244 smithsonian miscellaneous collections [vol. 45 



7 Via Garibaldi, Genoa, 



24 November, 1900. 

 Samuel Pierpont Langley, Esq., LL.D., D.C.L., 



Smithsonian Institution, Washington. 

 Dear Sir: 



The Committee of the British Burial Ground of Genoa (of which 

 you are aware Her Majesty's Consul is Chairman), fully realizing 

 how keenly you are interested in all that concerns the resting place 

 of the respected Founder of your Institution, has deputed me to 

 write to you and lay before you the present position of our Cemetery. 



It will lie in your recollection that when I accompanied you some 

 years ago up to the heights of San Benigno, you were struck by the 

 enormous quarry which was slowly but surely eating its way towards 

 us from the sea through the rocky side of the hill on which we 

 stand, and excavation has lately come so close to us that the inter- 

 vention of the Consul became necessary to arrest further advance on 

 the plea that our property would be endaijgered if the quarrying 

 were carried on. 



Actual blasting has in fact been put an end to for the present, and 

 the Cemetery (although the boundary wall is now on the very edge 

 of the excavation) remains untouched; but the local authorities who 

 are the owners of the quarry have given us to understand that they 

 need more stone for their harbor works, and are therefore anxious 

 to see our graves transferred from the position they now occupy, 

 for which purpose they would give us a suitable piece of ground in 

 another part of the town and would also undertake the due and 

 fitting transport of the remains. Should our answer be in the nega- 

 tive, it is intimated to us that in five years' time, in 1905, the term for 

 applying the Law for Public Utility (twenty years after the date 

 of the last burial) will have been reached, and we shall then have to 

 give up of necessity what we are now asked to yield as a concession. 



Under the circumstances, the Committee have decided that it is 

 their best policy, in the interest of all concerned, to begin to negotiate 

 at once for the transfer on a decorous footing of the British Ceme- 

 tery and all its tombs, and although some considerable time may 

 elapse before this transfer is accomplished, yet it is evident that the 

 time has now come for us to ask you to prepare your decision as to 

 what is to be done with regard to the James Smithson remains. Are 

 they to be laid with all possible care and reverence in new ground 

 here, or are they to be conveyed to the United States? 



Awaiting the pleasure of your reply, I beg to remain. 

 Very faithfully yours, 



E. A. Le Mesurier. 



This communication was laid before the Regents, who, at their 

 meeting of January 23, 1901, adopted the following resolution: 



Resolved : In view of the proposed abolition of the English 

 Cemetery at Genoa which contains the remains of James Smithson, 



