SMITHSONIAN BKQUEST. 12': 



RESIDUARY BEQUEST OF JAMES SMITHSON. 



From Report of the Secretary for the year 1861. 



Informatiou has been received from London of tlie death, 

 at an advanced age, of Madame de la Batut, the mother of 

 the nephew of James Smithson, to wliom an annuity was 

 conceded as a compromise by the Hon. Richard Rush, with 

 a view to the more expeditious realization of the Smith- 

 sonian legacy. The principal of this annuity, amounting 

 to five thousand and fifteen pounds, (about $25,000,) will 

 now be added to the bequest of Smithson, of which it origi- 

 nally formed a part. 



Fi'om Proceedings of the Board of Reyciiis^ May 1, 1862. 



The Secretary gave an account of the circumstances con- 

 nected with the money left in England by Hon. Richard 

 Rush, as principal of an annuity to the mother of the 

 nephew of Smithson, and presented the following commu- 

 nications from Fladgate, Clarke k Finch, of London. 

 40 Craven Street, Strand, 



London, W. C, May 16, 1861. 



Sir : AVe had the honor, in the year 1838, of acting pro- 

 fessionally for the President of the United States in the 

 suit in the English court of chancery, under which the funds 

 for the foundation of the Institution (of which we address 

 you as manager) were decreed to be paid over to him for 

 the purpose of establishing the Institution. We have now 

 to make to you as the manager thereof the following com- 

 munication : 



On referring to the papers connected with the Institution 

 you will find that a sum of £5,015 three per cent, consols, 

 part of the estate of Smithson, the founder, were retained 

 in the court of chancery to answer a claim of one Madame 

 de la Batut. That person was, in fact, entitled to a life in- 

 terest in the fund, and at her death it was to revert to the 

 President as an additional fund for the purposes of the In- 

 stitution. 



Madame de la Batut is now dead, so that the fund has 

 become transferable to the President, and it will be requi- 



