[[1]]
Calcutta [Kolkata]
April 7th 1850
My dear Father
My plans are arranged for this year & I greatly regret to add against Nepal[.] Jung
Bahadur goes to England taking letters to you from me, he declares himself anxious
& ready to serve me but cannot guarantee me permission during his own absence.
The fact is that he himself & he alone is favorable to his own mission to England.
You will see Thoresby soon after his arrival, the late Resident at Nepal. I give him a
letter to you & beg you to show him all attention -- he is a warm hearted & most
excellent man has been extremely serviceable & kind to me & is universally
respected & esteemed. I dare say he would like to spend a day or two at Kew & see
Richmond &, he is a very quiet person & makes himself happy any where.
I have laid my Dawk for Dorjiling [Darjeeling]
[[2]] & start on Tuesday the 9th. I have told Thomson to be ready to join me if he is
still inclined to do so on his furlough, & to have all my things packed & ready to leave
the hills for Sylhet the Khassya & Munnepore, whither we go at once by water. I have
utterly failed in my object of visiting Calcutta, but find comfort in the feeling that I
have done my best both for myself & Thomson. Though that but be nothing. On the
other hand I have given Campbell a good lift unable as I was from constant
attendance on Gov[ernmen]t house & the Secretaries & to live at the gardens, I have
lapsed into a state of utter idleness & have nothing to show for my Calcutta life but a
long list of gaieties -Still I have managed to spend a week off & on at the gardens & seen a great deal.
Falconer is quite indefatigable but has had a fearful task -- The extent of mischief
done is inconceivable & Griffiths certainly ruined the garden,
[[3]] & what is worse so crippled its resources that Falconer cannot buy a book ever.
All the Teak plantation & all other timber planted for garden purposes was cut clean
away, & sold for a few farthings instead of thousands of Rupees -- consequently
timber has now to be bought from Calcutta for the most ordinary purposes not to talk
of such extraordinary ones as piling & banking the river. The money now a great item
has to be screwed out of other gardens. On the other hand Falconer is working hard
& well, obliterating all Griffiths turpentine paths, & throwing very fine leading walks
through the Garden as at Kew with well arranged divergent ones -- all arranged with
a view to pl replanting the wilderness constructing a Palmetum, Pandanetum, &
Arboretum on as fine a scale as at Kew, all of which have been cut away -- The
general plan is yours of Kew -- He is now about restoring Wallich's summer house in
the Nepal Garden & reconstructing the masonry at
[[4]] a certain little spot close by to which Wallich was fondly attached so as to put it
all in the exact condition that Wallich left it. As a Horticulturalist F[alconer]. Is getting
on capitally especially with orchideae, & he is extremely popular with all classes, with
Gov[ernmen]t civil & military. His urbanity& good nature are greatly admired & he is
as liberal as possible.
Thoresby & Gen[era]l Jung Bahadur will probably talk to you about the advisability of
my visiting Nepal with Jung B[ahadur]. on his return when he offers & presses me to
visit any & all part of his county. Lord Dalhousie[,] Colvile, Falconer & all people here
urge it on me as the finest prospect ever opened to a scientific man in India or
elsewhere, & advise me to ask the leave & means from you & the W[oods] &
F[orests department]. I have said nothing for the obvious reason that I am not at
liberty to do so in common fairness to Frances. My finances are so good that I
should not fear running you into any expense worth
[[5]] mentioning & to a man of my tastes pursuits & prospects, there is the strongest
temptation that ever was placed in my way, but I have promised to return to England
after this season & have no desire to rev<oke>[? part of mss missing, edge torn] my
promise. I would therefore beg of you seriously to consider the matter, I know if I
were to write to Frances that she would not say a syllable against it, whatever she
might think & feel, & therefore will not do so. The matter therefore stands thus -- the
advice & recommendation of such men as the above should not be put away on one side
on slight grounds, & such some might say was Miss Henslow; if, as I think, she had
only to be asked. If therefore you & Prof. Henslow & Mr Phillipps think the matter
worth consideration do consider it. If you are favorable, tell Frances of my objections
scruples & the grounds -- should she withold[sic] assent, I will dismiss the subject. You
may rest assured that I will cheerfully abide by your judgement
[[6]] in this matter, provided it be biassed[sic] by Miss Henslow alone, who alone
biasses[sic] me against it. You are fully aware that I entirely approve your conduct in
giving up Borneo grievous as the present sacrifice appears to me. & you need not
fear my entire approval of your decision in this case. -As to the time required it would be as I said before in talking of Nepal -- Nov[embe]r.
