58 CORRESPONDENCE WITH dark well. I said, that I was surprised that my offer was not eagerly accepted: that in case of success, I should restore two deserving officers to their country. Should I return, having failed in my object, I should bring information that might be important; and, should I be cut off, the British nation would gain seven shillings a-day by my disaster. On leaving the Under-Secretary of State, I desired him clearly and distinctly to understand, that I had made all the preparations for my journey; that I was prepared to undertake it at my own cost and risk, and on my own responsibility; and that I asked no assistance whatever from her majesty's government, but the simple recognition of the object of my mission, without which, he must be well aware, that it would be worse than folly to attempt to reach Bokhara; and that I trusted he would have the kindness to send me a written answer to my proposition. On the 26th of June, I received a letter from Mr. Addington, declining my offer, but so completely mis-stating its nature, that I considered it my duty instantly to write him the following note:-- Captain Grover to Mr. Addington. "Army and Nary Club, June 25, 1843. "Sir, I have received your note of the 24th instant, and take the liberty merely of observing, that in referring to my proposition, you omit all notice of its most important feature, viz., that the expedition was to be undertaken at my own cost and risk.' "As it is usual in all official correspondence to allude to a proposition, as nearly as possible in the terms in which it was made, I trust you will have the goodness to correct this omission. "I have the honour to be, "Your obedient servant, "Captain Unattached." "To Henry Unwin Addington, Esq., "Under-Secretary of State, In reply, I received the following note with the corrected version of Mr. Addington's letter: "Mr. Addington presents his compliments to Captain Grover, and has great pleasure in correcting the omission which had by an oversight, been made in Mr. Addington's note of the 24th instant, and to which Captain Grover has called Mr. Addington's attention in his letter of to-day. "Mr. Addington requests that Captain Grover will have the goodness to substitute the corrected version of the note herewith inclosed, for the former note; and, that he will return the latter to Mr. Addington. "Foreign Office, 26th June, 1843." The reader will perceive in this note a curious jumble of former and latter, and that, in fact, the Under-Secretary of State expresses precisely the re verse of what he means. Guessing, however, his meaning, I returned the letter of the 24th of June, and substituted in its place the following "corrected version: ". "Mr. Addington presents his compliments to Captain Grover, and begs to inform him, that he has laid before Lord Aberdeen Captain Grover's desire to proceed, at his own cost and risk, to Bokhara, in the character of a British officer officially sent, in order to obtain intelligence as to the fate of Colonel Stoddart. 66 Lord Aberdeen stated to Mr. Addington, that he would not feel himself justified in investing Captain Grover with an official character; but that his lordship would very willingly afford to Captain Grover every facility, and grant him every protection at his command, for the purpose of prosecuting his researches with greater effect, if Captain Grover should be disposed to proceed to Bokhara as a private traveller, for the purpose above-mentioned. "To Captain Grover." 66 Foreign Office, June 24, 1843. I will here pause to make a few remarks on the above correspondence. Full of anxiety for the fate of a dear friend, I returned to England from a distant country, where I had been some years established, determined to start for Bokhara, to clear up the mystery that was hanging over his fate. As a soldier, I addressed myself to the commander-in-chief, my proposition appears to be favourably received; and, as a matter of course, I am referred to the Foreign Office. What is the reception I meet with here? I humbly crave the honour of an audience of the Earl of Aberdeen this is refused; and I am unceremoniously handed over to irresponsible subalterns, who had evidently made up their minds to refuse my request, before they had heard by what arguments I was prepared to support it. The reader will perceive, that the only thing I asked, viz., a document to shew that I was not a spy, was refused; but to induce me to undertake this journey as a "private traveller," which the Earl of Aberdeen must well know could only lead to my destruction, I am tempted with the assurance," that his lordship would very willingly afford me every facility, and grant me every protection at his command, for the purpose of prosecuting my researches with greater effect, if I should be disposed to proceed to Bokhara as a 'private traveller."" The reader will probably have observed a rather remarkable circumstance in the above correspondence I am not even thanked. Thanked! I have no doubt the Earl of Aberdeen, and the gentlemen at the Foreign Office, thought I de 62 A RIGHT HONOURABLE FRIEND. served to be at the bottom of the Oxus, or in one of the deepest recesses of the "dark well," for having presumed to hint at the possibility, that any person whose death they had announced should be still languishing in captivity, and that I should have the audacity to presume to take upon myself the duties and functions of the Secretary of State, by exhibiting an anxiety for the fate of two British envoys, about whom the British government did not think it worth while to make inquiry. At this time I happened to meet a right honourable friend, who has had considerable experience in diplomacy. I related to him all I had done, and gave him an account of my interviews with Mr. Addington and Mr. Hammond at the Foreign Office. After laughing heartily for some time, he thus spoke : 66 My dear Grover, you have been going the wrong way to work. You talk of going to Bokhara at your own cost! Now, although it is very generous of you to risk your life, and expend a couple of thousand pounds, to rescue your friend from the fangs of a merciless tyrant, depend upon it, this will not influence the government in the least. "At the Foreign Office, they do not care one straw about the expense; but I am sure, they will rather allow these wretched men to be sacri |