No. 76.
The Hon. W. B. D. Mantell to the Hon. J. C. Richmond.

Sir,—

In acknowledging your letter of this day's date, I must draw your attention to the fact that, while you state that you can have no objection to answering the questions which I ventured to submit to you, you have, probably through inadvertence, omitted to answer my inquiry as to the meaning which the word "Government" in your letters is intended to convey, and further, that you have not stated the date of the "arrangement."

I take this opportunity of reminding you that the conversation to which you allude was only joined in by me after a protest, on my side, assented to by you, that it should not be deemed an official communication from you to me, and should therefore in no way supersede the necessity for written official correspondence on any question discussed; and that it was not until you appealed to me, on the ground of friendship formerly existing between us, that I consented to allow you to speak to me on the subject of our correspondence.