e name of Sir John Franklin occurs [Sir John Franklin was
absent from London, and altogether unacquainted with this transaction,
until he saw it stated in the newspapers some months after it had
taken place. That his name was the one substituted for that of Captain
Beaufort I know, from other evidence which need not be produced here, as
the omission of the latter name is the charge that has been made.],
and that of Captain Beaufort is not found. [Any gentleman may satisfy
himself that this is not a mistake of the Assistant Secretary's, in
copying, by consulting the rough minutes of that meeting of the Council,
which it might perhaps be as well to write in a rough minute-book,
instead of upon loose sheets of paper; nor can it be attributed to any
error arising from accidentally mislaying the real minutes, for in that
case the error would have been rectified immediately it was detected;
and this has remained uncorrected, although publicly spoken of for
months. As there is no erasure in the list, one is reluctantly
compelled to conjecture that the real minutes of that meeting have been
destroyed.]]

Now this could not be the list actually recommended by the Council on
the morning of the 26th of November, because the President himself, on
the evening of that day, informed Capt. Beaufort that he was placed on
the house list; and that officer, with the characteristic openness of
his profession, wrote on the next or the following day to the President,
declining that situation, and stating his reasons for the step.

Upon the fact, therefore, of the suppression of part of a resolution
of the Council, on the 26th of November, there can be no doubt; but
in order to understand the whole nature of the transaction, other
information is necessary. It has been the wish of many members of the
Society, that the President should not absolutely name his own Council,
but that the subject should be discussed fairly at the meeting previous
to the Anniversary--this has always been opposed by Mr. Gilbert, and
those who support him. Now, it has been stated, that, at the meeting
of the Council on the 26th of November, the President took out of his
pocket a bit of paper, from which he read the names of several persons
as fit to be on the Council for the ensuing year;--that it was not
understood that any motion was made, and it is certain that none was
seconded, nor was any ballot taken on such an important question; and
it was a matter of conside