Dear old Darwin

A thousand thanks—¹ Sir H Holland is in London. I have no intention of resigning—& if I am not much mistaken Mr Gladstone would rather see Mr Ayrton turned out than he would me—² not from the merits of the case, but because he knows that I have friends who would be troublesome, & that Ayrton has none!

This is a matter in which my only chance of success is to shriek for what I want— I believe that there is no question but that, did the Cabinet know what else to do with Ayrton, they would remove him from office. and that moral cowardice alone, or rather political cowardice of the dastardest sort, keeps him where he is. Knowing this, I am determined that my voice shall not be witheld. He is hated in the office, his conduct to me is (thanks to himself) well known to his subordinates & to mine, & I should lose caste altogether if I did not stand up & fight. I am putting all this in plain language to Mr Gladstone.

I quite feel that I should hold on here, & that it is my duty to do so—& that I ought not even to hint at resignation— On the contrary, my cue is to treat my being turned out as a ridiculous idea. Moreover to threaten even to resign would be a dishonorable ruse.— but I shall let Mr Gladstone know, that I continue in Office under protest, & Mr Ayrton’s office subordinates, no less than my own here, shall know this, & that there is no sort of compromise of principle in doing my duty under such circumstances—

The worst part of it is, that my official correspondence with the wretch has cost me weeks & weeks of time— it has knocked my Marocco Journal on the head, delayed the Genera Plantarum³ & played the very deuce with my nights rest for I have had to be most eminently circumspect in my official letters of protest complaint & charge;—considering these for hours & wording them with extraordinary care. This is the third bout I have had with him since he took office & with regard to this last I have been at it continuously since August 1^st. I cannot now afford to be beaten, & if Mr Gladstone cannot settle it, to parliament it shall go— there are plenty of men there who will be only too glad to call for my correspondence, if only to injure the Govt:

I called on Lyell yesterday & thought him much altered— since Autumn I mean, & Lady Lyell is most careful of him & anxious that he should not be worried.⁴ I had hoped he might have joined the deputation, but it is out of the question.

Have you seen Chas: Martins paper on the Glacial origin of the Tourbiéres of the Jura, I like it very much. & hope there is a great deal in it but have not read it with sufficient care.⁵ John Scott has published a quite admirable series of papers, on Horticulture in Bengal.— he has taken a very high position there & is happy in the new Head of the Calcutta Gardens, a D^r King—⁶

Ever dear Darwin | Yr aff | J D Hooker