SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST. 11 



from New York after my letter of the Ist of August informing you 

 that I was ready. 



I reached this city the early part of the present month, and as soon 

 as circumstances would permit entered upon the duty which the 

 President's power of attorney devolves upon me. 



Towards asserting and prosecuting with effect before the legal 

 tribunals of England the claim of the United States to the legacy 

 bequeathed to them by James Smithson, of London, to found at 

 Washington an institution "' for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men," the first consideration which seemed to present 

 itself was the selection of fit legal characters here, through whose aid 

 and instrumentality the incipient steps could alone be judiciously 

 marked out or adopted. In a country where the profession of the law 

 is known to be so subdivided as in this, I regarded it important that 

 not onl}^ the counsel whose services it may ultimately become neces- 

 sary to engage, but the solicitors to be approached in the first instance, 

 should have a standing suited to the nature of the case and the dignity 

 of the constituent I represent. The letter addressed you in July, 1835, 

 by the late charge d'affaires of the United States at this court, left 

 little doubt, indeed, that Messrs. Clarke, Fynmore & Fladgate were 

 proper solicitors; yet, as the President's power to me and your 

 instructions appeared to place the whole subject anew in my hands, 

 some previous inquiry into their standing seemed necessary on my 

 part. This I set on foot, and am glad to say that it ended to my sat- 

 isfaction, the more as their connection with the ease in its origin 

 naturally pointed to their selection, other grounds continuing to 

 justify it. 



Accordingly, on the 14th instant, I addressed a note to these solici- 

 tors informing them that 1 had arrived in this country with full power 

 from the President, founded upon an act of Congress, to assert the 

 right of the United States to the Smithsonian bequest and receive 

 the money, and requesting that the}^ would call upon me on the 

 16th. A copy of my note is inclosed. This is a season of the 

 year when professional and official business of every kind is much 

 at a pause in London, and those who conduct it dispersed. It was 

 not until the 20th that I was enabled to command an interview with 

 these gentlemen, when two of them, Mr. Clarke and Mr. Fladgate, 

 waited upon me, the latter having previously called, after receiv- 

 ing my note, to mention the absence of his associates from town. 

 With these two I had the preliminary conversation suited to a first 

 interview. They chiefly went over the grounds stated in their note 

 of the 21st of July to our charge d'affaires, Mr. Vail, in some points 

 enlarging them and giving new particulars. They said that James 

 Smithson, the testator, died in June, 1829; that his will was proved in 

 the prerogative court of Canterbury by Mr. Charles Drummond, one 



