[Sir George Grey, Whig Home Secretary.] Autograph Letter in the third person to Rev. Reginald Smith, regarding 'the selection of a gentleman to fill the office of Chaplain at the Portland Convict Depôt'.

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with traces of mount adhering at head of reverse of leaf. Regarding Smith's 'note with reference to the selection of a gentleman to fill the office of Chaplain at the Portland Convict Depôt', he writes that he must 'defer the consideration of this question, as it must necessarily be yet some considerable period before the works at the Island are sufficiently advanced for the reception of Convicts'. Earlier in 1847 Grey had proposed the abolition of penal transportation, and ten years later his Secondary Punishment Bill would deal with the issue again.