| Description | William does not understand Johnny's case [John Herschel] at Addiscombe [College] and he asks if John could write an explicit account of it. He thought to have stayed there eighteen months not two years. William likes Colonel [James Roger] Western's letter. William was obliged to loan 500 rupees from his uncle Duncan [Stewart] when he arrived in India, as the 750 rupees of credit he had was not enough to set him up; if he had not won prizes he would have been in debt and without furniture. He has a good double gun for John as he has given up shooting himself. William advises John to bring a revolver and saddle as they are expensive in India. Warm clothes should not be left in England, including a set of tweeds and a great coat, but light clothes should be made in India. All mathematical instruments must be brought out and he asks for a prismatic compass for himself and another to replace the one mentioned in his letter to Maria. He asks what his father would recommend for general measurements, perhaps an altitude azimuth, and he asks what Troughton would charge for one. He also asks for compasses and some of the finer landscape photography in Sulton's albums. He has seen nothing of the promised family which he asked about at the same time as his law books. He sends photographs of himself and an enclosure from [William] Waterfield. He is afraid that he may be appointed to the Education post, discussing his dissatisfaction with his performance as a Magistrate and his limitations. He recently had a fainting fit of despair at the falsehoods of Indians. It may be the same all over the world, he thinks, and he discusses the 'recklessness' of decision-making in Indian courts, envying English magistrates. He outlines a recent case where he has acquitted a man. William has had a recent fever, which he has shaken off. He was pleased to have accounts of Mary Waterfield's visit to Collingwood. He has seen that John received a medal at Addiscombe and celebrates the award. |