SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST. 29 



Secretary, which you have received, were written after the 

 receipt of mine of the 9th of January, and contains an ex- 

 press direction to me to pay, I should not feel at liberty to 

 do so; the less, as everything remains undecided here, and 

 a new fact is interposed. Congress at the late session 

 omitted to make any further appropiation for the full prose- 

 cution and recovery of the Smithsonian bequest; and it is 

 certain, in my belief, that the sum allotted by the act of 

 July 1, 1836, will be exhausted by the unavoidable expenses 

 in London before any new appropriation can come from the 

 next Congress. 



I have the honor to remain, very faithfully, your obedient 

 servant, 



RICHARD RUSH. 



DANIEL BRENT, Esq., Consul of the United States, Paris. 



Richard Rush to John Forsyth. 



LONDON, May 18, 1837. 



SIR : I have received a letter from Mr. Brent, consul at 

 Paris, transmitting his account and the receipts for moneys 

 expended by him in that city, with a view to obtain for the 

 United States some property, then supposed to be a part of 

 that which was bequeathed by Mr. Smithson. It is the same 

 account that was forwarded to me with your instructions of 

 the 17th of November last. To these I had the honor of 

 replying in my No. 6, in which the nature of the account 

 was explained, and reasons assigned for suspending pay- 

 ment; your instructions appearing to have left me a dis- 

 cretion over the subject. I transmit a copy of Mr. Brent's 

 letter dated the 3d instant, with a copy of my answer dated 

 the 10th. My reasons will be seen in the latter for still 

 withholding payment; Mr. Brent's letter, as I read it, not 

 conveying to me your direction to pay. If I have erred in 

 this particular, I shall wait your further instructions, and 

 obey them. My letter to Mr. Brent, besides bringing into 

 view the former reasons, mentions a new one. 



Under one of the advertisements transmitted with my 

 No. 9, viz: the one returnable on the 1st of this month, 

 the husband of Madame la Batut has come over here from 

 France, to make out the claim of his wife upon the estate 

 of Mr. Smithson. He has written me notes, and called 



