I hope you will be able to read these hieroglyphics. Believe me very sincerely yours,

S. C.

The reference to ‘less sacrifice to your eyes,’ it may be inferred, was a jesting allusion to an occurrence which had taken place at Stambul, when Mr. Hay was Acting Private Secretary. The story is told by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, in his Life of Sir S. Canning, how the fiery Ambassador and his not less hot-headed young attaché, both worn out with over-work, lost their tempers and their self-control[6].

In 1845, Mr. Hay succeeded his father as Political Agent and Consul-General in Morocco. As will be gathered from the following letter addressed to him by Lord Ponsonby, congratulating him on his appointment, Mr. Hay considered that in diverging from the direct line of a diplomatic career by becoming Agent and Consul-General, he endangered his hopes of future advancement. But he decided on incurring this risk, in order to assist his widowed mother, who had been left with slender means, by undertaking the education of his younger brothers. For many years he devoted half his salary to this object, and, at a later period, to starting them in life or assisting any member of his family who was in need of aid.

‘I have been wishing,’ wrote Lord Ponsonby in April, 1845, ‘ever since I heard of your appointment, to write to you and say how very much I rejoiced at it, but I fancied it might be more prudent to hold my tongue; your letter of the 11th (received this night) has set me free, and I will declare my conviction that however advantageous your nomination to the important post may be to yourself, the English Government will find it more so for their own objects. Your intimate knowledge of the country where you are to serve, and I will add, your talents, your zeal, your courage and honesty and manner, such as I know them to be, will enable you to overcome difficulties which might be held insuperable; and I suspect that the time will come when you will have to encounter them. Aberdeen is a kind man, and I have no doubt of his considering your father’s services as they deserve to be considered, but I am very sure he would not have shown his estimation of them in the way he has done, unless he had cause to know and to appreciate the capacity of the father’s son. Have no fear that “the door of ambition is closed against you.” I think it is opened wide to you now; there will be plenty of room for the display of your judgment and activity in the management of questions of great importance, and as I feel confident you will succeed, I entertain no doubt of your mounting to what are called higher posts, though I do doubt if you will find any of them demanding more skill and vigour in the occupier than you will be called upon to display where you now are.

‘Your most kind remembrance of the time we passed together gives me very great pleasure; you are a man to make the most profit of experience, and in that time I allude to, many affairs well worth noting were in fermentation. I am too wise (excuse this vanity) to attribute to myself anything more than honesty and good fortune as the cause of the success that attended the Embassy, and it is claiming a great deal too much I fear. I will accept, gratefully, the kind things you say of me personally, and I am happy to know that my manner to you (for there were no deeds) showed the feeling of friendship for you which sprung up in me from my observation of your good qualities.

‘Lady Ponsonby is well, and at this moment I hope amusing herself at a ball at Lady Palmerston’s. I will give your message to her when she comes home, and I am sure she will be most happy to receive it. She has shared in my rejoicings for your advancement.’

CHAPTER VII.
POLITICAL AGENT AT TANGIER AND FIRST MISSION TO MARÁKESH. 1845-46.

On November 6, 1845, Mr. Hay writes as follows to the Hon. A. Gordon:—