indeed find, that, on the 25th of November, 1799, it was directed, by the Duke of Portland, to be cancelled, in consequence of the irregularity of your proceeding, in granting the same before you had received any power or authority for so doing; and because some conditions, which were deemed necessary, had been omitted. But the same letter directed you immediately to execute a

"Your Lordship has conceived the idea, that, in the first place, I have impeded the draining of the swamp at Prince Rupert's Bay, in this island; and, secondly, that by such negligence, his Majesty's troops have suffered unheard of calamity.

"My Lord, I shall find little difficulty in clearing myself from both aspersions, equally unfounded. Next packet

new agreement with Mr Laing, adding a clause to render more secure the accomplishment of the object which Government had in view.

The receipt of the dispatch last mentioned, was acknowledged on the 4th of December, 1799, before your departure for Dominica; and you stated, at the same time, your intention of proceeding, immediately upon your arrival in the island, to cancel the lease granted to Mr Laing, and to execute another agreeably to his Grace's directions.

I have not, however, been able to trace, that any steps whatever were taken by you, during the two years which elapsed from the date of the communication last referred to, either for a renewal of the agreement with Mr Laing, or for inducing any other persons to undertake the cultivation of the lands, except as far as regards the proposal made by Mr Trotter, a copy of which I received from Sir T. Trigge, of undertaking this drainage upon the extraordinary terms (compared with those of the former agreements) of a pecuniary consideration of 5000l. in addition to a grant of the lands. This, I conceive, is the proposal alluded to in your dispatch to me of the 12th of October last, which you had contented yourself with transmitting to Sir Thomas Trigge a very short time before, without having noticed the subject of the swamp at Prince Rupert's, in any of your dispatches to this country, since the year 1799; although you must have received from the Duke of Portland a letter, dated the 10th of April, 1800, of which the following is an extract:

66

"Mr Secretary Dundas has transmitted to me the enclosed extract of a letter from Lieutenant-General Trigge, stating, that the draining of "the morass at the post of Prince Rupert's, in Dominica, has been totally neglected (the person with whom you agreed to undertake it, not having made the smallest attempt towards the execution of it). I cannot but be seriously concerned at my now having to call your attention to the mischief that has arisen from the improper and unauthorised agreement you entered into with Mr Laing for this purpose; as well as that I should be obliged to take notice of the delay which has ob“tained, in concluding a more compulsory agreement with him, as di"rected by my letter to you of 25th November last, which would have "secured the draining of the lots of land to be leased, conformably to "the terms of that agreement, as speedily as possible.

66

66

"Although I have stated in that letter, that Mr Laing seems possess"ed of the means that are necessary to fulfil this undertaking; yet, in 66 consequence of the neglect which Mr Laing has shewn in this instance, you are clearly and distinctly to understand it to be His Majesty's

shall convey, in detail, a full explanation of every particular; at present I shall but observe, that if your Lordship has recourse to the monthly returns at the War Office, the mortality at Prince Rupert's, since I had the honour to command here, has perhaps at no time exceeded the mortality of any post in Great Britain for the same period. My observations shall conclude with assuring your Lordship, that, in place of his Majesty's for

"pleasure, that, in leasing the said swampy lots of land, a preference is "decidedly to be given to such person or persons only, having sufficient "means of performing the agreement, as shall undertake to drain the "said swampy lots within the shortest period; such period to be speci"fied in the agreement, with a covenant for the Crown to re-enter on the "lots in case of non-performance of covenant on the part of the lessee, "in the manner directed by the letter I wrote you on the 25th Novem"ber last."

I have entered into this detail of circumstances, as they appear in the official documents deposited in this office, in order, if they have afforded me an imperfect view of the subject, that you may have an opportunity of placing it in its proper light; and abstaining at present from further remark, I shall proceed to convey to you his Majesty's commands, as to the steps now to be pursued for the accomplishment of the important object which has been so long in contemplation.

You are therefore, in the first instance, to call upon Messrs Bell, Gillittle, and White, or their representatives, to know whether they are disposed to enter into a contract for completing this work upon the original terms proposed by them, and to give security for the performance of the same within such a time as may be reasonably required; and it must be previously determined by you, with the concurrence of the chief engineer, or in his absence, with that of the majority of the Council.

