242 TlMEHRI. 
that my sons and friends have there ; and now just as 
they are brought into order, to have them destroyed 
hurts me greatly. 
And this I must take the liberty to say that the inhabi- 
tants in Berbice have been reduced greatly within the 
last three years. I do not know how many soldiers 
there were there. I know there are none at Demerary, 
and I think not above twenty at Essequebo. By this 
piece of parsimony the States will lose the best Settle- 
ment in the West Indies. You may judge, Sir, of that, 
by my assuring you that every year after the next, I and 
my son G. C. should have certainly produced from our 
Estates as much Sugar, Rum, Rice and Indigo, as would 
amount to near Twenty thousand pounds sterling. 
I have reason, Sir, to complain, and I do so, not only 
for myself, but on behalf of every inhabitant in that 
River. I will take upon me to say that if the blow be 
even now warded off, it will never thrive under the 
direction and management it now is. If the States will 
take it into their own hands and send a Governor of 
some consequence, with a Regiment, and make it a free 
port, it will very soon exceed every other Settlement 
they have in the West Indies. At present the Company 
allow their Governor not so much as I do the Manager 
of one of my plantations. 
In short, Sir, everything has gone on so heavily and 
in such a languid manner that I have been very uneasy 
for some time. I am now much more so. I would not 
have presumed to have taken up so much of your 
Lordship's time and wrote in this free and open manner, 
did I not believe that you would be glad to know the 
particulars I have mentioned ; and I think if I had not 
