Hugh and Robert McCalmont, merchants and slave-owners 1828

 

The McAlmonts of this letter, father Hugh in Dublin and son Robert in London, have been well-researched in the recent past with long biographical entries at the UCL Legacies of Slavery database and David Alston’s Spanglefish website; I provide References at the end. After the abolition of slavery in 1833, compensation was paid to Hugh McCalmont of Abbeylands County Antrim for 426 enslaved people at the Hope and Experiment plantations in British Guiana. A different Hugh McCalmont also made claims in respect of other plantations; it is not clear to me how long the Hugh of this letter lived and worked in Guiana before going or coming back to Dublin.

The Hugh McCalmont of this letter was born 1765 and died 1838. The Robert of this letter was born 1808 – so just twenty when writing this letter - and died 1883. The Thomas mentioned became a clergyman dying in 1872. The “Jonny” of this letter may be Robert’s youngest brother James who would have been at school in 1828; he matriculated at Magdalen College Oxford in 1839. Robert’s younger brother Hugh (1810-1887) named after his father is not mentioned in the letter unless he is the “Jonny” and at university.

This letter mixes business and personal matters in a way which might seem strange to a modern reader, especially in relation to the fact that the McCalmont family was very - and eventually fabulously – wealthy from its business activities. It is perhaps noteworthy that the main references in this letter are to trade with Latin America in general and not specifically British Guiana. Five years before this letter was written, a large-scale slave revolt – brutally repressed – took place in British Guiana and with the abolition of slavery in British colonies clearly in prospect by 1828 the McCalmonts would have had good reason to diversify their activities.

The Henry Lauauze (sic) of the address panel was a prominent insurance broker in Dublin.

The Mr Exter of this letter was Richard Exter, born about 1791,  who did indeed obtain extraordinary grants from the government of Mexico, though not quite so extraordinary as the letter may suggest. Many governments have sought to control and tax those who trap wild animals for their skins. Exter pitched a plan to the Mexican government that suggested he would employ Mexican personnel to control fur trapping and as part of the process raise tax revenue for the government, though of course he would have hoped to reap a very handsome profit for himself. The story continues at length on the internet but Exter himself died on a voyage from Vera Cruz to London less than a year after this letter was written.

Transcription

Addressed to: Hugh McCalmont Esq   Care of Henry Lauauze Esq   Dublin

Datelined: London 18^th Novr. 1828

London postmark of 18 No 18  1828 and Dublin mark of  20 NO 20 1828

Docketing note: Robt McCalmont 18^th Novr 1828

My Dear Father

Received your letter of the 15^th & also that of last Saturday week & one from Mamma of last Tuesday. I am sorry to find that Thomas is not recovering so fast as was expected. I hope however he will not go back [either backwards in getting well or back to the Caribbean?]

Your order for Negro Cloathing was in time for the Highbury as she was detained a day longer than I expected. She is waiting a wind at Portsmouth & I am afraid she will hardly be out [to the Caribbean] by Christmas as she is to call at Madeira.

Mr Inglis [W.Inglis & Co was the predecessor firm of McAlmont Brothers – Robert and Hugh -  which replaced it a few years after this letter was written, the takeover funded by their father] arrived on Saturday week & your letter from him via Glasgow the same morning. There has been nothing to write to you about since his return. He & Mrs & Miss Inglis are all quite well. Mr Hooton [probably a merchant or plantation manager in British Guiana; a Mary Hooton claimed for loss of 8 enslaved people there; no other Hootons appear in the slavery database] left for Falmouth last week, but all Mr Inglis could do he could not persuade him (by fair means) to go till the Decr Packet [boat ;Falmouth a regular port of departure for Atlantic crossings] & he will therefore remain at Falmouth till then. He is rather slow on his motions & if every one was equally so it would be absolutely necessary that there 48 hours in the day.

You will find when you go home [to Abbeylands, the family estate ] your share of the Chocolate. It is a great rarity even in Mexico & not to be had there for money. It is made by the Huns & Mr Exter got it as a present from the Bishop of Oajaca [ Oaxaca, whose nuns had for a couple of centuries added sweeteners to traditional indigenous chocolate recipes creating powders which would make what we now call hot chocolate].

Mr Exter’s new grant is certainly the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. It is not confined to New Mexico, but includes also California, New Albion [northern California up to Oregon] &c, & no one, not even one of the Indians, dare kill a rabbit or a badger or a fox or any other animal with a skin on its back in all that immense district nearly as large as the half of Europe without a permit from him. That is, if he can hinder them. This he considers a valuable privilege.

