340 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1866. small that, taking into account the time I give, my stay 

 Letter of h as been an imprudence. I had nevertheless calculated 



resigna- 



tion. that I might, without too great an injustice to my family, 



draw upon my capital, if I may use so grand a word, for 

 the means of retaining my post during this and the next 

 session, in the hope of the dawn of better days. 1 



The recent vote of the Council in the case of Mr. 

 Martineau renders it unnecessary for me to settle when I 

 shall leave the College ; it proves that the College has left 

 me. I am, as heretofore, strong in the determination not 

 to be overlooked, and not to be controlled in any matter 

 of religious thought, speech, or teaching. The Council 

 has decided that a certain amount of notoriety for advocacy 

 of an unpopular theology is a disqualification. Whether 

 a distinction was intended between the case of a candidate 

 and of an installed Professor I neither know nor care. I 

 assume that such a body as the Council would never enter- 

 tain this distinction. I concede that A is not B, but I 

 maintain that those who surrender to expediency point A 

 of principle are the men who will surrender point B when 

 the time comes, and who, until that time does come, will 

 be honestly shocked at the prophecy of their future con- 

 duct. Adherence to come is discounted to meet the con- 

 sequence of present departure. The principle of the College 

 has been partially surrendered to expediency ; no man can 

 say how much more will be given up, nor when. This I 

 said when the Peene legacy was accepted, and I was 

 laughed at. The acceptance of the conditions of that 

 legacy did not drive me from the College, because, after 

 much deliberation, and not a little help from what I now 

 see to be sophism, my love for the College and the life I 

 led in it barred the way with De minimis non curat lex. 



1 During the last years of his stay from various causes the proceeds 

 of his chair had fallen off. They had never been great, only one year 

 amounting to nearly 500L His continuing to hold it at a later period, 

 when the returns seldom exceeded 300L, and were becoming less, was 

 entirely due to his belief that the institution would fall still lower by 

 his withdrawal.- S. E. DE M. 



