Greenwich_.

* * * * *

Airy provisionally accepted the Order, but wrote at once to Lord John
Russell the following letter of enquiry:

ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH,
_1847, Oct. 15_.

MY LORD,

In respect of the office of Astronomer Royal, I refer to the first
Lord of the Treasury as Official Patron. In virtue of this relation I
have the honour to lay before your Lordship the following statement,
and to solicit your instructions thereon.

For conducting with efficiency and with credit to the nation the
institution which is entrusted to me, I have judged it proper to
cultivate intimate relations with the principal Observatories of
Europe, and in particular with the great Observatory founded by the
Emperor of Russia at Pulkowa near St Petersburg. I have several times
received Mr Struve, the Director of that Observatory, at Greenwich:
and in the past summer I made a journey to St Petersburg for the
purpose of seeing the Observatory of Pulkowa.

Since my return from Russia, I have received a communication from
Count Ouvaroff, Minister of Public Instruction in the Russian Empire,
informing me that the Emperor of Russia desires to confer on me the
decoration of Knight Commander in the second rank of the Order of St
Stanislas.

And I have the honour now to enquire of your Lordship whether it is
permitted to me to accept from the Emperor of Russia this decoration.

I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's very obedient servant,
G.B. AIRY.

_The Rt Honble Lord John Russell,
&c. &c. &c.
First Lord of the Treasury_.

* * * * *

The answer was as follows:

DOWNING STREET,
_October 19, 1847_.

SIR,

I am desired by Lord John Russell to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter, of the 14th inst. and to transmit to you the enclosed paper
respecting Foreign Orders by which you will perceive that it would be
contrary to the regulations to grant you the permission you desire.

I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
C.A. GREY.

_G. B. Airy, Esq_.

* * * * *

The passage in the Regulations referred to above is quoted in the
following letter to Coun