There has been nothing from Mexico since the last Packet & in Mr Hooton’s letter by her there was very little that could interest you farther than what you already had. The best thing was an account of a Sale of some Cinnamon which Mr Inglis sent out in June.

There was 500 lb [pounds] weight which sold for $5000 Charges including about $400 commis[ion] &c  1195 [balance] $3805 or at 45… [converts] to £713=8 = 9 [pounds shillings and pence] Cost £200 [leaves] £513=8=9 Profit besides £80 Commission but there was a P.S. to the letter which said that the buyer had returned in the afternoon in great trouble about his bargain as he bought it in ignorance of the large qu [antity – letter torn here] that was on board the same vessel & Mr Graves to oblige [him] cancelled the sale. He will not be able to sell it again at the same price but there will still be £200 or300 Profit

What is Johnny [ one of his younger brother, could be Hugh or James] to do in vacation? As he will have 6 or 7 weeks of it I think he had better go home. Thomas will be sorry to hear that Covent Garden is on fire [? No obvious major fire in 1828]. There is scarcely anything new from any part of the world. There is an arrival this morning from Para  ta [ ? ] the 25^th Septr but nothing doing.  Corn which has been till lately 1400 rs[? reales, Spanish currency] p[er] ….. has fallen to 800 rs & if the Blockade of Guayaquil continues [as part of a Peruvian-Colombian War] I think there is some chance of the price keeping up here but if it continues so low out there the people will not be ale to pay for the Goods.

Yours affectly. R McC

 

References

Wikipedia: Battle of Cruces [ for blockade of Guayaquil]

https://www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=314815

[David Alston]

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/search/

As well s the basic compensation details for two Hugh McCalmonts there are lengthy narratives with many references to other sources including archival holdings of letters like this one.        

https://thechocolatewebsite.com/thehistoryofchocolate/

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_California_(Bancroft)/Volume_3/Chapter_6

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/exter-richard

For more about British Guiana type “John Davies” into my Search Bar at the top of the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland of Holnicote seeks a Gamekeeper 1806

 

The Aclands of Devonshire were locally prominent across generations and this one, Thomas Dyke Acland (1787-1871) was educated at Harrow and Christ Church Oxford. At the time this letter was written he had not yet graduated from Oxford. He was a Tory MP at various times between 1812 and 1857 and belonged to that part of the conservative gentry which acknowledged social obligations. He has a Wikipedia page.   

His father had married a member of the Hoare banking fmaily and this son did likewise in 1808. The writer of this 1806 letter  signs only with initials the last one of which is fairly clearly an H and may be a member of the Hoare family or  fellow-student at Oxford or both.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Sir Thos Acland Bart    Holnicote   Minehead   Somersetshire

Datelined: 2 o’clock at Night

Postmarked from London JA[nuary] 15 1806 arrival indicated by Two Py[Penny] Post postmark of Minehead

My Dear Tom

Ridiculous as it may appear I really have been worried by business for the last two days & have in consequence been prevented from fulfilling my promise of writing more fully about the Gamekeeper – I could find nothing in his exterior appearance with wch to quarrel – He is tall & well framed for activity & his deportment bespeaks his having lived with people of respectability being the farthest possible from any thing be approaching to pertness. He professes to be perfectly acquainted with the management of Dogs  & says he is a tolerably good shot – the last person with whom he lived was Champion Dymocke [probably the youthful Sir Henry Dymoke currently hereditary King’s Champion who provided a colourful bit-part  at Coronations - check it out! - the next one coming up in 1820] and before that with Lord Donegal, the latter he left on his removal to Ireland, when he was dismissed with several other gamekeepers from his L’ship not requiring their services. Perhaps his misfortunes may find him in more ways than one to recommend him to yr. service. He had lost all his children except one & that with his Wife was either the only remaining torment of his life or solace of his cares. But lamentable to relate they were about two months ago seized with the small Pox & died. What the poor fellow must have suffered can only be known by Parents. He is however left unemcumbered & perhaps on that account more desirable as Gamekeeper.

His name is Wm Marshall – living at the Dickinsons Tap [part of the extensive Brewery complex at] St John Street Clerkenwell – Age 29 Yrs – I should be glad to have yr answer about him as soon as possible, as I am under a sort of promise to send him the earliest possible intelligence of the result of my representation – you had much better drop the  …. [letter seal broken here] that prevented your coming to town on yr return to Oxford – as you will the have ocular proof of the truth of my relation & may be able to form an opinion of the man for y.self & set on foot enquiries into his character.

