Abstract
IN several articles and letters in vol. viii. of NATURE the question of the conferment of foreign orders on British subjects, so far as it concerns men of science, was pretty thoroughly discussed, as well as the proposal made in Parliament, in 1873, to establish an order of intellectual merit. The subject has again come up in connection with the distribution of awards at the close of the Paris Exhibition, and there has been much disappointment and even bitterness of feeling expressed at the refusal of our Government to allow British subjects to accept the coveted Cross of the Legion of Honour. It is well known that many of our men of science, as well as others, possess foreign orders in abundance, and that our Government takes no notice unless consulted, when, on the ground of some antiquated regulations, it thinks it its duty to refuse permission to accept such orders. If not illegal, it is at any rate weak and childish on the part of Government to take such a course, worthy of the days of “good” Oueen Bess, who wished her dogs to wear no collars but her own. In the case of the Exhibition awards it has been shown that this decision on the part of our Government falls with peculiar hardship on British exhibitors. It will very naturally be inferred by the general public that as a body they occupy an inferior position to foreign exhibitors, who are allowed to accept the great French honour, which is conspicuous by its absence from the awards in the British department. It is especially hard, we think, upon those who have served on the British jury. From some parsimonious caprice on the part of Government no allowance was made to those who served as jurors at the Paris Exhibition, and the eminent men of science who gave up their time and knowledge for the benefit of the country and the world not only go entirely unrewarded, but must have been seriously out of pocket. One case we know of—and we believe it is not the only one—where a well-known chemist, besides incurring serious expense, worked so hard as to materially affect his health, and all not even for bare thanks.
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FOREIGN ORDERS . Nature 18, 691 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018691a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018691a0