SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST. 33 



conduct of Monsieur la Batut, in reference to the supposed 

 claim of his wife upon the Smithsonian fund. 



My No. 6, of January 9th, will have made known who 

 the wife is. Nothing is more clear than that she has no 

 claim under the will of Mr. Smithson. Her claim, if any, 

 can only he made out, as mentioned in my No. 6, under 

 the will of Henry Louis Dickinson, and for its establish- 

 ment the court of chancery has pointed out the proper 

 means, and Monsieur la Batut has full liberty to adopt 

 them, that justice may be done. I said in my No. 7, that 

 the claim extended only to about one hundred pounds a 

 year ; but, on better information, I find that it would 

 amount, if sustained, to two hundred and forty pounds a 

 year, during the life of Madame la Batut. 



But Monsieur de la Batut is little satisfied with putting 

 forward this claim, which, it may be, the court w^ill allow if 

 be can bring forward proof to substantiate it. He makes 

 a sweeping moral claim, as he calls it, upon the United 

 States, should the Smithsonian fund be adjudged to them. 

 The letter from the solicitors of the 9th instant gives, in 

 part, the ground of this moral claim. He thinks that, as 

 the Smithsonian fund is to be applied to found an institu- 

 tion at Washington, for the increase and difiusion of knowl- 

 edge among men, his children in France have a claim to be 

 educated out of it ; and he even considers that his wife 

 has a claim to the ^^ * * * income of the fund since 

 Mr. Smithson's death ! This, at a rough estimate, might 

 be perhaps set. down at upwards of twenty thousand 

 pounds. 



I cannot wonder that the solicitors deemed it unneces- 

 sary to detail to me the " arguments " by which Monsieur de 

 la Batut sought to support these his " requisiiions." His 

 attempt at coercion, by withholding evidence within his 

 power, unless on a previous pledge from me to support his 

 requisitions, thereby showing a disposition to prevent the 

 United States recovering anything, will probably' gain him 

 little favor in their eyes. Fortunately, there is now other 

 evidence, as the solicitors state in their letter, and have 

 since told me verbally, which, it is believed, will place the 

 United States beyond his reach. The part of their letter 

 that T read with regret was that in which thc}^ intimated to 

 him that, as neither they nor I could engage that anything 

 should be done for him by the United States, he must him- 

 self apply to the proper authorities. I called upon them 



