no suspicion that the very brief allusion which I made to this sub- ject, or the incidental mention of Mr. Panizzi’s name, which I made in no offensive or disrespectful sense, would have been considered sufficient ground for its publication. It is not my intention to make any observations on the particular allegations which are made against the Council, both collectively and individually, in Mr. Pauizzi’s letter, which will he more properly noticed in a short statement, which has been drawn up, in deference to your good opinion, by the Council, and which will be read to you by Dr. Roget*; but I think it my duty to state to you, that I was not only cognisaut of the whole course of the proceedings of the Coun- cil at the time-when they took place, but that l perfectly concurred in their propriety; and I beg leave further to assure you, that a careful perusal of Mr. Panizzi's correspondence with the Council, of his comments upon their resolutions and of his imputations upon their conduct, has in no respect tended to modify the opinion which I originally formed, or to induce me to withdraw from the full share of responsibility which I incur, in connection with these proceedings, in common with every other Member of the CounciL
Before I conclude this portion of my address, I feel it to be my duty to notice the retirement of Mr. Children and lVIr. Kiinig from the offices which they have so long and so ably filled. The in- creasing duties, which have been imposed upon them by recent re- gulations at the British Museum, have been deemed by them in some degree incompatible with those which they owe to the Royal Society; and they have determined therefore, with a promptitude and delicacy of feeling which does them honour, to retire from their official connexion with us. It is quite unnecessary for me to enlarge upon the merits of two gentlemen who are so well known to you by their labours in your service, by the courtesy of their manners and by the extent and variety of their acquirements; but I should do injustice to my own feelings if I did not express, in the strongest terms, my personal obligations to them for their kind at- tention to my wishes, and for the anxiety which they have always shown that the interests of the Royal Society should not suffer from my occasional inability to attend personally to the discharge of the duties of my office. I am quite sure, Gentlemen, that I do not misinterpret your feelings, when I propose to thank them, in your name and my own, for their long and valuable services.
The Society has lost during the last year twenty-nine hIembers on the Home, and two on the Foreign List, and I shall now pro- ceed to notice some of the most distinguished names which appear amongst them.
Henry Thomas Colebrooke was the son of Sir George Cole- brooke, an eminent Director of the East India Company, under whose auspices he proceeded to India, as a writer, in 1782. Though a severe student in youth, and strongly disposed to follow a learned profession at home, he gave no indications for many years after his
- This statement is given in page 18.
