SD1064. Samuel Moulton-Barrett (brother) to Edward Moulton-Barrett (father)
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 360 (in part).
Cambridge
Oct 24th 1839
I came up here yesterday my dearest Father for the purpose of seeing Storm & hearing what news he & Jump had by the packet, for I had not a line from any one, & Mr Carey being in Westmoreland I shall not see him for 2 weeks, when I am to meet him at M. Bay, during the court week. There is I find only one question necessary for me to allude to in your letter to Storm, viz. with reference to Falmouth lands—whoever was your informant he evidently knew nothing of the terms of the lease & as little of the devastation I find to have been committed there. One lime kiln has been erected there about 15 years, & one of the advantages the tenant derives from the land is the priviledge of burning lime, & another that of digging marle and cutting “mangrove” wood for the purpose of sale in Falmouth: If you look at the lease you will see that in the event of timber trees being cut they forfeit 5£ for each tree, but as mangrove is the only wood in the land, there is considerable difficulty in defining what constitutes Timber. I have been however through the land twice & have no reason to suppose that Timber like trees have been cut. I will in a new lease have it clearly defined by not allowing trees of more than 4in in dia. to be cut down. The only injury the property has suffered since I left the country, was an attempt made by the lessee to make |links| on the rail ground, which they filled in, & have commenced another marle hole instead of continuing in the old one, in neither of these instances however have they violated the terms of the lease. As the lease however is now void, I trust in a packet or two to be enabled to inform you of a fresh |management|, when I intend making many alterations in the new lease & getting also an increase of rent. I have already been offered 200£ by the old tenant but trust to obtain more—on Cin. Hill we are going on satisfactory, planting canes, digging cane holes, putting in |stocks|, burning land & clearing pastures. The question of rent however wh. you appear exceedingly anxious about, I have thought it better at this moment to act on with extreme caution, for during these fine seasons if the negroes struck work on rent being generally charged the loss of labour on the estate would be much felt. I have |notified| another [illegible word] & am gradually imposing rent, only making those who do not give me continuous labour pay rent regularly, wh. they shall continue to do so long as they remain on the estates when once served with notice. I thus trust to increase the rent role as I have weekly to add two or three to my list & you will observe by this plan I avoid the necessity of increasing their wages to 2/1 sh. I spoke in a former letter to you– At Cin. Hill 18 pay rent, at Cornwall 10—our seasons are splendid & if the stocks I am now putting in survive they will I trust in a great measure compensate for the want of supplies being put in. I will [illegible words] these properties. I have no cause for being dissatisfied with the negroes– I should like to send you some fustic this year. I wish you could induce Selby to take some as “dunnage” I believe it is called Sughrue would not take any for Jump last year, & I see no reason why you should [not] derive some of the advantage wh. at this moment Selby gives to other parties. Would you allow me next year if Selby agrees, to arrange with some capt. to take some of your sugar provided a proportion of fustic is taken– I may state that Sughrue had previously arranged his “dunnage”– But I know Selby & the other capts take this as a kind of perquisite. On Retreat we are engaged picking coffee, but the continuous rains will I fear injure the quality of coffee, & we are compelled to pick it as the coffee would otherwise fall off the trees– The expenses on Retreat from Sept 4th to Nov 19th exclusive of salaries are £136.13.0 cy & during this period £46.3.4 has been received as rent you must however observe that taking out timbers from Cin. Hill & picking coffee amounts to nearly one half of the generally expenditure on the [illegible word]. So that the weekly expenditure will on an average not be beyond £13 for labour. I yesterday disposed of some Stock for £20 Steers & 18£ heifers six months payment to Lottery estate, this is much beyond the market price, as I hear they are to be purchased in St. Elizabeths for £15st & £13 |Strs|. Mules there are £26 and as we require some at Cin. Hill, when I see Mr Carey I shall ride over to Black River & purchase those I require. Storm is quite well & endures the climate like a native. S.L.B is in town attending his duties in the H. of A. They met yesterday I trust in a spirit of conciliation. One of our members for Trelaw<ney> Mr Foster died yesterday of fever. I am inclined to think he will be a great loss to the parish. As I have little more room, I must appropriate it by sending my best and most affectionate love to all yr dear circle. I shall if time allows write to Torquay [.] Storm unites with me in love to all & believe me most affectionatly yrs
SMB
S M Barrett
E M Barrett Esq
Publication: None traced.
Source: File copy at Eton College Library.
___________________
