THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 119 



sion throughout the xwrld, and have thus defeated what seems to me to 

 have been the most cherished wish of Mr. Smithson. 



The only official agents provided b}^ the acts of Congress are those 

 specified in the third section, namely, the Board of Regents, the Chan- 

 cellor, and the Executive Committee. By these it requires " the 

 business of the said Institution to be conducted." Proceeding to de- 

 fine the duties of the Secretary^ it constitutes him "librarian and keeper 

 of the museum," charges him with the care of "the building and prop- 

 erty of the Institution," and requires him, under the direction of the 

 Board of Regents, " to make a fair and accurate statement of all their 

 proceedings." Having thus traversed the whole circle of official duties, 

 and aware that those assigned to the Secretary might become too oner- 

 ous for a single individual, it authorized him, with the assent of the 

 Board of Regents, to " employ assistants ;" but such persons were, 

 strictly speaking, not officers of" the Institution, but, in the language of 

 the act, employes of the secretary, or as the act expresses it, his " assist- 

 ants,^^ and in this sense only can the term " officers," used in the 7th 

 section, when speaking of their liability to removal b}' the Board of 

 Regents, be understood. The subordinate officers of the customs fur- 

 nish a somewhat analogous case. They are appointed by the collector 

 with the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury. Now, the 

 Secretary, as the official organ of the President, ^an remove both the 

 collector and his subordinates, but this does not prevent the collector 

 from removing them. 



From what I have written, my opinion will be understood to be that 

 the " assistants" of the Secretary are liable to removal b}^ that officer 

 and that such removal would be effective unless the Board, in the ex- 

 ercise of its controlling power over the Secretary, should think proper 

 to interfere. 



JOHN McPHERSON BERRIEN 



Savannah, July, 1854. 



