JOURNAL OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 441 



would be nugatory, we should have complete control of the fund, before any contract 

 or purchase was made ; it would be subject to the fluctuations of the stock market; 

 we should have to sell out as emergency required, and might thus be exposed to em- 

 barrassment and loss ; and, in fine, we should, by departing from the law, lose secu- 

 rities and incur risks which, I think, we ought not to lose or incur. 

 I am, very respecfully, your most obedient servant, 



G. M. DALLAS, 

 Regent and Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 W. W. Seaton, Esq. 



Chairman of the Executive Committee. 



Baltimore, September 18, 1846. 



Sir : I received this morning your letter of the 12th instant, stating that the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee of the Smithsonian Institution propose to request the Secretary of 

 the Treasury (if it meets the approbation of the Eegents) to issue United States 

 stock, in the name of the Institution, to the amount of $240,000, on account of the 

 arrearages of interest due July 1st, 1846. 



I have not a copy of the law before me, and cannot, therefore, undertake to say 

 whether it authorizes the proposed arrangement. If it does, the plan proposed ap- 

 pears to me to be both just and expedient; and will have my cordial approbation; 

 for the Institution is entitled to all the benefits arising from the fund bequeathed, 

 and if the Government uses it, it ought to pay interest. 



I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, 



E. B. TANEY. 



W. W. Seaton, Esq., 



Chairman of the Executive Committee, Smithsonian Institution. 



Sydenham, near Philadelphia, September 18, 1846. 



Sir: Having made an excursion into Virginia, after the late adjournment of our 

 Board on the 9th instant, from which I did not return until yesterday, it was not 

 until then that I received your communication of the 12th, and I hasten to say, in 

 reply, that if the plan of issuing United States stock, bearing interest, in favor of 

 the Smithsonian Institution for the amount of accumulated interest now due and 

 payable to us — say two hundred and forty thousand dollars — can be carried into effect, 

 I think it so clearly beneficial to the Institution that, as one of the Eegents, it has 

 my hearty concurrence. 



With the highest respect, I remain, your obedient servant, 



EICHAED EUSH. 



Columbia, South Carolina, September 30, 1846. 



My Dear Sir: I have just returned from an interior watering place where, for 

 some weeks, I have been seeking health, which will excuse me, I trust, for an appa- 

 rent neglect of your letter. 



I most heartily concur in the opinion of the Executive Committee, that a request 

 should be made to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue United States stock in the 

 name of the Smithsonian Institution, to the amount of $240,000. I think it clearly 

 and urgently the duty of the committee to invest every disposable fund in such a 

 manner as to augment it, until the institution has occasion for it. 



I esteem myself very unfortunate in not having been able to attend the meeting of 

 the Eegents, and my chagrin is increased by seeing that the next meeting is fixed at 

 the time of the commencement of the college, when my presence here is indispensable. 

 This is really provoking ; for my heart is very much set upon helping to put the in- 

 stitution in motion ; and I fear that my absence may create some inconvenience. 

 May I pray you, my dear sir, to inform me whether there is reason to apprehend any 

 thing of that kind, that I may make way for some one else who can be present. 



Besides the painful sense of failure in the performance of a very agreeable duty, I 

 am compelled to forego the pleasure of meeting very highly valued friends ; amongst 

 whom I hope I may be allowed to consider you ; for, 



I am, dear sir, with very high respect, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM C. PEESTON. 



Mr. Seaton. 



