[These materials on the case of Lt. Kennedy were adapted by GPL, with permission of the author, from the latter's course website, which is no longer available online.]
Lt. R. C. Kennedy to Capt. Sinclair, Acting Asst. Adjudant General of the Army
Bombay 2nd. January, 1860.
Sir, —
I have the honor in reply to your communication of the __ December 1859, with accompaniments, to state for the information of Government and His excellency the Commander-in-Chief that the extract from the Daily News is utterly false.
It is true that I did for some time reside in Syria: but I did so for the benefit of my health, and to perfect myself in the Arabic language with which I was at that time but partially acquainted. I went to Europe on a sick certificate, and finding the climate of Syria equal, if not superior, to that of England, for renovating a frame impaired and exhausted by fever and fatigue, I resolved at once to visit a land filled with the monuments of the past, and at present the chief seat of Arabic learning and literature.
I have entertained for the Government (to whose Army I have the honor of belonging) feelings of the most exalted loyalty and warmest attachment; my lips have never opened than to uphold the dignity of the State; and my sword has been drawn against men opposed to the law, and hostile to the interest of the realm.
I beg, therefore, that you will place before his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, these my solemn assurances of my fidelity and allegiance to Her Majesty's Government, and in conclusion, I cannot but express a hope that they will have more weight than any anonymous slander which may appear in a newspaper supported by no better authority than a remote correspondent, and who is only able to give as his authority for his calumny (?) "A French Traveler" without either a designation or a name — I have,
&c,
R. C. Kennedy,
2nd Light Cavalry.
Last modified 8 January 2024