My Lord,
I have written a private and confidential letter, dated 24th ult., to Sir H. Pottinger, and requested him to state to your Lordship that I did not decline the office.
Since my arrival at this place, I have heard the intelligence that a vacancy has occurred in the Chief Justiceship of Hong Kong, an office in the hope of obtaining which, I originally went to China in the year 1843.
In a previous application to your Lordship, I stated at length the various difficulties which devolved upon me.
The Despatches of His Excellency Sir Harry Smith will, ere this, have put your Lordship in possession of the circumstances under which I declined the Office of Commissioner for Claims at the Cape of Good Hope.
[Page 517]
To
The Right Honorable
The Earl Grey,
Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Hong Kong, 10th April, 1848.