Eigenh. Brief mit U.
4 SS. auf Doppelblatt. 8vo. Mit eh. adr. Kuvert.
€ 3.500,00
An den Anwalt John Sudlow in Manchester über seine Sorgen um seine jüngste Tochter Florence (1827-1904). Diese nämlich, seit 1855 mit einem in Indien dienenden Offizier verheiratet, sei nun durch den Indischen Aufstand in großer Gefahr: "Pardon my abruptness, and pardon also my egotism - which in this case is inevitable. Here is my case, and the one insurmountable excuse for my delay in writing. Two years ago my second daughter married Lt. Col. Baird Smith - favorably known as an Artillery officer, and by his plans of Irrigation for Scinde, Lahore, &c. The station, at which he resided, was a small and obscure one, viz. Rourkee [...] However the Sappers and miners, all natives, that happened to be quartered at Rourkee, were among the earliest Mutineers [...]". Es folgt die genaue Schilderung eines "alarming incident", den sein Schwiegersohn durch Überlistung und Gefangennahme der Aufständischen beendet habe. Inzwischen aber sei er nach Delhi versetzt worden. "There at once my poor Florence was stripped of her special protector; and already in the earliest stage of the tumult she had given birth to a daughter; so that secret escape, in the event of necessity arising, would become 10 times less feasible. After this my anxiety became insupportable [...] This day's second telegraphic report leaves me no other fear than that the Scoundrels will never stand to face us, or give us an opportunity of that vengeance which every just man desires [...]".
Richard Baird Smith sollte 1861 an den Folgen einer Verwundung sterben; Florence kehrte mit ihren beiden kleinen Töchtern später nach England zurück.
