Ditchingham Lodge near Bungay, 17th June 1823.
«Occupied with the fate of empires, and stationed on so lofty an
eminence that the petty concerns of humbler life can scarcely be
visible, your Excellency cannot easily imagine how much the mind of
a private individual may dwell on a single thought until it becomes
painful from intensity.
«Unwilling to be guilty of intrusion (especially on _you_), yet
equally reluctant to appear ungrateful, you perhaps would smile,
could you fully know the embarrassment even this letter has
occasioned me. But your kind words: «puis-je être bon à quelque
chose pour vous?» and the kind tone in which they were attended,
have echoed in my heart, until perhaps they have disturbed my head.
Twelve long months have now elapsed since I heard them, during
which time I have often painfully regretted having very
inadequately expressed my deep-felt sense of your kindness; but in
truth, it was so blended with other feelings, that I could not
dwell on the subject. The hope too, which your Excellency permit to
entertain of seeing you here (a hope so pleasing that I overlooked
the impossibilities of its accomplishment), awakened my maternal
vanity to fancy that my sons might win some portion of your
approbation for themselves.
«When I had last the honor of seeing you, you were proceeding to
Gloucester Lodge, with the kind intention of speaking in favor of
one of my sons to M. Canning, whose accession to the ministry gives
him perhaps as much influence with respect to India now, as his own
personal destination thither would have done. Assuredly, my own
feelings would not lead me to desire such a banishment for any of
my children; but my eldest son, Samuel Ives Sutton, now in his
seventeenth year, has expressed so decided and steady a wish for
some civil appointment in India, that it is my duty to do all in my
power to promote it.
«A writer-ship to _Madras_, for next year, is the summit of his
ambition. It is not in itself a very great thing, yet so numerous
are the competitors, that it is absolutely unattainable, excepting
by the hand of power.
«This then, Mylord, is the point; _and how much it has cost me to
come to it, you can never know_.
«With the most earnest wishes for your health and happiness, and
with every sentiment of the highest consideration and respect, in
which admiral Sutton begs to be permitted to join, I have the honor
to be Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant,
«CHARLOTTE SUTTON.»