To Henry Forbes   26 October 1887

Copy ¹

Melbourne.

26. Oct. 1887.

In my whole career, dear Mr Forbes, I had never an occasion, to write an unfriendly letter to any man of science, and I do not wish to deviate from that principle now at the late autumn of my life. Instead therefore of entering into the tone of your last letter to me,² I adress you in terms of civility, and assure you, that I have quite friendly feeling towards you, as evinced in my pleading for you with H. Excell. the Special Commissioner³ in allowing you, to proceed with explorations in New Guinea, so that you would still enjoy support from the three Australian colonies, who vote the funds of the Protectorate.

In my usual candor I must say, that I felt discouraged to write to you, after you applied in an article through a daily journal a Shakespearian highly undeserved quotation to the Council of the R.G.S.A, who simply as Custodians of public funds, entrusted to their administration, endeavoured to secure a fair return for the disbursements. If any shortcomings towards yourself occurred in our transactions with you, then be so just to remember, that we have not a single man of leisure on our Council, that in the stern duties of daily life we might overlook details in connection with our honorary work for the R.G.S.A., and that a single letter to us, asking plainly, what in justice to yourself required to be done, would have been better, especially as we gave you half a thousand £, when⁴ attacking us without any previous notice in the public press. Your letter, now received, in which you demand from the Council here some apology on points in dispute, I have handed to the Hon. Secret.,⁵ who will place it before the Council at its next meeting, and I feel convinced, that my honored colleagues will do you justice, if it can be shown, that inadvertently we omitted any thing due to you. That we, after being unable, to provide the £2000, asked by you for highland-exploration, made other arrangements for an expedition within our means, arose from our desire not to loose the season, while at least one other expedition was proceeding to New Guinea; — and that the Rev. J. Chalmers, to whom alone I had pledged myself in the choice for the leadership, was not waited for, arose from an expression of the then last letter from the Rev. Gentleman, in which he held out no hope of his taking the field this season.⁶ In fairness to us here you will allow me to remind you, that every readiness was shown here by us, to support any Expedition of yours under the auspices of the High Commissioner and therefore on the expense of the Australian Colonies additionally so far, as to purchase a series of any specimens from such expedition at the highest price, that according to value could be placed on them. That you should have recently stated, no specimens of plants should ever be sent to me any more by you, I cannot think to be correct, because it would be unfair to me as the one, who for a dozen years urged highland exploration in New Guinea, — because it would be ungrateful to me as the one, who mainly advocated the former grant to you, — and because it would cause here public discontentedness. I frankly concede, that you have cause to be disappointed in not having yet received more names of your former and only sending, not quite as many species as you publicly stated; but I had no idea that the dichotomous method, demanded for the "Key to the system of Victorian plants",⁷ would take up so very much more time, than I estimated, when I had the pleasure of meeting you here. It is therefore not want of faith, but simply miscalculation of time required for an important public duty, which has thrown back my working on the collections of Dicotyledoneae from you. I hope however to finish the "Key" at last next month; and working on Papuan plants will then be my main-engagement in all hours which can be rendered free from urgent official duties.⁸ Meanwhile I have sent, — indeed many months ago, — your Sapindaceae to Prof. Radlkofer of Munich, who is engaged on a monography of that order,⁹ while Mr Britten has undertaken the elaboration of the Urticeae and Euphorbiaceae.¹⁰ Of some of your plants I have sent you long ago the print,¹¹ and shown a generosity of spirit not only by dedicating specimens to you, but even by adding your honored name in some instance to the authority. As a Naturalist you will be aware, that the critical elaboration of a new species is usually a good day's work; and you must also know, that Dr Beccari has not even yet finished to describe his Mt Arfak-plants after a dozen of years. A full list of plants is not fitted for a concise report, such as we hoped from you, and to such a document I could add here at any time a brief appendix, so that your forwarding or completing your report need not be delayed on the ground of yet unfinished detail examination of your plants.

With my best wishes for you.

signed Ferd von Mueller

Dicotyledoneae

Euphorbiaceae

Sapindaceae

Urticeae