166 THE AYETON EPISODE 



— which noble beast he much resembles in other ways. I 

 cannot say I greatly admired the address. It wants cohesion 

 and resembles a flash of his own aerolite more than anything 

 else — bright points in the midst of much nebulosity. 



We have come over here to spend a few days with some 

 old friends but we shall [be] back at St. Andrews on Monday. 

 Let me hear of any new incidents in the fight. Wife unites 

 with me in best love. 



Ever yours, 



T. H. Huxley. 



Mr. Gladstone, being appealed to, forwarded Hooker's 

 complaint to the First Commissioner and obtained a reply 

 which Hooker found unsatisfactory on one point, inaccurate on 

 the second, and avoiding reference to the three other points. 

 Accordingly, to avoid departmental embarrassment and un- 

 necessary publicity, Hooker asked to be put in communica- 

 tion with Mr. Gladstone's Private Secretary, Mr. (afterwards 

 Sir) Algernon West, to whom, on October 10, 1871, he offered 

 all explanations of his case, summarising it the same evening 

 in a letter : 



I am at a loss what to say as to my future position under 

 a Minister whom I accuse of evasion, misrepresentation and 

 misstatements in his communications to the First Minister 

 of the Crown, whose conduct to myself I regard as ungracious 

 and offensive, and whose acts I consider to be injurious to 

 the public service, and tending to the subversion of discipline. 

 : . . Granting that the functions of a Director are restored 

 to me, how am I to act when ordered to undertake works 

 that involve wasteful expenditure, or are otherwise detri- 

 mental ? I should be thankful for Mr. Gladstone's instruc- 

 tions on this head. 



By this time the matter had become a political one, 

 and quite apart from the merits of the case, he felt he had 

 political strength in the number of his friends who would be 

 troublesome ! 1 



1 Mr. Ayrton and his supporters had had no idea of the halo of popularity 

 with which Sir William Hooker had surrounded Kew ; they now began to be 

 alarmed at the outcry about ' Kew in danger.' 



