1852-3 TREASURY AND ADMIRALTY ^g 



of those whose duty it was to represent his claims to the 

 Government ; and finally, that he must ask for a year's ex- 

 tension of leave. 



For these expressions his conscience smote him when, 

 on June 12, at a soiree of the Royal Society, Lord Rosse 

 took him aside and informed him that he had seen Sir C. 

 Trevelyan, the Under Secretary to the Treasury, who said 

 there would be no difficulty in the matter if it were properly 

 laid before the Prime Minister, Lord Derby. To Lord 

 Derby therefore he went, and was told that Mr. Huxley 

 should go to the Treasury and arrange matters in person 

 with Trevelyan. At the same time the indignant tone of 

 his letter to the Hydrographer seemed to have done good ; 

 he was invited to explain matters in person, and was granted 

 the leave he asked for. 



Everything now seemed to point to a speedy solution of 

 his difficulties. The promise of a grant, of course, did 

 nothing immediate, but assured him a good position, and 

 settled all the scruples of the Admiralty with regard to time. 

 " You have no notion," he writes, " of the trouble the grant 

 has cost me. It died a natural death till I wrote to the 

 Duke in March, and brought it to life again. The more 

 opposition there is, the more determined I am to carry it 

 through." But he was doomed to a worse disappointment 

 than before. Trevelyan received him very civilly, but had 

 heard nothing on the matter from Lord Derby, and accord- 

 ingly sent him in charge of his private secretary to see Lord 

 Derby's secretary. The latter had seen no papers relating 

 to any such matter, and supposed Lord Derby had not 

 brought them from St. James' Square, " but promised to 

 write to me as soon as anything was learnt. I look upon it 

 as adjourned sine die." Parliament breaking up immedi- 

 ately after gave the officials a good excuse for doing nothing 

 more. 



When his year's leave expired in June 1853, he wrote 

 the following letter to Sir William Burnett : — 



As the period of my leave of absence from H.M.S. Fisguard 

 is about to expire, I have the honour to report that the duty on 

 which I have been engaged has been carried out, as far as my 



