145 Brattle St., Cambridge, Mass. 
/ 
November 28, 1897. 
To Dr.Elliott Coues, 
Washington, D.C.- 
My dear Dr.Coues 
In reply to your recent letter I will say that 
the outcome of the Shufeldt case disappoints rather than surprises me. 
It is true that up to within a short time of the meeting I had supposed 
that the sentiment for expulsion would be practically unanimous and I 
even feared that the case might be rushed through with unbecoming haste 
and Dr.Shufeldt denied an opportunity for a fair hearing. Accordingly 
I wrote to Dr.Allen urging the necessity of guarding against this and 
certain others possible dangers and giving him permission to show this 
letter to the Council, which perhaps he did. 
At the eleventh hour, however, rumors of a growing opposition 
to expulsion reached me, prompting the letter to you in which I sug¬ 
gested the point about the Audubon family. 
Of course you will understand that up to the time when it was 
definitely decided that I could not attend the meeting my official 
position obliged me to exercise the greatest caution in respect to what 
I said or 'wrote but there can be no longer any impropriety in admitting 
that while I took every precaution to ensure a fair and dignified con¬ 
sideration of the case I was from the first strongly in favor of expul¬ 
sion. Had I attended the meeting I should have spoken and, if the 
