1799.] THE EOYAL INSTITUTION. 117 



made acquainted with the scheme before any steps are 

 taken towards carrying it into execution ; and also that his 

 Majesty's Ministers may be informed that it is in the 

 contemplation of the founders of the Institution to accept of 

 my services in the arrangement and management of it. 



' The peculiar situation in which I stand in this country, 

 as a subject of his Majesty, and being at the same time, 

 by his Majesty's special commission, granted under his 

 royal sign manual, engaged in the service of a foreign 

 prince, this circumstance renders it improper for me to 

 engage myself in this important business, notwithstanding 

 that it might perhaps be considered merely as a private 

 concern, without the knowledge and the approbation of the 

 Government. 



4 1 am quite certain that my engaging in this, or in any 

 other business in which there is any prospect of my being 

 of any public use in this country, will meet with the most 

 cordial approbation of his Most Serene Highness the 

 Elector Palatine, in whose service I am ; for I know his 

 sentiments on that subject; and although I do not 

 imagine that his Majesty or his Majesty's Ministers 

 would disapprove of my giving my assistance in carrying 

 this scheme into execution, yet I feel it to be necessary 

 that their approbation should be asked and obtained ; and, 

 if I might be allowed to express my sentiments on another 

 matter, which, no doubt, has already occurred to everyone 

 of the gentlemen to whom I now address myself, I should 

 say that, in my opinion, it would not only be proper, but 

 even necessary, to inform Government of the nature of the 

 scheme that is proposed and of every circumstance relative 

 to it, and at the same time to ask their countenance and 

 support in carrying it into execution ; for although it may 

 be allowable in this free country for individuals to unite 

 in forming and executing extensive plans for diffusing 

 useful knowledge and promoting the public good, yet it 

 appears to me that no such establishment should ever be 



