and that I cannot undertake to
Answer
-positively for every detail. It was, I
think, in the autumn of 1837, on my return from Calcutta, whether I had accompanied Lord Elgin, that I was requested by His Excellency Sir John Bowring, the Governor of this Colony, to examine a large collection of Chinese books and papers on which a Memo: had been prepared by Mr May. They had already been examined by Mr Mongan, then a Student Interpreter, and in charge of the Chinese Secretary's office during my absence with the Special Mission, and had not been found by that gentleman to contain certain important papers noted in Mr May's Memo, and gravely reflecting on the character of Mr Caldwell.
It will be in your recollection that, although not in the service of the Colony, I have never made any difficulty about undertaking the work of translation or interpretation on its behalf, when called upon, and I have lent no ground for hesitation in this instance.
The bulk of these papers, which filled four or five large baskets, was such that I felt the task would be a most laborious one, and uncertain as I was about the movements of the Mission, and occupied as my time had already been promised to be, I felt doubts about accomplishing it, were I to commence it.