The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-28 00:00:00

PAMPHLET.

In the pamphlet recently published by Mr. Panizzi. entitled
" A Letter to his Royal Highness the President of the Royal
Society, on the New Catalogue of the Library of that Insti-
tution now in the press," all the charges brought forward
against the Council are founded on the most unwarranted and
erroneous assumptions
Mr. Panizzi assumes, in the first place, that the Council
was bound to pay him in advance the remuneration agreed
upon for the completion of the catalogue, such payment in
advance never having been for a moment contemplated.
His payment was to have been at the rate of 301. for every
thousand titles the catalogue might contain ; but, in consi-
deration that the work would probably require a long time to
accomplish, it was agreed that one-third of the money should
be given to him when he had written out all the ti'lcs on slips
of paper, another third when the revises were finally corrected
for the press, and the remaining third when the whole was
printed off. The total number of titles written out by Mr.
Panizzi, as counted by Mr. Shuckard, by whose computation
he consented to abide, was found to be 24,136; which at the
rate of 10/. per thousand, would render the sum he ought to
have received at the present stage of his work 2411. 7s. 2d. ;
but from this sum 271. 6s. is to be deducted in payment of Mr.
Robertson, as had been agreed to by Mr. Panizzi, reducing
it to 2141. ls. 2d. At the period when Mr. Panizzi discon-
tinued the work he had already received from the Society
4501. on account, which is more than double the sum to which
he was then strictly entitled. The Council, therefore, far
from imagining that he had any further claims on the Society,
considered that in advancing him so large a sum before he had
completed the second term of his engagement, they had rather
erred on the side of liberality. They could never have had
an idea that he expected any additional payment, as he never
gave them them the slightest intimation to that effect ; and it
is not until after the lapse of sixteen months that he suddenly
makes an appeal, not to the Council of the Royal Society, but
to the public, by the circulation of a pamphlet, claiming fur-
ther remuneration, which be has never applied for to the party
from whom he imagines it to be due.
In the second place, Mr. Panizzi as;umes that the slips and
revises are his own property, and that the Council has no right
to them ; and to such a length does he carry this notion, that,
even after he had ceased to be employed by the Council, he
refused to give up the key of the drawers containing the slips,
as if that key were his own property. He likewise still with-
holds the revises containing the remarks of the members who
had seen them, alleging, while accused by nobody, that they
iwere necessary for his justification. He is evidently not war-
ranted in complaining of members pointing out what appeared
to them to be errors ; for if he had deemed this wrong, he
NV ould not have done the very same thing in his pamphlet,
wheeein he subjects the she's of a former Catalogue, not de-
signed for publication, and in a very rough and unfinished
state, to the ordeal of his severest criticism.
Another of Mr. Panizzi's unwarranted assumptions h his
fancying himself at liberty to execute the work on which he
was employed in whatever manner he pleased. The Council
certainly never delegated to him this power ; but appointed a
Committee for the express purpose of superintending the work
as it proceeded, and of regulating the manner in which it
should be printed : and it was the duty of Mr. Panizzi, or
whoever else might have been employed by the Council, to
.follow the directions and instracCone which might from time
uo time he given to him by that Committee.
Mr. Panizzi was continually complaining of ill usage, while
he at the same time did not disclose the nature of his sup-
; used injuries. He stated that he could not proceed with
/no. work, but wculd rot point out any ground of complaint.
lel en requested to explain wherein he thought himself
ap;ge.'eved, h inquiry,
but would give no definite answer to the nquiry,
but pr.) -wed to refer matters to an arbitration ; leaving the
Council she while unacquainted with the subjects of dis-
pute, or with' the points to be settled by such arbitration.
When, for the' purpose of mutual understanding, he was in-

vited to a conference with the Committee, he refused to meet
them, and would only communicate by letter with the Council.
Finding, at length, that the great cause of the offence taken
by Mr. Panizzi consisted in his being directed by the Com-
mittee to omit certain comments and Rotes which he had in-
troduced, in his own name, in the Catalogue, the Council, in
deference to his wishes, and in the spirit of conciliation, con-
ceded the point in dispute, and agreed that he might consider
the manuscript corrections made by the members of the Com-
mittee, merely "as suggestions for his guidance." But, far
from meeting them in the same spirit, he next required of the
Council, as a condition without which he could not proceed
with the Catalogue, a further concetsion, namely, that they
should rescind the whole resolution of its Committee, and de-
clare it null and void. It was obviously impossible to comply
with so unreasonable a demand, which seemed so like a mere
pretext for the total abandonment of the work ; and no alter-
native remained but to pass the resolution of the 14th of July,
" that Mr. Panizzi be no longer employed in the formation of
the Catalogue."
On the Council requesting the return of the revises in his
possesoon, Mr. Panizzi refused to do so, alleging that they
are his private property ; nor would he even deliver up the key
' of the drawers containing the manuscript slips; refusals which,
of course, put an end to all further correspondence with him
on the part of the Council.
So far from the Council having ever withheld from Mr.
Panizzi, as he asserts in his pamphlet they have done, the
precise number of titles which he wrote for the catalogue,
they have always been ready to afford him that information.
The slips were carefully counted by Mr. Shuckard, in whose
accuracy Mr. Panizzi placed the fullest reliance, and who was
appointed for that purpose with his concurrence. Any in-
quiry that Mr. Panizzi might have chosen to make as to the
results and details of that computation would, at all times,
have received the most immediate and complete answer.