1S72.] REPORT OF SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN. 59 



seconded by Mr. Stephen S. Foster, to petition the General Court for such 

 alteration of the Statutes as will permit the destruction by individuals 

 upon their own premises, of Frugivorous Birds. 



And the undersigned, still protesting, asserts thnt at an early day in 

 the present session of the (reneral Court, a Petition stating the wishes of 

 the aforesaid Trustees, under the seal of the Corporation and attested by 

 its Secretai-y, was presented and in course referred to the Committee on 

 Agriculture 



Nevertheless the said Committee, careless or ignorant of the fact that 

 the Privilege of Audience is inseparable from the Right of Petition, 

 (which would otherwise be worthless,) in no manner heeded the prayer 

 of the Trustees, neither advising them of meetings nor 3'et of the pre- 

 determination of the matter by the utter exclusion of testimony: — 

 So that the lleport of " Leave to Withdraw," accepted by your Honorable 

 Bodies, in default of ex))lanation, was not more inexcusable for its 

 wanton denial of justice, than it was complete in its surprise to the under- 

 signed who was expected, and only awaited notice, to attend at the 

 official hearing. 



For the further instruction, in the premises, of your Honorable Bodies, 

 the undersigned would add that it is rumored and believed in the country 

 that there are, within the walls of the State House, infesting the Library 

 or pervading Committee-Rooms, but " hanging ujion the verge" of legis- 

 lation, those who consider the works of Wilson and Audubon surplusage, 

 and, in view of their own existence, esteem the very lives of those emin- 

 ent naturalists as supererogation on the part of the Creator; Professors of 

 Oology; Curators of Stale Eggs, or the like; whose chief, if not sole occu- 

 pation appears to l)e that of testing, by personal experience, the theory of 

 Arti.lcial Incubation by the male I It is strongly suspected that the Com- 

 mittee fell into the ditch wherein they fou(w?)lly repose, owing to the 

 guidance of such " blind, leadei's of the blind." 



Wherefore the undersigned, protesting that he is not moved l)y any 

 desire for a Hearing, at this late day, and especially not before the Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture which appears so im]ierfectly to comprehend its 

 duties, concludes this discharge of his obligations as a citizen by inviting 

 the attention of your Honorable Bodies to the existence and nature of the 

 obstacles which circumscribe the Right of Petition and limit the slender 

 chances of redress at your hands. 



All which is Respectfully submitted by 



EDWARD W. LINCOLN, 



One of said Trustees. 



This Memorial was suppressed by Mr. Harvey Jewell, Speaker of the 

 House, who opined that it was not couched in quite diplomatic language. 

 How exact the measure of that equity which, six months later, buried 

 Mr. Jewell and his political aspirations in the grave of his avowed irrever- 

 ence for the great African Fetish ! 



At the Annual Meeting of the Trustees, last November, it was again 

 voted to apply to the Legislature for such amendment of the Statutes as 



