Mss Eur F213/27, p20

Acknowledges Dalhousie's letters of 18 April; Satara; brief comments on initial reports of outbreak at Multan; dislikes practice of detaching able officers to remote districts unless adequately protected by British troops; problem of members of both services leaking information to press in both India, especially Bombay where newspapers 'are of the worst description', and England; refers to his letter of 24 January and leak of papers in Satara case – person responsible, Mohan Lal, believed to be pensioner of Indian Govt, and has written Hobhouse several letters vilifying many senior officials; he is 'a low cunning fellow' and should be watched; outrageous book published by Maj G M Carmichael-Smyth on 'History of the Reigning Family at Lahore' (Calcutta, Thacker, 1847).

24 June: comments on reports on Multan affair in Dalhousie's letters of 2, 3 and 4 May; thinks much larger military escort should have been sent; believes it will prove to be no more than 'one of those unhappy events which are of no infrequent occurrence in India, or at least in our frontier states and which we must be prepared to expect in dealing with semi-barbarous tribes'; neither Hardinge nor Henry Lawrence apprehend a general outbreak in Punjab, but Hobhouse is anxious that isolated officers should not be exposed to danger; gives reasons for thinking Mulraj unlikely to have been responsible; both Hardinge and Henry Lawrence recommend Brig Campbell, Lawrence considering him superior to Wheeler; approves all Dalhousie's actions on Satara so far; agrees with him on minute-writing nuisance; does not think Dalhousie's letters too detailed – the more he writes the better.

Dated: [? c21] Jun 1848-24 Jun 1848