Charles Darwin – The Early Yearsnot implicitly yield to your better judgement, and to the kindest indulgence you have shown
me all through my life; and you may rely upon it I will never mention the subject again.Your affectionate son,
CHARLES DARWINThe letters went off in a carriage the next morning and later that day Darwin and his
uncle travelled to Shrewsbury. By the time they arrived his father had read their letters
and had decided to withdraw his opposition. Having formally refused the invitation,
was it now too late for Charles to accept? He was up at 3 a.m. to catch the express
coach to London and try and overtake his letter declining the invitation. After hiring
carriages to take him the last fifty miles to Cambridge he penned this letter to John
Henslow later that same night:
My Dear Sir,I am just arrived; you will guess the reason. My father has changed his mind.
I trust the place is not given away.I am very much fatigued and am going to bed. I dare say you have not yet got my second
letter.How soon shall I come to you in the morning?Send a verbal answer.Good Night, Yours, C. DARWINHe spent the next few days with Professor Henslow, who explained that an
invitation from the Admiralty to join a voyage to Tierra del Fuego and home by the
East Indies had circulated across a number of Cambridge desks before he had put
Darwin’s name forward for the position. Darwin then returned to London to formally
meet with Captain FitzRoy at the Admiralty. Fortunately, the twenty-six-year-old
highly experienced captain and the twenty-two -year -old inexperienced Darwin found
themselves compatible. Exalted, barely able to contain his excitement, Darwin quickly
wrote a message home to his sister Susan:
Captain FitzRoy is [in] town, and I have seen him; it is no use trying to praise him as much
as I feel inclined to do, for you would not believe me. One thing I am certain, nothing63