21/6/80
Private
It has just been announced, that H.R.H. the Prince of Wales will honor the International1 with his Visit in November.2 Should you, dear Sir Joseph, happen to meet the Prince, will you then kindly say a few words of my Directorial Career here, which you can measure by what I did for Kew Garden even with my small directorial means. If you do that for me, it will be a set-off against the misrepresentations about my Garden Management, which are sure to be made against me in the most unscrupulous manner during the Exhibition. I may be able to defend myself in my communications with the foreign Commissioners, but I may not have the opportunity to speak to H R H, now as I can see the Prince no longer in my Garden.
I only hope that my reason will not give way in this mental torture, which I feel more bitter than ever now in my helplessness at the approach of the Exhibition! — A little support from you in time 7 years ago might have saved me, and may even now mitigate my distress and protect my professional honor.
Always your
Ferd. von Mueller.
If I possibly can manage it, I will fly out of Melbourne during the Exhibition, to save myself against the mortifying humiliation, to which I am so faultless subjected by nepotism & envey and misguiding journalism.
Please cite as “FVM-80-06-21,” 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 24 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/80-06-21