Down,
Beckenham, Kent.
(Railway Station
Orpington. S.E.R.)
Jan[uary] 10th 1881
My dear Wallace
I am heartily glad that you are pleased about the Memorial. I do not feel that my opinion is worth much on the points which you mention. A relation who is in a Government Office & whose judgment, I think, may be fully trusted, felt sure that if you received an Official announcement without any private note, it ought to be answered officially, but [three words illegible crossed out] if the case were mine, I would express whatever [2] I thought & felt in an an[sic] official document. His reason was that Gladstone gives or recommends the pension on public grounds alone.—
If the case were mine I w[oul]d not write to signers of the Memorial, because I believe that they acted like so many Jurymen in a claim against the Government. Nevertheless if I met any of them or was writing to them on any other subject, I sh[oul]d take the opportunity of expressing [3] my feelings.— I think you might with propriety write to Huxley, as he entered so heartily into the scheme & aided in the most important manner in many ways.—
Sir J. Lubbock called here yesterday & Mr F. Balfour came here with one of my sons, & it w[oul]d. have pleased you to see how unfeignedly delighted they were at my news of the success of the Memorial.— I wrote [4] about also to tell the D.[uke] of Argyll of the success, & he in answer expressed very sincere pleasure.—
My dear Wallace | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP1990.1880)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 315]
Down, Beckenham, Kent. January 10, 1881.
My dear Wallace, — I am heartily glad that you are pleased about the memorial.1
I do not feel that my opinion is worth much on the point which you mention. A relation
who is in a Government office and whose judgment, I think, may be fully trusted, felt sure that if you received an official announcement without any private note, it ought to be answered officially, but if the case were mine, I would express whatever I thought and felt in an official document. His reason was that Gladstone2 gives or recommends the pension on public grounds alone.
If the case were mine I would not write to signers of the memorial, because I believe that they acted like so many jurymen in a claim against the Government. Nevertheless, if I met any of them or was writing to them on any other subject, I should take the opportunity of expressing my feelings. I think you might with propriety write to Huxley,3 as he entered so heartily into the scheme and aided in the most important manner in many ways.
Sir J. Lubbock4 called here yesterday and Mr. F. Balfour5 came here with one of my sons, and it would have pleased you to see how unfeignedly delighted they were at my news of the success of the memorial.
I wrote also to tell the Duke of Argyll6 of the success, and he in answer expressed very sincere pleasure. — My dear Wallace, yours very sincerely, | CH. DARWIN.
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1990.6245)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP1990,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 23 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1990