“Lieutenant Burton.”
3.
“The Military Secretary, East India House.
“Aden, 14th November.
“Sir,—I have the honour to acknowledge your official letter of the 24th October, conveying to me the commands of the Court of Directors to return instantly to London by the steamer direct from Alexandria to Southampton.
“The steamer in question left Alexandria on November 6th, at about 10 a.m. I received and acknowledged from the British Consulate your official letter on the same day at Cairo, about noon. No steamer leaves Alexandria before the 20th inst.; it is therefore evident that I could not possibly obey the order within the limits specified.
“No mention was made about my returning to England by the next steamer, probably because the Court-Martial pending upon Colonel A. Shirley will before that time have come to a close. I need scarcely say, that should I, on arrival at Bombay, find an order to that effect, it shall be instantly and implicitly obeyed.
“Considering, however, that I have already stated all that I know upon the subject of the Court-Martial in question—that I was not subpœnaed in England—that I am under directions of the Royal Geographical Society, and employed with an Expedition under the patronage of the Foreign Office—that without my proceeding to Bombay, valuable Government property would most probably have been lost, and the preparations for the Expedition have suffered from serious delay—and lastly, that by the loss of a few weeks a whole year’s exploration must be allowed to pass by—I venture respectfully to hope that I have taken the proper course, and that should I, on my arrival in India, find no express and positive order for an immediate return to Europe, I may be permitted to proceed forthwith to Africa.
“As a servant of the East India Company, in whose interests I have conscientiously and energetically exerted myself for the space of 14 years, I cannot but request the Court of Directors to use their powerful influence in my behalf. Private interests cannot be weighed against public duty. At the same time, I have already embarked a considerable sum in the materiel of the Expedition, paid passage money, and devoted time, which might otherwise have been profitably employed, to the subject of Equatorial Africa. I remained long enough in London to enable the War Office to call for my presence as a witness, and I ascertained personally from Major-General Beatson that he had not placed me upon his list. And finally, I venture to observe, that by returning to Europe now, I should be compromising the interests of the Royal Geographical Society, under which I am in fact virtually serving.”