You, my Lord, and the Speaker, have refused to concur in the appointment, and have placed my subordinate officer, Mr. Panizzi, a Foreigner, who has been here some years less than myself, over me, and at the head of our national library.
Being convinced that when the nomination to offices in the British Museum was intrusted by the country to men themselves holding high offices in the State, it was on the implied condition that they would either acquit themselves of their duty by an attention to its internal management, or abstain from active interference if they were conscious of having given no such attention. I feel that I owe it not merely to myself, but to my fellow-countrymen, to protest against your present decision, to call publicly for an inquiry into the mode in which my duty in the Museum has been performed, and into the particulars of what I have done, which may be ascertained by means of our monthly reports, and to demand for what reason a person in an inferior station has been preferred to me, in opposition to the only one of the three nominators who regularly inspects the minutes of the establishment, and is at all likely to have an intimate and accurate knowledge of its concerns, and to be capable of forming a just judgment concerning them.
I am, &c.,
H. F. Cary.’ ”
In justification of Panizzi, Hallam’s opinion of his fitness for the post is given:—
“Wimpole Street, July 6, 1837
My dear Sir,
You first mentioned to me, about two months since, the prospect of attaining a higher station in the Museum, in consequence of Mr. Baber’s resignation, and seemed rather desirous of testimonies to your literary and general character. The closer connection I have since had with the Museum does not, I think, make it improper for me to say what I would then readily have said had it appeared to me as requisite at that time; but you are, of course, perfectly aware that I am only to be considered as a private person, who has had frequent opportunities of seeing you in the Library. In the many conversations on literary subjects we have had together, both there and on other occasions, I have been struck with your extensive and very ready knowledge of books, which has several times been of much service to myself. Your zeal and activity in the Department are so generally acknowledged that no testimony of mine can be of much additional value, and the many private friends you possess, among whom I reckon not a few of my own, bear sufficient witness to the sincerity and integrity of your character.
I am, &c.,
Henry Hallam.”
Panizzi then wrote to the Archbishop:—
“British Museum, July 19, 1837.
“I have just been informed by Mr. Forshall that your Grace has been pleased to concur in my appointment of Under-Librarian, and I must beg your Grace to accept my most sincere and respectful thanks for so much kindness.
Your Grace will allow me to add that it will be the height of my ambition to show myself not unworthy of the honourable trust reposed on me, by a zealous discharge of the arduous duties of my office to the utmost of my humble powers.
I have, &c.,
A. Panizzi.”
A fortnight had scarcely elapsed when a question arose on the subject of an official residence, and this involved a lengthy correspondence between Panizzi, the Secretary (the Rev. J. Forshall), and Sir F. Madden. The latter—who, from the outset, appears to have regarded his colleague in an inimical spirit (and no doubt the feeling was reciprocal)—evinced the greatest eagerness to take possession of a certain one of the lodgings which accompanied the appointments.
Further details would weary the reader; it will, therefore, be only necessary to state that Panizzi was unsuccessful on this occasion in obtaining the house to which, according to his own account, he was entitled.
The following letter, however, is worthy of perusal as a specimen of his persuasive and straightforward argument in the matter:—
“British Museum, July 25th, 1837.
I should not trouble you again with respect to the question now pending before the Trustees, as to the apartments to be assigned to Sir Frederick Madden and myself, did it not seem to me that the point of seniority is the one which will probably influence their determination. I am well aware that the Trustees are not bound to assign the best apartments to the Senior Under-Librarian; but should they be pleased to make seniority the ground of their decision, it is important that they should have clearly before them facts and dates.
Mr. Baber resigned on the 24th of last June, and had his successor been immediately appointed he might have been installed in his office, and have had apartments assigned to him before you had vacated the office to which Sir Frederick has been promoted. The appointment of the successor to Mr. Baber, although made after your place had become vacant, preceded, nevertheless, that of your successor; and it seems to me that, however short the interval between the two nominations, he who was last elected cannot be senior with respect to the other. The circumstance of Sir Frederick having been an officer of this house for a longer period, appears not to affect the case, since the point is as to the seniority of the two Under-Librarians as such. I believe in the army or navy the point would not bear discussion. Mr. Baber had been in this house before Mr. König,and to give Mr. Baber seniority over Mr. König on their both being promoted at the same time, the appointment of the former gentleman was purposely dated earlier than that of the latter, and then no one doubted Mr. Baber’s seniority. It was not thought seniority would be given by the former services of Mr. Baber, or else both appointments might have been dated the same day, when they were actually agreed upon by the Principal Trustees.
Yours, &c., &c., A. Panizzi.
The Rev. Josh. Forshall.
CHAPTER V
Sir Henry Ellis; Parliamentary Committee, 1835–6; Keepership; Removal of the Library from Montague House; Temporary Assistants; Catalogue; Garnett; Winter Jones; Watts; Parry; Additions and Deficiencies 1838; Annual Grant.
Allusion has already been made to Sir Henry Ellis, who was, at the time of which we write, Principal Librarian, having held this appointment since the 20th of December, 1827. In the year 1800, Mr. Ellis had entered the service of the British Museum as a Temporary Assistant; and Mr. Edwards, in his work entitled “Lives of the Founders of the British Museum,” observes that “had it never fallen to the lot of Henry Ellis to render to the public any service at all, in the way of administering and improving the National Museum,” he would still have earned an honourable niche in our literary history. His contributions to literature are, indeed, very unequal in their character. Some of them are fragmentary; some might be thought trivial. But very many of them have sterling value.value.
He died at the age of 92, on the 15th of January, 1869, having retired in 1856.
Between Panizzi and Sir Henry Ellis there was no reciprocal feeling of friendship; indeed, at times, the former expressed himself so strongly that we prefer not to reproduce his remarks. The first apparently inimical act was Panizzi’s decided objection to Sir Henry’s Printed Catalogue of the Museum Library; and we learn from a report, drawn up by Ellis, on the 30th April, 1834, and which Panizzi delighted in cutting up, that