PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, FOR APRIL, 1868. A monthly general meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal was held on Wednesday, the 1st instant at 9 P. M. Dr. Oldham having declined to take the chair as President, it was unanimously resolved, on the proposition of Mr. Blanford, that the Honorable J. B. Phear, Vice-President, do take the chair. Mr. Phear took the chair accordingly. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. The following presentations were announced: 1. From Bábu Kedáranátha Banerji. A copy of Venísamhára Nátaka of Bhaṭṭanáráyaṇa. 2. From Captain T. C. Anderson. A copy of Proverbial Philosophy of Cats, by the donor. A Copy of some Spanish Proverbs, collated by the donor. A copy of Last Words of a few Celebrities (concluded) by the same. A copy of Ubique,' being war services of all the officers of H. M.'s Bengal Army, by the same. А сору of the Order of the Victoria Cross, by the same. 3. From the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris. A copy of 'Le Livre des Rois, par Abou'l Kásim Ferdousi, publié, traduit et commenté par M. Jules Mohl; Cinquiéme Tome.' The following gentlemen, duly proposed and seconded at the last meeting, were balloted for and elected as ordinary members. H. S. H. Prince Frederic of Schleswig-Holstein. Cumára Pramathanátha Ráya of Digápati. W. M. Smith, Esquire. Bábu Bholánátha Chandra. Colonel H. Hyde, announced by a mistake of his agent as withdrawn, was reinstated at his request, in the member list. The following gentlemen were announced as candidates for ballot at the May meeting, as ordinary members. J. Baynes, Esq., Calcutta, proposed by Mr. Scott, seconded by Dr. Colles. T. E. Coxhead, Esq., C. S., Meherpur, Nuddea, proposed by Mr. Giles, seconded by Mr. H. F. Blanford. A. Pirie, Esq., Professor, Doveton College, proposed by Mr. Blochmann, seconded by Mr. G. Robb. C. D. Field, Esq., proposed by the Hon. J. P. Norman, seconded by the Hon. J. B. Phear. F. W. Peterson, Esq., Bullion Department, Mint, proposed by Mr. Blochmann, seconded by Mr. G. Robb. The following gentlemen have intimated their desire to withdraw from the Society. The Hon. L. S. Jackson; J. Harris, Esq., Calcutta ; C. U. Aitchison, Esq., C. S., Lahore. The following resolution of the Council was read. "Resolved unanimously. "That the following letters from Dr. Oldham be read at the next general meeting of the Society." "To the Members of Council of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. "Calcutta, March 18th, 1868. "GENTLEMEN,-I have to thank several of you for meeting me yesterday to consider the circumstances attendant on the election of myself as President and of other Officers on the 15th January last. You are aware that no question was raised as to the fact that Rule 47 of the Bye-laws had not been complied with on that occasion; no excuse or cause for the omission given; no assertion of ignorance of what that law required. It was simply treated as an informality so trivial as to call for no notice, and it was even sought to be defended by showing that several other Rules had been systematically neglected!! The fact, that the Meeting had not been summoned, and consequently not held, as required by the laws of the Society, and that this was allowed to occur with the knowledge of what those Rules required, was placed beyond a doubt. "A resolution was passed, which, with all respect I am obliged to say, simply begged the question. No one ever had doubted, no one could doubt, the legality of the Meeting, or of its decisions, if it were held in accordance with the Bye-laws of the Society.' But this is precisely what it confessedly was not. The opinion, therefore, given by the Council, based, as it avowedly was, on this totally unsound premises, is valueless. The process of reasoning by which the individual statements of every Member present, that Rule 47 had not been complied with, were converted into a collective assumption that the Meeting was in accordance with the laws of the Society,' is to me unintelligible. Nor can I admit the force of the argument, though I can understand it, which preferred the ignoring of those laws to openly eonfessing that a trivial informality' had occurred. "On matters of opinion, I am very willing to be guided by the better judgment of others; on matters of fact, I am compelled to form and act on my own. Indeed the facts are undisputed, and no interpretation of them is needed. "The principle sought to be established, that where an error has occurred, (for which the remedy is extremely simple) it is better to gloss it over, and say nothing about it, than at once to declare the neglect and rectify it, is one which may possibly be successfully acted on by your Council, but which the experience of every other Society in the world, I believe, has shown to be inevitably productive of failure. "The duties of the President are defined by the Rules under which he is appointed, and under which alone he can hold office, to be (Rule 87) * * 'to execute or see to the execution of the Rules and Orders of the Society.' Yet the very first act requested of me by the Council, is to see that one of those Rules affecting the constitution of the Society be deliberately and knowingly violated !' Gentlemen, I very respectfully, but very decidedly, decline to do so. "No amount of opinions or glossing can alter this simple fact. I cannot therefore adopt the views of the Meeting of yesterday in this way. But in another way I am glad to be able to meet the wishes of some of the Members. However intended, the resolution passed yesterday was, under the circumstances, tantamount to the expression of a desire that I should not be President. I am rejoiced to be able to assure the Meeting and the Council generally that believing I was not duly elected, I shall certainly not act as President; unless the elective body (the Society, not the Council) see fit to call upon me, constitutionally, to do so, when I shall be happy to devote my best efforts to their service. "The requisition sent to me personally as President, calling for a Special General Meeting in accordance with Rule 63 to alter, annul, or confirm, as to said Special Meeting may seem fit, the proceedings of the Meeting of January 15th, 1868, such Meeting not having been held in accordance with the Rules of the Society'—has been returned to the requisitionists with a statement that as I am not President I have no power in the matter." "I have the honor to be, "GENTLEMEN, "Your very obedient Servant, THOMAS OLDHAM. "To the Secretary Asiatic Society of Bengal. "Calcutta, March 27th, 1868. "DEAR SIR,-As it will be necessary to give to the members of the Asiatic Society, a reason why I have not assumed the office to which they supposed they had elected me, I beg to send you a copy of letter to them giving my reasons, which, if thought desirable, can be read to the meeting of the Society. "Yours truly, "THOMAS OLDHAM." "To the Members of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. "Calcutta, 7th March, 1868. "GENTLEMEN,-On my return to Calcutta yesterday evening, I found that, during my absence, at a meeting purporting to be the Annual General Meeting for the election of Officers, &c., held on the 15th of January 1868, I had been almost unanimously selected as President of your Society for the coming year. I have on more than one occasion previously declined to allow myself to be considered a candidate for the Chair of the Society, believing the fact of my not being a permanent resident of Calcutta in itself a sufficient disqualification. And still holding this view, I had recently stated to several my great unwillingness to accept the office. But I should be indeed unmindful of the kindness of those who, with the full knowledge of this, still |