17th September 1863
Sir,
I am directed by the Governor to transmit, for your information, the enclosed copy of a communication which His Excellency has received from the Duke of Newcastle in reply to Despatches forwarded to His Grace by Sir Henry Barkly with your application for permission to wear the orders conferred upon you by H.I.M. the Emperor of the French and H.M. the King of Denmark.1
I have &c
(sd) H. L. Warde
Dr Mueller F.R.S.
&c &c &c
In despatch no. 19 of 25 March 1863, the Governor, H. Barkly, sought permission from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Duke of Newcastle, for M to wear foreign orders. Newcastle consulted the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Earl Russell, and was told on 3 June 1863: 'that by §3 of The Queen's Regulations respecting Foreign Orders, he [Mueller] is precluded from entertaining an application of this kind unless it reaches him either through the Minister of the Sovereign who confers the order, or through the British Minister acredited at the Court of such Sovereign. But even if the application had been made thro' one of the appointed channels, Lord Russell would have been unable to recommend Her Majesty to comply with it, because the case of Dr Müller does not come within the terms of §2 of the Regulations. It has moreover been held that the Regulations apply to persons holding Office under the British Government, whether they are British born subjects or not'. Newcastle asked Barkly's successor, C. H. Darling, on 17 July 1863, to explain to M 'the reasons set forth in Earl Russell's letter which preclude Her Majesty's Government from granting Dr Mueller leave to accept the decoration of the Legion of Honor offered to him by the Emperor of the French'. Newcastle also returned to Darling two enclosures that Barkly had sent with Despatch No. 23, 17 April 1863 (No. 45, unit 16, VPRS 1087, Public Record Office, Victoria).
See also notes to C. Darling to the Duke of Newcastle, 22 February 1864 (in this edition as M64-02-22) for more information on the interpretation of the rules.
See also E. Drouyn de Lhuys to M, 6 January 1863.
Please cite as “FVM-63-09-17,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on