Decline of Science in England by Charles Babbage (ebook reader with android os .TXT) 📕

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

JOHN BARROW.

AT THE COURT AT WINDSOR,

27th October, 1828.

PRESENT,

The King’s most Excellent Majesty in Council,

Whereas, there was this day read at the Board a Memorial from the

Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated

4th of this instant, in the words following, viz.—

Whereas, by an Act of the 58th of his late Majesty’s reign, cap.

20, instituted “An Act for the more effectually discovering the

Longitude at sea, and encouraging attempts to find a Northern

passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to approach

the North Pole,” three persons well versed in the sciences of

Mathematics, Astronomy, or Navigation, were appointed as a

Resident Committee of the Board of Commissioners for discovery

of the Longitude at sea, and a Superintendent of the Nautical

Almanac and of Chronometers was also appointed, with such

salaries for the execution of those services as his Majesty

might, by any Order in Council, be pleased to direct; and,

whereas, your Majesty was in consequence, by your Order in

Council of the 27th of May, 1828, most graciously pleased to

direct, that the three said Resident Commissioners should be paid

at the rate of 100L. a year each; and by your further Order in

Council, of the 31st October, 1818, that the Superintendent of

the Nautical Almanac should be allowed a salary of 300L., and the

Superintendent of Chronometers 100L. a year; and, whereas, the

act above mentioned has been repealed, and the Board of Longitude

abolished; and doubts have therefore arisen, whether the said

Orders in Council shall still continue in force; and whereas it

is expedient that the said appointments be continued; We beg

leave most humbly to submit to your Majesty, that your Majesty

may be graciously pleased, by your Order in Council, to direct

that the said offices of Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac,

and of Superintendent of Chronometers; and also the three persons

before-mentioned as a Resident Committee, to advise with the

Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral, on

all questions of discoveries, inventions, calculations, and other

scientific subjects, be continued, with the same duties and

salaries, and under the same regulations as heretofore; and

further beg most humbly to propose, that such three persons to

form the Resident Committee, be chosen annually by the

Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, from

among the Council of the Royal Society.

His Majesty, having taken the said Memorial into consideration,

was pleased, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, to

approve thereof and the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners

of the Admiralty are to give the necessary directions herein

accordingly.

(Signed) JAMES HILLER.

Thus, it appeared that the Admiralty were to choose three persons

from among the Council of the Royal Society, who were to have a

hundred a year each during the pleasure of the Admiralty.

Such an open attack on the independence of the Council could not

escape the remarks of some of the members, and a kind of mild

remonstrance was made, in which the real ground of complaint was

omitted.

MINUTE OF COUNCIL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

December 18, 1823.

RESOLVED, That in acknowledging the communication of the Lords

Commissioners of the Admiralty, made to the Council of the Royal

Society, on the 20th of November last, it be represented to them

that inconvenience may arise from the plan therein specified,

from the circumstance of all the members of the Council being

annually elected by the Society at large; and that body being

consequently subject to continual changes from year to year.

This was answered by the following letter from the Secretary of

the Admiralty :

ADMIRALTY OFFICE, DEC. 30, 1828.

SIR,

Having submitted to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your

Letter of the 18th instant, subjoining an extract from the

Minutes of the proceedings of the Council of the Royal Society,

arising out of the communication made to them by their Lordships,

on the subject of his Majesty’s Order in Council, of the fifth of

October last, I have their Lordships’ command to acquaint you,

for the information of the President and Council, and with

reference to what they have stated as to the inconvenience which

may arise from the intended plan of limiting their Lordships’

choice of members of the Resident Committee of Scientific Advice

to the Council of the Royal Society, that their Lordships were

induced to recommend this plan to his Majesty as a mark of

respect to the Society, and as a pledge to the public of the

qualification of the persons chosen. Nor did their Lordships

apprehend any inconvenience from the circumstance stated in the

Minute of the Council, of the Members being annually elected, as

the Resident Committee is also annually appointed; and, in point

of fact, no practical inconvenience has been felt during the ten

years that the Committee has been in existence, as four of the

distinguished gentlemen whom their Lordships have successively

appointed to this office, have continued during the whole period

to be members of the Council; and if any such difficulty or

inconvenience should hereafter arise, their Lordships will be

ready to take proper measures for remedying it.

Their Lordships’ intention therefore is, to propose to Captain

Kater and Mr. Herschel, to continue to fill this office; and to

Dr.Young, who had resigned it, on receiving the appointment of

Secretary to the late Board of Longitude, to be appointed.

I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,

JOHN BARROW.

