26 COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE FOR THE 



States and submit for his approbation the location agreed upon by 

 the Institute reported that, on May 29, they had waited on the 

 President, who was pleased to assign that portion of the eastern 

 part of the Mall, near the Capitol, and that instructions had been 

 given to the City Commissioner to locate five acres in that position. 

 The committee also called on the Commissioner who informed them 

 that in the course of a few clays the public surveyor would mark 

 off the spot for the purpose of enabling the Institute to effect the 

 object of its incorporation, and that he would notify the president 

 of the Institute of the day when the survey would be made. 



The proposition submitted on December 22, 1817, for the hold- 

 ing of a lottery appears not to have been definitely formulated 

 until February 3, 1821, when the draft of a memorial to Congress, 

 the only one on the subject found among the papers of the society, 

 was presented by Dr. William Thornton. In view, however, of the 

 conditions then existing, its transmission to Congress was deemed 

 inexpedient at that time, and it seems probable that no use was ever 

 made of it. The draft was as follows: 



That, to carry into effective operation the grant of five acres of ground at 

 the east end of the Mall, for which they are already indebted to the munificence 

 of the legislature, they are, reluctantly, under the necessity of soliciting the 

 further indulgence of Congress. 



The Institute are well aware that the prudence of those to whom the citizens 

 of the United States have confided their most interesting concerns would not 

 permit, at this juncture of general pecuniary embarrassment, those liberal aids 

 which might, under more favorable circumstances, be consistent with the public 

 welfare. Under these impressions, the Institute solicit the permission to raise 

 the necessary funds for enclosing the grounds, for the erection of their hall — 

 their laboratory, — their hot and green houses, — their library and museum, and 

 for the cultivation of the botanic garden, wherein they hope soon to present 

 to the view of their fellow citizens specimens of all the plants of this middle 

 region of our country, with others exotic and domestic ; and the only plan that 

 they can now suggest of raising the funds necessary for carrying into effect 

 their views and endeavors to be useful will be by a lottery, which if, in some 

 respects, liable to objection, may in some other respects be considered as a 

 voluntary subscription for the promotion of a great national object. 



Your petitioners, therefore, most respectfully solicit your honorable Houses to 

 grant them permission to raise a sum not exceeding thirty thousand dollars by 

 a lottery, the proceeds of which will be dedicated solely to the objects set forth 

 in this address ; or to extend to them such other aid for the promotion of those 

 objects as, in their wisdom, Congress may think more advisable. 



The sale of public lots in the city of Washington, which also re- 

 quired the authority of Congress, was next proposed as a proper means 

 for acquiring the funds desired. This plan was first mentioned in the 

 minutes for February 2, 1822, where it was coupled with the question 

 of obtaining an extension of the botanic garden. The concurrence 

 and aid of Daniel Carroll of Duddington were solicited, and the draft 



