Melbourne botanic Garden
20/5/66.
Sir
I have the honor to express to your Excellency my gratitude for causing the despatches from the right honorable the Secretary of State for the Colonies in reference to a distinction recently conferred on me by the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to be placed before me.1
I trust your Excellency will permit me to observe, that the Knighthood of the Order of the Wends, to which the despatches more especially have reference, was conferred on me by the Sovereign of the special country of my birth and early childhood as a spontaneous and unexpected gift, and it cannot be otherwise but that such token of remembrance from a Sovereign, by whose grandfather my parent was raised to distinguished state-position in Mecklenburg2 must be fascinating and dear to me.
I was not aware that the transmission of the insignia of the order was made to Her Majesty's foreign office,3 and it has not been without some pain to me, that the rigor of the law, to which however I willingly bow, necessitated the remission of the badge to His Royal Highness' Ministry.
Your Excellency will be pleased to learn, that the communication of your predecessor in reference to my being created a Knight of St Maurice and St Lazarus by His Majesty the King of Italy, in so kindly a spirit made to Her Majesty's Government, originated neither directly nor indirectly from myself, but arose from a despatch of General Marmora, Premier of the Italian Ministry sent to the Chevalier Biagi, the Representative of His Italian Majesty in this country, and submitted without any inducement on my part to Sir Charles Darling, whose urbanity and kindheartedness led him to communicate the tenor of the Despatch to the right honorable Mr Cardwell.4
I may further remark, that after a final refusal of her Majesty's Government to permit me under existing regulations, to accept officially the Knighthoods so graciously conferred on me by the Emperors of Austria and of France and the King of Denmark, I did not even render known to Her Majesty's representatives in this country the circumstance, that I had subsequently enjoyed a similar honor from the great and lamented Prince Albert's illustrious brother.5
Since however the despatches again refer to my position in reference to these orders, I venture humbly to submit to your Excellency, that probably my precise position in reference to these distinctions may require some further explanation.
In first instance than I would beg leave to remark, that I do not enjoy all the privileges, to which a subject of her British Majesty is entitled, while on the other hand the partial and quite local enjoyment of a British Citizenship precludes my acceptance of foreign distinctions. As soon as I step across the border of this colony my Victorian oath of allegiance to the Queen would no longer be of avail. Were I to travel in any foreign country I would be no longer under British protection. Were I desirous as a Colonist merely to enter Parliament here, I would be debarred from legislative functions as a foreigner and entirely be regarded as such not withstanding my local naturalisation.
Yet I wish expressely to state to Your Excellency, that I treasure even this partial admittance into her Majesty's community most highly, and cherfully sacrificed for this partial admittance the great honors from several thrones.
Nevertheless it has impressed itself on my mind, that by the framers of the laws respecting foreign orders it could never have been contemplated to debar men of science, who earned rewards not for political services but alone by sharing inostentatiously in scientific conquests, from enjoying those encouragements, which on their arduous path they so much deserve. It is needless to point out, how great sacrifices socially, financially and domestically must be incurred by any one, who by independent researches widened the field of knowledge. My own sacrifices have during nearly twenty years most toilsome services in her Majestys vast Australian territory been so great, that in justice to myself and in justice to the influence my researches will exercise in futurity I feel the graceful gifts of the Imperial and Royal Donors were not entirely unmerited.
As a scientific traveller in her Majestys Australian Continent I have seen more field services than any other man unless Dr Leichhardt did not fall in the beginning of his third expedition. My own lines of scientific travels amount to nearly 25,000 miles.
Nine volumes emanated from my office as independent publications, irrespective of the aid I have afforded already of the work of the President of the Linnean Society6 and irrespective of the many essays scattered through the journals of several nations.
But I did not work for contemporaneous acknowledgements but with genuine promotors of science I have been seeking my highest rewards in the consciousness of contributing to the lasting knowledge of mankind. That however the gracious encouragement of a Sovereign must under all circumstances be regarded as the highest recompense for material losses, certain to be sustained on a path of science, remains ever true; and not the less is it true, that if services which already had an extensively favorable reaction on an existing generation are left unappreciated during the brief space of lifetime of man, a vast impulse, which court-distinctions will give, is altogether withdrawn and with it the encouragement, which such will set to the youthful and rising sons of genius of any country and especially in a part of the globe where science for the benefit of a vastly increasing and expanding population is expected to guide to treasures and occupations otherwise concealed and dormant.
I have the honor to be in profound obedience
Your Excellency's
most regardful
Ferd. Mueller,
M.D., F.R.S.
His Excellency
General Carey, C.B., Governor of Victoria &c &c
In glancing over the names of that limited number of bearers of science, conjoint in the union, over which Sir Isaac Newton once presided, I cannot but feel, that on no one has fallen the preclusion from accepting honors, offered on foreign thrones, with more severity than on myself. When a Civil Knighthood was accorded by her Majesty to Sir Robert Schomburgk, and when the Companionship of the Bath was awarded to Dr Barth,7 the Governments of the native land of both my countrymen felt proud to acquiesce in the justice and grace shown to those explorers by the British Government.
Dr M.
20/5/668
The enclosures to the despatch to Carey included a 'Copy of a Despatch recently addressed by Lord Clarendon to Mr Lockwood in charge of Her Majesty's Embassy at Berlin, respecting a Mecklenberg Decoration sent to this office for Dr Müller' (National Archives, London, CO 309/81, Victoria, public offices, 1866, ff. 97-8).
