150 
TEAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
any charge against me^ he considered me exonerated; and that if, 
even at any future time, proceedings should be instigated, he could 
no longer take notice of them. 
To conclude this subject. In reply to my earnest request that 
Her Majesty^s Government ^Svould grant me the closest investiga- 
tion, in order to afford me an opportunity to refute any eharges or 
misstatements that may have been made with referenee to any 
connection on my part with the slave trade, or derogatory to my 
honour,^^ I hope I may be pardoned for quoting the following 
letter : 
“FOREIGN OFFICE, 
June 2\st, 1865. 
“ SlE, 
“ I am directed by Earl Eussell to acknowledge the receipt 
of your letter of the 1st instant, stating that you have reason to 
believe that reports have been made against your character in 
connection with the slave trade, during the time you were 
employed as Her Majesty’s Consul for the Soudan, and request- 
ing that an inquiry may be instituted, in order to enable you to 
refute any charges or misstatements that may have been made 
derogatory to your honour. 
“ In reply, I am to state that Her Majesty’s Government have 
been informed that no trade has hitherto been carried on by 
native and European traders on the White 'Nile, and in the 
Soudan, without an indirect, if not a direct, encouragement 
being given to the slave trade ; and that this traffic in slaves is 
incidental to, and arises out of, the ivory trade along that river. 
“ A proof of this is furnished by the fact of slaves having 
been conveyed in your own boats ; although — as you stated at 
the time, and as Her Majesty’s Government are willing to believe 
— without your knowledge or sanction. 
