MASTER SEGA TIVE NO 91-80356-6 MICROFILMED 1991 COLUMBIA UM\'ERSITY LIBR.-\RIES/NEW YORK * »! 1 as part of the ndations of WcNiern Civilization Preservation Project" Funded bv tl le NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE '-v Reproduction- may not be made without perrnr-sion from Columbia Universitv Librarv COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The cop\ right law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code -- concerns the making of photocopies or othei reproduction- of copyrighted material... Columbia Universiiy Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfinmen! or liie order would in\ohe violation of the copyright law. AVTHOH HORSLEY, Â R Â .M^^M^j % LETTER TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE PLACE: LONDON DA TE : 1802 COLLTMRTA UNn^RSir»' LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT ui^iC ) (" . !( A PHT C^ M K iiOFORM TARGET Master Negative # Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record S44 2^ jEorsley, Samuel, bp. 1733-1806,3 anon# Ijft cr to.». Joseph Banks. • •containing strict- ufes on Ilia letter +o the NR^inn^l institute of Prance» London lwv«. 0» 14p« 1 ^751 S No* 5 of a vol. of n lets. Restrictions on Use: ,N1 SIZE: :>0 h^y^ _ REDUCTTON RATIO: IMAGE PLACEMENT: I A IhC IB IIB / » >">v DATF FlLMl i) ' "^ • *'^ '^| INITTAT.S__Vi_vViJ^'__ FILMFDBY: RvSl^lJj^^.:^,/ ^' H ATIONS. INC \V ( K 'P BRIDGE. CT Al Association for Information and image IManagement 1 1 00 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1 1 00 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 12 3 4 iiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiili ill 5 iliiii 6 iliiii 7 8 iliiiiliiiiliiiiiiii 10 11 iliiiiliiiil 12 13 14 15 mm llllilllMllllilll lllllllllllllll llllllllllllilllllllll Inches I I I \ IT 1 .0 I.I 1.25 TTT 1^ 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 1.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 TTT T MnNUFRCTURED TO PIIM STflNDRRDS BY APPLIED IMflGEp INC. f \. \J ' ^B^ \ 1t^* , A 0!^ L - LETTER TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sm JOSEPH M^JVKS, K.E. « PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON: « CONTAINING STRICTURES ON HIS LETTER TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. ^K '^^^'—-'«-^iiib^^t-^ ^ t i • 1 1 L o K D o n: I'VALISUED BY COBBETT AND MORGAN', pALX-RULX.. April, 1802. ik"^ -^ s»;.-^ TPrintcd by Cox, Son, and Baylis^ Great GLueen Sucet, Liacola'a-Inn Fields. A 2 ADVERTISEMENT. i r^ h r ( The folloiving pages are extracted from Cob^ butt's Weekli/ Political Register. The present publication is made at the request of several gen^ ttemen, "^t^iffcrent parts of the country; and, with a wish to gratify their desire to see it very widely circulated^ the publisher has now given it in a way that renders it convenient for the Post, fas it will, togetlter toitlt envelope, weigh less than an êimce), and at a price that will remove all obsta^ des with regard to expense. — A single copy, 6d.-^ Six copies, 2s, — Tivelve copies, Ss, iSd,—Tm?ity^ four copies, 5s. — Fifiy copies, Is. 6d. \ U'l '■ a 11 • A' ^^. *^ ^i à ~4- CoBBETT and MoKCAv haxeforSUde^ 1. Substance of the Speech of the Right Honourable Lord Grenville, on the Motion for an Address approving of the Convention with Russia. With an Appendix, ex- hibiting a comparative View of the said Convention, the Treaty of Armed Neutrality, and the hostile Treaty ofiSooi 3/, 2. The Letters of Sulpicius on the Northern Confederacy, with the Documents relative to the Subject. 21, 3. Substance of the Speech of the Right Hon. William Wind- ham, on the Report of an Address approving of the Preliminarias of Peace. Second Editioj h a copious Appendix, ax. 6d, ^J' 4. Now in the Press, Substance of the Speech of the Ri^ht Hon. Sir William Scott, on the Bill now before Parlia- ment, relative to the Non-Residence of the Clergy and other Affairs of the Church. 5. Verses on several Subjects, written in the Vicinity of Stoke Park, in the Summer and Autumn of iSoi^ by Henry James Pye. With a Portrait of the Author and other plates. 