( 9 )
If you will be so good as to refer to my letter of the 20th inst, you will see that this was not the request it contained.
I had already, by the courtesy of Sir Sydney Dacres, had an opportunity of seeing the Papers and Minutes on the subject of the Frazer Gun Manufacture written before I left the Admiralty. "What I asked to be allowed to see was any Minute made by the present Board, or any of its members, reflecting personally upon me for my acts as a member of the late Board.
As this is refused, and it is not denied that such a Minute exists, I am constrained to believe that the unusual course has been adopted of recording a personal charge against a member of the late Board for an act done by him in concert with his colleagues.
At the Board of the 2nd December, 1868, it will be found that all the members were present. Sir Sydney Dacres will remember that he was himself present, and that though my hand wrote the Minute, it was in conformity with the deliberate decision of all my colleagues, and was signed by the Secretary.
That Minute was a wise and prudent one, and I am quite prepared to justify it. It was made after the fullest inquiry, and on the responsible advice of Admiral Key, the Director-General of Naval Ordnance, recognized by all as a most competent adviser, and after consultation with those whose opinion was of weight.
Until it is denied I shall, as the subject is in his Department, assume that Vice-Admiral Sir R. S. Robinson has adopted a course, unprecedented I believe until the present Board took office, of making written personal reflections on individual members of a former Board behind their backs; and I conclude, from the unwillingness of their Lordships to permit me to see this Minute, that they are themselves convinced of the impropriety of such a course.
I have the honour to be, &c.,
