The Atheneum of last week published a statement with regard
to the British Museum which should not be allowed to pass out of notice without due examination. It refers to " a Slave Circu- lar (to use the name by which it is popularly known in the Reading-room), of which it is asserted that a member of the Legislature will, before long, demand the publication." This "Slave Circular," it is rumoured, is a minute nominally from the Trustees, enforcing, as a punishment for pretended laxity of conduct, stringent and most humiliating rules on the whole body of Assistants, closing, the rumour also runs,—but it must surely be incorrect,—with words to the effect that the Trustees desire that what is written (by gentlemen, be it remembered, and scholars of European reputation) should be in striot accordance with the truth. It is certainly time that the internal government of the British Museum should be impartially ex- amined by some responsible body. There is a very wide-spread impression throughout society that things are disgracefully mis- managed, and if this impression is an unjust one, it is only fair to the Principal Librarian, who is the person impugned, that its gross injustice should be clearly verified.
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