82 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



Sir Joseph Banks to Mr. Arthur Lee. 



" SIR, On the receipt of your favour I immediately 

 laid it before the Council of the Royal Society, who 

 accepted your resignation ; and have by that means 

 prevented you from incurring any further debt. 



" But, how the Independence of America can discharge 

 you from the prior debt, which is an annual contribution, 

 for the regular payment of which you at your admission 

 into the Society gave your bond, is a matter which 

 I confess I do not understand ; as a personal obligation 

 thus voluntarily entered into appears to me equally 

 binding on the person who enters into it, of whatever 

 nation he may be, or under whatever Government he 

 may choose to place himself." 



M. Antoine Laurent Jussieu, the distinguished French 

 botanist, was candidate for admission to the Royal 

 Society. He was one of the early Foreign members 

 of the Linnean. For some reason or other, unknown 

 beyond the Council table, he was rejected. The follow- 

 ing letter of Banks, apparently in reply to one which 

 embodied surprise, or perhaps reproach, is an excellent 

 specimen of his manner of treating a disagreeable subject 

 in a manly and courteous way. 



Sir Joseph Banks to M. Jussieu. 



" SOHO SQUARE, June 29, 1788. 



" SIR, It is an unpleasant thing to be refused ad- 

 mittance into a Society to which one has been presented 

 as a Candidate ; but in your case I consider it as a matter 

 which ought not in any degree to vex or trouble you. 

 I, Sir, who have had the misfortune to be rejected by the 

 Academy of Paris, am now a member of it. Why then 

 may not the same thing happen to you ? 



