COOK'S SAILING ORDERS.

On 19th April Cook received his orders as follows:

Sir,

My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, having directed Captain Graves, of His Majesty's Ship, the Antelope, at Portsmouth, to receive you on board and carry you to Newfoundland in order to your taking a Survey of Part of the Coast and Harbours of that Island. I am commanded by their Lordships to acquaint you therewith: that you must repair immediately on board the said ship, she being under sailing orders, that you are to follow such orders as you shall receive from Captain Graves relative to the said service and that you will be allowed ten shillings a day during the time you are employed therein.

I am, etc. etc., PHILLIP STEPHENS.

Mr. James Cook, —— Town.

Mr. William Test, Tower, to be paid 6 shillings per day.

On 8th May Graves acknowledged the receipt of the orders he had asked for, authorising him to purchase two small vessels, and announced that Mr. Cook had joined the ship, but that the assistant, Mr. Test, had not been heard of; he therefore proposed that he should endeavour to obtain someone else to fill the vacancy. Mr. Stephens replied that a difficulty had arisen with the Board of Ordnance with regard to Mr. Test's pay; they were not inclined to continue it during his absence as they would have to put some one else in his place, and since hearing this, as the Admiralty had heard nothing further from Mr. Test, Captain Graves was authorised to fill the vacancy at a suitable allowance, and he at once secured the services of Mr. Edward Smart, who sailed from Plymouth in H.M.S. Spy, and joined Cook in Newfoundland.

In this letter Graves also says that he intends to start Cook on the survey of St. Pierre and Miquelon as they had to be handed over to the French under treaty, whilst he should make some stay upon the coast in order to afford proper time for survey before they had to be surrendered. The possession of these islands carried with it certain fishing and curing rights conferred by the Treaty of Utrecht and confirmed by that of Paris, and the possession of the islands and rights have been a continual cause of irritation to the fishermen of both nations till lately, but now the differences have been satisfactorily settled. It is said that the Earl of Bute was the cause of the inclusion of the clause concerning these islands in the Treaty, and that he received the sum of 300,000 pounds for permitting it to stand. It was specially stipulated that the islands were not to be fortified, and the number of the garrison was to be strictly limited to a number sufficient for police duty alone; but from the very commencement of the peace, it was one continual struggle to evade the terms by one side, and to enforce them by the other, without coming to an actual rupture.