Wednesday

I am now setting off for London & therefore must conclude with kindest remembrances to …. Believe me most … & affect[ionate] yrs. [initials only and possibly:] TMH

 

Reference

Wikipedia: Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10^th Baronet

A Regency Love Letter Thomas Peck to Caroline Clark 1818

Reader, would you have married him?

Love letters are not two a penny. Many no doubt were immediately consigned to the flames and many more bundled up with pink ribbon to be likewise consigned at a later date. Some have no doubt passed down in families though surely more by accident than design. Some, like this one, have ended up circulating in the market place of paper collectables. In my mind, that creates a suspicion that Miss Caroline Clark did Not marry Mr Thomas Peck. I cannot get a trace of any marriage online.

It may be that this letter was directed to a pick-up point (see the address line) to provide the recipient with privacy; but it is also the case that The Bell at Bury St Edmunds was an established coaching inn which was the actual terminus of the mail coach from London. Lackford where Miss Clark is working or staying with Mr Roper is six miles north of Bury. Thomas Roper was a yeoman farmer of the period and the wider Clark family prominent in local trade, notably brewing, in and around Bury. The Peck family my also have had a Suffolk connection.

The sender Thomas Peck appears to have been a well-off shipowner and the address he uses is in the East Smithfield / Docklands East End of London. That I have got the right “Thomas Peck” is supported by the maritime rhetoric deployed in the letter.

For another letter about love on this site type     Barnard Slater     into search bar 

Transcription

Addressed to: Miss Clark at Mr Roper’s Lackford, to be left at the Bell Inn Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

Datelined: 12 Dean Street [not Soho but the Dean Street in the Docklands of East Smithfield] Friday Night.

London postmark dated JA 26 818 [1818], charged 8 pence on delivery

 

Really my dear Caroline, your letter is so full of compliments that I am puzzled in what way to answer it. If I were to flatter you as liberally as you bestow encomiums on my “virtues” I should expect the next time I saw you that you would be a very different girl to what you have hitherto appeared and what I always wish you to remain. And so you don’t consider me as an “adviser who is really interested in your happiness”. Allow me to hope that I may be, if I am not already, your best friend. Pray don’t place too much confidence, my dear girl, in the happiness which this would ever yield you. Its charms will very shortly fade before your eyes, somewhat like “my op’ning rose-bud” [ Robert Burns “A Rose-Bud by my Early Walk” could be the intended reference ]  Fascinating as the pleasures of time may appear – enchanting as is the gay scene by which you are surrounded – oh let me beg of you to recollect that “the dearest friends must part”, that very, very soon the long grass will wave over our graves and tears shall no longer be shed for our memory. Here the last verse of “oh Nanny” recurs to my thoughts, “and when at last thy love shall die” [ from  Thomas Percy “A Song”, the opening line is “O Nannie, Wilt Thou Gang Wi’ me” ] &c. ah! My love these are considerations which must embitter every joy which centres here; and on the other hand, are fraught with sources of consolation to that mind which can bear without painful sensations to look forwards to a dying bed, and to hope for superior enjoyment in “another and better world”. That you are disposed to be volatile I acknowledge I have observed with something like regret; but increasing years and a little advice will I trust draw your attention from trifles, to objects worthy of your serious regard. Far be it from me, my Dear, to wish to see that placid brow overspread with melancholy. No! Caroline. I would rather see you always laughing. But there is a medium, a kind of temper which renders even gloom cheerful, without burdening the cheek with a tear, for every smile. Endeavour to please every one; but cautiously avoid flattery in attempting to afford gratification, adulation is a sort of deceit, if possible more despicable than downright falsehood; and I hope there is no necessity to remind you that candour is of all others the virtue I most admire. Well, says Carry! “this is a  pretty love letter however;” – all cool, deliberate, advice without one empassioned sentiment. (You must remember, that I shdn’t dare to reprove you ‘till you have promised to obey).  Now then I’ll try to write something pretty &c &c &c

I find you are afraid you have not full possession of my heart. Tis true I am not that fickle thing which turns for every gale that blows – my conduct I trust has always been characterised by Decision – and I only wish that your heart was as safe as mine is. We have set sail in the ocean of life in company [this suggests to me a pre-existing family connection] – may no storms separate us – may we never strike against the rocks of error; but may the gentle breezes of time waft us along together, till we arrive at the “bourn whence none return”. [ Shakespeare, Hamlet] Troubles we must meet with – disappointments may often stare us in the face; but welcome all if mutual endearment is but daily increasing by the habitual exercise of sympathy. The old song says “Love and truth and truth and love – Emulate the joys above” [words set to one of the then popular airs for flute composed by Louis Jansen] but see how the two are intertwined – the one cannot exist without the other – so that however tender present feelings may be, unless blended with constancy, the attachment is of too trivial a nature to be called Love, and is as easily forgotten as excited. Love me sincerely, Caroline, and without resting too much on the smiles of the world, I can calmly dare its frowns, and sip the cup of unalloyed enjoyment from your approbation, and the hope that we shall meet where the tear of grief is never shed and the … [opening the letter seal has torn the page at this point] is never heaved.

