“SIR,--Had I a _notion_ that the Academy’s reply would be such as your letter has this day imparted, I would never have sat down to indite those additions, much less have forwarded them for _their perusal_. For why did I write to the Secretary _three weeks_ ago, but to ascertain _whether_ or _not_, in the event of _my_ doing _so_ and _so_, would the _Academy_ act _so_ and _so_, and thus repair that injury which they had before inflicted? What could be more easy than to give me a categorical answer, one way or the other? Instead of which, however, they left me to my own conclusions, which, as usual in such circumstances, leading me to construe silence into acquiescence, I transmitted my documents on the tacit faith that though the Academy would not pledge themselves by a written promise, they would, notwithstanding, if my researches proved adequate, reward my industry by a suitable remuneration. “Now, however, when my papers have been received, and my developments communicated, I am told that, _be their merits what they may_, the _award_ is _irrevocable_; and I have no alternative, in the writhings of my mortification, but the consolation of being _injured_ and _duped_ at the same time. “You will say, perhaps, that my new evidences have not yet been read, and that therefore my property is secure and sacred. But has not the _accompanying letter_ been read? And what was _that_ but a _programme_ of their contents? “_I_ had _thought_ that the Royal _Irish_ Academy were not only a _learned_, but a _just_ and a _patriotic_ Society. _I_ had _thought_ that having marshalled themselves into an institution, with the _avowed_ object of _resuscitating from death_ the almost _despaired-of evidences_ of our _national history_, they would not alone _foster_ every _advance_ toward that desirable consummation, but shower _honours_, and _acclamations_, and _triumphs_ upon him who has not only _infused a vital soul_ into those _moribund remains_, but made the history of Ireland, at this moment, the _clearest_, the most _irrefragable_, and withal the most _interestingly comprehensive chain_ of _demonstrational proofs_ in the _whole circle of universal literature_.[34] “But it is not alone the being deprived of my reward that I complain of, and the transferring of that reward to _another, every sentiment of whose production must inevitably be wrong_, but it is the _suppression_ of my labours, and the keeping them back from the public eye, in deference to my _opponent’s_ work, lest that the _discernment_ of the public should bestow upon me those _honours_ which the _discretion_ of the Academy has thought proper to _alienate_, that affects me as most severe.