The representation made by the Council was not calculated to

produce much effect; but the Secretary of the Admiralty, who knew

well the stuff of which Councils of the Royal Society are

composed, might have spared the bitter irony of making their

Lordships say, that they recommended this plan “AS A MARK OF

RESPECT TO THE SOCIETY,” and “AS A PLEDGE TO THE PUBLIC OF THE

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PERSONS CHOSEN,” whilst he delicately hints

to them their dependent situation, by observing, that the

“RESIDENT COMMITTEE IS ALSO ANNUALLY APPOINTED.”

The Secretary knew that, PRACTICALLY speaking, it had been the

custom for years for the President of the Royal Society to

nominate the Council, and consequently he knew that every

scientific adviser must first be indebted to the President for

being qualified to advise, and then to the Admiralty for deriving

profit from his counsel. Thus then their Lordships, as a “MARK

OF RESPECT FOR THE SOCIETY” confirm the dependence of the Council

on the President, by making his nomination a qualification for

place, and establish a new dependence of the same Council on

themselves, by giving a hundred pounds each year to such three

members of that Council as they may select. “THE PLEDGE” they

offer “TO THE PUBLIC, OF THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PERSONS

CHOSEN,” is, that Mr. Davies Gilbert had previously thought they

would do for his Council.

What the Society, when they are acquainted with it, may think of

this mark of respect, or what value the public may put upon this

pledge, must be left to themselves to express.

In looking over the list of officers and Council of the Royal

Society the weakest perhaps (for purposes of science) which was

ever made, a consolation arises from the possibility of some of

those who were placed there by way of compliment, occasionally

attending. In that contracted field Lord Melville’s penetration

may not be uselessly employed; and the soldier who presides over

our colonies may judge whether the principles which pervade it

are open and liberal as his own.

The inconvenience to the public service from such an arrangement

is, that the number out of which the advisers are selected must,

in any case, be very small; and may, from several circumstances,

be considerably reduced. In a council fairly selected, to judge

of the merits of the various subjects likely to be brought under

the consideration of the Society, anatomy, chemistry, and the

different branches of natural history, will share with the

numerous departments of physical science, in claiming to be

represented by persons competently skilled in those subjects.

These claims being satisfied, but few places will be left to fill

up with mathematicians, astronomers, and persons conversant with

nautical astronomy.

Let us look at the present Council. Is there a single

mathematician amongst them, if we except Mr Barlow, whose

deservedly high reputation rests chiefly on his physical and

experimental inquiries, and whom the President and the Admiralty

have clearly shown they do not look upon as a mathematician, by

not appointing him an adviser?

Small as the number of those persons on the Council, who are

conversant with the three subjects named in the Act of

Parliament, must usually be, it may be still further diminished.

The President, when he forms his Council, may decline naming

those members who are most fit for such situations. Or, on the

other hand, some of those members who are best qualified for

them, from their knowledge, may decline the honour of being the

nominees of Mr. Gilbert, as Vice Presidents, Treasurers, or

Councillors, and thus lending their names to support a system of

which they disapprove.

Whether the first of these causes has ever operated can be best

explained by those gentlemen who have been on the Council. The

refusals are, notwithstanding the President’s taciturnity on the

subject, better known than he is willing that they should be.

Having discussed the general policy of the measure, with

reference both to the Society and to the public, and without the

slightest reference to the individuals who may have refused or

accepted those situations, I shall now examine the propriety of

the appointments that have been made.

Doubtless the gentlemen who now hold those situations either have

never considered the influence such a mode of selection would

have on the character of the Council; or, having considered it,

they must have arrived at a different conclusion from mine.

There may, however, be arguments which I have overlooked, and a

discussion of them must ultimately lead to truth: but I confess

that it appears to me the objections which have been stated rest

on principles of human nature, too deeply seated to be easily

removed.

That I am not singular in the view I have taken of this subject,

appears from several circumstances. A question was asked

respecting these appointments at the Anniversary before the last;

and, from the nature of the answer, many of the members of the

Society have been led to believe the objections have been

removed. Several Fellows of the Society, who knew these facts,

thought it inexpedient ever to vote for placing any gentleman on

the Council who had accepted these situations; and, having myself

the same view of the case, I applied to the Council to be

informed of the names of the present Scientific Advisers. But

although they remonstrated against the PRINCIPLE, they replied

that they had “NO COGNIZANCE” of the fact.

The two first members of the Council, Mr. Herschel and Captain

Kater, who were so appointed, and who had previously been

Resident Commissioners under the Act, immediately refused the

situations. Dr. Young became one of the Advisers; and Captain

Sabine and Mr. Faraday were appointed by the Admiralty as the two

remaining ones. Of Dr. Young, who died shortly after, I shall

only observe that he possessed knowledge which qualified him for

the situation.

Whether those who at present fill these offices can be said to

belong to that class of persons which the Order in Council and

the Act of Parliament point out, is a matter on which doubt may

reasonably be entertained. The Order in Council speaks of these

three persons as being the same, and having the “SAME