Erith, James Thomas

Waaye Platz+, Near Bathurst, March 13\th/ 1821 /
May it please Your Excellency /
At the commencement of the Month of November /
last I found it absolutely neces+sary to memorializ+e your Excellency con=cerning /
the oppres+sive conduct of Captain Trappes, in his Official capacity /
as provisional Magistrate towards myself and family, in removing me /
from my first location (with which I was well satisfied) [by force], and /
[placing me on a Rock] (which M\r/ Damant had previously refused,) /
under the sanction of L\t/ Col Cuyler to whom he had represented my /
situation as being [within the limits of the Township of Bathurst] !! /
and other acts which I conceive were both cruel and unjust, but a detail /
of which I \feel/ would now be superfluous as your Excellency is well acquainted /
(if the statement has reached you) of the complaints I then made, the /
purport of my present Letter being to appriz+e your Excellency that /
although Four Months have elapsed since that period no communication /
whatever relative /to\ your Excellency’s pleasure concerning this subject has /
yet been handed to me, although I have /had\ reasons to expect it, prior to /
this date, from hints which have been given me of its having reached /
Bathurst some time ago. and the procrastination is certainly answering /
the end my persecutor designs in the continued waste of my property /which it occasions \ /
for it is impos+sible to cultivate the land upon which I am now placed /
and to build thereon would betray a weaknes+s of mind bordering on /
insanity, as the /other\ persons located near the place are leaving it one by one and /
I expect by this time next year not an individual will be found living /
near the place, My situation therefore would become almost similar to /
that of the unfortunate Jefferies on his Rocky pos+ses+sion but whose cause /
was warmly espoused by a British Parliament, as I have no doubt /
but /mine will be by\ your Excellency when it has been fairly investigated. /
It is no small part of my sufferings to find /
that the health of Mrs Erith and myself is impairing daily by being exposed /
to all the inclemency of the weather in Tents almost torn to atoms and /
the dreary {prospects} clouds which are gathering round us, as the effects /
of unmerited persecution, while the thought which our state of ill health /
as the consequence introduces that we shall probably have to leave Two /
dear infant children unprotected in a foreign Land at the mercy of my /
implacable enemy produces such painful sensations as language fails to /
expres+s, I therefore humbly pray for your Excellency’s answer to my memorial /
by all the goodnes+s and clemency of your illustrious mind that I may /
arrange my affairs so as to prevent that continual los+s of property which /
I now experience and under which I so /severely\ suffer and your Excellency will /
ever find me your / Most grateful and ob\t/ Servant /
Ja\s./ Tho\s./ Erith /