16 



THE SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST. 

 LETTER No. IV. 



WASHINGTON, December 30, 1843. 



MESSRS. EDITORS : Having shown in may last number by extracts 

 from the speeches and messages of Washington, Jefferson, and Madi- 

 son, that those illustrious men gave to education the importance allow- 

 ed it by all intelligent citizens, and entertained no serious constitutional 

 scruples of the power of Congress to establish a National University in 

 this District, I trust such testimony will prevent any one at this late 

 day from being so bold as to enter the list with them, and convince the 

 public that the subject is worthy their most serious attention. Strong, 

 then, in the enthusiasm of such patriots as our three best Presidents, 

 and incited by the hope of being able to aid, in some small degree, the 

 cause of knowledge and education, I proceed in a few words on the 

 subject of the Smithsonian Bequest, " for the diffusion of knowledge 

 among men," trusting that the nation and Congress will alike be im- 

 pressed with the urgency of the case, and the necessity of redeeming 

 the national honor from a reproach which has been allowed to last 

 too long. 



I shall commence the subject by a brief statement of some of the 

 facts attending the management and progress of this claim, finally de- 

 cided in the Court of Chancery in favor of the United States, by which 

 this Government became the trustee to carry out the purposes of Mr. 

 Smithson's bequest. This decision was communicated to the Hon. 

 John Forsyth, then Secretary of State, under date of May 12, 1838, by 

 the Hon. Richard Rush, the special agent of the United States in Lon- 

 don for the Smithsonian legacy, with the following remarks : " On the 



* whole, I ask leave to congratulate the President and yourself on the 



* result. A suit of higher interest and dignity has rarely, perhaps, been 

 ' before the tribunals of a nation. If the trust created by the testator's 

 ' will be successfully carried into effect by the enlightened legislation 



* of Congress, benefits may flow to the United States and to the human 



* family not easy to be estimated, because operating silently and gradu- 



* ally throughout time, yet operating not the less effectually. Not to 

 4 speak of the inappreciable value of letters to individual and social 

 ' man, die monuments which they raise to a nation's glory often last 

 ' when others perish, and seem especially appropriate to the glory of a 

 ' Republic whose foundations are laid in the presumed intelligence of 



