128 Memorial of George Broivn Goode. 



You can, if 3-ou choose, give us a very short reply — that what you have done was 

 ill the execution of your official duties, for which you can account only to j-our offi- 

 cial superiors. Yet, nevertheless, the Institute would have the right to make the 

 enquir}' and to expect an answer of some kind. But allow me to call your attention 

 to the reflection that it is in j^our civil relation of an agent of the Library Committee 

 in which you are now temporarily acting, and it is only in that capacity that any 

 accountability can attach to you, or that any was supposed by the committee of the 

 Institute to exist. 



As an officer of the Navy you can not now be acting ; your course is not by virtue 

 of your commission or rank in the Navy, or orders from your constitutional or legal 

 superiors, or of any duties connected with your profession. No official responsibility 

 can exist between Capt. Wilkes, of the Navy, and the Library Committee, or official 

 penalties be incurred by a neglect of its directions. Your position, if I understand 

 it correctly, is by virtue of the authority in the Library Committee to place the col- 

 lection under the care of such persons as they may appoint. The executive or the 

 constitutional superior of the Army, as well as Nav}', were it to assign you to a 

 ship to-morrow, you would have to go and abandon the care assigned to you by the 

 Library Committee, which shows, I think, that it is not the official relations of the 

 offices which are involved in your present position. Dr. King once had the place, 

 then Dr. Pickering, to whom you succeeded. Both of these gentlemen were civilians, 

 and as you succeeded them in your present place it is clear, I think, that it is not in 

 any official relation which Capt. Wilkes can claim, or to which he can be assigned, 

 that he is now acting, but in the civil relation of a person appointed by the Joint 

 Library Committee to take charge of matters the publication of which has been 

 made a duty of that committee. I make these explanations of our views that you 

 may feel relieved from the supposition that we had the most remote idea of encroach- 

 ing upon your official rights, for which I assure you, as well as for yotir well-estab- 

 lished professional abilities, we all entertain the greatest respect. 



The specimens of the Exploring Squadron are to be deposited and arranged in the 

 upper room of the Patent Office. This, however, does not, we think, give the exclu- 

 sive possession of that room for that purpose unless such exclusive possession be 

 necessary. Whether it be or not, I am willing to admit, is the right of the Library 

 Committee to decide, and if they so decide others must give way. The sign lately 

 put over the door would seem to indicate that such decision was in contemplation. 

 The Institute has also possession of part of that room, of the eastern half, by direc- 

 tion of the Secretary of State, under whose care the whole building was then placed. 

 The Institute has property there of great amount and, in our judgment, of great 

 value, and if it has to move its property, by virtue of a decision by the Library Com- 

 mittee, the courtesy of notice from the agent of that committee is not, I think, too 

 much to expect, and our right to enquire if we shall have to move should be viewed 

 as a duty on our part as the curator of so much property. I assure you the enquiry 

 was made with these impressions only. Your assurance that notice will be given if 

 we should have to move leaves us satisfied in this respect. 



All that belongs to the Exploring vSquadron is under the care of the Library Com- 

 mittee or its agent. But the Institute is a legal body, regularly chartered with defined 

 rights over its property, gifts, and deposits. (See law of 27 July, 1842.) Now, what 

 is this property ? Gifts and deposits from members, from foreign governments, from 

 distinguished foreigners, from our diplomatic agents, from foreign societies, from 

 domestic societies, from departments of our own Government, from our own citizens. 

 In a word, all the property in the room, except that of the Exploring Squadron and 

 that of the Patent Office, which (Institute) property, unless I am very much mis- 

 taken, far exceeds the impression you have of it, and judging from some remark 

 about the few things of the Institute. 



Now, this property requires care, watching, and cleaning. 