18 before I could leave Nepal -- i.e. Nov[embe]r. 1851. when I should give up Ceylon
[Sri Lanka] go to Bombay [Mumbai] & embark by the January steamer. Were Miss
H[enslow] out of the picture I should have no hesitation in deciding for myself but if
you & her Father of your own judgement think that I should not think of it -- or if you
both think I should it is any adviseable[sic] & she still should object -- I shall adhere to
my
[[7]] original plan & return at the end of this year, & you may depend upon it never
question the propriety of your decision or withold[sic] my acquiescence in it.
Thomson cannot get leave to join me except by taking the time out of his furlough -this is extremely hard. I am well aware that Lord D[alhousie]. would not have refused
me this boon had he been able to do otherwise, or it arose from no other motive but
the exigeancy[sic] of the military authorities considering how Thomson is employed I
should urge you to speak to Sir H. Willock[,] Royle[,] Wallich & others you can about
it. His 3 years of furlough leave begins this May. He now spends one year 10 months of
that in India with me, if you decide for Nepal he may spend 20, except the Court
should hint to Lord D[alhousie]. that Thomsons being placed at his on the service list
[[8]] so that his time goes on. & he given leave in India, would be agreeable to them.
What a thousand pities it is that they do not employ him to collect, where we are now
going, materials for the Exposition. I shall see that he does so with his & my small
means & hope that that will be a reccomendation. (though surely he wants none) to
his Gov[ernmen]t.
Cecil Beadon says he has not heard from you since the arrival of the opium things in
England. do send him an official thanks. *1
Bellenden Ker is a brute & has behaved disgracefully to these gardens, he is
evidently a dishonest -- trumping[?] Knave -- I have said nothing to Courtenay, but
there is a storm brewing here for him for his double play between Bethune &
Falconer who happen to have shown one anothers letters to each other!
[[9]] Both Larch & Rhod[odenron]s. have come up admirably here but the so late that
the fearful heat has killed many already.
I took my map down to Calcutta & it is being copied at the Surv[eyor] Gen[era]ls.
offices with all speed when done the original shall go at once to you.
Thomson has sent all my collections down, they will arrive here in boats in about 6
weeks & be despatched in Jan[uar]y. by the best ships. -- I hope my large collections
are home by this time or will be soon.
As to the Athenaeum I am rather disgusted at having to come on after my name has
been down for so many years (1843) & after so much talk was made and a promise
too by Brown that I should come on in the committee & after too so many men have
come on in that manner whose names were not long, some not at all before the
[[10]] public. I should have been willing to pay for the honor if I had been brought on
within reasonable time, but that is long past. As a club to which I cannot take a
friend, it will be useless, & I should at any rate join the "Oriental" where I can take 20
friends at a time if I like -- It would only be the contingency of your & my being in
Town together that would ever lead me to the Athenaeum, & whereas you cannot
take me there except we are both members & I can you to as good & a cheaper one (the
Oriental), I would prefer withdrawing my name, either now or when my election levee
comes.
The Rhododendron copies & of my Journal came all safe very many thanks. The
little box of this mail has not yet come to hand.
Ever yr affec[tiona]te son | Jos D Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. This paragraph is stressed with two vertical lines in the left hand margin.
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