If this proposition should not be acceded to, you will, in such case, cause public notice to be given, inviting all responsible persons to offer sealed proposals for undertaking this work; such proposals to explain the terms and conditions under which the party is willing to contract for the effectual drainage of these swamps, and to specify the time within which the contract is to be performed.

If the offers which may be made should appear to be such as ought to be accepted, you are to call upon the proper officers to prepare the necessary instruments; in which, due care must be taken to insert all the usual clauses for preserving the rights and interests of the Crown.

If, contrary to expectation, no one of the offers should be judged admissible, you will then, under the authority hereby given you, represent to the Commander in Chief of the forces in the West-Indies, the failure of your endeavours; and suggest to him whether it might not be adviseable to employ detachments from the black corps, in the execution of a work of so much importance to the general benefit of the island, and, in

ces suffering from my negligence, my exertions have saved the lives of the remnant of the 2d battalion 68th, quartered at Morne Bruce. To this I shall appeal to the testimony of his Excellency General Trigge.

"Conscious as I am of the greatest zeal for his Majesty's service, I stand acquitted with myself and every one here, of the charge which your Lordship has preferred against me; and I am sincerely hopeful, that whatever ideas your Lordship may entertain upon the subject, my letters per next packet will effectually eradicate them.

"I have the honour of enclosing your Lordship copies of letters received from St Domingo yesterday: they need no comment from me, and I have merely to assure your Lordship, that the disturbances at Guadaloupe are much quieted by the event.

"I have the honour to be," &c.

On the 4th of April, 1802, I addressed to Lord Hobart the following letter, pursuant to my intimation in the previous letter, which I have just recited:

particular, to the health of the military stationed for its protection. In the event of its being necessary to have recourse to this last mentioned mode, I cannot entertain a doubt, but that the Assembly of the island will readily contribute their aid, upon a proper representation of the subject being made to them by you.

I have only to add the King's express command, that not another moment should be lost in taking the necessary steps for commencing a work which would long since have been completed, had a due obedience been paid to his Majesty's repeated instructions, arising from the most humane and benevolent attention to the health and comfort of the garrison at Prince Rupert's, and of the inhabitants of that quarter; and the lives of not a few of his gallant troops might thereby have been preserved to their families, and to their country.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient humble Servant,

HOBART.

P. S. A copy of this dispatch is transmitted by the present opportunity to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Trigge; and it will be communicated to his Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, and to the Board of Ordnance, in order that any directions, which they may judge necessary for the guidance of the officers acting under those departments, may be forwarded without loss of time.

MY LORD,

"I had the honour of your Lordship's letter of the 21st of January, (No. 6) which the limited time that the packet afforded, permitted me merely to advert to, in mine to your Lordship, of the 20th ult. (12). The next packet so immediately succeeded, as to prevent my then embracing the subject at fuller length. I now submit to your Lordship a justification of my proceedings, relative to the swamp at Prince Rupert's; relying, that your Lordship will see, that I neither deserve the imputation of procrastinating a business of such consequence, nor of trifling with the health of his Majesty's forces.

"I have perused your Lordship's letter with the utmost attention; in which every progressive circumstance, relative to the attempt at draining that swamp, from my first agreement with Mr. Laing to the present period, is accurately laid down: nor can I throw more light upon that part of the subject, than what your Lordship is already in possession of. Your Lordship is therefore aware, that different means have been tried by me, to accomplish the draining of the swamp: that they have failed, I can merely regret.

The circumstance upon which your Lordship seems mostly to lean, is, that Messrs Bell, Gillittle, and White, were people adequate to the undertaking; and that they would have fulfilled their contract, had I left them the means. His Grace the Duke of Portland's authorising me to annul the contract, is the most satisfactory proof which I can offer your Lordship to the contrary; and Mr Bell being dead, Mr White having left the island, and the circumstances of the survivor, Mr Gillittle, being such as to render it impossible for him to undertake a business of such magnitude; such a view will afford your Lordship but slender hopes, that the survivor and representatives of the deceased will either attempt the execution, or fulfil the expectations of Government, if attempted.

Conscious that Mr Gillittle was unfit for such an undertaking (however the President of the island might have flattered himself with the contrary), previous to my leaving this Government, I executed an agreement with