Confidential.
REG
C.O.
JUNE
18. 1869
Mr. St.
My Lord,
2 July 1869.
Government House, Hong Kong 16th April 1869.
I beg to solicit from Your Lordship the boon of a year's leave of absence with permission to avail myself of the privilege at any time between this and April next year.
I have put my request in that unusual shape because it is very possible that the state of Lady MacDonnell's health or my own may oblige me, however reluctantly, to leave before next March, the period to which I should like to defer it.
The Right Honorable
Earl Granville K.G.