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British Consul, Tahiti (Toup Nicolas) to
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British Consulate of the Society Islands
Raiatea October 6th 1854 To the Inhabitants of Pitcairn’s Island My dear friends, On the 5th of July I addressed a letter to you acquainting you that Her Majesty’s Government had exceeded to your request of being removed to Norfolk Island and that they would provide a vessel which should call off your island towards the close of the present year for the purpose of carrying out that removal. I have received a subsequent Despatch on the subject from the Earl of Clarendon who directs me to acquaint you that Norfolk Island will not be evacuated by its present |
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occupants so soon as was expected and that consequently it has become necessary to postpone for the present any measures for providing a vessel to remove the Pitcairn Islanders to Norfolk Island. The Earl of Clarendon had lately received the copy of a Memorial addressed by the Pitcairn Islanders to the Queen requesting to be furnished with a document declaring them to be under Her Majesty’s protection, and constituting Pitcairns Island a British possession. The manner in which England has always [responded] to the Pitcairn Islanders when she has been claimed as their Fatherland and is the best [proof] |
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no doubt has ever existed as to the soverienty of your Island and will I trust be accepted by you as a sufficient answer. It is I am sure unnecessary for me after having dwelt on the subject in my last letter, again to direct your attention, to the interest with which you have always been regarded by Her Majesty’s Government; indeed it was in consequence of the interests so felt that measures were determined upon to provide for your removal to Norfolk Island.
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Notes.
Pagination of the original autograph has been maintained. Busvargus Toup Nicolas (1819–1859) was Her Majesty's Consul in the Society Islands from 1851 until 1859 when he died at sea on return to Britain. He also served as acting consul to Hawaii in 1859. George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, KG, KP, GCB, PC (12 January 1800 – 27 June 1870) was an English diplomat and statesman from the Villiers family. He was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 21 February 1853 to 26 February 1858. [Wikipedia]
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Source.
Document no. 77. October 6, 1854. "British Consul, Tahiti (Toup Nicolas) to the Inhabitants of Pitcairn Island". Pages 1392 to 1397.
This transription was made from a documents in a collection of documents at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library.
Last updated by Tom Tyler, Denver, CO, USA, Aug 3 2022.
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