The letters show that when Lord Elgin arrived at Singapore on July 28, 1857, Frederick Stephenson tried to persuade him to send all the troops landed from the Transit on to Calcutta at once. To this Lord Elgin would not consent, only diverting a certain contingent from their intended destination, but deciding that in future, troops touching at Singapore on their way to China should be detained and sent to Calcutta. After Lord Elgin had left, the onus of carrying out this decision for the first time fell on Frederick Stephenson, who, on the arrival of some 900 men, had to make up his mind whether he should stop them all from going to China. He did not hesitate, but sent the whole body of troops to Calcutta, feeling very uncertain as to what his own General would say on the matter, and receiving no assistance from the Governor, who apparently declined to take any responsibility. The result was satisfactory, but there must have been some bad moments of anxiety.
The notes to the China letters have been taken from the same sources as those used for the Crimean ones, but it has not been possible to get all the desired information. No doubt there were many letters of interest written to others than the family, but after the long lapse of time they are probably destroyed.
There is one passage in the letter of August 3, 1857, written to his sister, which is rather obscure. It refers to the number of men brought out by Lord Elgin in the ships Shannon and Pearl. The words and figures have been faithfully copied from the original letter, but are not easy to understand. The letters generally seem to me to be full of personal and historical interest.
To Lady Stephenson
Guards Club, Wednesday.
My dear Mother, — My departure will take place much earlier than I had thought. I am now ordered to start next Monday, and instead of taking the overland route, I go round the Cape in charge of troops on board the Transit. I tried to get off this, so as to be not so much hurried, but I could not manage it without showing a disinclination to do whatever fell to one's lot,...
H.M.S. Bellerophon, Portsmouth, Good Friday.
— You should have heard from me sooner about our piece of ill luck if to-day had not been Good
Friday, and consequently a day when letters are not delivered. The account of the accident in the leading article of to-day's Times is so accurate that
I have little more to add to it. I am very sorry for poor Chambers,^ and do not yet know how he will get out of it; there was evidently great carelessness in allowing such a suicidal act as a ship settling on its own anchor to be even within the range of possibility.
The men worked at the pumps admirably, and have behaved altogether in the most exemplary manner. I
went yesterday to see the unhappy Transit in dry dock. The hole was about 2 feet from her keel, was
8 inches broad by 2 long; she is now repaired, and will be out of dock again to-night. She will then have to ship some more provisions, her old stock being
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
considerably injured by the water, as was also her powder, the whole of which was destroyed. I hope, however, that the delay will not be great, and that we may be off on Monday. What I regret most, after feeling for poor Chambers, is that we should be losing all this fine weather. When I said just now that the article in the Times was correct, I meant only that part which referred to the cause and all the details of the accident, and also the remark about the want of proper management on the part of the captain (which, between you and me, is to a certain extent true), but the danger talked of is their nonsense; there was none at all, and never could have been, and the idea of not using a ship because she is unlucky is equally nonsense. I have the nicest fellows on board possible, both officers and men; we pull uncommonly well together, and nothing can be pleasanter. I shall hope to find some letters and newspapers waiting for me at Hong Kong about the end of June. We all came into harbour again the other day with our tails between our legs, looking very foolish, and poor Cameron ^ began to give up all hope of ever getting to China.... From St. Vincent, where we touch to coal, we make for the Cape, and from there for Singapore by the Straits of Sunda, and so to Hong Kong, in all about 17,000 miles....