Thomas Romney Robinson to Faraday   29 October 1863

Observatory | Armagh | Oct 29. 1863

My Dear Faraday

I never said you were unfavourable to the objects of our Memorial¹; but I certainly did intend to convey the opinion that your letter to the Trinity board gave them an excuse for doing none of the things for which the Memorial asked. As certainly I did not intend to say anything to hurt one whom I have known loved and honoured for more than half the appointed time of man’s life.

I cannot refer to the Athenaeum² at present; but these are the actual words of my Report³.

After stating that on August 14 I received a letter from the Secretary of the Board of Trade⁴, enclosing a copy of your report⁵, and a letter from the Secretary of the Trinity House, I proceed to say of the latter

Its substance is that “though the Elder Brethren entertain the opinions so ably enunciated in Professor Faraday’s letter, they are earnestly desirous of obtaining an elucidation of the important and comprehensive questions involved in the proposed enquiry, and will be ready to cooperate in any measures which their Lordships may desire to adopt for such attainment” I fear this implies that the Trinity House will make no great exertion for such attainment: the “opinions enunciated by Professor Faraday being in fact that no attempt should be made by this Corporation to carry out the researches which we recommended to the Board of Trade. These opinions seem to have been formed by Dr Faraday partly from a dread of the magnitude of the work, and partly under a misconception of what we have proposed. It is not my purpose at present to examine the reasoning on which he has based them; and I will only express my conviction that when known they will not be accepted by the Public as a satisfactory excuse for the Inertia of this powerful Body in a matter which touches so deeply, not merely the Commercial Interests of the Nation, but even the common Instincts of Human Nature”⁶[.]

In saying that you misconceived the purport of this Memorial it appears to me that I am fully warranted. You suppose it to propose “a complete exhaustive process; not simply an examination and judgement of methods brought forward by others, but the institution of lines of research and discovery in every direction bearing on the subject”. It certainly does nothing of the kind. It consists of two parts which should not be confounded; one Historical, the other Practical. In the first it gives a sketch of what has already been done, and shews how imperfect it is from want of the very knowledge which it seeks to attain, namely how far the five kinds of signals now in use can be certainly heard in fog. In the second it proposes to the Board of Trade to obtain that knowledge by a course of definite experiments which present no serious difficulty, and at the same time to try two new submarine signals of high promise[.]

Of “establishing an inventive and discovering Board” there is not a trace in it: on the contrary it is expressly recommended that the experiments shall be conducted by a Naval Officer. In fact no other persons could well manage them; and when we see how admirably Lieutenants and Masters have worked Magnetic Observatories, we may be sure any requisite number of them can be found quite competent for this business and ready to undertake it. It cannot involve much expense; the person employed would require little or no remuneration; guns are in every ship of war; bells can be borrowed; and two or three hundred pounds would cover the rest. But even were the sum tenfold that ought to be no object to the Trinity House with its immense revenue derived from Navigation.

I did not annex your letter to my Report, because I only received it a few days before the meeting of the Association and had no time to write for permission to publish it. I merely sent it to my colleagues. As we have been reappointed and desired to pursue the matter, I must consult with them as to our ulterior course which will probably lead to its publication in next year’s Reports. If however you wish it to appear in that for this year, let me know and I will apply to the Council of the Association, who I suppose will not object; but I think in that case it will be necessary to state our objections to it⁷. In the mean time I will send your letter to my Colleagues.

Yours truly and affectionately | T.R. Robinson

M. Faraday Esqr