Revenge of the Cousinocracy It was generally said, he was told, that he was their author and that they contained observations which should not have been written by a member of the diplomatic service.31 Probably believing that the Foreign Office would find it impossible to unearth definitive proof, the Roving Englishman denied responsibility for the article in question and was evasive in regard to the books.32 This was the position when he arrived in Constantinople on 22 November, having spent, as his nominal chief drily observed to the foreign secretary, ten weeks on the journey.33 Indeed he had, for with neither a warm welcome nor any useful occupation to expect on his arrival, the Roving Englishman had travelled back by a new, slower route – via the Danube and the ‘wretched’ delta port of Sulina – and spent the time gathering material for more travel articles for Household Words.34 At Sulina he was storm-bound for 17 days before it was possible for him to board the Constantinople packet. As he had promised, he did not report to Stratford, and four days later the ambassador told Clarendon not only that it was impossible for his attaché to remain at the embassy but also that he believed him to be generally unfit for the Queen’s service.35 Having certainly been informed of Stratford’s attitude, Grenville-Murray set off back to London almost immediately – but did not return empty-handed, which would have advertised his humiliation. Once more he carried despatches, including some picked up from the British embassy at Vienna. Acting as an official messenger had the further advantages of entitling him to relatively generous expenses and privileged passage, and of enabling him to demonstrate still further his usefulness and dedication to the service. He delivered his packages at the Foreign Office shortly before midnight on 13 December: ‘I travelled night and day,’ he told Clarendon.36 By 5 January, he was once more back in Constantinople. However, he had not sought
31
TNA, letters 3-6 in FO881/1718. Later he advanced the shaky argument that it was impossible to prove the identity of an anonymous author, The Press and the Public Service, p. 56. 33 TNA, Stratford to Clarendon, 26 November 1855, FO881/1718. 34 ‘In Belgium’, 27 October 1855; ‘Down the Danube’, 22 December 1855; ‘The Show Officer’ (which brought him to Sulina), 19 January 1856; and ‘The Sulina mouth of the Danube’ (lead item), 9 February 1856. 35 TNA, Stratford to Clarendon, 26 November 1855, FO881/1718. 36 TNA, G-M to Clarendon, 14 December 1855, FO65/787. 32
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