Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1868 — Selected Miscellany. [ARTICLE]

Selected Miscellany.

THE WELSH COIOTT 18 TATA GONIA. T A> Interesting History. The Welsh colony in Patagonia, cementing the condition of'which some interesting details hare recently been published, appears to hare suffered unusual vicissitudes. The colony says the London News, owes its origin to the efforts of Mr M. D. Jones of the college at Bala, in Wales, who seems to havebeenf trongly desirous of establishing a settlement at which Welsh would be understood, and to which persons speaking that language only could proceed with leas disadvantage therefrom than would be likely to attend them in other colonies. Application had previously been made to the English government fora grant of territory for that purpose, but the re- " quest being refused. Mr. Jones and his friends directed their attention to South — AmertaTWHTOre the late xasafa" Fifzfby; ~ who surveyed the coast of Patagonia, had reported the existence, on the river Chupat, of a locality admirably adapted for the purposes of a settlement In 1863 a-oonunittee was despatched from Wales to Buenos Ayres for the purpose of obtaimng*the consent of the Argentine government to tha formation of the proposed oolony. But although the Argentine authorities regarded the project with approbation, the national congress refused to consent to the establishment of a European settlement within the limits of the republic, the considerations in favor of-such refusal being the rekgion of the proposed colonists, and the fact that wherever a body, however small, of tot Anglo-Sagon race establish themselves, they always finally succeed in possessing themselves of the whole country. It was added that in this particular instance the colonists would be supported in their ambitious views by the neighborhood of the British establishment at the Falkland Isles, whisk are situated near the P&tagoninian coast Undeterred by the rebuff.

fresh agents were again sent to Buenos Ayres, and at last the Argentine government declared that they would do for the colonists all ih£t was permitted by law, namely, allow each family settling on government kurd 100 acres of ground. This appeared to satisfy the Welsh agents, who tetnmed, without loss of time, to their employers in Wales, for the purpose of reporting progress. The next tiling heard of the scheme was the establishment of M Welsh emigration society, controlled hjre central committee in Liverpool. Unddr the auspices of this society, a notice, printed in Welsh, was extensively circulated throughout various portions of the principality, J setting forth in gfßring terms Jhe atlnapiifins of toe proposed settlement ha Patagonia, and stating that in additiM to the one hundred acres of land presented to each family, tLe first gifts of These statements —Which were not eiact- - lytrue—readily accented by the eim&rs&^ w ,saj , T"sr££ pot, on the 27th of April, 1865, bit the on th<ld *- T tarnedto““ re--ll*o have possessed consider^ Buuiuu nmer

mil eh distant by tittkd Mt seventy niriwv have lasted uiew t&rn ajeoWnie of dnyff but owing to tK pftnWhi of wwprawom weather the vewel wan no lew thau seventeen (leva making the passage, nearly all tha women and children being huddled together during that tiine in * acinistarved condition in the eh ip'* hold. Thia disastrous voyage occasioned the death* of flyg more children. The male colonial* lor the moai' parl the Otnpit on fool, in amah partira, the route lying thlfiugb jevtld and uninhabited district. Some o* the men, being ignorant of the landmark* of the district,, found tfccmaotve* obliged in pee* *k»r or -five night* on The road, in Iho open air, and nearly without food. <)n arriving at the bite of the intended «. lUuln. nl, it WM icuud- it being the beginning of October—that the time for Howing bad penaed by, find that to a great cytent they would become dependent on their own resource*. Some dieaatiaihetlon wa* erpreseed at this, the moth «o that the agent, Mr. Letdfl Joncs. announced his intention of proceeding in the Mary Ellen, which formed the only Hhk between the settlers and the rent of the world, to some other placo where the prospect seemed brighter. Meeting on his way a Teasel laden with store*, ordered some tim* previously by him, bo returned to'the wlonists whom he had so hastily deserted, bqt they reiused to. have

