The Government are determined, it seems, to adopt the principle of dividing the Museum; and Professor Owen, in his address to the British Association at Leeds, having read an article in the last Quarterly Review, drops his objections to the separation, and is indifferent about the site of the Natural History Museum: he only demurs to there being Trustees.
Mr. D’Israeli says that the Government have evidence enough as to what is to be done, and that they want no more information. I believe he is egregiously mistaken, and that the evidence hitherto collected is sufficient to prove that things cannot remain in the present state, and that something must be done; but there is no evidence or suggestion as to what that something must be (excepting only that the Superintendent of the Natural History, in the service of the Trustees, thinks that his present masters, or anything like them, are not desirable.) Now I have a great dread of these indefinite somethings. I fear that one or two members of the Government who have once walked through the Museum, or may have assisted at a meeting of Trustees, may think themselves quite competent to draw up a new constitution for this and other Museums, which pompously and plausibly proposed to the Houses of Parliament may be sanctioned, putting the British Museum and all its collections in a worse position than they are now, and rendering them less useful to the public. It seems, therefore, to me that you and Lord John should consider well the subject, and be prepared to advise the Government; and, if necessary, resist any scheme that might be lightly or rashly introduced to Parliament.
I apprehend that, whatever be thought of Trustees, it will not be so easy to persuade the family Trustees of the Museum that they ought to be extinguished.
I do not think that the Government have yet considered which are the collections that ought not to be removed from the present British Museum, and which are those that ought to be removed elsewhere. We may agree as to removing the Natural History collections; but is it quite clear we ought to keep ethnographical collections and works of mediæval or christian art?
Has anyone thought how long it will be before what it may be decided upon to remove, can be removed, what is to be done in the meantime, and what alterations may be necessary in the present building to fit the space left empty by the removal of some collections for the reception of those which are to remain here?
It seems to be generally considered desirable, if not necessary, that whenever the Museum or Museums are re-organised, lectures should be delivered by its officers. I humbly consider this a great mistake. No one can do more than one thing at a time well. A Keeper of collections will neglect them to prepare his lectures, and a lecturer will hurry through his lectures to attend to his collections; and if not more inclined to one than to the other of his two trades, the same man may be both a bad lecturer and bad Keeper of collections. As the ‘Jardin des Plantes’ at Paris is so much talked of here, with its numerous lectures, I trust some evidence will be taken of its condition and of the working of its organisation before we adopt it here.
I should also think that before the extinction of the Museum Trust is decided upon, it would be well to consider whether it is desirable to allow Institutions like the Museum to be governed by learned and scientific men. I will not go so far as to say that the system of Trustees is the best that could be devised, but I am fully convinced, and ready to prove from experience, that learned and scientific men are unfit to govern places like the Museum. Who then is to govern these establishments?
There is a variety of minor points which are worth considering, besides those above mentioned. If you and Lord John were to agree to some general principles, I dare say Mr. Gladstone would probably agree with you on the whole; and then you three might induce, and, if necessary, compel the Government to consent to adopting your views. I think it, however, requisite that, in some way or other, evidence should be taken from men whose opinion carries weight in these matters; that the public and the Houses of Parliament should see that whatever be ultimately done is done on good grounds and after mature consideration. I think the information collected would be of great use in coming to a right determination, and I do not see how it can be possible to do so without.
The ‘Supply’ is coming home with a cargo of antiquities from Newton, and will call at Carthage for some fifty cases of antiquities from Davis. It was to be at Malta on the 25th of last month, and will therefore soon be here. Where is all this enormous mass of things to be placed?
Ever yours,