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coalescing, may not directly or indirectly interfere to 

 establish one: For, whatever may be said of the general 

 diffusion of knowledge and of liberty, it cannot now be 

 argued, that our science will ever be judiciously patron- 

 ized at home, or represented abroad, until some such 

 power exist among ourselves.* From recent experience 

 we cannot expect the action of the government in faror 

 of general science, for there is no clause in the constitu- 

 tion, which, by the broadest implication, could sanction 

 such an exercise of its authority; and even if such scru- 

 ple should be avoided, it would only produce the defect 

 of connecting science with government, which, from ex- 

 perience in older countries, has been found not often a 

 wholesome or happy contract. We must therefore regard 

 the first contingency as the most probable, and that the 

 rivalry between free literary associations, is in time des- 

 tined to produce an excellence which shall be acknow- 

 ledged by all; and it is therefore of interest to us, as 

 members of a society instituted for the encouragement 

 of literature and science, to regard our affairs in this as- 

 pect, and our relations to others of the same class. It 

 were to be insensate and unreasonable to suppose that 

 the same causes which have operated upon other nations, 

 are not to act upon us ! When we find streams that do 

 not leave their sources, and men who will neither grow 

 old nor rich, we may perhaps expect the tub of Diogenes 

 again to be occupied; but that the arts, the honors, the 

 excellencies which have strengthened and adorned other 

 states, are not destined to be ours, is a heresy, in which 

 (we would all say with acclamation) we do not believe. 



That a National Academy or power, having general 

 authority in matters of science, must soon arise in this 

 country, and that either from the effect of competition 

 among the free literary associations, or from the patron- 

 age of the government, is, I think, proven by a single 

 instance, which I will mention. The United States Mih' 

 tary Academy,! which was at first a free scientificaSf^fiT 



