REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 21 



accrued in currency or in coin has not been settled by tlie depart- 

 ment. That the Institution is entitled to the benefit resulting from 

 this difference was the unanimous opinion of the Board of Regents at 

 their last session, and among them of Chief Justice Chase. This 

 learned jurist has since stated, that when Secretary of the Treasury 

 he had in several cases ordered the currency received by parties who 

 after investigation were found justly entitled to be paid in coin, to be 

 again returned into the treasury, and had directed payment to be 

 made to them in specie nominally of the same amount. 



It has been mentioned in the two preceding reports, that a part of 

 the original bequest had been left in England as the principal of an 

 annuity payable to the mother of Smithson's nephew. The annui- 

 tant having died, a power of attorney signed by Abraham Lincoln, 

 President of the United States, was sent toFladgate, Clarke & Finch, 

 solicitors, in England, authorizing them to collect the mone}^ and pay 

 it to the order of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The 

 proceeds from this, deducting the expenses of collection, were £5,262 

 Os. 3d., which were temporarily deposited with George Peabody & 

 Co., who not only transacted the business without charge, but allowed 

 four per cent, interest on the money while it remained in their hands. 

 The total amount of this residuary legacy received by the Institution, 

 including the interest, X153 Ids. 4o?., was $26,210 63 in gold, which 

 being sold at the current premium, (about 207,) yielded $54,165 38 in 

 United States currency. This sum was invested in government bonds, 

 bearing interest at 7 3-10 per cent., and deposited for safe-keeping 

 with General Spinner, the Treasurer of the United States. 



It was at first supposed that the interest on this fund could be 

 immediately applied to the uses of the Institution, but upon a critical 

 examination of the enactments of Congress in regard to the bequest, 

 it was found by the Solicitor of the Treasury that the act of Congress 

 of 1846 appropriated only that portion of the money which was 

 then in the treasury, and made no provision for the disposition of the 

 residuary legacy. The Secretary of the Institution was therefore 

 called upon by Mr. Fessenden,Secretary of the Treasury, to deposit this 

 fund to his order in the treasury of the United States until Congress 

 should authorize the appropriation of it to the maintenance or use of 

 the Institution. 



The cost of the restoration of the building in fire-proof materials 

 without changing the external appearance has, as formerly stated, 

 been far greater than was anticipated. Whether the portion of the 

 work yet to be executed will much exceed in cost that which has 



