LANGLEY] removal of remains of JAMES SMITHSON 24/ 



Kindly address any communication 3'ou may wish to make on this 

 matter to 



Noel Lees Esq., 

 Care of H. B. M.'s Consnl-General — Genoa 

 before January ist, 1904. 

 And believe us, 



Yours faithfully 



The Committee 



British Burial Ground Fund 



Genoa. 



Doctor Bell renewed the proposal made by him at the previous 

 meeting of the Regents, that the remains of Smithson be brought to 

 this country at his expense, and after some remarks the following 

 resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved : That Doctor A. Graham Bell be appointed as a com- 

 mittee to take charge of the matter of the removal of the remains of 

 James Smithson from Genoa to Washington, with the request that 

 the negotiations and removal be conducted quietly and privately. 



Resolved : That upon the conclusion of this duty, all expenses 

 involved by it be reimbursed to Doctor Bell from the fimds of the 

 Institution. 



Doctor Bell, accompanied by Mrs. Bell, sailed on the 15th of 

 December for the port of Cherbourg in France, and going thence to 

 Genoa, commenced at once the arrangements for the transfer of the 

 remains, arrangements which would have occupied a quite indefinite 

 time and incurred a corresponding delay, except for the aid given 

 by the United States Consul, Mr. William Henry Bishop, which 

 Doctor Bell gladly acknowledges. 



On opening the tomb in the presence of Mr. Bell, the United 

 States Consul, Noel Lees, Esq. (official representative of the British 

 Burial Ground Fund Association), and other witnesses, it was found 

 that the remains of Smithson, represented by the skeleton, were in 

 fair preservation, although the wooden coffin in which they had been 

 enclosed had molded away. The remains were placed in a metal 

 casket and deposited in the mortuary chapel of the cemetery, where 

 they rested until January 2, when the casket was enclosed in a coffin of 

 strong wood and covered with the American flag by Consul Bishop. 

 On this occasion Doctor Bell, Mr. Bishop, and the other witnesses 

 again assembled, and the following remarks were made : 



Remarks by William Henry Bishop, Esq., United States Consul. 



Doctor Alexander Graham Bell: You arrived here, my dear 

 Dr. Graham Bell, charged by the Smithsonian Institution with the 



