LONDON, _August 8, 1860_.
I received your letter just as I was leaving for Glenquoich. It is
unnecessary to tell you that it gave me no pleasure; but I shall not
reproach you. At this moment I am preoccupied with something else, and
that is, to find some means of bidding you farewell. You also must try
to manage it so as to gain a little time; and I have no doubt that if we
both set our wits to work we shall succeed in meeting and spending a few
hours together.
The more I reflect on your expedition to Algeria the more foolish it
seems to me. It is evident that with affairs in the Orient complicated
as they are, and becoming every moment still more complicated, your
brother may be obliged to leave at a moment’s notice, and you would
find it embarrassing to remain alone among your Arabs. It seems to me
highly probable that the landing of the French troops in Syria will be
followed by a general outbreak of robberies and massacres throughout the
Orient. It is equally reasonable to suppose that the Turkish provinces
of Greece--that is, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Christian Albania--will
make some movement in retaliation. Everything in the Orient will be on
fire this winter. To go to Algiers at such a time, I repeat, seems to me
the height of folly. Still, you might find during this journey some
special attraction! Yet you seem now to hesitate about going....
The weather is atrocious. The sun shone yesterday for the first time
since I arrived in England, but this morning, on awakening, I heard the
beating of the rain upon my window. The barometer indicates a heavy
rain, and I can not see a hundred feet away. With all this wind and rain
and cold, I do not understand what will become of the wheat. The _Times_
says four feet of snow has fallen at Inverness, where I am to spend next
Monday night. Do you suppose there will be coal enough and tartans heavy
enough to remedy all these miseries?
In spite of the gloomy, cold weather in Bath and its suburbs, I liked
the country immensely. I saw hills standing out in clear outlines
against the sky, magnificent trees, and a richness of verdure unequalled
elsewhere, unless it is in the valleys of Switzerland. But all this is
not to be compared with Saint-Cloud or Versailles in fine weather.
Good-bye, dear friend. I am very sad, and I should like to be angry, but
I have no energy, so I shall not accuse you....
I send my Glenquoich address, but I shall not be there for several days:
In care of the Right Honourable E. Ellice, Glenquoich, Fort Augustus.