28 PROFESSOR HENRY AND THE 



thought that votes were to be got, and his influence 

 strengthened, if he could bring home to them the 

 spoils of the Smithsonian; and accordingly a reso- 

 lution was introduced petitioning Congress to 

 appropriate a portion of the Smithsonian money 

 for an agricultural bureau ; and Judge Douglas 

 undertook the congenial task of accomplishing 

 the raid. The recollections of that battle are 

 among the valued treasures of memory, asso- 

 ciated in my mind with Joseph Henry. In such 

 an assemblage, and with such a cause, Douglas 

 was an adversary to be feared by any man. 

 That he was an accomplished politician was 

 proved by his great success ; and he was there 

 to fix another step in the ladder by which he had 

 climbed so high. His speech was adroit, as only 

 he could make it. Its argument was founded upon 

 the proposition that civilized man depends upon 

 agriculture, without which barbarism would sweep 

 over the land; and his conclusion was that the 

 farmer was entitled to whatever assistance could be 

 got out of the money of Smithson, whose benevo- 

 lence could best be applied in encouraging those 

 who were, at the very foundations of civilization. 

 It would be great injustice to Judge Douglas to 

 assume that he supposed the diffusion of papers of 

 turnip seed among farmers was that sort of " in- 

 ' ' crease and diffusion of knowledge among men " 

 designed by Mr. Smithson ; but no doubt it would 



