7 Eaton Place South

16^th March 1858

My dear Sir

On reading yours of yesterday I at first thought I would offer to run down & consider with you the question of the spot of land for working – the land for making it available &c –

There are however two points the alteration of which is a sine qua non before undertaking to work the land – & unless they be agreed upon it will be useless giving you or myself the trouble of visiting the site. These points – are

First – your proposal that the higher royalty is to be paid on all ore sold for the purpose of being smelted in Wilts

Secondly – that the amount of land for mineral purposes is to be limited to 15 acres –

Upon the first point my proposal was that a higher royalty should be paid upon ore to be smelted on your own land – not elsewhere in Wiltshire – There is every reason why I should do all to encourage furnaces on your land – and to make it worth your while to have them there – but I can see see no reason why there should be any deduction from the profits as far as relates to furnaces (if any) elsewhere But if there are no other objections I should not involve myself in any question as to what any person to whom I sold ore might be going to do with it – I could keep no accounts of any such Sales – & render none – I could make no stipulation with a purchaser what he should do with it – or if I could I should not be able to ensure his compliance with it – and I would run no risk of litigation upon the question of whether the ore was or was not smelted in Wilts – If you & I could insure both living the term the latter objection would be of less importance – but we cannot – If a market should be found for it in Wiltshire & if the amount thereby disposed of were large you would have the benefit of the encreased consumption in the encrease in the amount of the royalty – if the quantity were insignificant the point would not be material –

Upon the Seend point I stated in the outset that the limitation of 15 acres would not suit my views – & I named 25 acres – I gave the reason, which, since the royalty has been raised beyond what I contemplated, has become more cogent – viz^t that the land would be probably worked out before the end of the term – in fact I believe 15 acres would be worked out in 7 years – and I could not undertake a work of this description upon the chance of the outlay which must be made effectively to carry on this work being thrown away at the end of 7 or 10 years – In short I cannot experimentalize upon a four acres of land and if the experiment should turn out successful be deprived by the exhaustion of the material of the benefit of past experience.

The question of the site of the land is of much importance – I agree with you that it must be in one portion – and so placed that it can be freely worked in more than one spot. Without seeing a plan or being on the ground I could not determine the precise spot – & this would have to be agreed upon – subject to this & to the selection of such surface land as shall be necessary for effectively working the ores I am ready to conclude an agreement with you & shall be glad to lose no time as the time for activity has now come – I shall therefore be glad if you would obligingly consider this letter at once & let me know your determination

Yours very faithfully

George Cottrell