Typescript transcript of a letter from Lord Randolph Churchill, Secretary of State for India, to Grant Duff [Governor of Madras, India] in which he apologises for not being able to attend a Council meeting which is to discuss Duff's proposal for a botanical department for Madras; explains that the need for economy has affected the proposed salary for [Charles] Lawson; discusses his interest in Hyderabad affairs; comments on the speed of the dispatch of the Burma expedition from Madras; informs him that Sir Herbert Macpherson is to be Commander in Chief in Madras and that Sir Charles Arthbuthnot is to be Commander in Chief at Bombay; speculates on the Conservative Party's success in the future General Election; negotiations with China over Burma [later Myanmar].