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[Page 66]
Sydney New South Wales
15thJanuary 1800
Dear Sir
The Reliance being entirely worne out, I find it proper to send her home whilst she is Capable of returning; and altho' Situated as I am without a Secretary to assist me in my Official Correspondence & have been for so long a time, I am nevertheless extrem'ly unwilling she shoud depart without a line for You.
Were I to attempt to run thro' the vast variety of [indecipherable] in which I am Constantly & unremittingly engag'd, which it is altogether impossible I should have time or You coud receive no sort of pleasure in the perusal-----
You know Sir I have Complaind of the introduction of large quantitys of Spiritous Liquor into this Colony , And you may have heard of the Shamefull Monopolys which have been made of that, as well as of less dangerous Articles - You will therefore not Wonder at the arrival here of a Small Vessel in this Port from Bengal Charted I find by the Officers here, thro' the means of an' agent whom they had sent from home for that purpose, and without any intimation to me of their design -- She has brought many useful and much wanted Articles, but she has also brought 9000 Gallons of Rum, and which the Officers informs me is designed for their own use upon their farms yet This I believd to be the Case with those whose share of the Cargo is but Small, but I conceive it very differently with others whose proportion is Considerable.
You See Sir how extremily irksome those things must render my Situation without proper Officers to Carry My Orders upon such Matters into Execution:To prevent its being landed is not possible, and the Chief of the Cargo being useful Articles, we are unwillng to