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Manuscript volume containing a tract entitled 'A concise account of the present state of the Spanish American colonies', [1805]. The manuscript appears to be a copy of a document written by a Spanish American, and is written with a view to invoking English intervention as a means of escape from the oppressive colonial policy of Spain, which it describes.

Manuscript volume relating to English territorial possessions in the East Indies, entitled 'Mémoire sur l'État actuel de l'Angleterre dans l'Inde', [1785], with corrections and notes said to be in the hand of Abbé Guillaume Thomas François Raynal (1713-1796), who altered the title to read 'Mémoire sur les possessions territoriales de l'Angleterre dans l'Inde'. The work is written on the left hand half only of each page, the other half containing [Reynal's] manuscript notes.

An unpublished typescript of a work that had been accepted for presentation for a University of London PhD (external) in June 1961 entitled 'The diplomatic and economic history of the Somali Coast Protectorate from 1884 to 1897'. The author died in September 1960 and the typescript volume entitled 'The Frontiers of Somalia' has been compiled from his literary remains. The work is incomplete, as it only contains four sections of seven.

Manuscript volume containing a report relating to public administration in Peru, [1796], entitled 'Relacion de Govierno del Exmo. Sçnor Virrey del Peru, Frey Don Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos, presentada á su Sucesor el Exmo. Sçnor [Ambrosio O'Higgins] Baron de Vallenari y Marques de Osborno'. Includes a table of contents.

Collection of transcripts, [1560]-1624, mainly relating to Privy Council matters, notably a petition presented to King James I by Sir Robert Heath, Solicitor General, 1624; a survey of the Forests and Chaces [Chases] of Bringwood, Mocktree and Darvell, with the Manor of Buriton, 1604; a letter from King James I to the Peers of England and the Privy Council concerning the composition of the Privy Council and the replacement of the ailing Lord Chamberlain by Thomas Howard, Lord Howard of Walden, 1603; copies of documents relating to the French conquest of Guiana, South America, including commissions granted by King Henry IV of France to Renée Marie, Lord Mountbarrot, and Daniel de la Touche, Lord of Raverdiere, for the conquest of Guiana, 1605 and 1609, the appointment of Robert Le Brette, Lord Dubosc, as Raverdiere's lieutenant in Guiana and other parts of America, including Brazil, 1609; the commission of Sir John Digby, Vice-Chamberlain, to negotiate a marriage between Prince Charles of England and the Infanta Maria, daughter of King Philip III of Spain, 1615; a letter written by Captain Charles Parker, one of Sir Walter Raleigh's company at Guiana, to Captain Alley, 1607; a declaration of proceedings in the Star Chamber against John Wrenham, who charged the Lord Chancellor of injustice against the King, 1618; a discourse of marriage written by Charles Blount, Earl of Devonshire, in defence of his wedding to Penelope, Lady Rich, [1605]; a discourse written by Dr Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Ely, against second marriage following a divorce, 1601; a discourse made by merchant adventurers on the occasion of a bill preferred to the High Court of Parliament, requiring free trade to all kingdoms and countries, [1610]; a consideration of the office and duty of a herald in England by John Dodridge, the Solicitor General, 1605; proceedings in the Star Chamber against Mary Countess of Shrewsbury for her refusal to give evidence against Arabella Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, 1618; an Act of Council upon the proceedings against James Whitlocke and Sir Robert Mansell for speaking against the King's Commission for reform of the Navy and also against the King's power and prerogative, 1609; speeches, and a memorandum on the union of England and Scotland, by Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, 1617; a copy of 'The present state of things as theye nowe stand, betweene the three greate kingdomes, France, England and Spayne, [1623], and 'A breviarie of the historie of England from William I, intitled the Conqueror, both written by Sir Walter Raileighe, Knight'; a speech by John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln and Keeper of the Great Seal of England, on the occasion of the collecting of the subsidy, Aug 1621; two versions of instructions by William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Lord Treasurer to his son, Robert Cecil, 1561 and [1598]; letters from Sir Henry Sidney to his brother and to his son, Phillip, [1560]; a treatise entitled 'Toucheinge the Antiquities of Baronies delivered in the College of Antiquaries', [1600].

