THE CHA.NTREY FUND.—A SUGGESTION.
(ToTIOI EDITOR OT TRY " STECTATOR:1 SIE,—May I call your attention and that of your readers to a fact which has been as yet overlooked in the Chantrey Fund controversy? That is, that the position of the Royal Academy in this matter is now (owing mainly to the intervention of the editor of the Magazine of Art, and the silence of the Trustees in face of the very serious charges brought, and apparently proved, against them) one which it is impossible to maintain. Their President and members of their Council are publicly stated to have been guilty of improperly expending trust funds bequeathed to them for a specific purpose. The only apologist of the Royal Academy whose words have appeared in print does not deny the charge, but pleads that the Trustees are legally secure. Such an answer to such an accusation is surely, where English gentlemen are concerned, worse than none. The persons concerned must speak; the public are entitled to demand a reply. And, Sir, permit me to add that the legal security, doubtful in itself, does not exclude an interference which would be indubitably adequate for the righting of this wrong. His Majesty King Edward is the Patron of the Royal Academy. A word from him intimating that he would have to reconsider that patronage unless some satisfactory answer should be given, or some radical change made in the administration of the Chantrey Fund, would be amply sufficient to ensure the latter, even if the former proved to be—as I have reason to believe it is—entirely impossible.— I am, Sir, Bre., HARRY QUILTER. 42 Queen's Gate Gardens, S.W.
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