SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST. 47 



all previous cak-ulations as to the duration of suits in chancery, they 

 leave me to judge how far this opinion of theirs is to be relied upon; 

 and they conclude with an intimation that the case might, in the end, 

 be taken before the House of Lords on appeal; in which event the 

 delay, they add, would be "very great." 



I have determined, under these circumstances, not to seek further 

 evidence by a commission to France or otherwise for defeating the 

 claim, and accordingh^ wrote to them, on the 9th instant, to proceed 

 with all expedition in bringing the suit to a close without it. A copy 

 of this note is also inclosed. As to bringing interrogatories into the 

 master's office for the personal examination of Madame de la Batut 

 and her husband, as adverted to in the answer from the solicitors, I 

 say nothing of the objections to that mode of getting at more evidence, 

 the solicitors themselves forestalling me by an admission that they 

 could not be certain of its success. 



I hope that the determination to which I have come will be approved 

 as judicious. This claim has been alreadj^ by full scrutiny and resist- 

 ance, greatly cut down from its original injustice and extravagance, as 

 a reference to my No. 12 of the 2-ith of last June will show. That it 

 might be wholh^ defeated by going on to pursue measures within our 

 power, I incline to believe. The solicitors tell me that they think so 

 decidedh^, and their letter is to the same effect. But it is now neces- 

 sary to balance the advantage to be gained by doing so against the 

 time and money it would cost. The report in favor of the claimant, 

 as the master has determined to make it in the state of the evidence as 

 now before him, will not, by the information I have received and here- 

 tofore communicated, be likely to exceed £150 a year, payable during 

 her life; to which will have to bo added a few 3^ears of arrears, calcu- 

 lated on the basis of whatever may be the precise amount of the annu- 

 ity allowed. The claimant, as far as I can learn, is about sixty years 

 old. Hence, supposing that measures necessary for the total defeat of 

 her claim occupied only another twelvemonth, it seems probable that 

 the very cost of the agency for going on with them, added to all unfore- 

 seen legal fees and expenses, might prove more than the annuit}" is 

 worth. That the suit would be lengthened out another twelvemonth 

 by going into the measures in question can scarcely, I think, be deemed 

 a strained inference from all that the solicitors say in their letter, not 

 to dwell upon contingencies coming within its scope that might make 

 the time longer. Should the suit reach the House of Lords, for exam- 

 ple, by appeal, it would not be easy to assign a limit to its duration. 



I trust, therefore, it will be thought that I exercise a proper discre- 

 tion as representing the interests of the United States in determin- 

 ing not to expose myself to any of these hazards and new ones that 

 might even chance to spring out of them as time was opened for their 

 operation. It seems to me, conclusively, that I should henceforth 



