SD1050. Samuel Moulton-Barrett (brother) to Edward Moulton-Barrett (father)
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 358 (in part).
Cin. Hill
Sept 29th [1839]
My dear Father
Mr Carey yesterday placed me in possession of your letters: I shall make no further allusion to it than as connected with the Exõrs Estate for which I am alone responsible. On my leaving this Country for England I found it necessary to have a Power of Attorney with some one to act for me in my absence as I was the only qualified Exõr in the Island, & Mr Carey being your agent on these Properties I thought it better to appoint him: He of course would charge some remuneration for his services: but instead of his charging the legal commission of 6 P.C. in matters of this kind, I find he only charged 5 P.C.: which is 1 P.C. less than he was legally Entitled to claim; he on this occasion did not act as your agent but mine, & the ac/c ought more properly to have been between himself & me, when you would have understood why the commission was charged. He has provided me with a copy of it, & I trust soon to be enabled to forward you a statement of the final settlement of the Estate. On another sheet you will find a statement of my ac/ with you as regards the £10000 Sg—left me by my beloved Sam, I forward this as I fear you are under some misapprehension as to the various sums. I have drawn on you for [illegible word] my own ac/: with reference to the Sums of £241.13.4 Sg drawn on you the 5th April 1838, also £450 Sg May 12th 1838 & £1000Sg the 15th Sept. the same year, you will I trust find a correct ac/ of in the Books I placed in your hands: You will also see in Mr Carey’s acc/c that he has given me credit for £1832.0.9 Cy. which he has placed to your credit on these Estates.– I have since my arrival here taken 14 Steers, @ £14 a head in part payment from Mrs Doman, these stock Mr. Carey was glad to accept of on your ac/. There is now a balance of £45 Cy. still due me by Mrs Doman & a few smaller sums from other parties: The only bad debt is a Judgement with cost amounting to £36cy, & the sums owing by the Estate are Mr Tinklers legacy & small ac/, subscription due the chapel of Stewarts Town of £100 Cy. & one or two small sums.– In respect to Falmouth lands I will forward you an annual acc/c by Selby or other opportunities, and ad interim give you all the information I have to impart: As I believe I advised you that the Lease of those lands was paid, I have served notice to pay double rent & will next Packet let you know the result–: Lots of land are high in demand. My price is now £100: & though several have agreed to take lots at this price their funds are not following as yet, & K have of course declined giving Titles. The lease you objected to of poor houses, the parish is aware, is void, & I have taken the necessary steps for their expulsion from that spot; you will not I suppose however, object to the risk of renting another spot of land for the diseased & invalided, if you should pray advise me so that I may state your determination to the vestry of the parish. I have had numerous applications from parties who have settled a land between the church & Half-moon bay asking me to lay down a cast iron pipe to conduct water to that side of the town for wh. they are willing to pay me an annual rent & there is little doubt if water were conducted there the lots of land on that side of the Town would be much enhanced in value. The distance for its conveyance is not very great, “I merely throw out the suggestion,” might be a source of considerable profit. I regret you received no account of the Bill I drew on you at Madeira before it was presented all that I can say is that I wrote two letters & Storm one wh. were placed in Mr Houghtons charge & the probability is, were forwarded by the same conveyance; I there gave you a concise ac/ of the why & wherefore I drew the Bill, & must express my sorrow that I drew the Bill as you have expressed dissatisfaction at it; I trust ere this you are in possession of my letter: If it has not come to hand I will in a future letter explain my reasons for having done so. Cambridge Sept 30th In consequence of your letter to Mr Carey wh. he enclosed me, I went this morning to Falmouth to see him on the subject and ascertain what he wished me to do agreeable to your orders. After a long interview in wh. he told me he was that day going to give up Green Park & Spring Vale estates, he stated his wish I should take charge of your properties till your opinion was known on the subject, or until such time as you sent out a power to myself or some other person—his reasons were that he was going to reside in Westmorland for a short time & then proposed going all over the island to form an opinion of the state of the country. Under these circumstances I acceeded to take charge & act to the best of my abilities till your Power arrived, & as he still continuing your legal representative |whether| I have done wrong in so doing without your once expressing an opinion to me on the subject I cannot surmise: but I will at all events prevent any great injury occurring to your properties till your opinion is ascertained—I will now give you some information as to these estates: I have been continually engaged the last three weeks carrying out dung & applying it to the root of the canes, & you will have some idea of the extent of labour attained on the property when I tell you at Cin. Hill alone I have carted out & applied 700 loads already. We have also been engaged clearing pastures to some extent & I am happy to inform you that upon the whole I have no reason to be displeased with either the Cin. Hill or Cornwall negroes: on the latter estate I had at first difficulty in obtaining the labor I required, but on my |resorting| to the charge for rent they turned out in tolerable numbers: I have at Cornwall nearly completed all the digging and planting of the acres of Canes wh. with the splendid seasons we are now getting will I trust allow our next years crop in some measure to [illegible word] On Cin. Hill I hope to establish 15 acres of plant wh. with the 14 at Cornwall and another late spring plant, on that estate, of 12 acres fully justify our looking forward with hope. With respect to the all prevailing question rent.(?) I see your opinion on the subject & shall immediately attend to it. I have not before done so in consequence of the uncertain situation I held & my being unwilling to usurp an authority I was not legally entitled to claim. I have however already prepared the rent rolls & in six instances have thought it advisable to have the necessary notices. Those have been attended to & the rent paid, each of these parties were chagd 5/cy a week. I am now on my way to Retreat to obtain timbers for the Cin. Hill. wh. must be renewed throughout, & I trust you will send the mill gearing supplies as early as possible for we shall be sadly in want of it. On Retreat Mr Carey requested me to join him in making a fresh arrangement for the payment of rent; this I did and am glad to say with two exceptions the people have acceeded to it, & these two have left the property. The people [illegible words] some are busily engaged picking coffee & others cleaning pastures, but the weather has been so heavy they have made no progress in curing the coffee I mentioned in my last letter you might expect from 12 to 14 [illegible word] I am still of opinion you will not get more. I will however write more fully in reference to this property next packet & state the amount of rent recd per [illegible word] &c has much expanded. I have written this far all alone & have not yet seen Storm who is gone with Mr Jump & Mr Philpott into your Cambridge mountain & here I am waiting dinner most patiently. I sleep here tonight to discuss planting & |Harvest| with Storm & tomorrow sleep at Retreat the following day I return sleep at Falmouth & breakfast at Cin. Hill with Mr Carey on Thursday morning. So much for my weekly movements. I heard from Sir Joshua this mng who says Sir Charles Metcalf dined with him last Thursday & likes him very much: & says all those who have had interviews with him have formed an equally favorable opinion of him. I ought to speak favorably of Sir Lionel Smith as he gave me a commission of magistrate for St James directly I arrived. Sir Jos. however recommended me & wrote me a most kind letter stating that he wished to have a role in the vestry & made some flattering allusiong to my [sic]—wh. coming from such high authority cannot be doubted[,] you will soon see me Custos. Rotulorum.
S M Barrett
E. M. Barrett Esq
Publication: None traced.
Source: File copy at Eton College Library.
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