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464 [Doc. 166.
SWEDENBORG’S OFFICIAL LIFE.
June, present i to 3, (absent 4,) present 5, (absent 6,)
present 8, (absent 9, 10, 11 ,) present 12, (absent 13,) present 15.
On the retirement of Councillor Bergenstierna,125 from the
College of Mines, in the spring of 1747, the College had
unanimously recommended Assessor Swedenborg for the
vacant councillorship, but instead of applying to the King for
this promotion in rank , Swedenborg on June 2nd wrote to
him the following letter, in which he requested permission to
retire from his office. This letter, which was discovered in the
Royal Archives, among the letters adressed to the King in 1747,
is as follows:
B.
SWEDENBORG TO THE KING .
Most mighty and most gracious King,
Your Royal Majesty’s College of Mines, at
your behest, have sent in their humble proposition with regard
to the vacant place of Councillor of Mines in their College,
and they have most humbly proposed me for this office in
primo loco ; but as I feel it incumbent on me to finish the
work on which I am now engaged, I would most humbly ask
Your Royal Majesty to select another in my place for this
position, and most graciously release me from office.
But, as I have been for more than thirty years an Assessor
in Your Royal Majesty’s College of Mines, and have at my
own expense made several journeys abroad, both to visit
mines and other places; and as I have printed there several
works for the benefit and honour of my country, for which I
have never yet asked the least recompense from the public;
but, on the contrary, in order to be able to devote myself
without embarrassment to these well-intentioned objects, I
have given up half my salary, which, during the last eleven
years, has amounted to upwards of 20,000 rix-dalers in copper,
I therefore entertain the hope that you will graciously grant
my request, and will allow me to continue to draw the half
of my salary, as I do at present. I the less doubt that you
will grant my request, because I have performed the duties
of an Assessor for more than thirty years, and, as well as I
can remember, no favour has ever been deried me.
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