THE LAD V ELIZABETH SCANDAL. 309 



moment, to enable him to keep faith with the 

 pubhc." 



The Admiral did not take the trouble to 

 write a long reply to this letter ; a few curt lines, 

 returning " the enclosures " (letters received at 

 different times from Messrs. Weatherby on the 

 subject of his own account), were all that were 

 vouchsafed. 



Mr. Padwick, after the lapse of a fortnight, 

 again addressed himself to Admiral Rous ; but 

 the latter gentleman, having evidently conceived 

 a strong opinion on the case, only wrote in a way 

 to indicate that to that opinion he was quite 

 determined to adhere, as the following extract 

 will show: "In your letter of the 30th of Sep- 

 tember you refer, among other matters, to a bill 

 of sale from Lord Hastings to yourself. A copy 

 of this document is now before me, and I am 

 bound to tell you that, having regard to the 

 terms and other circumstances of the case, I do 

 not feel justified in saying more at present than 

 that, for the sake of everybody, it is essential 

 that the facts should be thoroughly sifted by the 

 examination of all parties before the tribunal 

 to which you yourself have advised Mr. Day 

 to appeal." 



But the facts of the case never were ex- 

 piscated in any court of justice ; the legal 

 proceedings which Messrs. Vallance & Vallance 

 had been instructed by Mr. John Day of Dane- 

 bury to commence were never instituted, as the 

 following brief letters will show. 



From Mr. John Day to the editor of The 

 Times : 



"On the 1 6th of June last a letter appeared 



