British subjects resident within your dominions, ample time is thus afforded for the deliberate formation of your final judgment; the result of which I shall await with a respectful, but confident hope, that your wisdom may approve and perpetuate the policy which dictated my orders of the 5th of October, 1798, and of the 19th of September, 1800; and that your liberality may confirm to all the interests affected by this important measure, the lasting enjoyment of those commercial and political advantages, which it has been my constant endeavour, under your countenance and favor, to cultivate, to improve, and to extend. I have the honor to be, honourable Sirs, Your most obedient and faithful servant, No. XCV. The Marquess Wellesley to Hugh Inglis, Esq. Chairman of the Court of DEAR SIR, Directors. Fort William, October 6th, 1800. I trust you will establish the monthly packet over land from London, and also monthly vessels of intelligence, which might carry small cargoes, passengers, and letters; the expense would be defrayed by the passage-money, postage, and sale of the cargoes, which might consist of such perishable articles, as are in daily demand in India; I have no doubt that individuals in England or in India would readily contract to furnish such packets, exonerating the Company from all expense, and taking the profits of the vessels and cargoes. The object is of the utmost importance; in the present year I was nearly seven months without receiving one line of authentic intelligence from England. My distress and anxiety of mind were scarcely supportable. Speedy, authentic, and regular intelligence from Europe is essential to the conduct of the trade and government of this empire. If the sources of information be obstructed, no conscientious man can undertake this weighty charge. The fundamental principles of policy on which rest our establishments in India, require frequent communication with England; the British subjects in India should never find any difficulty in maintaining that intercourse with their native country, which tends to preserve their attachments, to keep alive their affections, and to bring the remembrance of home constantly to their minds. I could urge innumerable topics on this subject, which I feel to be of great importance. In India the regular establishment of the monthly post overland, and the return of the monthly packets by sea, would afford the government at home, as well as the parents and connections of all British subjects employed or resident in India, regular and quick intelligence of the state of public affairs, and of all private interests in the East. We might then hope to receive both in England and India respectively, constant advices of the date of three months anda-half, or four months at the latest. Believe me, dear Sir, Your faithful and obedient Servant, SIR, No. XCVI. The Marquess Wellesley to His Excellency Vice Admiral Rainier. Fort William, 13th October, 1800. I am deeply concerned to inform your Excellency, that the Honourable Company's ship Kent, was captured on the 7th instant, off the Sand Heads, by the French privateer La Confiance, commanded by M. Surcouff, after an action which lasted about an hour and three-quarters; and in which the Kent had eleven killed, (including Captain Rivington the commander) and forty-four wounded. M. Surcouff ultimately overcame the Kent by boarding that ship. He is stated to have sustained considerable damage during the action from the fire of the Kent, which mounted eighteen pounders. The Kent was laden principally with marine stores. It is the opinion of the second officer, and of the purser of the Kent, whom I have personally examined, that the Kent being very deep in the water, and a dull sailer, her progress to the Mauritius (to which place it is concluded she will immediately be despatched,) is likely to be extremely slow; and consequently that a strong probability exists, that any vessel would overtake her who should pursue her even at the distance of several days, subsequent to her departure from the Sand Heads. It is uncertain whether the Confiance remains in company with the Kent, or whether the Confiance is still in a condition to persevere in her cruize. Her loss during the action is supposed to amount to about thirty men killed and wounded. I have directed Captain Canning in the Nonsuch, to proceed in pursuit of the enemy; but as Captain Canning was on the point of sailing in charge of several ships, it is uncertain whether my orders will reach him in time. I think it necessary to inform your Excellency, that the party of the enemy which boarded the Kent, (consisting, it is said, of 100 Europeans and 50 Caffres,) was guilty of the most savage acts of wanton and brutal cruelty; having cut down numbers of defenceless and unresisting persons, and after death disfigured the bodies of the slain in the most barbarous and shocking manner. Their treatment of the unfortunate survivors of the crew and passengers, who were put on board of an Arab vessel in the most destitute condition, (not excepting even the ladies) was equally inhuman, and contrary to every principle by which the evils of war have hitherto been mitigated among the civilized part of mankind. The design of the present despatch