108 "Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [April' 



body (the Society, not the Council) see fit to call upon me, constitu- 

 tionally, to do so, when I shall be happy to devote my best efforts to 

 their service. 



" The requisition sent to me personally as President, calling for a 

 Special General Meeting in accordance with Rule 63 to ' alter, an- 

 nul, or confirm, as to said Special Meeting may seem fit, the pro- 

 ceedings of the Meeting of January 15th, 1868, such Meeting not 

 having been held in accordance with the Rules of the Society' — has 

 been returned to the requisitionists with a statement that as I am not 

 President I have no power in the matter." 



" I have the honor to be, 



" GENTLEMEN, 



" Your very obedient Servant, 



Thomas Oldham. 



u To tlie Secretary Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



" Calcutta, March 27th, 1868. 

 " Dear Sir, — As it will be necessary to give to the members of the 

 Asiatic Society, a reason why I have not assumed the office to which 

 they supposed they had elected me, I beg to send you a copy of letter 

 to them giving my reasons, which, if thought desirable, can be read 

 to the meeting of the Society. 



11 Yours truly, 



" Thomas Oldham." 



" To the Members of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



" Calcutta, 7th March, 1868. 

 " G-entlemen, — On my return to Calcutta yesterday evening, I found 

 that, during my absence, at a meeting purporting to be the Annual 

 General Meeting for the election of Officers, &c, held on the 15th of 

 January 1868, I had been almost unanimously selected as President 

 of your Society for the coming year. I have on more than one 

 occasion previously declined to allow myself to be considered a candi- 

 date for the Chair of the Society, believing the fact of my not being 

 a permanent resident of Calcutta in itself a sufficient disqualification. 

 And still holding this view, I had recently stated to several my great 

 unwillingness to accept the office. But I should be indeed unmindful 

 of the kindness of those who, with the full knowledge of this, still 



