I do not know whether such a thing would be possible, but I should be much inclined, if it could be done consistently with the proprieties of red tape, to ask you to consider the application withdrawn, and to take on myself the responsibility of withdrawing it.
He can perfectly well stay in Hongkong till March next, and, though there can be no certainty of it, there is at all events a fair chance that you will be able to find something for him before that time.
I should greatly regret his return to Ceylon. I doubt whether Sir Henry Havelock would like having so "masterful" a man back there; in any case it would be a great pity, for he will never do himself justice, or be of all the use he can be, until he is himself the head of a Colonial Administration - not merely one of its subordinate officers.