Item 10 - Letter from Edward Bathurst to Richard Monckton Milnes

16 ff., with enclosure, 2 ff.

21 Grande Rue, Boulogne Sur Mer. - Remorse after sending letter last summer; encloses pamphlet [no longer present] on Hayti [sic]; would Milnes draw Palmerston's attention to his own copy? Bathurst's father Robert was the eldest nephew of Henry Bathurst, bishop of Norwich [in fact he seems to have been a younger brother]; he made a fortune in India and bought Bream Lodge, near Lydney Park; died there in 1822 [actually 1821] when Edward Bathurst was four. Describes disposal of estate. Bathurst's uncle Charles ran the Indian business but ruined the family and 'died of a champagne surfeit in 1832' [1831?]. Bathurst himself went to India in 1835 but was unable to recover anything; accuses James Weir Hogg and Elliott Macnaghten of profiting from Indian crash.

Travelled in India; sailed to St Helena and witnessed the exhumation of Napoleon: 'the massy chest unclosed, and behold - such was the skill of the embalmer - the features of the Emperor in all their well-remembered beauty; features over which corruption seemed to have no power'. Returned to England and entered Lincoln's Inn before obtaining Vice-Consulship at Copenhagen through Lord Bathurst; his labours there; accepted posting to Cape Haytien on Sir Henry Wynn's advice but was unable to obtain any details; criticises 'esoteric mysteries of the Foreign Office; problems in Jamaica and Haiti; expense of building and other privations; abolition of post without recompense; creditors include Copeland, who unfairly supplied an expensive crockery service; has snubbed Haytians but otherwise gained approval; has not asked for promotion but for reinstatement; pleads case rhetorically.

Enclosure: 'Copy from a manuscript of the Character of the late Robert Bathurst [Junior?] Esq. originally taken from the Cawnpore Advertiser' [c May 1822], copy dated 23 Dec. 1833.