________

I am extremely sorry to hear of your indisposition, and trust that before you have read so far, it will have vanished; tho’ I can’t help thinking it would be very likely to return from reading such a lecture as I have taken the liberty of writing. I staid at Colchester til 11 o’clock that night and got to town very miserable at 6 the next morning. The hope of seeing you shortly has made me smile again; but for some time I assure you I was ill tempered as you were at Tea. Ben is not in London – I saw Tom on Wednesday – he was quite well - a most dreadful Buck [Georgian dandy]- and going to dine with Miss Smart.

Will you oblige me by filling another sheet of paper when you have nothing else to do? Be so kind as to give my love to Ann – and remember me properly to Mr & Mrs Roper. I am very much engaged just now but will contrive and be out of employ when you come to Town, if you will but let me know when I may expect you.

If it is evening, I dare say you are nearly asleep, and so it’s very fortunate I have no more room, or you would soon read yourself into a dream about somebody. Good bye, my Dear. I can request no more than that you should love as you are beloved by

 Thomas Peck

[Different ink and pen] My Friend Charles has just wished me to add that he wishes you would come and make him some tea.

 

Dr Thomas Trotter sometime surgeon on the slave ship Brookes writing in 1827

 

This short letter is significant only because of its author. Older biographies of Thomas Trotter (1760-1832) like that to be found at Electric Scotland (and which appears unreliable) focus on his career after he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from Edinburgh in 1788 and rose to be appointed Physician to the Royal Navy’s Channel Fleet in 1794 on the strength of a 1790 published proposal to reform the Medical Department of the Royal Navy. He was aboard ship during the naval engagements with the French fleet during 1794 and 1795 and had occasion to treat Nelson. But in 1802 an accident at sea produced a hernia which rendered him unfit for active service; he was given a pension and went into medical practice at Newcastle. He published significant work on reform of naval medicine, scurvy, the effects of drunkenness on the body, and on the prevention of “Fire and Choak Damps” in coal mines. He had literary pretensions and published poems and plays.

More recent biographies, like that now online at the Royal Museums of Greenwich website (see References) draw attention to his earlier career. The son of a baker, he enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1779 from uncompleted medical studies at Edinburgh and was assigned the role of surgeon’s mate. He saw very active service in conflicts, including those around the Great Siege of Gibraltar, and was promoted to full surgeon but then discharged in 1783 when those conflicts ended. Unemployed, he took a job as surgeon on a ship which  for over two centuries has been familiar to students of the slave trade, the Brookes. He was horrified by what he encountered at sea and found himself in conflict with the ship’s Master, Clement Noble, who refused his appeals to allow the captives on board more freedom of movement and more fruit & vegetables to combat scurvy, He made just one round trip on the Brookes and returned to Britain with a strong sense of guilt and convinced that the slave trade should be stopped.  He appeared before a House of Commons committee and recounted his experiences; Noble was also questioned. Later in life he argued for the abolition of impressment into Navy service; the practice was not formally abolished but lapsed after the end of the Napoleonic wars because the Navy was able to find enough voluntary recruits. My maternal grandfather ran away from his unhappy Kentish home in the 1870s, aged fourteen, made his way to the naval dockyards at Chatham, falsified his age to sixteen and enlisted. Only at his death in 1924 was his real age  recorded and revealed.

Mark Benson writing for the Royal Greenwich Museum (see References)  indicates that Trotter felt that the value of his work had not been fully recognised in the size of  his pension and this letter contains a statement to that effect; but he may also have hoped to receive some honour for what he had done both as a practising surgeon and, perhaps more so, as a contributor to both medicine and policies of naval reform.

The recipient of this letter, living fairly near to Trotter, is a man who eventually became Lieutenant General James Home (died 1849) of the Royal Marines. See the final reference for more about his career.  There were family as well as professional connections between the Trotters of Melrose and the Homes of Broomhouse. 

 

 Transcription

Addressed: To   Col. James Home    R.M.     Broomhouse    Dunse

Datelined: Melrose, July 30. 1827

Postmarked MELROSE and other markings which suggest the letter followed a rounabout route

Docketing note: 30 July 1827 Dr Trotter Melrose

My Dear Sir

Permit me to acknowledge the receipt of your kind Letter, with the inclosure for which again accept my warmest thanks.

