No. 12

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No.
128 of the 20th December last, respecting the claim advanced by Messrs
Clarke and Skinner for compensation on account of their alleged losses
in consequence of the sudden withdrawal of the Royal Engineers from
British Columbia.

I referred to the Secretary of State for War, Governor Seymour's
Despatch No. 50 of the 24th September 1864 on this subject, and I have
now transmitted to the War Department your present Despatch, with a
request to be favored with Lord Hartington's opinion upon the
application.