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Botanic Garden, Liguanea, Jamaica,
20th Feby 1811
Sir,
By the ship Phoenix I have had the happiness to receive a letter from my old, dear, and valued friend, Capn Flinders' but as he has not given me his address, I take the liberty of sending the inclosed to your care, and I know you will have the goodness to excuse me. Poor Flinders! he has indeed been long and unjustly persecuted by a cruel imprisonment, but his fortitude has proved superior to his misfortunes, and I trust, he will now reap the well earned fruits of his industry and merit. I understand the history of his voyage in the Investigator will soon meet the public eye, - which I flatter myself will not only establish his character as a navigator of the first class, but also as a man of universal knowledge and observations -
After what I told you some years ago, respecting a strong party of our representitives being altogether averse to any botanical Establishment, you will not now be surprised to hear, Sir, that the public botanic garden is about to be abolished. Indeed, it has hitherto been draged on, only by the weight and influence of my personal friends. -
The Despot of Europe having closed the Continent on our produce, to the ruin of the coffee planter, prevents me from visiting my native country this year, agreeably to my intentions. -
April 18.