To ? [after 11 December 1875]
My dear Sir—
You have always shown so friendly a feeling towards me, that I have thought that you wd excuse me for writing to you on a subject which deeply interests me. I heard on Saturday that R. L. had been black-balled at the Linnean Soc.— I did not even know that he was a candidate; & my personal acquaintance with him is slight, having seen him only on a single occasion. But I have read many of his papers on Embryology &c & have seen the way in which he is spoken of by foreigners. Therefore I cannot doubt that as far as his scientific claims are concerned, he ought to have been elected.— I therefore agree most willingly to second, a new proposal, which is to be immediately suspended.—
I am told on good authority that the reason of his being blackballed is that the Council intended to remit his fees.
I know not & care not whether the Council was justified in their intention from some accounts which I have received it seems quite unjustifiable, from other accounts justifiable; But if they did wrong they ought to have been called to account & severely blamed at the anniversary or at a special meeting. (& which would be I think better to have later for other [illeg] Now what I earnestly beg you to do is to put yourself in [imagination] in the position of R. L, Suppose that you as a young man had done some good work & had been proposed for the Linnean Soc., & that the Council wished to remit, the fees, but that some person thought this was a very improper proceeding on their part; how could you not have thought yourself cruelly treated if you as an upright & honourable man had been blackballed on this account, & a stigma thus cast on you for the rest of your life; for it will be said of R. L “oh he was blackballed at the Linnean, & no one else has been for the last 50 years.”.— I feel this so strongly on this head, that I wd do almost anything to get him (though not my personal friend), elected by a large majority; & I further believe that such blackballing is enough to half ruin the Linn. Soc.— I have lately proposed one of my sons & Mr Romanes, & had this blackballing occurred earlier, I shd have doubted much before doing so. I beg you to have the [illeg] to let me hear from you, whether my argument has any weight on your mind, & in any case I trust that you will forgive me for troubling you. as I am [myself] concerned in the case [from being] agreed to second Dr Lankester on his second candidature
Manuscript Alterations and Comments
1.1 that I have] ‘that’ after del ‘which I am’
1.2 excuse] pencil above del pencil ‘forgive’
1.2 deeply] pencil above del pencil ‘greatly’
1.2 I heard] after del ‘When I came to London on Friday’
1.4 personal] interl
1.5 embryology &c 1.6] ‘&c’ altered from ‘&’
1.6 & have] ‘&’ after del ‘on [theoretic]. subjects.’
1.6 seen] after del illeg’
1.6 by] after del ‘in’
1.7 as far as] interl
1.7 are] after del ‘ought’
1.7 ought to] ‘to’ after del pencil ‘not’
1.8 elected] pencil above del pencil ‘blackballed’
1.8 agree most willingly] above del ‘feel pleasure & pride’
1.8 to second] ‘to’ above del ‘in’; ‘second’ altered from ‘seconding’
1.9 immediately] interl pencil
2.1 I] after del ‘I am aware that he is unpopular, but this does not seem to me to justify his exclusion, though [del ‘sufficient’] it wd do so in the case of an ordinary club. I do not believe anything else can be said against him, for by chance I was in communication about 6 months ago with a man who thought himself aggrieved by him, *& who had ample means of knowledge [interl] & yet admitted freely that he knew nothing whatever [interl] against him except his manners.— A second [‘Cambs’ interl del pencil] man, who dislikes him cordially *has just [interl] admitted *to me through my son [interl] the same fact & [over illeg] was just enough to express great indignation at his being blackballed.’
2.1 on good authority] interl before del illeg
2.1 reason] above del ‘grounds’
2.1 blackballed is] ‘is’ interl
3.1 & care] after del pencil ‘on any good grounds’
3.1 from … justifiable 3.3] interl
3.3 But] above del pencil ‘&’ and after pencil del ink ‘for’
3.4 & severely blamed] interl
3.4 (& which … [illeg] 3.5] interl
3.4 I think better 3.5] below del pencil ‘better’, below pencil del ink ‘been fairer to’
3.6 put] after del ‘reflect over what can be said in council of R. L, &’
3.6 in [imagination]] interl
3.6 the position] ‘the’ above del ‘his’
3.6 of R. L] interl
3.6 Suppose] after del ‘&’; ‘S’ over ‘s’
3.7 done … & had] interl; ‘had’ pencil
3.8 fees] after del ‘adm’
3.8 but] above del ‘&’
3.8 person] added
3.8 this] after interl & del ‘whether [pencil] perhaps [del pencil] justly perhaps or [above 2d ‘perhaps’] unjustly that’
3.8 was] over ‘an’
3.9 a very] above del ‘an’
3.9 on their part] interl pencil; ‘their’ ink over pencil ‘the’; before pencil del ink ‘of the Co’
3.9 have] interl
3.9 thought] after del ‘think’
3.10 as an … man] interl
3.11 thus cast] interl after pencil del ink ‘had’; ‘cast’ after interl pencil del ink ‘been’
3.11 on] after del ‘thrown’
3.11 said] after del ‘remembered’
3.12 no] over illeg
3.12 the last] added pencil
3.13 so] pencil above del pencil ‘very’ above del ‘so’
3.13 on this head,] added
3.13 that I wd … further 3.14] above del ‘that I *again beg you [del] venture to ask you &’; ‘further’ over pencil illeg
3.14 (though] parenthesis over comma
3.14 elected] after del ‘re’
3.15 blackballing is] pencil above ‘acts are’
3.15 half] interl
3.15 — I] after del ‘for [interl] which I *feel much [above del ‘most’] respect much [del] *on account of the good work it has done [pencil]’
3.15 have … let 3.17] pencil above del pencil ‘let’
3.18 in any case] after del ‘whether you will [illeg] the claim when’
3.19 for troubling you.] circled and transposed from after ‘Lankester’
3.19 am] pencil above ‘have’
3.19 [myself]… [being] 3.20] interl pencil after interl & del pencil illeg
3.20 agreed] after added & del ‘willingly’
3.20 to] after del ‘& it wd give me the’ and ‘& my anxious desire to [illeg]’ and before del illeg
3.20 candidature] after del ‘proposal’