4f. 6. Letters to Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Addîngton, on the Preliminaries of Peace with Buonaparte; in which the Consequences of those Preliminaries, with respect to our Military and Naval Power, our Colonies, Commerce, and Manufactures, are amply discussed, and accompa- nied with Tables, exhibiting a complete View of the Resources of the several West-India Colonies, as also with an Appendix, containing a Collection of Docu- ments relative to the Subject, js. in boards. ¥ TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS, aCc. 8Çc. S(c. ' Sir, Ike following article, extracted from tht^ïT^cial French paper of the 1 8th in- stant, is not only so little honourable to your own character, but so insulting to the Society over which you have long presided, and so repugnant to the genuine feelings of an En- glishman, that the public voice demands from you an explanation of the letter, if it be au- thentic, or a disavowal of it, if it be a forgery, NATIONAL INSTITUTE. Letter of Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society of London, to the Présidait and Secre- taries of the National Institute of Franco, ** London, January 2\^ 1802, *' Citizens, *' Be pleased to offer to the National Institute my warmeçt thanks for the honour A 3 they i i f»'-* ^ ii^ y ' they have doneme, in conferring upon me, the title of Associate of this learned and distinguished body. " Assure at the same time my respectable brothers, that I consider this mark of their esteem as the highest and most enviable literary distinction tviiich I could possibly attain. To be the first elected to be an associate of the first literary society in the world, surpasses my most ambi- tious hopes, and I cannot be too grateful to- wards a society which has conferr««fc*ipon me tliis honour, and towards a nation of which it Is the literary representative — a nation which, during the most frightful convulsions of the late most terrible revolution, ria'cr ceased to passas my esteem; being always persuaded, even during the most disastrous periods, that it contained jnany good citizens who would infallibly get the upper hand, and who would re-establish in the heart of their countrymen the empire of virtue, of justice, and of honour. " Receive more especially, citizens, ray warmest acknowledgments for the truly polite manner in which you communicated this agree- able intelligence. " I am, with sincere esteem for your dis- tinguished talents, &c. ^ « Joseph Banks." 7. Now, Sir, notwithstanding my disgust at this load of iilthy adulation, I shall trouble you with some calm remarks upon it. Sup- posing your acceptance of the nomination to be perfectly consistent with your dignity (which, however, I deny), there would be no material objection to the first and concluding paragraphs of your letter, which would have been amply sufficient for the purpose of acknowledgment : but the intermediate part is highly reprehen- sible ; it is replete with sentiments which are a comp/mpd of servility, disloyalty, and false- hood ; Sitiracnts which ought never to be con- ceived by an English heart, never written by an English hand, and least of all by yours, dis, tlnguished as you are by repeated (out of res- pect to His Majesty I will not s-ay unmerited) marks of royal favour, and elevated to a station in which the. country might be excused for looking up to you as the jealous guardian, not the betrayer, of its literary credit. Your " re- pectabk brothers' of the French Institute may perhaps be intoxicated by the incense which you have lavished before their altar of Atheism and Democracy; for, although they were com- panions of the respectable Buonapdrtc m his ex- neditions, and plundered libraries and cabinets A. 4) • ^^^^ '/4 If 8 with as much alacrity, and as little scruple, as he displayed in treasuries and in churches, I do not believe that the ungrateful nations vvhom they robbed ever composed such a brilliant eu- logium on their talents and their virtues. No,' Sir, it was reserved for the head of the Royal Society of London, to assure an exotic embryo academy that he is more proud of being a mere Associate of the latter than President of the for- mer ; that he considers their election of him as " the highest and most enviable literary distinc- " tion which he could possibly attain;".^ . that he deems them the first literary so^y in the world Sir, I have read with pleasure and with f>rofit many volumes published by the Royal Society, and, with due submission to you, I as- sert that the cultivation of science is more in- debted to their exertions than to those of any other institution whatsoever. But I am yet to learn the merits of this novel association of re- volutionary philosophers into which you have been enlisted. What acts, but acts of robbery, have we seen of theirs ? Where are the proofs of their pre-eminence ? It is incumbent on you to produce those proofs, and to convince the British literati Uiat your contempt of them is just. ■ But But the plenitude of your joy admits no consideration for English societies, or the English nation: you exult in your new ho- nours, and your gratitude knows no limits but those of France ; it overleaps the cradle of the infant Institute, and expands itself through- out a nation which you say has " never