— 
67 
tance of astronomical observations to the world at large, 
especially their manifest bearing upon commerce, rendered 
it the bounden duty of the United States, as a mercantile 
nation, to contribute their part toward those observations 
and computations for which all other civilized countries 
strove to do their share, and that a decent national pride 
should render us unwilling to rely exclusively upon Europe 
for data indispensable to navigators, even did it not lead us 
to desire that our republic should emulate her monarchies 
in the advancement of the highest civilization. Curiously 
enough, the so-called constitutional arguments brought for- 
ward in opposition to such plans did not possess sufficient 
force to prevent the equipment of that. expedition for gen- 
eral geographical exploration to which, through a singular 
change of circumstances, the establishment of a government 
observatory was ultimately due. The essential importance 
of a central observatory for the exploration and survey of 
our own territory, for the determination of the geographical 
position of our own ports and inland towns, was also made 
prominent ; yet it seems almost incredible that only thirty 
years ago, not merely did such arguments as these fail of all 
effect, but even those men who entertained larger and more 
elevated views seem not to have thought it worth their 
while to develop them. But such was the case, and the few 
instances in which any exertions were made in this direc- 
tion afford us admirable examples of seed sown upon stony 
ground, — not to allude to another scriptural comparison 
Perhaps yet more appropriat 
The first of these efforts “vil probably be found in the 
first message sent to Congress by John Q. Adams, after his 
_ iauguration as President of the United States, in March, 
1825. In this message “he earnestly recommended the 
€stablishment of a National Observatory, as, also, of a Uni- 
