Mr. Duponceau again writes to Mr. Markoe on the same subject 

 under date of April, 1842, urging the same point as in the foregoing in 

 the following manner : " I find from Mr. Rush's letter, which you have 

 ' communicated to me, that I was not the only one to whom that sug- 

 ' gestion occurred." (The idea of applying the Smithsonian Bequest to 

 the National Institute.) " Since that time, it appears to have struck 

 ' the mind of many of the most respectable friends of science, and it 

 i appears to have agreed with the opinion expressed by your distin- 

 < guished President, Mr. Poinsett, in his inaugural address. I see with 



* pleasure that Mr. Rush entertains the same opinion. No one has had 

 ' a better opportunity to know the real intentions of the testator ; and his 

 ' opinion on that and many other accounts is entitled to the greatest 

 ' respect." 



I need scarcely observe that the opinions of men so distinguished as 

 Messrs. Poinsett, Rush, and Duponceau, not only in the political, but 

 in the scientific meaning of the word, should be respectfully received 

 and well considered. When persons so rich in experience and sound 

 in judgment develope their views on matters with which they are fa- 

 miliar, they should have due weight with every reflecting and intelligent 

 mind. 



The Hon. W. C. Preston, so justly celebrated as a statesman, a 

 scholar, and an orator, in his letter of April, 1843, to the Corresponding 

 Secretary of the National Institute, expresses his opinion in the matter 

 as follows : " Our Government is peculiarly incapable of a proper su- 

 ' perintendence of scientific institutions. In the first place, it may be 



* said, that it has no constitutional power ; and, if it had, the tenure of 



* office is so liable to change that in a department so removed from 

 ' interests of intense excitement, negligence and decay would soon 



* creep in." Thus indicating, by implication, an institution like that 

 of which he is so useful and prized a member as the proper agent for 

 the superintendence of the Smithsonian Fund. 



Our public spirited and able ex- Charge d'Affaires at Brussels, Virgil 

 Maxcy, Esq., uses this strong and well- expressed language in his letter 

 to Mr. Markoe, dated in that city December 29, 1840. I consider that 

 letter so interesting and well- written that I flatter myself my readers 

 will pardon me for quoting it entire : " It affords me the highest grati- 



* fication as an American citizen, and as the representative of our Re- 

 ' public to a foreign country, to learn that the National Institution, 

 ' recently founded at Washington, has been so favorably received by 



