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sion of knowledge and to the holy cause of charity. They had no 

 other claim on the liberality of that body, than the deep interest 

 which all intelligent and humane men should feel in such matters. 

 That such liberality, when humanity and the cause of science plead 

 for a favorable hearing, will ever meet with the approbation of the 

 People, when they are made aware of the urgency and justice of 

 the case, I feel exceeding sure. Then, why should not Congress 

 now, when an appeal is made to them in behalf of an institution 

 which claims to be national, and therefore embracing the whole 

 country within its scope and influence, and devotes itself exclu- 

 sively to the diffusion of knowledge among mankind, imitate the 

 noble example thus set them in 1832 and '33, and place at the dis- 

 posal of our Institute property or money equal at least to the amount 

 voted to the two meritorious colleges above mentioned 7 The very 

 same reasons that prevailed upon their predecessors, and even still 

 stronger ones, should induce the members now legislating in the 

 Capitol to behave handsomely in the present emergency, and, by 

 an appropriate, liberal, and timely assistance, rescue the infant in- 

 stitute from its actual troubles and embarrassments. If it was con- 

 stitutional, lawful, and expedient to vote money, or its equivalent, 

 for establishments of public charity and education in 1832, it is cer- 

 tainly equally constitutional, lawful, and expedient to do so in 1844. 

 If it be proper and wise in one year to encourage the instructors of 

 our youth, it is certainly equally imperative, if not more so, to con- 

 tinue that encouragement as the Republic grows older, larger, and 

 more able to contribute to an undertaking so replete with public 

 and private blessings. 



I say, then, to the members of the present Congress, that the pre- 

 cedents thus exhibited in support of the claim which the National 

 Institute is about to make officially, and I trust promptly, for assis- 

 tance at their hands, should and must have great weight in their 

 minds, and force them, as it were, to make another appropriation 

 of the kind for the benefit of an association thus devoted to the 

 cause of knowledge and improvement. The Institute has a right 

 to claim assistance, and will be satisfied, I suppose, with being 

 placed on a similar footing with the Georgetown and Columbian 

 Colleges. But, as the public property within the precincts of the 

 city has lost much of its value since the time of said grants, it is 

 but just that Congress (if persuaded to act favorably in the case) 



