274 A HISTORY OF 



changes of the system, save by a Treasury letter for 

 issue of the balance of the grant then due. No ob- 

 jections having been since raised, and the grants being 

 continued, the Society naturally inferred that the 

 Government acquiesced in the newspapers being re- 

 tained. The Lord Lieutenant admitted that he had 

 been mistaken as to the admission of annual subscribers, 

 as the Society had adopted the principle in the precise 

 terms recommended by the committee. He con- 

 sidered it essential that the newsroom should not be 

 continued, and that an annual subscription equivalent 

 to the life composition should be fixed. 



With regard to the new proposals, the Society 

 thought that the existence of two societies, separately 

 elected, and holding property in common, was anoma- 

 lous and contained elements of discord, and a number of 

 arguments were urged against them. His Excellency, 

 finding his scheme rejected, regretted that he could 

 no longer recommend the continuance of the Society's 

 grant. The next step was the issue, on the 2 9th of March 

 1 841, of a commission to the Duke of Leinster, Lord 

 Rosse, Lord Adare, and Messrs. J. F. Burgoyne, W. R. 

 Hamilton, Humphrey Lloyd, Thomas A. Larcom, and 

 J. McCullagh, empowering them to enquire and report 

 in what form, and under what regulations, the parlia- 

 mentary grant of £5300, voted to the Dublin Society, 

 might be most effectually used for the advancement 

 of science and diffusion of useful knowledge, for the 

 benefit of the Irish nation ; particularly, whether it 

 would be desirable to form an entirely new Institution, 

 or to assist any societies now established in Dublin for 

 the furtherance of science and art. The commis- 

 sioners reported that the grant should be for the 

 support of one Society only, and as His Excellency 

 had abandoned his intention of having the Society's 