Letter from Jean Pellerin of Amsterdam to an unknown recipient, [1699]. Urging the English to combine with the Scots in founding a colony at Darién [Panama]. 'Je voy bien qu'il n'y a point de nation a présent dan L'europe que Les anglois.'

Autograph, with signature.

Manuscript 'Notes relatives à la station de la cote d'Afrique. Gorée. July 1820', partly written by Alphonse Louis Théodore Moges, Comte de Moges, and comprising an account of the French colony of Senegal, with special reference to Gorée Island and Albréda, their products, inhabitants and trade. Particular attention is given to the slave trade, and means of suppressing it are suggested. The author makes his observations after a two-year sojourn in the area begun, therefore, soon after Gorée had been restored to France in 1816. He passes antagonistic comments on the English and their trade. The first two paragraphs and the corrections throughout are in the hand of the signatory, Alphonse de Moges; the remainder of the manuscript is in another hand.

Letters written by Robert George Bruce, engineer in charge of fortifying Dominica, to General Robert Melville, responsible as Governor of the Ceded Islands for the defence of the island. The letters are endorsed in Melville's hand. The letters refer to battlements, the purchasing of estates, and potential granting of official appointments.

Letter from Charles Mason stating that: 'in Captn Reddie's time (1860/62) there was a destruction of records in India in all the Departts and some were sent home as waste paper', [late 19th century].

The collection contains diaries, account books, correspondence, watercolours, photographs, genealogical notes, legal papers, printed material and other miscellaneous items of Thomas Herbert Lewin and his immediate family, accumulated between 1788-1926, notably official papers relating to his military and administrative work in India, diaries, scrapbooks and philological and literary manuscripts, correspondence, articles and reviews on his publications, photographs and sketches by him, genealogical papers collected by him, notebooks and journals and miscellaneous other items. There are also papers of other members of the Lewin family.

Part of a copy of a letter, possibly a circular letter, dated at Whitehall, 9 Jul 1763, from the Secretary of State for the Southern Department to the Governor of an unidentified American colony, containing orders to execute the measures of the 'Act for the further improvement of his Majesty's Revenue of Customs and for the encouragement of officers making seizures and for the prevention of clandestine running of goods into any part of his Majesty's dominions' (3 Geo.III c.22). The writer enclosed copies - all wanting - of the act, of an order in council, and of a list of the ships stationed in America.

Manuscript volume, 1701-1704, containing the legal opinions of Sir Edward Northey, Attorney General, on cases submitted by the Treasury Board between 2 Oct 1701 and 29 Sep 1704 on matters including Customs and Excise, maritime law including the Navigation Act, prizes taken by Her Majesty's ships of war, the colonies, the Post Office, and the armed forces.

The first bundle, 1916-1926, is concerned with the legal case of Kofi Numah vs. Kojo Pamping, before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on appeal from the Supreme Court of the Gold Coast Colony (Ghana). The second and third bundles, 1937-1938, relate to the case of Sifton vs. Sifton, on appeal from the court of Appeal for the Province of Ontario.

Transcript of the laws relating to French colonial banks, entitled 'Loi sur les banques coloniales des 25 Avril, 26 Juin et 11 Juillet 1851'.

Collection of papers concerned chiefly with Hewitt's work in the West Indies 1767-1771 and 1776-1781, financial papers and accounts, 1759-1781; a diary of his voyage to the West Indies, 1766; correspondence, 1772-1781, especially to the Treasury Board concerning his salary; documents concerning personal property, mainly bonds concerning payment for Crown lands in Dominica, 1767-1777, and papers relating to slaves owned by Hewitt, 1768-1781; legal papers, 1768-1781; official papers concerning land in Tobago, St Vincent and Dominica, 1764-1781, including commissioners' instructions, surveys, maps and correspondence; papers created following the death of William Hewitt, mainly relating to the settlement of his estate, 1781-1790.

