To the Hon. W.^m Cowper MP. Royal Academy of Arts
Feb.^y 1866.
Dear Sir
The members of the Royal Academy having carefully
considered your letter of the 18^th of November last, are
deeply impressed with the assurance contained therein
that while recommending certain changes in the
constitution of the Royal Academy, conditional on
granting a site in Piccadilly for the erection of a
New Building for the Royal Academy, you state
that it is “very far from our wish to establish a
precedent for any future interference on the part of
the Crown or of Parliament” _ and stating that
it is your desire “that any change which is now
made shall be by the willing and independent
action of the Academy”, so that, ---------------
wards, the present government being satisfied, “the
independence and the dignity of the Royal Academy
are preserved inviolate”._
On this assurance the Members of the Royal
Academy submit to you the following resolutions
which they conceive will obviate evils patent

in the present constitution, in a manner most
acceptable to the artists of this Country, and at the
same time will fully meet the recommendation
of the government as to the enlargement of the constituency
of the Academy._

Resolved _ That the resolutions agreed to in a General
Assembly held on the 2^nd of April 1863, and finally
adopted for immediate legislation by a general
Assembly held on the 1^st of July 1864 _ be re-affirmed
and ratified _ viz._
That the present Class of Associates be abolished._
That a new Class of Associates be instituted, consisting
of an indefinite number of Artists by profession _ viz.
Painters, Sculptors, Architects and Engravers._
Resolved further _ That ^Twenty Associates of the New Class
or according to the present proportions of Associates shall be elected or
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appointed as representative Associates.
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who shall be invited to take part, together with
the Academicians, in all Elections of Associates
and Academicians._

That the site in Piccadilly offered to the Royal
Academy, for a new Building, to be erected out of the
Funds of the Academy, be accepted, in lieu of that
portion of the Building of the National Gallery now
in the possession _occupation of the Royal Academy._
While respectfully acknowledging the courtesy of your
communication, the Members feel called upon to
express their unanimous dissent to the view you have
laid down as to the proposed site. – viz. – “An offer
has been made of a Site in Piccadilly to be given
gratuitously”._ as this offer of a Site as a gratuitous
gift seems to ignore an important fact in the
history of the Institution, and one on which the
independence of the Academy greatly rests, the
Members desire to lay before you, the following brief
statement of their reasons for objecting to an expression
which after all might not have been intended by you
to convey the interpretation which they deprecate
A.D.
1768 His Majesty George III founded the Royal Academy
of Arts, meeting the expenditure of the new Institution
out of his own private purse._
 

1771 The King granted the use of Apartments in His
Royal Palace of Somerset House, for the purpose
of the Royal Academy .. _
1780 By command of the King, a portion of the new Building
of Somerset House, then in process of Erection, was
expressly planned and expressly constructed for the uses of the
Royal Academy, and was delivered over by
Him in charge and trust to the Academy._
1835 At the desire of the Government, and by the sanction
of the King, the apartments in Somerset House were
relinquished ^{given up} to the Government, and in exchange
the Eastern end of the Building in Trafalgar Square
was allocated to the Royal Academy, with the
express assurance both by the King and the Prime
Minister that the Academy entered on their new
location, on the same tenure as that under which
they had previously held the apartments at Somerset
House._ with the written guarantee under the
hand of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that in the
Event of such eastern portion of the Building being
at any time required for the accommodation of the

National pictures, the Academy should vacate
their holding, the Government undertaking to provide
an Equivalent for the Academy elsewhere._
Intimations have been given at different periods
that the Eastern portion of the Building would be required
for the National pictures, and the Equivalent offered
to the Academy, has been valued by one government
at the sum of £40,000 _ by another a site was proposed
of a value estimated at considerably higher than that
sum._
Under these considerations the Members as Trustees of an
important property confided to them by the Royal Founder
and ratified by the concurrence of succeeding Sovereigns
and governments & desiring to hand down this great
trust in all its integrity ^{to their successors} [illegible] to the term applied
to this site as being a gratuitous gift on the part of the
government._ but such site can only be viewed by
the Royal Academy, as that Equivalent, for
property rendered up, which has been so emphatically
promised by former governments._
The acceptance of the proposed site as a gratuitous

gift can only be viewed as the resignation betrayal of the
trust confided to them by the Sovereign. _ would be a
lasting dishonor to the Trustees appointed by the Sovereign,
and would be a virtual abdication of their Royal
Institution._
The Answer to your last question as to “When the Academy
will vacate their premises” must depend on the time
necessary for the erection of the New Building, which may
probably be completed in two years from the date
of obtaining possession of the site._
The Academicians in the foregoing resolutions, having
conceded the matters suggested by the Government
viz.:_ “the enlargement of the constituency, and the
right of voting granted to associates, in all Elections
of Associates and Academicians.”_ they beg to state
their readiness to put those resolutions into legislative
form to be submitted to the Sanction of Her Majesty the
Queen, together with such other matters for the better government of the Academy as have
already been passed by previous General Assemblies.

It only remains to be observed, that as the Academy had
resolved on the enlargement of the Class of Associates,
and on granting to Associates increased privileges, before
the appointment of the Royal Commission, and as
these changes have been held in abeyance, waiting
for and in deference to the communication of the
Government, so the Members are prepared to carry
out the resolutions now submitted in answer to the
Government, irrespective of the proffered site in
Piccadilly, _ whether that site be granted or withheld.

On the part of the Members of the Royal Academy
I have the honor to be
Dear Sir
Your Most Obedient Servant