March 30, 1842.
It is not a great while since I got all the copy ready for the number of the “Flora” now printing,—during which I could do little else. Immediately this was done I completed an arrangement with my publishers for preparing a handsomely got up Introduction or Text-Book of Botany, for schools, lectures, private students (medical, etc.), which must be out on the 1st of May next. Owing to illness I have as yet written almost nothing, and besides have to superintend all the drawings, as they must be made by a person unacquainted with botany; and at the same time I have to correct the proofs of about thirteen sheets yet of the “Flora,” so that I am almost distracted when I think how I am to accomplish it here, where I have to see personally to almost every detail. But I must do it, as I hope to lay the foundation for a popular and—what is of consequence to me—a profitable work.
TO W. J. HOOKER.
New York, 30th March, 1842.
The last steamship left Boston so soon after I received your kind letter that I was unable to answer it by that conveyance. I intended to send this by the Columbia steamer of the 2d prox.; but I learn that having broken her shaft in the outward voyage she is to sail back to England; when it comes to canvas I have more confidence in our old liners, and therefore send by New York packet.
Have you not seen or heard of Nuttall yet? He sailed for England on Christmas last, to take possession of property left him by some deceased relatives.
I should not feel a residence in Michigan as a banishment. I am fond of a country life. But at present I see almost no hopes of usefulness there. Like all our new, and some of our old States, they have squandered the means they once possessed and encumbered themselves almost irretrievably with debt. On my return from Europe in the autumn of 1839, I received a letter stating that they had nothing yet for me to do, and permitting me to spend the winter in New York. In the spring of 1840, a committee of the regents wrote to me, to relinquish the provisional salary (of fifteen hundred dollars, on which I had been placed) for one year from that date, they relinquishing my services for that period and allowing me to devote my time to the “Flora,” etc. I at once accepted their proposal; but although another year has now elapsed since the expiration of the period to which they proposed to limit this agreement, not a word have I heard officially or unofficially from Michigan. I have quietly awaited the result, ready at any moment to obey their call; but having no income for the last two years, I have been greatly embarrassed, and have struggled through great difficulties, I scarcely know how. Notwithstanding, I have thought until recently that I ought not to seek any other situation. I shall now write to Michigan immediately, inquiring whether, in their present condition, they are ready to fulfill their engagements with me, or whether they would prefer to accept my resignation, which I shall offer. I expect, and on the whole hope, they will accept it.
In December, or nearly the 1st of January last, a friend of mine here, who had some casual conversation with the President of Harvard University, wished me to let my name be known as a candidate for the vacant chair of natural history there. After reflecting for a week or two, I wrote to B. D. Greene[124] for some information on the subject, saying that, if freed from other engagements, I would like the botanical part of the professorship, but not the zoölogy: and that the former, with the charge and the renovation of the Botanic Garden, would be quite enough for one.
In January I made a flying visit to Boston, where I had never been, and knew no one personally but Greene, to whom, and to Professor Bigelow,[125] I expressed my views; but we none of us expected that anything would be done at present. I incidentally learned, however, not long since, that the men of science would generally be well pleased to have me at Boston, and that some with whom I had almost no acquaintance were using their influence to that end. I was never more surprised, however, than this very evening, when I received from President Quincy an official letter, offering me the professorship provisionally, with a small salary, to be sure, for the present, but with only the duties of the botanical portion.
The president states that the endowment is $30,000, yielding an income of $1,500, which, however, not being adequate to constitute a full professor’s salary on a permanent foundation, the corporation deem it both their duty and the interest of the professorship to continue for a few years, in a modified form, the policy they have hitherto pursued, and by applying one third of the income annually to the augmentation of the capital, enable themselves to place the professor of natural history, at no distant period, on an equal footing with the other professors of the university. “To this end they propose to limit your duties, in case you are willing to accept the professorship, to instruction and lecturing in botany, and to the superintendence generally of the Botanic Garden (which they wish to renovate); limiting for the present your annual salary to one thousand dollars;” thus enabling me, as the communication proceeds to say, to devote all my time at present to my favorite pursuit, and to go on with the labors I have in hand. I have reason to hope, also, that by the time they are ready to give me the full salary, the zoölogical part will be separated from the professorship, with a distinct endowment. The Botanic Garden has an endowment of $20,000. If I should take this place, I should hope to see it better endowed before long, and should immediately set about the introduction of all the hardy trees and shrubs,—and indeed to enrich it as fast as possible with all the American and other plants that could be procured. In that case, separated from yourself by only fourteen to eighteen days’ navigation, I could hope to be a useful correspondent to you at Kew, and to show my gratitude for your continued kindness to me. I must here conclude, by stating that the president’s letter to me is to be deemed confidential, in case I do not accept the offer. I must therefore beg you to consider this letter likewise confidential, until you hear further from me, which you may expect to do as soon as anything is settled in regard to this matter. I am the less reluctant to leave New York since our good friend Dr. Torrey is at Princeton, New Jersey (only four hours from New York), renting his house in town, where for the present he will only remain during the winter. We have worked so long together that I shall feel the separation greatly.