anything to do with hi ft*About the beginning of 1866 accounts from Patagonia and Buenos Ayres reported that over one-third of the emigrants had fallen a prey to famine and want of water? also that the situation of the survivors wa* precarious in tho extreme. These reports Doing brought nnder the attention of tho English government, the Esrl of Clarendon forwarded instructions to Mr. Ford, at Buenos Ayres, to investigate the whole matter, and to procure far the emigrants whatever assistance and protection the government of the Argentine Republic conld afford them. Mr. Ford found that the alarming statements made respecting the condition of theTolonists were devoid of truth; at the same time he expressed his belief that the colony had little chance of permanently establishing itself unless assisted by the Argentine government. The men were generally unacquainted with farming work, nnd displayed considerable lack of energy. In almost every possible respect they were totally unqualified to act a* pioneers in a laud at present occupied only by Indians and wild animals. To the credit of the Argentine government it should be mentioned that, despite the incapacity of the emigrants, they were taken under its protection, and regularly supplied with food and other necessaries, the Argentine authorities being now desirous to promote at any cost the settlement of a colony nnder their flag, on Patagonian soil, which they claim as Argentine territory, btlt which, from its hitherto unoccupied condition, has been open to dispute, although no direct question oh to its rightful sovereign has been pressed upon the government, At first Mr. Ford and lienor Rawson, Argentine Minister of the Interior, were led to believe that the emigrants were an inherently idle and lazy body, but afterwards they acknowledged their mistake. “The settlers occupied a series of farms extending over a distance of twelve miles, the number of farmer of one haudred neres each, measured out. being five hundred.— It was computed that the valley of the Chnpat could, if properly cultivated, support a colony of about twenty thousand souls. It appears to have frequently attracted, by reason of its rich fertility, the attention of explorers, as being a locality suitable for a European settlement; and abont thirteen years since an Argentine colony attempted, but without success, to establish itself oh the spot now forming

the headquarters of the Welsh settlement. The chief drawback is the absence of wood, an inconvenience proposed to be remedied by planting large numbers of fast-growing tibos, suoh as the willow or the Australian gum-tree. Plantations of ! olive trees have also bean suggested. By the middle of 1866, sixty acres of ground had been sow* with wheat, several houses and fences erected, ten miles of cart rood completed, and other improve- ' ments effected. A portion of the settlors had also formed themselves into a volunteer corps, for protection against the neigh- . boring Indians, whom, notwithstanding , the professions of goodwill, made by tho ! leading Caciques, they greatly distrusted, . having been told how on more than one occasion the Spanish colony at Patagonia had been plundered by the Indians. Nor ware they ignorant of the fact only a few years since, a tribe of Patagonians allowed Commander Alan Gardner, R. N., and his companions to starve to death, and murdered the crew of the Ocean Queen. The chief difficulty with which the colony had to contend was its isolated position, being nearly 150 miles from tho nearest established post, and 200 miles from the nearest market Moreover the wheat crops were liable to be totally destroyed in a -siitglo night by one of the Pampero winds which occE3ionalty i>udU)i aciass tfac jitnrrm: —“ At the beginning of last year the nows from the colony was anything bnt favorable, and Mr. Matthew, writing from Buonos Ayres to Lord Stanley, stated that the failore of the settlers' wheat harvest, together with the unwillingness of the Argentina government to make any farther pecuniary advances, had led the Argentine authorities to contemplate the removal of the colonies from the Coeput river, and of offering them the choice of lands near the settlement of Patagonia, or in the province of Santa Fe. Two months Inter it was announced that the Argentine Government had temporarily suspended its decision; and, later still, in June, 1867, it was formally stated that the Argentine authorities were-prepared to enntinne to the Colonists the subsidy hitherto received by them until the autumn of 1868, by which time it was anticipated the fate of the hapless colony would bo determined one way br the other. In a few weeks wo shall probably know more of the matter.