Letter in a secretarial hand, signed ('W. G. Romaine') by William Govett Romaine, written on the day of his appointment as Second Secretary to the Admiralty, to E. J. Maude of Leeds, re. towing of gunboats with 'high-pressure Engines' (China service)

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged grey paper. The words 'Admiralty, S.W.' and 'I HAVE received and laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your letter of the' are printed, with the rest written by a secretary, apart from Romaine's bold, firm signature. According to the letter Maude's letter of 5 May was 'addressed to Lord Panmure', and suggested 'the expediency of towing to their destination the Gun Boats, with high-pressure Engines, about to be employed on service in China'. Maude is addressed as 'E. J. Maude Esqre. | The Old Hall | Knostrop | Leeds'. Presumably preparations for conflict (Battle of Canton in the Second Opium War, Dec. 1857.