SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 365 



upon Dr. Charles Hutton, a mathematician of distinguished 

 reputation, and whose official duties at the Royal Academy 

 of Woolwich obliged him to reside there. Some neglect 

 of his duties as Secretary was said to have been thus 

 occasioned. Upon examination, the charge was found to 

 rest on very insufficient grounds ; and the childish com- 

 plaint of M. Bonnet, of Geneva, that a dry and laconic 

 answer had been returned to his letter, accompanying a 

 present of his works, really appears to be the only re- 

 mains of the accusation which a full inquiry left standing 

 against Dr. Hutton."* It was a much more serious charge, 

 that he held no communication with the President ; and 

 certainly this was mainly imputable to his residing at a 

 distance. The Council passed a resolution, 20th 

 November, 1783, recommending that the Foreign Secre- 

 tary should reside in London, and Dr. Hutton tendered 

 his resignation. The emoluments of the office were only 

 twenty pounds a-year, from a bequest of Mr. Keck half a 

 century before ; and Dr. Hutton having to hire chambers 

 in town for the performance of his official duties, had 

 been in reality a loser by holding the place. 



This resolution of the Council, and resignation of the 

 Foreign Secretary, immediately caused a great sensation 

 in the Society. It appears that the embers of discon- 

 tent with the President's administration had been for 

 some time smouldering ; and now the spark accidentally 

 flung, made the embers break out in a flame. Dr. 



* The feeble and very trimming tract of Dr. Kippis on these dis- 

 putes, seriously represents the dry style of Dr. Hutton's letter as 

 worthy of blame. The Doctor desiderated more courtesy, that is, 

 flummery after the foreign fashion. 