Letter from Charles George Gordon of Khartoum, [Sudan] to the Mudir [Governor] of Dongola, 22 Jun 1884. Indicating the state of affairs at Khartoum and asking for news of the relieving force. The letter appears to be more a record of a few spoken sentences than a connected message. A transcription of the Arabic into Latin script and two different translations into English are filed with the original.

Manuscript volume containing answers from James Glen, Governor of South Carolina, to queries from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, giving details of the country's geography, weather, neighbours, constitution, shipping and trade, and an account of exports for 1747-1748. This letter was possibly the one from Glen read by the Lords Commissioners on 9 Nov 1749 - see the Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, 1742-1749.

Manuscript volume containing three memoranda by Joshua Gee on colonial trade, 1721-1728, namely a memorial relating to the trade and the plantations, 1721, particularly with respect to iron, copper, hemp, flax, boards, timber, and to the enumerated commodities which are now restrained to be first imported into Great Britain, endorsed 'Received 27 Oct 1721, Read 8 Nov 1721'; a memorial to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, 1728, respecting the trade, raw produce and the manufactures of the colonies, and the production of naval stores there; a paper giving Gee's answers to several queries sent to him regarding African trade, 1726, which is endorsed 'Received March 30, Read March 31, 1726'. An endorsement by George Chalmers, written on a fly-leaf at the beginning of the volume, gives a brief biography of Gee and states that the three pieces in the manuscript were written on subjects referred to Gee by the Board of Trade, and were never printed.

Copy letter book of William Scott, Commissioner [of the Board of Control], mainly to Richard Rocke, Acting President of members of the East India Company Board of Revenue at Fort William (Calcutta), 1817-1827. Scott details the collection of accounts of the East India Company's revenue, referring to revenue due from agricultural holdings (land tax, tenantry holdings) in Calcutta, Chardpore, Shahpore and Bindhnapore. Scott also writes about the economic condition of the Indian people.

Manuscript volume containing a treatise entitled 'Considerationes upon the question whither the parliament of Scotland should begin nixt session with asserting their right to Caledonia and the legality of our settlement there', [1698]. This manuscript was written after 1698 and before 1702, as reference is made on the last page to the 'Anatomy of the equivalent, printed some years ago'. This refers to The anatomy of an equivalent, an anonymous work written by George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, and published about 1688.

Manuscripts relating to The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (known as the Darien Company), [1696]-1707, including a volume containing a paper by William Paterson entitled 'Memorandum for the Bank Company', possibly in reply to John Holland's A short discourse on the present temper of the nation with respect to the Indian and African Company and of the Bank of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1696), arguing that the Fund of Credit proposed by the Darien Company would not infringe upon the monopoly granted to the Bank of Scotland, [1696]; petitions by William Paterson to the Directors of the Darien Company requesting remuneration for money spent during a visit to Holland and Hamburg on Company business, [1697] and 1707, a claim which was not settled until a Parliamentary bill, supported by the King, was passed in 1715 (a previous ruling in his favour by the House of Commons, 1713, was thrown out by the Lords); a Memoire, signed by John Erskine, John Haldane and William Paterson on behalf of the Darien Company, and presented to the Senate of Hamburg, requesting that they be allowed to see the memorial written by Sir Paul Rycout, the English Resident, and Mr Cresset, the English Envoy, stating the opposition of the King of England to the presence of the Darien Company representatives in Hamburg, 1697; copy of the 'Act for preventing frauds and regulating abuses in the plantation trade', 1698, which provides that no goods are to be imported of exported from colonies except in ships built in England, Ireland, or the colonies; a list of 'Goods Proper to bee sent to the Collony of Caledonia', giving an enumerated list of 56 items ranging from arms and ammunition to looking-glasses, 1698; 'Report from the Committee of the Court of Directors of the African and Indian Company of Scotland appointed for giving the sailing orders to the council or government of the Company's intended colony or settlement in the Indies', giving their reasons for choosing the Darien site, and answering 15 objections made against the scheme, 1698; tables headed 'A scheme of victualling, shewing each man's allowance of every species of provisions...where the complement of men is 1000', giving the types of food to be eaten on certain days, and dividing the men up into messes of 5, 1698; extract from the records of the Directors of the Darien Company of a resolution to appoint ministers to go to Caledonia, 12 Jun 1699; a report of the proceedings appointing Archibald Stobo, Alexander Dalgleish and James Stewart as ministers to the Scots colony of Caledonia, 12 Jul 1699; a copy of 'Caledonia: the declaration of the Council constituted by the Indian and African Company of Scotland for the governments and directions of their colonies and settlements in the Indies', [28 Dec, 1699], formally establishing the settlement of Caledonia, declaring the colony open to all, and granting freedom of government, trade and religion; a memorandum from the Spanish Ambassador to James Vernon, Secretary of State, concerning Spanish protests at the Scottish settlement in Darien, 3 May 1699; and an anonymous proposal to the Darien Company for the establishment of a trade route to Madagascar, [1699].

