WCP3640

[1]

Foreign Office.

August 19. 1853.

Sir,¹

I am directed by the Earl of Clarendon² to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo, requesting that a Free Passage to Singapore might be afforded in one of Her Majesty’s Ships to Mr Alfred R Wallace who is about to proceed on a scientific expedition to the Eastern Archipelago, and that permission might be obtained for that Gentleman to visit the Dutch and Spanish settlements in the Eastern Seas.

In reply I am directed to inform you The Sectretary to the Royal Geographical Society [2] you that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have signified to the Earl of Clarendon that there is an opportunity of a Passage for M^r Wallace in a ship of War under orders for Trincomalee, but no further and the Earl of Clarendon desires to know whether M^r. Wallace would wish to avail himself of this opportunity.

I am further to inform you that Her Majesty’s Representatives at the Hague & Madrid have been instructed to apply for the requisite facilities for M^r Wallace in [3] in carrying out the objects he has in view.

I am, Sir, | your most obedient, humble servant | H U Addington³ [signature]

[4]⁷