8 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



occasion Doctor Bell, Mr. Bishop, and the other witnesses again 

 assembled and the following remarks were made: 



REMARKS BY WILLIAM HENRY HISHOP, ESQ., UNITED STATES CONSUL. 



Dr. Alexander Graham Bell: You arrived here, my dear Dr. Graham Bell, 

 charged by the Smithsonian Institution with the mission of removing to Washington 

 the remains of the founder of that Institution, James Siiuthson, who has been buried 

 till now in the cemetery where we stand since his death at Genoa in the year 1829. 

 Having been invited by you and by the Smithsonian Institution to aid you, to what 

 extent I might l)e able, in this object, it has been a matter of great pride and i)leas- 

 ure to me that I have been allowed to do so. 



All the steps necessary to such removal have now been taken. We have received 

 the authorization of the governmental heads of the province, the city, and the British 

 Burial Ground Fund, in which latter' the title to the cemetery and the custody of the 

 grave of James Smithson are vested, and all of these have kindly cooperated with us 

 in the work. 



The l)ody of James Smithson has now been reverently raised from the earth; it 

 has been placed in a case securely sealed, and this case stands ready to pass into the 

 charge of the Steamship company which will convey it to New York. 



I assure you that it is with a feeling of real emotion that I have just now cast the 

 American flag over the body of this illustrious man, this noble but as yet little 

 known benefactor, as it is on the verge of beginning its journey to the United States. 

 The flag adopts him already, as it were, in the substance, for our country, to which 

 he has so long belonged in the spirit. He is now about to receive there a portion of 

 the outward veneration and homage he so supremely merits, and which, owing to 

 the modest circumstances of his life, and his interment here in some sense almost 

 forgotten, he has never had. 



Shall I admit that on taking possession of my post as consul at Genoa I did not 

 even know who James Smithson was? I may say that I was surprised to learn that 

 he was buried at Genoa; more surprised still that he was an Englishman, who had 

 never even set foot in America. He left his great bequest to the United States, then 

 in its infancy, through admiring confidence in our future. It is likely that many, or 

 even most, Americans are in the same condition as was I myself; for occasion has 

 rarely arisen for taking thought as to the personality of the man. Happily this unen- 

 lightened condition of mind is about to cease. 



Dr. (iraham Bell, I wish you a hearty God-speed across the ocean with your 

 precious freight. The American people will receive it with general gratification, 

 and, through the Smithsonian Institution, will soon delight to pay it great honor. 



RESPONSE HV DR. ALEXANDER ORAHAM BELL. 



Mr. Consul: It is with feelings of deep emotion that I undertake tlie transporta- 

 tion of the remains of James Smithson from the cemetery where they have so long 

 reposed to their last resting place in the United States. 



On l)ehalf of the Smithsonian Institution allow me to thank you, Mr. Consul, for 

 the unwearied zeal and care with which you liave given me your assistance. With- 

 out your active cooperation and witliout your j)ersonal sympathy it would have been 

 difficult, indeed, for me to have accomplished the object of my mission here. 



On behalf of the Smithsonian Institution I l)eg to thank you, too, Mr. Noel Lees, 

 for your courtesy and attention, and trust that you will convey to His British 

 Majesty's consul-general and to the committee of the British Burial Ground Fund 

 my thanks, and the thanks of the Instituti((n I rc'present, for their ready assistance 

 in furthering my mission. 



