This would no doubt have taken place had not the
movements of the Court and his own want of time prevented it. The
following letter to the British Ambassador, Lord Bloomfield, relates
to this matter:
PULKOWA,
_1847, August 25th_.
_Wednesday evening_.
MY LORD,
I had the honour yesterday to receive your Lordship's note of Sunday
last, which by some irregularity in the communications with this place
reached me, I believe, later than it ought. From this circumstance,
and also from my being made acquainted only this afternoon with some
official arrangements, I am compelled to trouble you at a time which I
fear is less convenient than I could have desired.
The object of my present communication is, to ask whether (if the
movements of the Court permit it) it would be agreeable to your
Lordship to present me to the Emperor. In explanation of this enquiry,
I beg leave to state that this is an honour to which, personally, I
could not think of aspiring. My presence however at Pulkowa at this
time is in an official character. As Astronomer Royal of England, I
have thought it my duty to make myself perfectly acquainted with the
Observatory of Pulkowa, and this is the sole object of my journey to
Russia.
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