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which I have given the outlines thus briefly be carried into effect. 1 

 trust that the people at large will be equally convinced, that the national 

 honor and advantage will be thereby most signally consulted ; for I 

 consider this District as belonging to the whole nation, and as having 

 peculiar claims on the generosity and kindness of Congress, and that 

 every thing done for our benefit, in a public point of view, redounds to 

 the credit, if not positive benefit, of the whole Republic. 



By the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution, the laying out 

 and improvement of the Mall, and the permission for the National 

 Monument Society to errect a handsome structure to the memory of 

 Washington within its precincts, in conjunction with the salutary ope- 

 ration of the National Institute, upon science, belles-lettres, and the fine 

 arts, and of the two Observatories, now in the course of construction in 

 this District, on astronomical research, it must strike the most obtuse 

 mind, that benefits of a rare nature must flow upon the community, 

 and make this too-much neglected city a fit residence for our Govern- 

 ment, an ennobled place of sojourn for the National Legislature, and a 

 source of honest pride to every true lover of his native land. It is not 

 my province, nor do my limits allow me to enter upon minute details 

 on the subject. My desire and intention is simply to attract public at- 

 tention to a matter which I deem to be pregnant with much good for 

 the country, and in serving my native city, to reflect the credit and ad- 

 vantage throughout the breadth and length of the land. I leave to 

 others better fitted for the task to demand a due share of notice for the 

 exact sciences in the establishment of the Smithsonian Bequest. For, 

 although no one is more alive than myself to the necessity and benefit 

 of devoting much time to severe studies, yet, inasmuch as science has 

 abundant champions already, who must be heard sooner or later, I shall, 

 to avoid repetition, dwell more particularly upon the wisdom and expe- 

 diency of giving also a due share of notice to the Fine Arts, which I 

 deem to be clearly embraced in the expression of Smithson's will, " the 

 increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." If it be true, as it 

 is most undoubtedly, that the nature of the Fine Arts is to refine the taste, 

 improve the head and heart, and to render man more polished and hu- 

 mane, I suppose that no one will be so bold or silly as to assert, that 

 this branch of human knowledge should be excluded from the benefit 

 of the fund in question, or from any institution which pretends to in- 

 struct and benefit mankind. Without wasting words, however, upon a 

 point which few or none will be found to contest, I would suggest, that 