Lord Clarendon had written to the Ambassador to Berlin on 17 January 1866:
Sir, With reference to Lord Napier's Despatch No. 325 of the 31st ultimo, explaining the circumstances under which a Diploma conferring upon Professor Müller the Government Botanist of Melbourne, the Grand-Ducal Mecklenberg Schwerin Order of the Crown of the Wends was sent to the Under Secetary of State, and subsequently a Packet containing the Decoration of that Order, I have to acquaint you that according to the established Regulations of this Country no British Subject can be permitted to accept or wear the Decoration of any foreign Order, unless it shall be conferred for active and distinguished Service before an Enemy in the Field or at Sea, or unless he shall have been actually and entirely employed, beyond her Majesty's Dominions, in the Service of the Sovereign by whom the Order is conferred; and this Rule has been always held to apply to a foreigner in the British Service, as well as to a British Subject. I therefore send back the packet containing the Decoration, which you will return to the Grand-Ducal Govt. with the above explanation; stating also that the packet containing the Diploma was forwarded to its destination because it was sent to this Office without any intimation of the nature of its contents. I may add that Professor Müller is perfectly aware of the Regulations respecting Foreign Orders, as he has been informed of them in reply to applications on his part respecting other Decorations offered to him. (National Archives, London, CO 309/81 Victoria, public offices, 1866, f. 100).
Carey, in transmitting the letter to the Colonial Office, wrote:
'On looking over the Despatches addressed to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle by Sir Henry Barkly, and Sir Charles Darling, I find there is little I can add to the testimony already borne as to Dr Mueller's position as a man of science, and to his labours as an Explorer — He is connected with upwards of fifty learned Societies in various parts of the world, and his merits have been acknowledged by several foreign Courts. I believe, however, that I may still state in the words of Sir Henry Barkly "that he would value the slightest mark of the Queen's approbation of his labours more highly than these titles and distinctions" [H. Barkly to the Duke of Newcastle, 17 July 1863, National Archives, London, CO 309/63, despatches January to 11 August 1863, Despatch no. 51, f. 476] and I therefore venture to hope that you will be pleased to favorably consider the grounds on which his services could be recommended for reward by Her Majesty the Queen' (G. Carey to E. Cardwell, 26 May 1866, National Archives, London, CO 309/79, Victoria, original correspondence, vol. 3, despatches, May to August 1866, f. 22, Despatch no. 4, 26 May 1866). M himself felt that he should have had an English honour (see M to A. Petermann, 28 May 1866).
A Colonial Office minute of 21 July 1866 to Sir F. Rogers on Carey's letter stated that 'Dr Mueller has been refused permission to wear the Orders of several Foreign Govts. which have been sent to him — It is now a question of some English honor. If Lord Carnarvon thinks of entertaining this, the testimony of Sir H. Barkly & Sir C. Darling can be collected. He has always been well spoken of personally & as a man of science — & recently he has been the moving force of the expedition now searching for Dr Leichhardt & his companions — or rather as to their fate.'
Rogers minuted the Despatch (23 July): 'I think I wd send this to the F.O. in the first instance requesting to be informed whether [in any] previous letters on this subject full consideration had been given to the fact that Dr. M. was only in a modified [sense] a British Subject & whether the prohibition to wear an order applied to an order conferred upon him by the Sovereign of the country of his birth to whom, if he returned to that country, his allegiance wd [still] be due. If Dr M is really all that he wd have us think his case is a [hard] one.'
A draft letter with the despatch indicates that on 31 July 1866 Lord Carnarvon requested Lord Stanley's opinion on M's status as a 'modified' British subject and whether restrictions applied to an order from his country of birth.
The Foreign Office replied on 3 August: 'I have laid before Lord Stanley your letter of the 31st ultimo, inclosing Copy of a Despatch from the officer administering the Government of Victoria, with a Copy of a representation from Dr Müller on the subject of various foreign Decorations conferred upon him in acknowledgement of his scientific labours. Lord Stanley directs me to state, in reply to the enquiry contained in your letter, that with a Decoration conferred upon a foreigner, except under the circumstances stated below, Her Majesty's Government have nothing whatever to do, either as to granting or refusing permission to accept it, nor has such foreigner any occasion to solicit the Queen's Permission for that purpose. But it has long been settled that if a Foreigner obtains British naturalization, or accepts employment in the British Service, so as to render it necessary for him to obtain the Queen's Permission to accept and wear a foreign Decoration, his case must be governed by the same Rules as the case of a British Subject. It would obviously be unreasonable that a naturalized foreigner in the British Service should be placed in a better position in this respect than a British Subject' (National Archives, London, CO 309/81, Victoria, public offices, 1866, ff. 126-7).
This view was transmitted to Carey’s successor as Governor of Victoria, Sir Henry Manners-Sutton, in Despatch no. 17, 11 August 1866 (National Archives, London, CO 309/79). The rough draft of the despatch is minuted with further questions about an appropriate British honour for M. Although M was on the March 1864 list of candidates for honours to mark the marriage of the Prince of Wales that had been prepared by officials (National Archives, London, CO 448/1A), Queen Victoria did not approve of any honours to mark that event. Not until 1869 was M created a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (National Archives, London, CO 447/12, Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, 1869, Warrants, letters &c). See Lucas (2013a) for a discussion of efforts to obtain British honours for M.
Please cite as “FVM-66-05-20,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/66-05-20