is to suggest for your Excellency's consideration, whether it might not be proper, that your Excellency should detach one of the vessels under your command in such a direction, as may afford the best chance of falling into the track of the Kent, and of the Confiance, should she have proceeded with her prize towards the Mauritius. Having no doubt that your Excellency will concur with me in opinion, that it is of the utmost importance to retake the Kent, I also beg leave to submit to your Excellency, whether it may not be expedient to detach one of his Majesty's vessels to the Isle of France, for the express purpose of intercepting her before she shall have entered that port. It is supposed by the officers of the Kent, whom I have examined, that the Confiance with her prize, would be enabled to quit the Sand Heads on the 8th instant. I have the honour to be, &c. No. XCVII. Minute by the Governor-General. Fort William, 20th October, 1800. The Governor-General acquaints the Board, that he directed the Town-Major to take such steps as might be necessary for furnishing the subaltern officers and cadets, who were captured on the Kent Indiaman with quarters, as also with a common table until such time as they might be otherwise provided. The urgent distress and destitute condition of these unfortunate gentlemen demand the immediate interposition of government. These gentlemen have lost whatever property of any kind they had brought with them from Europe. Many of them. had already suffered considerable loss by the fire on board the Queen, which they had in some degree repaired at a greatly enhanced expense at St. Salvador, when by a second calamity at the mouth of this river, they were plundered of every article in their possession; many of them are destined for the establishment of Madras, and one for that of Bombay. They have arrived in the river all without property of any description, and many without a friend or connection in this settlement to relieve their distress. In addition to these calamities, some of them are severely wounded. To offer a mere advance on account of pay, or allowances, to persons in such a situation, would be to propose an inadequate temporary alleviation of their present misery, at the certain sacrifice of their future comfort, and with the melancholy prospect of aggravated embarrassment. The stoppage of their future pay or allowances, with a view to the repayment of any such advance, (however gradual the operation of refunding might be,) would necessarily reduce them to borrow money from individuals, and would ultimately plunge them into inextricable ruin; the effect of such an arrangement on so large a proportion of the younger branch of the Company's military service, must be highly injurious to the interest of the public, as well as disgraceful to the honour and humanity of the British Government in the eyes of all its native subjects. The Governor-General, therefore, deems it to be his duty to afford immediate relief to these sufferers, in such a manner as shall provide in some degree for their permanent comfort, and shall enable them to avoid the necessity of future embarrassment; with this view, his Lordship has referred to the practice established in his Majesty's service, the spirit of which appears to be justly applicable to the case now under consideration, since it is difficult to distinguish from losses incurred on actual service, the losses sustained by officers captured by the enemy in time of war, during the course of a voyage from Europe to India, undertaken for the purpose of joining their respective corps, or of being immediately posted at the different stations of the Company's army. The Governor-General therefore proposes, that a gratuity or compensation for the loss of their baggage, and other property equal to 60%., (the estimated value of the personal baggage of a subaltern officer, according to his Majesty's regulations) shall be granted to each of the subaltern officers of his Majesty's and the Company's regiments, to each of the cadets, to the medical gentlemen, and also to Mr. R. Davies, veterinary surgeon of his Majesty's 27th regiment of Dragoons. This sum is certainly very unequal to the actual losses of each individual, and quite insufficient for the purpose of enabling them to renew many indispensable articles of equipment. The Governor-General however, has adopted the preceding principle of relief, as affording some degree of aid to the unfortunate sufferers, whose cases are now under his Lordship's consideration, and at the same time precluding the establishment of any precedent which might hereafter encourage unreasonable demands upon government. Circumstances of peculiar hardship may however occur, to warrant a deviation from the general rule, and to induce the GovernorGeneral in council either to afford full and immediate relief, or to refer the case to the favourable consideration of the Honourable the Court of Directors. As the gratuity alone, would not be sufficient in many of the cases of distress to afford the necessary relief, either with a view to the present or future situation of the objects of his Lordship's attention, the Governor-General proposes, that an advance of two months pay, and half batta shall be made |