Many of our old friends are now dropping into the grave; among the rest I lately observed Willie Minto, aged above 72.

I feel my general health improved in the country [he has been living in Newcastle and has returned to his place of birth], but my local [?] complaints cannot be mended.

The Duke of Clarence seems doing some liberal things [as Lord High Admiral he severely reduced the range of offences for which corporal punishment could be used in the Navy] but I have no hopes of any favor being extended to me. The acknowledged Good which I have done the Navy, seems only to have been the means of being treated with neglect & injustice. I remain, My Dear Sir, your ever grateful friend

T. Trotter

References

Wikipedia: Thomas Trotter (physician)

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/library-archive/dr-thomas-trotter [Mark Benson]

https://electricscotland.com/history/men/trotter_thomas.htm

https://snr.org.uk/two-scottish-marines-in-the-american-war-the-letters-of-william-and-james-home-of-broomhouse-1778-1782/

 

 

The Logistics of Emigration Betsy Stewart in Liverpool waiting to board ship for Australia 1853

 

This very detailed letter recounts a rail journey from Perth to Liverpool and preparations for embarkation on an unidentified ship sailing to Australia. The letter is written by Betsy (presumably Elizabeth in passenger records) Stewart to her married sister Mrs Margaret Anderson in Perth, Scotland; she is travelling with Jean and Kate and Donald – the latter two may be a married couple.  The financial details given in the letter indicate that she was not travelling by Assisted Passage. Australian arrival records should allow identification of the ship which sailed from Liverpool on or about the 12 May 1853 and the names of those who accompanied Betsy. It might then be possible to track their future lives 

Transcription

Addressed to: Mrs Henderson    Annat Bank    New Scone   Perth

Datelined: Ramesys Hotell   Liverpool    Thursday evening

Despatch postmark     LIVERPOOL MY 9 53

My dear Margret

Here we are all safe after Eating a good Breakfast not the bit the worse of our long journey of 200 & 70 miles Jean is briskest of us to day and her Cough much better we got the Carriage we started from Perth in all to ourselves till we came to Carlyle we had to shift Carraiges there (Luggage and all) and was put in to a common third Class where we had no so such room we were shifted a Second time within 16 miles of Liverpool and had to wait half an hour for the train that took us here it was a very long and heavy one so that it was 12 o’clock before we arrived late as it was Mr Duncan Robertson was the first person we saw for to hand us out of the Carriage. We had such Luggage that we saw no common horse could hold it and it was locked up at the Station until it goes on Board.

Duncan put us all in a Noddy and came down with us here (and payed the Cab of course) it was one o’clock before he left us and he is to be here to day about 12 o’clock and arrange about the heavy Luggage and everything that has not been put on Board yet but is to be to day. Kates Trunk is also safe at the Station Donald and her are away just now with Ramesy to see about it. We got nothing to eat all day yesterday but what we took with us for we stopt no time at any of the stations, we had 15 minutes at Carlyle changing but it took it all to see the Luggage right and at the other place we stopt at as it was so late that nothing could be got. There was a large room with a good fire for the Passengers we took Tea here although it was late and was in Bed about two in the morning and realy slept wonderfully well better than we expected. There is a nice young woman here with a Child that is going out to her Husband in Melbourn she is to be in the Second Cabin with us she is from Glasgow she intends going on Board tomorrow afternoon so if she goes we will go also we have to pay 2 / [two shillings] for our Beds here every night there are many going aboard even to day.

Thursday afternoon. Duncan has been here I went with him to Bains & Cos office to pay the rest of our Passage Money. Duncan tried to get our heavy luggage as reasonable as possible payed for I showed the Clark the measurement Mr Easson made out he said we should put the three largest Boxes on Board as Ships Cargo and that we would get it much chaper than by the feet measurement & give us a Card to that effect & when the Luggage is put on Board, we will get all the rest on as our due so that we think that it will not be so expensive as we thought. Kate has got her Trunk and after Packing the Crockery Box in it they have bought also all the Tin articules they required they got it and the mattress for 10/ [ten shillings] we payed 4/6 for the tin things we got also bought 2/ worth of nice soft Biscuite for Jean. Duncan is coming tomorrow to see all our Luggage on Board and then ourselves we cannot be grateful enough tot him for all his attention what could we do without him here. There are to be about 36 to 40 Passengers in the Second Cabin which will make it quite chearfull. There is only 4 or 5 first Cabin Passengers (no wonder tho they were anxious to get us) the most on Board are Steerage Passengers they think there will be very near 400 Passengers all together as we are going on Board tomorrow and the Ship is not to sail till Sunday morning perhaps I may write a few lines on Saturday after being a night on Board Donald says he will write home from the ship also. I hope you get home safe and not worse of coming to the Station with us and that you found the Calf better. This is a terrible town with traffick down at the wharf you would not hear yourself speak let you roar never so much Carting going as it is a real business town. Duncan took me through a great part of it to day to see as much of it as I could according to Miss Betsy Naughton Ideas.

