LETTER FROM THE OFFICERS OF THE 31ST REGI MENT, OFFICERS OF THE KENT, AND PASSEN- SIR, It is with feelings to which no language can do justice, that we, the undersigned officers of the 31st regiment, and private passengers on board, and officers belonging to the Honourable the East India Company's late ship Kent, attempt the gratifying duty of pouring out the inadequate, indeed, but unfeigned expressions of our liveliest gratitude, for the signal, the immeasureable obligation we owe you, as the willing instrument employed by the Father of Mercies, for the preservation from de.. struction, of hundreds of lives, invaluable to their families, and not uninteresting, we trust, to their country. At a time when the awful dispensation, with which it pleased an adorable but mysterious Providence to visit our ship, had assumed an aspect so appalling and hopeless, as to exclude from the most sanguine minds every prospect of deliverance; and when even the most audacious and unreflecting amongst us were compelled to read, as distinctly, in the signs around them, as if it were written with a sun-beam, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee,”—that God," who in the midst of judgment remembereth mercy," had designed your bark as an ark of refuge for us, and had commissioned you, Sir, to the high and honourable duty of opening the door to take us in. At the present moment especially, when our minds are peculiarly humbled and affected by the unmerited goodness of Him, "whose wonders we have so recently seen in the great deep ;" and while we are lamenting the premature and sudden bereavement of so many gallant men, bound to most of us by ties which sailors and soldiers can only fully appreciate, it would ill become us, by conferring undue commendation upon a fellow mortal, to rob our heavenly Deliverer of any portion of the praise and the glory that belong to him alone; but, in our solicitude to cherish a permanent sense of devout gratitude to the fountain of all good, we persuade ourselves that we are permitted at the same time to express our honest admiration of your conduct, as the channel by which this goodness has been made to flow upon us;-for whether we reflect on the promptitude with which you bore down to us, in answer to our signal of distress, or on the skill and heroism you displayed in effecting our deliverance, forgetting, with a noble disinterestedness, the peril in which you thereby involved your -ówn vessel; whether we remember the extraordinary perseverance and anxiety with which you watched and adhered to our burning ship, until the last ray of hope seemed to be quenched in the darkness that succeeded its explosion, or whether we dwell on the humanity and hospitality we experienced during our sojourn with you, or on the ability and decision with which you steered us, under the most critical circumstances, into a most friendly port; we cannot help regarding you as eminently possessed of the numerous qualities that adorn and characterise a British seaman. Fully sensible, however, that no temporal remuneration can liquidate the debt we have incurred to you, we shall not vainly presume to estimate it by any pecuniary compensation; but we trust you will allow us the gratification of presenting you with a piece of plate commemorative of an event that will henceforward enable you to lay your head upon your pillow, with the sweet consciousness of having performed a brilliant achievement, that has brought unmixed joy into the bosom of many a grateful family. We cannot take leave of you, Sir, without expressing our sincerest acknowledgments to Mr. Conolly, your mate, in particular, and to your crew generally, who so eagerly and indefatigably supported your efforts; and we trust that Mr. Conolly will accept of the trifling mark of our gratitude which will accompany that designed for yourself. To Messrs. Lucas and Parker, and to the other gentlemen on board your vessel, we beg you will convey our warmest thanks for their individual benevolence and unweariedness in administering to all our wants; and we should be guilty of a most unpardonable omission if we refrained from confessing how deeply we feel indebted to the brave and kind-hearted Cornish miners, who were proceeding with you to prosecute their industrious calling in another hemisphere, for the very conspicuous and honourable part they bore on the calamitous cccasion in question, and for the various important services they gratuitously rendered to us on our passage to Falmouth. That yourself and our other benefactors belonging to the Cambria may be carried in safety to your distant destination, under the Divine protection, and that you may unceasingly enjoy a large measure of that consolation and gladness which you have been the means of imparting to others, is the sincere prayer of, Sir, Your most grateful Servants, R. B. FEARON, Lt.-Col. 31st Foot. H. COBB, Commander Hon. C. late ship Kent. J. SEXTON, Chief Officer H. C. S. Kent. C. FARRINGTON, Capt. 31st Regt. E. W. BRAY, Capt. 31st Regt. H. SHUCKBURGH, Do. J. HAY, 2d Officer H. C. late ship Kent. Do. RONALD CAMPBELL, Lieut. Do. R. TOWNSEND, M. D. Private Passenger. J. W. WATERS, Quar. Master Do. CHAS. SHAW, Lieut. and Adjt. Do. E. S. GRAHAM, M. D. Asst. Surgeon Do. A. SHAW, Ensign Do. T. TIGHE, 6th Officer H. C. ship Kent. ANTHY. TRAIL, Midshipman Do. W. C. BROWN, Purser Do. Do. Do. CAPTAIN COOK'S REPLY. GENTLEMEN, Falmouth, March 12, 1825. WITH feelings of sincere gratitude, I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your truly valuable letter, of the 8th inst. Permit me to assure you, that if any thing could possibly add to the gratification I already experience, it would be this very flattering testimony of your esteem, to me, of infinitely greater value than any pecuniary compensation whatever, and which has been presented to me with feelings so highly creditable to yourselves, as men and Christians,-feelings which, I trust, I truly appreciate, and shall always cherish. According to your request, Gentlemen, I have communicated your grateful acknowledgments to Messrs. Lucas and Parker, and the other gentlemen on board, as also to Mr. Conolly, the mate, and the crew of the Cambria; and I am sure that they are all, with myself, highly gratified with the very flattering manner in which you have been pleased to notice the humble services, which it has pleased the all-wise Disposer of events to enable us to render to so many of our fellow-creatures, and for which I shall not cease to offer up my grateful acknowledgments at the throne of grace. Before I take my leave of you, Gentlemen, I beg you will accept of my best wishes for your welfare; and, whether you are employed in the honourable profession of arms, or in the humble, but no less honourable pursuits of private life, may that God, whose almighty arm has been so miraculously stretched out for your deliverance, still aid and support you; and may each and all of you be long spared to ornament your several professions, and to participate, in the bosom of your |