Collection of papers relating to politics, genealogy and slavery in Jamaica, comprising:

1. 'Plott or no Plott; in a dialogue between a clergyman of the city and Mr. A. of Hanover Square', in which the protagonist appears to support the reaction of Sir Robert Walpole's ministry to the Jacobite conspiracy of May 1722. Mentions the reaction to the Quarantine Bill [of 1721], the declaration of the City of London clergy against Quakers [concerning the Affirmation Act of 1722], and the South Sea Bubble, memory of which was 'too fresh to be forgot'. The manuscript possibly dates from 1722.
2. Copy of a legal opinion by Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Attorney-General, concerning the claims of John Kynaston to the barony of Powys, 25 Mar 1731. Kynaston's claims were contested by Sir Nathanial Curzon, Bt.
3. A political satire in verse, dating from the 18th century, and beginning 'A Hen, a farmer's pride and care / who lives at W-- or elsewere'. A note in pencil plausibly suggests that the subject of the satire was John Wilkes.
4. Papers, 1832-1868, assembled by Lyndon Howard Evelyn, with a copy of a covering letter (dated 15 Jul 1868) to George Sclater-Booth, Secretary to the Treasury, which supported a claim to compensation for dismissal from the post of Collector of Customs in Jamaica in 1834. Includes testimonials, copies of letters, a printed Statement of certain services...laid before the government by Governor Sir Henry Barkly K.C.B., for its consideration describing Evelyn's role in the slave revolt of Jan 1832 in Jamaica, and 'The entire narrative of Mr. Evelyn's oppression'.

Manuscript relating to customs duties on alcoholic spirits imported to Quebec, Canada, 1762, entitled 'Account of all Spirituous Liquors paying Duty to His Majesty Entered inwards in the Port of Quebec in Canada between the 26th May & 31st August 1762, with the particular Quantity & Quality of Spirits & the Duties Levied thereon'. Signed by John Gray, Collector of Customs, and dated 31st Aug 1762. The manuscript is endorsed 'Amount of Duties on Spirituous Liquors. Quebec 31st Aug 1762.' The following ships are mentioned, together with their masters' names and the ports whence they had come: William and Sarah, Union, Sally and Lucy, William and Elizabeth, Juno, Hope, American, Success and La Rette.

Manuscript correspondence and other papers relating to the financial administration of Barbados and the Leeward Islands, 1669-1682, mostly concerned with the auditing of the accounts for the farm of the 4½% duty collected during the years 1670-77. The correspondents include: two farmers of the 4½% duty, Sir Charles Wheler and Colonel John Strode; [William Blathwayt], Auditor General of H.M. revenues in America; [Henry Guy], Secretary to the Treasury; and the governors of the Leeward Islands and Barbados.