USEFUL PROJECTS. 



857 



must be sought for principally in 

 the nature of the primitive consti- 

 tution of the body. The income 

 of the Royal Institution is derived 

 now wholly from the contributions 

 of life and annual subscribers ; these 

 are the supporters of it, and yet 

 they have no share in the govern- 

 ment, and no concern with the 

 property. Life subscribers cannot 

 be expected to pay considerable 

 sums for the benefit of an estab- 

 lishment in which they have no 

 direction ; and annual subscribers 

 will consider onl)' the quantity 

 of amusement or information, or 

 other advantages which they may 

 receive within the year, and 

 their number will be continually 

 fluctuating. The power of sale— • 

 the hereditary nature of the pro- 

 prietor's shares destroy all sources 

 of income from this part of the 

 body, by inviting and encouraging 

 speculation in the sale of shares ; 

 and supposing a constant transfer 

 of shares, and a real or imaginary 

 increase of the value of the pro- 

 perty, persons who have been pro- 

 prietors, may, for many years, 

 have benefitted by all the advan- 

 tages and privileges of the Royal 

 Institution, and instead of having 

 afforded it support, may actually 

 have profited in a pecuniary way 

 by the concern. The persons in 

 whom the government ot the Royal 

 Institution is vested, ought, it is 

 obvious, to be either encouragers 

 of useful public objects, lovers or 

 patrons of science and the useful 

 arts, or scientific men ; but pro- 

 perty which can be transferred by 

 sale, is likely to go to the highest 

 bidder : and a taste for encou- 

 raging science and useful pubHc 

 objects may not be hereditary, and 



in consequence, in the course of 

 years, as the constitution now 

 exists, the establishment may here- 

 after belong to men who can 

 neither understand its objects, es- 

 timate its uses, or properly apply 

 its means. Science can be exalted 

 and promoted only by patronage 

 and by sacrifices ; it will not bear 

 to be trafficked with. It cannot 

 be expected that liberal persons 

 will afford support to a philosophi- 

 cal establishment, the basis of which 

 mai) be commercial advantage ; or 

 that the disinterested peroun will 

 contribute to a fund, which in- 

 terested persons may have the 

 power of speculating upon as a 

 matter of business. 



Whoever will cast his e3'e over 

 the list of proprietors of the Royal 

 Institution, will instantly perceive 

 that those who co-operated in its 

 formation, were influenced not by 

 the narrow view of personal ad- 

 vantages, but by the desire of pro- 

 moting the interests of science and 

 of their country. — A plan, there- 

 fore, having for its object the ex- 

 tending the uses and exalting the 

 views of the establishment, and 

 rendering it permanent on a liberal 

 and firm basis, can hardly fail to 

 be considered with indulgence ; 

 but in the promotion of this object 

 the interest of no class of the pro- 

 prietors ought to be neglected, and 

 in the new arrangements, no prin- 

 ciples ought to be adopted that 

 cannot be considered as equitable 

 and just by all parties concerned. 



The first proposition is, that a 

 correct valuation shall be mads of 

 the property of the Institution so 

 as to ascertain the amount of each 

 individual's interest. 



The second, that an Act of Par- 

 liament 



