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[ Doc. No. 51. ] 



Portland Hotel, Great Portland street, 

 London., September 14, 18 36. 



Gentlemen : Kefcrrinic to your correspondence with the charg6 d'af- 

 faires of the United Stutes,'"in July, 1S35, on the Smithsonian bequest to the 

 United States. 1 beg leave to inform you that I have arrived here with full 

 pov^rer from the President, founded on an act of Congress, to assert the ris:ht 

 of the United States to that bequest, and receive the money. I should ,^ 

 happy to have an inter viewwith you on this subject ; to wiiich end I ask the 

 fovor'of you to call upon me on Friday morning at 11 o'clock ; or, should 

 that be inconvenient to you, at sucli other time, near at hand, as you will 



have the goodness to name. 



I remain your most obedient servant, 



RICHARD RUSH. 



To Messrs. Clarkk, Fynmop.e & Fladgate, 



jSolicitors. Craven street. Strand. 



London, Septei/iber 24, 1836. 



Sir: 1 b-ad the honor to inform you, on the 31st bf August, of my 

 arrival at Liverpool, having embarked in the first ship that sailed from New 

 York alter my letter of the 1st of August, informing you that I was ready. 



I reached this city the early part of the present month, and, as soon as 

 circumstances would permit, entered upon the duty which the President's 

 pov/er of'attornev devolves upon me. 



Towards asserting and prosecutino- with effect before the legal tribunals of 

 England ihe claim of the United Sta^tes to the legacy bequeathed to them by 

 James SmithsonofLondon, to found. atWashington, an institution -'for the in- 

 crease and diffusion of knowledge among men," the first consideration which 

 seemed to present itself was, thelielection of fit legal characters here, through 

 whose aid and instrumenlality the incipient steps could alone be judiciously 

 m^M'kcd out or adopted. In a country where the profession of the law is 

 known io be so subdivided as in this, I regarded it important that not only the 

 counsel whose services it may ultimately become necessary to engage, but the 

 solicitors to be approached'in the first instance, should have a standing 

 suited to the nature of the case, and dignity of the constituent 1 represent. 

 The letter addressed vou in Julv, 183-5, by the late charg^ d' afiaires of 

 the United States at this court, left little doubt, indeed, that Messrs, Clarke, 

 Fyamoro, and Fladgate v/ere proper solicitors; yet, as the President's 

 power to me, and your instructions, afipeared to place the whole subje/.v 

 aiir/w in my hands, some previous incjuiry into their standing seemed 

 necessary on my part. Tliis I set on foot, and am glad to say that it ended 

 to my satisfaction ; the more, as their connexion with the case in its origin 

 naturally pointed to their selection, other grounds continuing to justify it. 



Accordingly, on the 14tli instant, I addressed a note to these solicitors in- 

 formino'tbem'that Iliad arrived in this country with full power from the Presi- 

 dent, fii^uided upon an act of Congress, to assert the right of the United States 

 to the Smithsonian bequest, and recei'^c the money; and requesting that 

 they would call upon me on the Kith. A copy of my note is enclosed. This 

 is a season of the 3/ear when professional and official business of every kind 