I must now bid you good night and if I can get a letter Posted from the Ship on Saturday I will write a few lines. Jean joins me in kind love to you & Henderson and believe me my dear Margret your affte. Sister

Betsy Stewart

Diplomatic Manoeuvres in the Dark James Mario Matra British Consul at Tangier 1789

 

In the two immediately preceding posts I transcribed two 1790 letters from James Mario Matra, British Consul at Tangier, addressed to General Charles O’Hara in Gibraltar. This third letter to the same recipient is dated 1789 when the previous Sultan or Emperor, Sidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah, was still alive and in power.

What strikes me most is that this letter on its own, and even more so when taken with the two previous ones, shows Matra doing a job which looks more like that of an ambassador or diplomat than that of  a consul who would often be mainly concerned with trade matters and the needs of citizens of the consul’s own country. Here it is clear that Matra has direct access to the Emperor and other governing figures and is looking to solve a diplomatic problem the nature of which is not entirely clear. The Sultan wants one of his ships repaired at Gibraltar (and, presumably, at considerable British expense) but Matra is prevaricating and at the same time does not wish to cause offence.

Three references in the letter can be clarified:

 “Layton’s affair” involved the British merchant Layton out hunting one day who got into an altercation with local people over one of his dogs chasing a calf in the course of which – but seemingly by accident – he knocked out two teeth of a local woman. Retribution was sought and the Sultan, the Sidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah of this letter, ordered two of Layton’s teeth to be extracted. But by way of compensation, he awarded Layton a trading privilege.

The reconciliation with a son  referenced at the end of the letter was with his eldest son Mulay Ali, governor of Fez, who had been resisting orders from his father to impose additional taxes on the Jewish population of Fez, arguing that they were already impoverished. The dispute was settled by mediation but the relief afforded the Jews of Fez was short-lived: when the Sultan died another son, Mulay al-Yazid, seized power and launched new and bloody persecutions of the Jewish population.

"young Barrington" refers  to George Barrington, the 18th century's "King of Pickpockets" who has a Wikipedia page.

The clarification of those three things was enabled by AI results.

Transcription

Addressed to: No outer wrapper but note bottom left of letter in Matra’s hand: General [Charles] O’Hara &c &c &c [Gibraltar]

Datelined: Tangiers 2 August 1789

Docketing note in another hand: 1789 2d Augst Tangier [in another ink “12” as if a serial number]

Sir

I am honoured with Your Letter of the 29 Ult acquainting me with the arrival of Rais Hamaly [“Rais” used here to mean a Moroccan naval commander] and the conversation he has had with You.

I have been acquainted with the Emperors design of sending that ship to you, since Feby. last, but have had her detained by various artifices, until the Emperor sent a positive Order for her to go, and would not permit the Capt. any more to come on shore.

Mr Raleigh [John Raleigh, Secretary to the Governor of Gibraltar] can inform you of my last arrangement with him but I have no official information of it unless Layton’s [see introduction above] letter to me  & Rt. [Robert] Anderson can be considered as such, which by me they were not, & I refused to give an answer although I sent the Letter home [to England].

He [the Emperor]knows very well that it is not in your power to refuse his Ship; he must likewise know from what I have said to him & his Ministers, that there is no hope that the King [George the Third] will depart from the Declaration he was pleased to make last year “that whatever favour the Emperor required, he must apply immediately to His Majesty for”. I therefore conclude he is only in search of a pretext to show his ill will to Your Garrison and that when he hears of the departure of his Frigate he will stop the communication [between Morocco and Gibraltar]; for he is most sensibly mortified, at not receiving an Answer to the Letter I sent home in Feby. & would long before this have kept his word had not Laytons affair [see introduction above] happened.

It remains now to be decided whether considering the Emperors great age; the opinion of Europe on disputes with this country, and the advantages of his Provisions, it be, or not, worth while to parry this thrust, at the expence of fifty or a hundred Guineas.

