"Captain R. Burton, 14, St. James's Square."
8.
[Here there was evidently another letter received during Richard's nine months' absence in N. America, but I have not yet found it amongst his papers.]
(In answer to J. Cosmo Melvill's letter.)
"Sir,—I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your official letter of the 18th of July, 1861, with enclosure.
"I am wholly at a loss to understand what may be the 'circumstances' ('under which the expedition into Central Africa under my charge was undertaken') that have prevented the Secretary of State for India in Council complying with my request to be refunded. Captain Speke and I have received the medals of the Geographical Societies of England and France for that expedition, and the Royal Geographical Society of London has officially expressed its opinion of the economy with which it was conducted by me.
"I can but conclude that the representations, or rather the misrepresentations of those whose interest it has been to prolong my absence from Zanzibar, have led to a conclusion by which I feel deeply aggrieved—namely, the non-recognition of my services by the Secretary of State for India in Council. And I venture to express a hope that when the Civil proceedings which are now being instituted by me against Captain (local Lieut.-Colonel) Rigby, British Consul at Zanzibar, come on for trial, this correspondence may be adduced to show how successfully this officer has exerted his malice against me.
"R. F. Burton."