has been made and continued to the Institution,' renders it 

 necessary that Government should be in possession of cor- 

 rect information. 



" The returns made to the Academy by the Council of 

 30th November, 1844, also contain statements of the assets, 

 debts, and engagements of the Academy. 



" I have the honour to be your Lordship's 

 " Obedient Servant, 

 " W.Betham, M.R. I. A. 

 " To Right Honourable the 

 Lord Eliot, Sfc. 8fc." 



11. 



" Royal Irish Academ//, 

 " 23rd Jan., 1845. 



" My Lord, — In compliance with the desire of the Lord 

 Lieutenant, as communicated to the Council of the Royal Irish 

 Academy, in your Lordship's letter of the iSth of January, 

 I am directed by the Council to offer the following observa- 

 tions for the information of His Excellency, with regard to 

 the representations made by Sir William Betham to Her 

 Majesty's Government, concerning the mode in which the 

 business of the Academy has been conducted. 



" The Council, in the first place, beg to say, that nothing 

 would give them greater pleasure than an inquiry, on the 

 part of the Government, into the management of the affairs 

 of the Academy ; that body, as is very well known, having 

 for some years back displayed a degree of energy and effi- 

 ciency, which has gained for it the entire confidence of the 

 public. But an inquiry of such a kind, on the part of Sir W. 

 Betham, is not a thing to be encouraged by the Council; and, 

 that it is not a thing which the Academy are disposed to coun- 

 tenance, Sir W. Betham was given to understand, by a vote 

 of the Academy, on the 13th of the present month, when he 