As to repairing his ship, I do not think it will be done; at least I have reason to believe that while Lord Sydney [Thomas Townshend, Home Secretary until June 1789] was Secry. of State it would not, particularly if the Emperor did not ask it properly; what Mr Grenvilles [William Grenville, Home Secretary from June 1789] sentiments are I know not, as I have not yet heard from him.

Should you think it worth while to attempt any thing, I see but two ways – Keeping him till you know Mr G’s [Grenville’s] sentiments is dangerous; from what I have heard of her state, she may sink in the Bay, or what is as bad, He may two months hence send out a direct refusal.

If by an agreement with the Rais [the naval commander Hamaly], she was properly surveyed, & he join in opinion that it was impossible to repair her without a Dock; or that she could not float till proper stores arrived that it was necessary for her to go to some Port immediately, & that a ship must even escort her to Cadiz, I think it would do.

The Rais may be prevailed on to agree to this, & I dare say in his report to the Emperor, would mention how very ready You all were to please him had it been possible. He has I think some Plan of his own, which he was to have mentioned to me but he arrived late at night & was ordered out at daylight next morning.

He would rather be at Cadiz because the Corn junto [ association of corn merchants in Cadiz who import from Morocco and need naval co-operation] pay him well; our Bashaw    [ variant of “Pasha” and referring here to the Governor of Tangier, Mohammed ibn 'Abd al-Malik, a significant figure who travelled to Vienna in 1783 to establish diplomatic relations with the Holy Roman Empire] would report as favourably as possible, because he is ruined by the Emperor & has no way of getting money but by selling his Cattle at Gibraltar.

If any thing like what I have proposed be adopted You will probably have another attempt in the winter when his remaining frigates return from the Westward. But by then you may be well assured of the sentiments of the new Secretary of State. Some resolutions on our part must be taken, we must either drub, or pay this Man, unless we choose at once to abandon his Provisions [What is supplied to him or what he supplies?], & preserve Peace without a connection. His word or treaty, is on a par with the morality of young Barrington [see introduction] but just at this time I would not willingly quarrel, because we have eleven men among the Arabs whom I want to get [informers he wants to protect?]

I have not seen the Bashaw since the receipt of Your letter, for I have been confined to my room more than a week, & am at present, so ill that it is a pain to me to write. I am paying a heavy Tax for my winters journey.

The Empeor (they say) has reconciled to his son [see Introduction for details], to whom he has sent some handsome Presents. He is to reside at Fez [where he was already Governor]. He has cut off all communication by Land with Algiers, & orders any Caravans coming from thence to be confiscated, for reasons which he reserves to himself.

The Bashaw told me, when I last saw him, Orders were given to raise an Army of 45,000 men.

I have the Honour to be Sir    Your most Obedient Humble Servant J.M.Matra

Reference

Wikipedia: George Barrington

Yesterday I had a sealed Letter from the Emperor delivered with the utmost caution of secrecy The British Consul James Matra intrigues at Tangier 1790

 

Should you ever have been tempted to think diplomacy a polite synonym for intrigue, this letter will renew the temptation.

Since the installation in 1789 of the violent, mercenary, and unpredictable Sultan Yazid as Emperor of Morocco, the British consul in Tangier, James Matra, has been busy trying to keep him friendly to Britain, whose garrison in Gibraltar is partly provisioned from Morocco, and to ensure that if there are hostilities they should be directed against Spain, as indeed they were, culminating in the siege of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. In this letter, Matra proposes the acceptance of Yazid’s request for two artillery men to come over from Gibraltar to train his troops in firing cannon. As it happens, the letter was written just at the beginning of  what turned into a long ceasefire at Ceuta. Some artillery training might be useful in the interim before a resumption of hostilities, something which did indeed happen in 1791.

I have not been able to establish the identities of all those mentioned below, notably Harcas. This water-damaged letter was written nearly six months after an earlier letter posted immediately before this one at

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/09/on-death-of-sultan-mohammed-third-his.html

The letter is written on the same Britannia watermarked paper as the previous letter (and other letters in my possession) and the paper is probably official issue. I do think it is written in Matra’s own hand but may be a second copy. The outer wrapper with an address  is missing, as is true of the related letters I have.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: “Gener” [ General Charles O’Hara in Gibraltar]

Datelined: Tangiers 15 October – 1790 –

Docketing note: 1790 15 Oct Consul Matra [ and in a different ink] 45 [presumably 45^th item in a series]

