20 COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE FOR THE 



charter was obtained, the total number of members mentioned by 

 name in the minutes was 47. During all subsequent years 91 new 

 resident members were elected, but some of these did not qualify, and 

 others were dropped from the rolls from time to time for non-pay- 

 ment of dues. According to the treasurer's report in 1826 there were 

 then 70 members, of whom about 55 settled their accounts ; but dur- 

 ing later years there was a constant falling off in the membership, 

 which had become greatly reduced at the time of the dissolution of 

 the society. 



While giving credit to Thomas Law for the idea of the society, 

 Dr. Edward Cutbush, its first president, was obviously the leading 

 spirit in its organization and the chief exponent of its plans and ad- 

 vantages. His relations to the Institute were, in fact, not unlike those 

 which, two decades later, existed between Joel R. Poinsett and the 

 National Institution, and his activities continued, though with dimin- 

 ishing intensity, until his departure from Washington in 1826, his 

 enthusiasm evidently having begun to decline when it became ap- 

 parent that substantial aid was not to be expected from the Govern- 

 ment. The prominence of others in the affairs of the Institute is 

 brought out under the head of management and officers^ and elsewhere 

 in this paper, the intention in this connection being only to name, 

 with their principal occupations, those members whose relations to 

 the community have been ascertained, in order to indicate the charac- 

 ter of the personnel of the society. The grouping is arbitrary, as 

 many of the members were prominent in many directions. 



As already stated, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were 

 on the resident list even during their incumbency of the office of 

 President of the United States. Of presidential cabinet members, 

 each of whom, with two exceptions, served also in the Senate or 

 House of Representatives, or in both, there were at least 13, namely, 

 John C. Calhoun, Vice President and Secretary of War ; Henry Clay, 

 Secretary of State; William H. Crawford, Secretary of War and of 

 the Treasury ; Richard Rush, Attorney General and Secretary of the 

 Treasury; Samuel D. Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury; James 

 Barbour and Joel R. Poinsett, Secretaries of War ; Samuel L. South- 

 ard and Mahlon Dickerson, Secretaries of the Navy; John M. Ber- 

 rien and William Wirt, Attorneys General ; John McLean and Wil- 

 liam T. Barry, Postmasters General. 



The Army was represented by Generals Simon Bernard, Chief of 

 Engineers, George Gibson and Alexander Macomb ; Colonels George 

 Bomford, Chief of the Ordnance Bureau, and Nathan Towson, Pay- 

 master General ; Surgeon General Joseph Lovell and Dr. J. A. Brere- 

 ton; and the Navy by Commodore John Rodgers, Capt. Thomas 

 Tingey, commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, Lieut. Charles 

 Wilkes and Dr. Bailey Washington. 



