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Your Lordship that Mr Thornton, though he has generally performed his duty in a satisfactory manner,
has also committed excesses on several occasions through his intemperate habits.
He has been several times before the Council, and with regard to himself having been treated with most exceptional indulgence in not having been dismissed from the service.
Under these circumstances, it is not desirable that Mr Thornton should return here, and he has now been told to apply for a pension, in which case it is also undesirable that he should obtain more than 2/3 of his full pension.
My Council and I think that in such cases the conduct of an officer during the period of his service ought to affect the amount of his pension, and that it is not for the public interests that an indiscriminating rule should be applied to all officers without reference to the character of their respective services, whether meritorious or not.
With a view to assisting Mr Thornton to leave, I have granted him 1/3 of his pension as an indulgence to enable him to return to England, to which, strictly speaking, he is not yet entitled.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant,
Francis Mendenham