1843] Asiatic Society. 31o 



At a Meeting of the Committee of Papers held at Government House, 

 on the 1st April, 1843:— 



Present 



The Honorable the President. 



Sir H. W. Seton, Knight, 



Lieutenant Colonel W. N. Forbes, C. B. 



Lieutenant A. Broome. 



H. Torrens, Esq. Officiating as Secretary to the Committee. 



Read the foil ova in g Memorandum. 



Resolved.— That its substance be generally approved, and that it be submitted to the 

 Society at the ordinary Annual Meeting for the appointment of Officers of the Society, 

 to be held on the 12th April. H. Torrens, 



Officiating as Secy, to the Committee. 



The Honorable the President has expressed a wish, that I should lay before him a 

 Memorandum of the course expedient to be taken with reference to the conduct 

 of the business of our Society by an Honorary Secretary. 



The Honorable the President desires, that the office of Secretary should continue to 

 be held as an honorary appointment. It is the wish of the Society generally. 



But 1 have explained to him the impossibility of procuring the entire services of 

 any honorary holder of the office, and he has acquiesced in the expediency of engag- 

 ing a Sub-Secretary to conduct ordinary correspondence with current business, and 

 to assist, under the Secretary, in the editing of the Journal lately my property, which 

 the Society desire to take over, and make their own. 



1 have now to suggest the mode in which the Sub-Secretary may be remunerated, 

 without inducing extra charge to any serious extent upon the Society. And here 

 let me observe, that I intend submitting to the Society, with the sanction of the Ho- 

 norable the President, the nomination of Mr. Henry Piddington, our Geological Curator, 

 to the duty. His general acquaintance with the principles of science ; his long experi- 

 ence of this country, its usages, and its people ; his literary qualifications; his habits of 

 business ; and last not least, his well-known zeal for science, his mental powers and his 

 energetic use of them ; render him more eligible for the very miscellaneous and peculiar 

 duties which he could be called upon to perform as Sub-Secretary than any person with 

 whom I am acquainted in Calcutta or in India. I have had good reason to know how 

 well he could perform those duties by my experience of the manner in which he has 

 already assisted me in my attempts to perform the work of Secretary. 



Having thus premised, I proceed to note my scheme. 



1. That there be an Honorary Secretary to the Society, charged either alone, or as 

 associated with other Honorary Secretaries, with the special duty of conducting the 

 department of Oriental Literature. 



2. That he be answerable to the Society for the proper disposition of their funds, 

 under the immediate instructions of the President. 



3. That he be further answerable to the Society, for the due and proper conduct of 



