124 MEMOIR OP ALFRED SMEE. [CHAP. X. 



seat on the Council. For this purpose the following circulars or 

 letters were published : 



GENTLEMEN, I beg to return my thanks to the numerous Fellows 

 who have answered my last circular, asking their opinion whether seniority 

 should be determined by the date of membership or Fellowship. 



The Fellows, in the proportion of nearly twelve to one, have expressed 

 an opinion that seniority should rank from the date of membership. 



One of our most distinguished army surgeons adds these significant 

 words : " Just as in the army, medical service time for progressive increase 

 of pay counts from the date of the first and lowest commission." 



It has been suggested to me that there is a combination of medical 

 schools to return their own men, which, if true, would practically amount 

 to a disenfranchisement of the Fellows, as no individual candidate can 

 stand against a combination of interests, and thus the creation of the 

 Fellowship for independent election is absolutely frustrated. 



To the minority who desire seniority to rank from the date of Fellow- 

 ship, I would point out that, as in the past the members were deprived of 

 their just seniority by the institution of the Fellowship, so in the future 

 there is nothing to prevent the Fellows from being deprived of their 

 present seniority by the creation of a new class, such for instance as the 

 institution of doctors of surgery, from whom the Council might be chosen, 

 to the exclusion of the remainder of the Fellows. 



It now clearly appears, that the Fellows who approve the principle of 

 seniority from membership cannot come to the College to vote without the 

 almost prohibitory inconvenience of a journey to London. 



It must not be forgotten that, from the peculiar properties of members 

 in connection with election matters, it will be necessary (particularly if 

 combination exists) that plumpers and only plumpers be recorded, in 

 order that the election may be secured. 



For that reason, as this is a contest of principle, and not, as far as I 

 am concerned, a fight between rival competitors, I earnestly beg all those 

 Fellows who desire that a seniority once obtained should never be taken 

 away by any subsequent legislation, to vote for myself, without any respect 

 to personal consideration, but solely as the representative of the principle 

 of seniority by membership. 



SIR, The last election at the Royal College of Surgeons has revealed 

 a wide- spread discontent among the Fellows. It is assumed that the 

 members of Council are elected by the Fellows at large ; but the election 

 takes place at the College in London, whilst the majority of the electors 

 reside in the country, hundreds of miles distant, so that it is not possible 

 that any election can represent the opinions of the general body. 



It is a mere mockery of justice to bestow a franchise on Fellows 

 which in many cases they cannot possibly use, because they are unable to 

 leave their duties and incur the cost, the loss of time, and fatigue of the 

 journey, simply to enable them to drop a voting-paper into a ballot-box. 

 Every man entrusted with a vote is bound to have a bond fide opportunity 

 of recording it; for if he have not, he is virtually disfranchised. For 

 this reason, Parliament has wisely decreed that the members of Univer 

 sities, who are in a similar position with respect to residence to the 



