1870.] ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 51 



that during 1869 Mr Ivery was present at a few meetings of the 

 Committee, Messrs Jackman and J. G. Veitch at scarcely a single 

 meeting, if at one. There was therefore a fitness in the removal of 

 the names of these gentlemen from the roll of the body, but not in 

 the case of Mr Dean ; and yet the Council of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society withholds an answer to the reasonable inquiry — on what 

 principle has the name of Mr Dean been selected for special and un- 

 usual treatment in this matter 1 



The members of the Sub-Committee present at the meeting of that 

 body when the annual changes in the constitution of the Floral Com- 

 mittee were agreed upon, were the Chairman and Secretary of the Floral 

 Committee and the Floral Director of the Society, and this meeting 

 was held previous to the meeting of the Floral Committee on the 

 21st of December last. Why to these functionaries should have been 

 intrusted at this particular juncture the duties properly belonging to, 

 and hitherto discharged by, the Floral Committee, certainly seems to 

 need explanation. There is every reason to believe that the Chair- 

 man of the Floral Committee had in his pocket, on the occasion of its 

 last meeting in 1869, a list of the members of that body, as revised 

 by the Sub-Committee, and it would be interesting to know why the 

 proposed changes were not laid before the Floral Committee, as had 

 hitherto been done ; but now that the object of the Sub-Committee 

 appears to have been the getting rid of one member of the Floral 

 Committee apparently personally obnoxious to them, the omission 

 is not to be wondered at. There is an ugly aspect to the business, 

 neither creditable to the Sub-Committee nor calculated to shed lustre 

 on the Council of the Society. 



And this view of the subject, as contained in the last two sentences, 

 is strongly impressed on the minds of a large majority of the members 

 of the Floral Committee at the present moment. They feel they have 

 not been treated with much courtesy by those who, it would appear, 

 take upon themselves to advise the Council as to the removal or nomi- 

 nation of the members of that body ; and that such a mode of proceed- 

 ing as that exposed in the present instance can only end in doing great 

 injury, not only to the efficiency of the Committee, but to the Society 

 itself. Being men of spirit and honour, they have already taken a 

 decided and firm step in the way of manifesting their great dislike 

 of such questionable proceedings; and there is reason to believe prompt 

 measures will be taken to prevent the recurrence of such a scandal in 

 the future. 



But let us be just to the Council. That body must not be held 

 morally responsible for all the actions of its officials. There are in that 

 body men of culture, position, and attainments ; men who love fair- 



