“Ville de Paris, January 30th, 1810.
“Sir,
“I have received your letter of November, and am very much obliged to you for the statistical account of Cephalonia, and other returns shewing the strength and ability of that Island, and the plans of the excellent ports in it.
“The population of the country is not great, but by the adoption of wise measures it may rapidly increase. The republican spirits in Corfu may seek a refuge there from the oppression they suffer under the French. One, and perhaps the first object of the government ought to be, to increase the means of subsistence of the inhabitants, and attend to foreign commerce no further, than, as it is necessary to take off those articles which are exceeding the consumption of the Island; but I fear that foreign commerce will be too attractive not to engage them more deeply in it, than its profits will maintain protection for; and although it may enrich individuals, it will confine wealth to a few, and will prevent the increase of population; so that upon this principle I would not encourage them in the beginning of their independence to send many ships to sea, but rather to cultivate the land, and to prepare at home a commerce for foreigners who will come to them.
“The woods may become of considerable importance. They were represented to me two years since to contain much fine timber, both fir and oak, which the French cut down, and shipped at an anchorage on the S.E. point of the island.
“I have ordered that convoys shall occasionally be sent for the protection of the trade from Argostoli, but it cannot be done at regular stated periods, as General Oswald requests; nor is the trade of that extent that would make it necessary.
“I have received from Malta the copy of a letter, which you wrote to Sir Alexander Ball from Cerigo, in which is related the circumstance of the former Governor of that place, having removed his apprehensions of some people who passed over from the continent, by poisoning the waters where they inhabited, and by that means putting many of them to death. In that letter there are extracts from two of the Frenchman’s letters, but his name is not mentioned. I would be glad if you would furnish me with copies of these two letters, with the address they bore, (viz.) that which informs his chief of the Albanians coming to the island, and that which relates to the means by which he got rid of them.
“If any of his letters give any account of Crete, the port, or fortification, I would beg the favour of you to inform me what he says of them. In one of his letters he says, he has been over to Candia, and that he has not been idle. A Frenchman seldom is, where any mischief is to be done.
“As to the Cephalonians navigating under the British flag, it cannot be done, but by an authority from His Majesty; but I have written to the Consuls of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, to inform them, that these islands being under the protection of England, it is expected their flag will be respected.