Petitioners

To His Excellency General Lord /
Charles Somerset Commander in /
chief and Governor of the Cape of /
Good Hope 7+ it’s dependencies /
7+c 7+c 7+c /
The humble Petition of {} the /
undersigned being House and Erf holders in /
Bathurst Sheweth. /
That your Petitioners in building /
Houses and purchasing Erfen in the said Town /
did it upon the positive and declared promise /
of the Town being made a Drosdy, this was not only /
intimated verbally on the day the Erven were /
sold; but they were actually sold from an /
official plan of the Town publicly exhibited /
at the sale upon which place were marked /
the sites of the Drosdy House their building, the /
Church, Trunk, Secretary’s and District Surgeon’s Erfs /
with all the dependencies of a Drosdy _ A Proclamation /
was also read and afterwards published in the /
Cape Gazette stating that other public works /
were to be immediately commenced at Bathurst . /
With much as+surances tenderd to us and /
the unbounded confidence which every true /
Englishman feels, that the British Government and /
the others emanating from it, will most religiously /
and punctually fulfill their promises, and knowing /
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that in no instance has the public Faith ever /
been violated without the most urgent /
neces+sity, and even then, a most liberal /
remuneration has been given to the suffering /
Individuals; we your humble Petitioners purchased /
Erfen and built Houses in Bathurst which has /
greatly exhausted our very limited means, /
and now to our great mortification, and in /
some instances almost total ruin, such property /
has become of little or no value but the Drosdy /
not being placed in Bathurst /
We your Petitioners therefore humbly /
pray that should your Excellency consider it expedient /
that Bathurst shall not be a Drosdy, that you /
will be graciously pleased to extend to us some /
remunerating aid as will fully endemnify /
us for the los+ses sustained by putting implied /
confidence in the declared intentions of the /
Government of this Colony _ /
If your Excellency has any doubt /
as to the les+sened value of Erven and /
Houses in Bathurst, we pray that an /
experiment may be made by putting up our /
Erven to sale with the as+surance that Bathurst /
is not to be a Drosdy, and we your petitioners /
venture to predict that Erven which formerly /
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sold freely from RD\s./ 1100 to 300 each will not /
now find purchasers at any price _ /
We your Petitioners further humbly /
shew that besides the strong and irrefragable claim /
which Bathurst has upon your Excellency arising /
from the public promises of the Colonial Government /
and its proximity to the Navigation of the Kowie /
humanity pleads fervently in its interest, as /
the whole of the parties situated within a /
circle of 10 or 12 miles around it (except two /
or three ) are of that description who do not /
depend upon their Leaders for support, and /
many of them as your Excellency well knows /
are from circumstances over which they could /
have no controul greatly straitned in their /
means of subsistance; such poor people while /
Bathurst contained a Magistrate and a /
few Soldiers found a debouche for the small /
quantities of surplus produce they could spare, /
this market, trifling as it was; greatly benefited them, /
it is now nearly annihilated; and with it all /
hopes of finding a vent for such produce, which /
is, and from their circumscribed Locations must always /
remain, as to each individual; too, inconsiderable /
to bear the expence of carriage to a more /
distant place _ If Bathurst is not /
protected by the fostering hand of your Excellency /
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it must soon cease to exist as a Town and with it /
all chance of a market, or regular demand for labour, which /
in a short time will cause the Southern part of this /
district to be abandoned by the greater part of its present /
inhabitants _ /
In conclusion your Petitioners beg to observe that /
they place such entire confidence in your Excellency’s well /
known benevolence, and adherence to strict impartial /
justice that they feel satisfied their case wants only /
to be made known to your Excellency in order to secure /
to them ample remuneration _ And your Petitioners /
as in duty bound will ever pray /
Bathurst /
4\th/ February 1822 /
J. M. Greathead /