84 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



"... Sensible of the benevolent intention of your 

 question, and of the generosity which destined so large 

 a premium to its answer, I regret that we are precluded 

 from assisting in the decision upon it. But, as the Resolu- 

 tion which prevents the Royal Society from interfering 

 on such occasions has been formed by the deliberate care 

 of our predecessors, and has repeatedly been the means 

 of maintaining that Independence which is our chief 

 boast, I am fully satisfied of the great propriety of pre- 

 serving it uninf ringed. 



" It may be necessary to explain to you, Sir, that the 

 constitution of the Royal Society differs essentially from 

 those of the Royal Academies of Paris and Berlin, though 

 both of those academies appear to have been in imitation 

 of ours as nearly as the policies of the respective Govern- 

 ments would allow. They are associations of learned 

 men collected together by their respective monarchs, 

 constantly called upon to answer such questions as their 

 Governments think proper to put to them ; and held to 

 the necessity of answering them whatever they may be, 

 by pensions granted at the will of the monarch by whom 

 the members are originally nominated. While we are 

 a set of free Englishmen, elected by each other, and sup- 

 ported at our own expense, without accepting any pension 

 or other emolument which can in any point of view sub- 

 ject us to receive orders or directions from any department 

 of Government, be it ever so high. 



" Witnesses of the French Academy having been called 

 upon for decision on the most humiliating subjects, we 

 have uniformly resisted when our own Government have 

 called upon us for decisions. How evidently improper it 

 would be for us, at the instance of a stranger, howsoever 

 we may respect his rank and abilities, to do that which 

 we have repeatedly refused to our own Government I 

 leave to yourself to decide. 



" That the refusal of the Royal Society will not (as you 