ceased " to possess your esteem during the most frightful " convulsions of the revolution ; beijig always per-. " suaded, even during the most disastrous periods, " that it contained many good citizens who would " infalUbt^et the upper hand (as you elegantly express it) « and who would re-establish in the " heart of their countrymen the empire of virtue, " of justice, and of honora:" Really, Sir, I know not which excites the greater admiration, the impetuous torrent of your esteem which bears away the Icebie impediments of loyalty, ' patriotism, morality, and religion, or the won- derful sagacity of your prognostics, some of which are accomplished, and for the rest we must wait the Consul's leisure. The good cili- zen Buonapa-té has already got the upper hand. but when he will re-establish the empire of vir- tue, of justice, and of honour, in the hearts of the republican Frenchmen (where I suspect tlicy never had much foundation) your pene- tration 4 < , 1:1 .{ 't Il h 10 tratîon only can foresee. As to religion, you seem ypurself to despair of its restqration, since you do not even mention it ; or pcriraps you deemed it a ipatter of too little imjv rtancc to merit tlie consideration of philosophers. \ inust not omit another observation, that the French people, '* never ceased io possess your " estean during the most frightful convulsions of *' the révolution:' There is a singular coinci- dence between the sentiment and the time" at which it is uttered. Your letter is dated January 21. Sir, the ^lUt of hp ary was the day on Vvhich the ill-tated Louis XVI. was executed by his traiterons subjects; and it is the anniversary d tl|î^t day which you select to assure his assassins that ** they never ** ceased to posms your esteem ! ! !' I will not assert that you designedly combined die de- claration and the date; but the French Jaco- bins arc too quick-sighted not to rcn>ark the dfc.un?stîyijcc, and to deduce their inference ; ^ and the English Jacobins will do the same:, nay, I verily believe that this circumstance, together with an opportunity (which they are ever ready to embrace) of wounding the pride of Englishmen, wei;ç the motives which ni- duced the publication of your letter. But 11 But after all, Sir, why this display of gr^ titude ? You must acknowledge it to be, 4t least superfluous ; because the French na- tion by electing you 4 member of tb^ir In- stitute merely discharged an old account. Vou understand me, Sir; but as tlie public are probably not so well informed, I must çolicit their attention to the following anec- dote. Soon after the judicial murder of Louis XVI. one of the officers who accom- panied t^^ unfortunate La Pérouse returned to Europe with numerous specimens of natur^^I history, collected during tlic early part of his voyage of discovery. In these latitudes he first obtained intelligence of the revo- lution, and being a man of honour, felt th^t he was accountable only to the Crown pf France, from which lie had accepted his commission. Accordingly l^e brought his vessel to an English port, from whence, by permission of our government, the cofgo was conveyed to London, and committed to the custody of a nobleman who, at that time, was the agent of the French Princes. This no- bleman, having communicated the circum- stance to Louis XVIIL was instructed to offer tQ the Queen any part of the curiosities of which I. 11 ■•N^ \\, i 1: \/i L Il '1 I ■ II i * I P, (Il wliich lier Majesty might approve, and to present the remainder to the British Museum. You must remember. Sir, that, in pursuance of these instructions, the entire (or nearly the entire) collection was confided to you, in order to be deposited in the Museum; and you cannot forget that you disposed of it by sending it all to France, with no authority but your own, with no pretence except that tfie philosophers of the two nations were not at tvar. Thus, Sir, you imposed an j^bligation on the French, which they have repaid, it seems, to your exquisite gratification. By die sacrifice of what duties and what principles that obligation was imposed, it is not for mc to say; but I will without hesitation assert, diat your acknowledgment of its discharge has brought disgrace upon your country, and dis- credit on the Royal Society, the guardianship of whose honour was confided to you by your Sovereign. I am. Sir, &c. &c. MISOGALLUS. ■A Lest Lest the correctness of the translation of Sir Joseph's letter should be questioned, we have inserted the letter, as it appears in the Moniteur.' INSTITUT NATIONAL. Traduction d'mie Lettre de Sir Joseph Banks, Président de la Société Royale de Londres, aiix Président et Secrétaires de P Institut Na- iional de France. Londres, 