“That it is the unanimous opinion of the Sub-Committee that it would be desirable for the Trustees to mark, by an increased remuneration to Mr. Panizzi to the amount of £75 a year, that making up the sum that he would receive if he were an Assistant Librarian, their sense of Mr. Panizzi’s value to the Museum, and also of the particular service which, by his zeal and knowledge, he has rendered in an eminent degree to the advancement of the new Catalogue of the Printed Books.”
The members present, beside the Chairman, were the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Ashburton, and the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville.
Here, therefore, was strong admission of the inadequacy of Panizzi’s remuneration at the time, and strong special reasons were advanced to support that admission, as well as the proposal for a more adequate salary.
It was necessary for this resolution to be submitted to the General Meeting on July 11th, 1835. Another minute was then passed openly against the principle affirmed six months previously; it ran:—
“The Trustees, having taken into their consideration the Report of the Sub-Committee of June 20th, although entirely concurring in the opinion expressed by the Sub-Committee as to the zeal and ability with which Mr. Panizzi has discharged the duties of his office, and desirous of evincing the sence which they entertain of his services to the Museum, yet feel themselves to be precluded, by the general principles upon which the scale of remuneration to officers in similar stations and with the same degrees of responsibility must of necessity be framed, from adopting a rate of payment to Mr. Panizzi differing from that which is fixed for the office which he at present holds in the Museum.”
It might be interesting to inquire into the motives of the Committee, in taking the adequacy of the remuneration in question into their consideration. Was the concession made to the office or to the man who held it? But we need not pursue this.
The minute of the General Meeting produced an unprecedented event. Mr. Grenville, one of the Committee present, when he saw what was taking place, rose, left the room, and never attended a meeting of the Trustees again. The increase was not granted. To preserve the correctness of our chronology, it is necessary to reserve an account of Mr. Grenville till much later on. It is fair to state that Lord Lansdowne and Lord Ashburton were not present on this occasion; but the Board considered it necessary to instruct the Secretary (then Mr. J. Forshall) to forward to Mr. Grenville a copy of the minute which he sent to Panizzi, with the following note:—
“I do not lose a moment in transmitting to you, for your own custody, the minute made by the Trustees: it is at least an honourable testimony of the sense which they entertain of the value of your services in the British Museum, and as such I send you the original minute as I received it, and I beg you to keep it.—Yours, &c., &c., T. Grenville.”
In March, 1837, the Keeper, Mr. Baber, gave notice that he intended to resign his post at midsummer. Mr. Cary, the celebrated translator of Dante, who was then an Assistant-Librarian, would have been the natural successor; but on account of his infirmities the Principal Trustees raised an objection to such an appointment.
Now it is of great importance to us that these statements should be made known, for much controversy, angry discussion, amounting to personal vituperation, and many letters ensued on the appointment of Panizzi as Keeper of the Printed Books, which, notwithstanding, took place on the 15th of July of the same year.