Aquin towards the conclusion
(As the summer in Jerusalem 1855)
I applied for a similar Certificate for permission to leave in the following March, but in February I waived the application, also at your Excellency's request, and for the same reason as that which influenced me in June.
In a Minute recorded on the 4th of August last, on a Letter of Mr Reinhard, dated 30th of July last, I brought the above facts to your Excellency's notice, and I added that the state of my health up to that period of the Summer rendered it imperative on me to renew my application during the coming winter, at as early a date as the exigencies of the Service would allow.
On this Minute your Excellency wrote a Memorandum in these words: "The Colonial Secretary is entitled to all my consideration," and I do not forget the readiness "with which he gave up his intention of visiting Europe when it was represented to him that the Public Service would suffer from his removal."
A year and a half has passed away, and two Hongkong Summers with it, since I first showed that the state of my health...
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