I have had the honor to receive Your Lordship's Despatch N 9
               of the 
15 February in which you grant me leave of absence
               after the termination of the Legislative Session for about two
               months. I am grateful to Your Lordship for acceding to my
               request; but I regret to say that I
have
 have not sufficiently
               recovered from the effects of the injury which I sustained in
               
November to be able to undertake so long a journey or to leave
               
Victoria so soon as I had intended. I shall not therefore use
               Your Lordship's permission to its full extent; though I shall
               probably avail myself of it for the purpose of a short visit to
               
San Francisco in 
June. But in that case I shall not be absent
               longer than three weeks or a month.