The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-07-02 00:00:00

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Sir WILLIAM PuLvEncy having given notice in
the House of Commons of an inquiry respeaing the
expenditure and real value of the Cape of Good
Hope. we shall lay before our readers the most au-
thentic documents on these subjeas that have come
under our observation. They are taken from the
second volume of Mr. Banaow's Account of Tra-
vels into the Interior of Southern America, and are
as follow

The amount of bills drawn for the contingent and
extraordinary expences of the army, from the Ist of
(Moller 1795 to the 48th of July 1802, the time it
should have been evacuAted, is 1,045,8141. 14s. Id.
upon which, however, there was a clear profit to
Government of 153,4431. 16s. 4d. viz. .

A proken bill44raorn L. 115,719 3 1
-on specie imported 16,224 13 3
-- on copper money - 4000 0 0

-on paper money circu-
lated . - .

17,500 0 0
L.1!,1,14316 4

Of course the whole expenditure was equal only
to e 92,3701. 17s. 9d. a sum that is more than coun-
terbalanced by the advantages which Mr. B has
shewn must necessarily result from the possession of
this settlement. He then enters into all the parti-
culars of expences, arranging each sum under its
proper head, and thews that the annual average ex-
pence incurred in the military department at the
Cape of Good Hope was equal to t 55,59.71. 7s:
" But," says he, " it would be the height of ab-
surdity to say, that even this sum, moderate as it '
is, was an additional expence to .Government ift
consequence of the capture of this settlement ; since
it is not only composed of the eapences of main-
taining the
.garrison, and the contingencies and
extraordinarses of the army, but it includes
the pay. the subsistence, and the clothing or,
an army 4,1 five thousand men. Novi as these troops
must have been fed, clothed, and paid in any other
place, as well as at the Cope of cood Hope, and as
I have sheen, at a much greater expence,. it.is cer-
tainly not fair to charge this sum to the account of
the Garrison of the Cape. . Even in peace the Com-
missioned °Teen would have received their hall-
pay. which alone would amount to alum of 100,0001.
to 130,0001. he sums of money, therefore, that
have been expended at the, Cape, dwincile into no-
thing, upon a cumpanson with some of the West-
India islands, whose importance is a feather. when
weighed against that of the Cape of Glvd Hope.
—Viewing it only as A point of security to
.our In-
dian posseasions, and as a, nursery for rnAtwing raw
re:ru its intocomplete eddiers,.the qqestion of espence
falls to the ground." • •
. But the article of expellee, trifling even in war,
could be no objeft whatsoever in time of peace ; in-
chiding the keeping the fortifications in repair, the
contingencies and extraordinaries of• the army, and
the whole, according to Mr. Harrow's calculations
(which appear to rest on solid data), could not
amount to more than CS or 30,0001. a sum, which,
by proper management, and a prudent application
of the revenues of the colony, might easily be da fay.
ed out of the public treasury there, and leave a sur-
plus adequate to all the demands of the civil de-
partment, together with the necessary repairs of
public wot ks and buildings.

On a future opportunity we shall present to our
readers, from this valuable and highly important
work, an account of the various talcs imposed on
the inhabitants of the Cape, and a sketch of the
peculiarities of their manners and customs.

This day se'rnight, ,lcurpa Swint, of Bath, plaister-
er ; Gene Cabin, of Kingswood. a seller of oys-
ters aed ryJer about the streets, and vicinity of
Bsth ; Joha Mahar's, airs flievolard, of We 'ton,
;Alum ; and Ro6rri Ball, of Yatton Keynell, la.
Ir•urer, WCT, fully committed by Wst.C:. A ac, E•q.
r: le of His Ms; VAT V'l Justices of the Peace for the
C..unty of Somerset, to take their trial at the next
assizes, for stewing upwards of 4001. worth of su-
perfine cloth. from the shop of the late Mr. Jour+
Joyce, at Freshford, about four miles from that
city. Mews liirt and Charks a;irt The Si,,,.9
.iirther oyster-man), concerned in the above burglary,
are nct yet apprehended—These thieves wete so ex-
pett, that at eleven o'clock on the night of the 11th
day of May last, when they co.. menced the rob-
bery, they supped in Bath at 10, at 11 broke open
a stable in Bathwick to get a cart and horse, at 12
reached Fresliford, at hall-past two returred to
Bath wit:. this valuable booty, and at 3, all parted.
having housed the same in a coach-house b. hind
Pultcney-street, which Falk,' alias the squire, had
taken of a tradesman, under the feigned name of Mr.
.14ue,.s a geutlesaaa of Wales.