THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 309 



Both these documents are in tlio Department of Foreign Affairs in 

 tlie city of Mexico, where copies of them can be procured with facility. 

 We are, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servants, 



EDWAED ROBINSON, 



Prcst. Am. IJlhnol'xficaJ Society. 

 HERMANN E. LUDEWKl, 



Sec'y Am. Ethnol. Society. 

 E. GEO. SQUIER. 

 HEN. C. MURPHEY. 

 WM. B. HODGSON, of Georgia. 

 Prof. Joseph Henry, 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



SuxNYsiDE, August 2G, 1854. 

 From a perusal of the accompanying letter, drawn up, as I under- 

 ptand, by Buckingham Smith, esq., late Secretary of Legation in 

 i\Iexico, I am induced to believe that the documents therein specified 

 are well worthy of publication, both in their original language and 

 in translation, by the Smithsonian Institution. 



WASHINGTON IRVING. 



Lynn, September 7, 1854. 

 I concur in the opinion expressed by Mr. Irving, especially in re- 

 gard to the first series of documents mentioned in Mr. Smith's letter. 



WM. H. PRESCOTT. 



Cambridge, September 13, 1854. 



The Spanish documents enumerated in the communication drawn 

 up by Buckingham Smith, esq., appear to me valuable, as furnishing 

 new and interesting materials for a history of portions of tlie United 

 States hitherto little known, and I believe the Smithsonian Institution 

 would confer an important benefit on the country bv publishing them. 



JARED SPARKS. 



New York, October 5, 1854. 

 I shall be very glad to see the documents referred to by Messrs. Ir- 

 ving, Prescott, and Sparks, made accessible through tbe press. The 

 Diary of Father Pedro Font seems to be not the least inviting of the 

 series. Give us light, all the light that history can shed, on the vast 

 territory we have annexed. 



GEORGE BANCROFT. 



New York, October 11, 1854. 



The publication of the documents referred to in Mr. Smith's letter 

 is very desirable. 



Those named in the first series (and especially Castaiieda's account) 

 are very valuable. 



FRANCIS L. HAWKS. 



