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eligible spots at which the tax-stations might be placed. Having apparently already acquired a taste for the importance which he conceived was added to his position by consultations on matters of public policy with the Colonial Authorities, Colonel Ping hereupon called upon His Excellency Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, to whom he gave out that he was empowered:
I believe, that he was to negotiate with His Excellency concerning the establishment of the tax stations, and entered into communications with His Excellency on the subject, but to what extent I am unaware.
On Her Majesty's Consul finding it expedient, shortly after this, to inquire of the Viceroy whether Ping had in reality been authorized to call upon Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell or to make any arrangements in the matter, the Viceroy distinctly disavowed his action and he stated that he disapproved of Colonel Ping having held any communication with the Colonial Government on the subject. Orders were subsequently sent directing Colonel Ping to refrain from such action for the future. About the same time or shortly afterwards it became identically known that Colonel Ping had visited