2 1 Janvier, 1 §02. Citoyens, Veuillez offrir à l'Institut National l'expression de ma reconnaissance, pour l'hon- neur qu'on m'a foit en me donnant le titre d'as- socié de ce corps savant et distingué. Assurez en même temps mes respectables confrères que je considère cette marque de leur estime comme la première et la plus agréable des distinctions littéraires que je pusse recevoir. Etre le premier choisi pour associé de la pre- mière société littéraire du monde, surpasse mes vœux les plus ambitieux ; et je ne puis être trop reconnaissant envers la société qui m'a conféré cet honneur, et envers la nation dont elle est la représentation littéraire; nation qui, pendant les convulsions les plus affreuses de la plus terri- ble révolution, n'a jamais cessé d'avoir mon estime - L ♦t1 fhX ï L i it estime, dans la persuasion où j'ai toujours été, même pendant les péffedes les plus désastreuse*?, qiie les bons citoyens y étaient en nombre con- sidérable, quails reprendraient infailliblement le dessus, et qùlls rétabliraient dans le cœur de leurs compatriotes Fempire de la vertu, de la justice, et de Thonnéun / Recevez en particulier, citoyens, tous mes remercîmens pour la manière vraiment obli- geante dont vous m'avez communiqué cette bonne nouvelle. Je suis avec une estime sincèce pour vos lalens distiniçués, etc. Sisnc. JosjEPH Banks. FINIS. V ■i H ¥ Ul COMMETTES ^ WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER, Is published every SATURDAY at Z o Clock, AT THE HOUSE OP Mit, R. Bagshaw, Newsman, Bow-street, Covent Gardeîi, JnJ may be had of any of tJie Newsmen of London or JVestmtmta: ^ It goes out of Town by the Saturday Evening's Post, 1 HIS Work, which has already met with a success that the Ediior beheves (o be without a parallel in the History of Periodical Publications, is intended to be the most ample and complete Repository of Political and Historical Knowledge that ever appeared in this, or any other, Country. The Con- tents are as follow : I. An Historical Account of the Prox^eed" tngs in Parliament, somewhat in the same Manner, but more minute, than the Account of those Proceedings usually con- tained in the Annual Registers. II. All State Papers, whether they mimediately relate to this Country or not 5 and, under this head, care is taken to recur to such Compacts and Trans- actions of past Times as do, or may, affect the Circumstance! of the present Time. For, instance, the same Number which contains a Discussion of that Part of the Treaty of Amiens which relates to Guiana, also contains such Parts of the Trea- ties of Utrecht and of Paris as relate to the Frencli ^nd the Portuguese Territory in that Part of the World. Again • in order to show what the Views of France are in preventing England from having Treaties of Commerce with other Na- tions, Extracts are made from Thirteen Treaties between France and other Powers, in which the Republic has either made, or stipulated for. Treaties of Commerce. So that the Register does, in fact, contain all the authentic Materials and Informa- tion that can possibly be necessary to the forming of a correct Judgment on current Events. III. Fair and free Discussions oi the mtasu.es of Guvernment, whetiier relating to foreigu Affairs, CoîonieÇ: Commerce, Manufactures, Revenue, Debts, Expenditures, Laws civil, military, or ecclesiastical. On these various and important subjects the Work already contains such Information as the Editor is led to hope has been of some ser- vice to the Cou.itry. Nor are Transactions, of a nature not so immediately political, excluded from notice; as in the Instances of the Letters to Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Otto. In short, every thing which materially affects, directly or indirectly, the Interest or Honour of the Nation, is, in this Work, a Sfibject of remark, if not of ample investigation IV. Brief Notices of all New Books and Pamphlets that relate to History, Politics, Polhi- cal Economy, or that bear upon subjects connected therewith. In some instances the Principles and Statements of Works so noticed arc examined and controverted^ but the general inten- JiV I I i I f f tion of this Department is to poînl out to the Reader, and to put on Record, the existence of the several Works that rt^latc more particularly to the Fvents of the present Time. TwetXy-four Books and Pamphlets of this Deàrription have already been noticed. — The preceding important heads are folîowe^U by a Selection of such Foreign Intetligcncc and Domestic Occurrences as are of some pablic Importance; to which are added a wct.kly Account of Promotions, births ^ Marriages, Deaths, Prices of Stocks, of Corrty Meat, Bread, &c. also of the Course of Excban