Dear Sir

I am particularly obliged to you, for your Introduction of Col. Symes, with whom I have had much conversation [Edward Symes, at this period the minder of Prince Edward feckless Duke of Kent recently despatched to Gibraltar by his father George III ] – as R. [?] is rather costive of his information. I knew not that Harcas [?] had risen his demands beyond the Feramaty [?] & Pully[?] which the Emr. [Empe[?]ror = Sultan of Morocco Yazid, 1789-92] mentioned to me. The fellow has behaved like a Moor & probably may pay for it. Both he & our acting Governor [of Tangier] had twice written to Master that he had everything. [That is to say, they had handed over all the money in their Treasury to Yazid]. They were both so frightened that I had some difficulty to keep them from deserting. I have sent H [Harcas] of & given him a Letter to his Master – if the fellow be not in a scrape at his first onset, it may save him on a supposition that there is some reason left [in his or in  the Emperors’s mind?] – I have explained the delicacy of our situation to him; but I might just as well sing him a Psalm.

Harcas has picked up much military information from you, which I have digested for him & if he is to give it to his Master, that he may be prevailed on to let Ceuta sleep in quiet, until he is better prepared to disturb it. [Sultan Yazid set siege to Ceuta on September 25, 1790, followed by a ceasefire from October 14, 1790 – note the date of this letter - ending August 15, 1791] I have always been driving at this, but indirectly, for here, one must not appear wiser than an Emperor. Under your shield, I may, & so may H [Harcas] talk more freely.

Now for a hot shot –

Yesterday I had a sealed Letter from the Emperor delivered with the utmost caution of secrecy. After mentioning the purchase of some Prize Cannon as Gib. [Gibraltar] he tells me – that his People are very ignorant, and that he wishes I would have two sent here from the Garrison, good Artillery Masters, capable to instruct some of his men to fire hot Balls. If they come, he says by the blessing of God he will reward them liberally, & will never forget my rendering him that service. The arguments ordered to be used with me were that the French did so for the Turks while they were at war with the Germans, and as that we always have a number of soldiers & officers here, it may be done without being known.

Certes [Certainly] if a Gentleman & his Deputy, or two Deputies without a Gentleman, would volunteer such a business, for benefit of health, I think I could conduct it so, that neither you, nor the Government at home – nor probably anyone here should know anything of the matter. And so I have told Mr Grenville [presumably in Tangier?] – all I should require would be a little discretion on the part of the two - & I assure you - & If by accident two such People come over here on any other account I shall privately employ them that way - & let you know nothing of the matter. You may call me a Moor, or what you please. The whole is a childish piece of business and will end in a Present [presumably from the Emperor to Matra].

Some of your People have shaved us completely. Except myself every human creature believes the Spaniards are coming from Algeciras to knock Tangier down; & we are busy making Fagots & Batteries – Colasso [the Portuguese consul in Tangier, Jorge Pedro Colaço de Sarre] & Chappi [? ] have written to the Emr. for leave to send their families to Europe.

None of your reports about the place are true – no war is declared against Spain – not a shot has been fired – no Ships have been taken or lost on the Coast – nor no Cruizer out. But they say Spain wishes to accommodate with this country which looks like quarrelling with us. I will now assure you a truth which I have proof of – Count Florida Blanca [ Chief Minister of Spain 1777-1792] was concerned in the Corn trade here. He must in the end protect Salmon [Spanish consul who presumably knows about Floridablanca’s business dealings; the Moroccan Jewish vice-consul for Spain was gruesomely executed by Sultan Yazid a few months previously]. This was generally believed, but until within these last few days, I could not suppose a Prime Minister capable of such things.

For the particulars of Business here I must refer you to Col. Symes.

Would to God our Masters knew their own minds, & would give us either War or Peace, and invalid me with an Irish Mitre, for that is the utmost of my Ambition now – here I will not stay [Matra stayed and died in Tangier in 1806].

If it be War, you stand a worse chance of getting [out] from Gibr. than I do from this; for I suppose they have sense enough to know that you are the properest person to defend your own works [Gibraltar’s defences]. The Government [Governorship of Gibraltar] may be hung up as expectancy, as long as Jamaica did [O’Hara  was sent to Jamaica from 1782-42 after being freed from American wartime captivity]. It is too good a thing to be given in a hurry. [O’Hara did eventually become Governor of Gibraltar].

I must turn away all my workmen before I can move from this, which I wish I could tomorrow. I have already a Drawer full of Letters from this Man [Sultan Yazid] – am hourly pestered from every corner of the Coast, that my name may be made use of, & till the Sp. [conflict with Spain?] blew up, was hourly pestering every body that their name might be made use of, so that I can never lose sight of my Desk.

I am ever Dear Sir Your most Faithful Humble Servant

J. M. Matra