27'S REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



of the IJuited States, and to render an essential serviee to tlie nation 

 by perpetuating an establislinient worthy of the ineti'()i)olis bearing the 

 name of our illustrious Washington, where at some futnre ])eriod the 

 y<nith of our cimutry will repair to complete their education at the na- 

 tional seminary, to which tlie Botanical Garden and i^lineralogical 

 Cabinet would be important ap\)endages. 



Cutbnsh's address before the Columbian Institute, nearly three- 

 quarters of a century ago, is well worthy of study at the present time. 



knew of tlie eifoi'ts being made to establish a national capital he became auxions to 

 indentify himself witli its growth from the very beginning. 



He invested all of his pi'oi)erty in houses and lots in Washington, and for forty 

 years was one of the most zealous and enlightened citizens. 



S. L. Knapp (Ignatius Loyala Robertson, LL.D.) wrote of him in ISMO in his 

 Sketches of Public Characters : 



"He purchased largely of the soil, built on an extensive scale, snggested ten thou- 

 sand plans for the improvement of the city and for the prosperity of the nation ; but 

 the slow, doubtful, and often strange course of Congress came not only in his way, 

 but iu the way of all those deeply interested in the welfare of the city; and he has 

 spent the days of his maturity and wisdom in unavailing efforts for the improvement 

 of it. It is ha])py for him, however, that he has lived to see the dawn of a better 

 day for Washington, and, if he cannot stay here long to enjoy it, he will rejoice in 

 the hopes of his friends and descendants." 



Among the enterprises in which he ]>articipate<l at an early day was the erection 

 of the great l»nilding south of the capit(d which has for so many years borne the 

 inscription "Law House." 



Three sous, born in India, accompanied Mr. Law to America, one of whom, Mr. 

 John Law, a lawyer in Washington, died before 1824, and all before 1834. 



Mr. Law married, as second wife, Miss Cnstis, daughter of George Washington 

 Parke Cnstis, the stepson and adopted son of Washington, thus allying himself by 

 family ties with the man whom he so much revered. 



Mr. Law was a zealous advocate of a national paper currency and i)ublished a 

 book ou currency. 



He also wrote poetry and contributed to general literature. 



He was one of the leaders iu the intellectual life of the infant capital, and not- 

 withstanding his personal eccentricities was universally respected. As one of the 

 founders of the first learned society in Washington, he is worthy of our veneration; 

 and since he has been ignored by the biographical dictionaries this uotice of his 

 life has been written. 



He died in 1S34. 



Reference to Mr. Law's character and career may be found in an obituary in the 

 National Intelligencer, 1834, quoted iu the New England Magazine, September, 

 1834, iu Sketches of Public Characters, by "Ignatius Loyola Robertson" (S. L. 

 Knapp) in the biographical sketch of William Winston Seaton, by his daughter, and 

 in Faux's Memorable Days in America, the review of which in No. 68 of the Quar- 

 terly Review evoked Mr. Law's "Reply'' which contains iiuich autobiographical 

 matter. 



The following are titles of some of Mr. Law's publications, for the verbal accuracy 

 of which no responsibility is taken, since they are usually given second-hand: 

 1792. Law, Thomas. Sketch of some late arrangements and a review of the rising 



resources of Bengal. Loudon, 1792. 8". Lib. Cong. 

 1794. Law, Thomas. "On Bengal," etc. Perha])s another ed. of that printed in 



1792. Quoted by Allibone. 

 1806. [Law, Teiomas.] Ballston Springs. [A j.oem.] New York, 1806. Boston 

 Ath. 



