To T. H. Huxley 1 December [1858]1
Down Bromley Kent
Dec. 1
My dear Huxley
I suppose that you meant me to return the enclosed to you & not to Hooker.—2
The letter strikes me as a very good one.
Since signing I have had many serious attacks of misgivings & quandarums, but I am coming daily to think more & more that you are all right & that my fears were vain & cowardly.—3 There is only one thing which I cannot help regretting that as soon as you had definitely made up your minds to exact terms &c of memorial that you did not pay Murchison the compliment, (for it would have been nothing more) of telling him before the memorial was sent in.4 I have a great respect for Murchison, notwithstanding his palpable & not unaimiable weaknesses.
I hope to God you will all be rewarded by a noble Museum.
Farewell | Yours most truly | C. Darwin
I have so strong a belief in the arrogance & presumption of our Governors, that I cannot put much faith in a memorial even if signed by every real man of science, having much influence at least with such a poor creature as B. Disraeli.5
Footnotes
Summary
Has had some misgivings about the memorial but now thinks his fears were vain and cowardly. Regrets R. I. Murchison was not told in advance. His low opinion of the Government and B. Disraeli.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2376
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 250)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2376,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2376.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7
