108 
PROCEEDINGS OF 
[Sept. 
ments or people. But the history of speculations and discoveries ought to convince 
us that almost every investigation of this description, however unpromising at first, 
has been attended with some beneficial result to the human family. Every Ameri¬ 
can, therefore, who has the welfare of his country at heart, to say nothing of its 
reputation abroad, which is, in truth, one of its greatest resources, must have seen 
with the highest satisfaction the determination of the General Government to ex¬ 
tend its patronage, by all the means it can command, to these truly noble objects. 
Of this liberal spirit the country has had an eminent example in the Exploring Ex¬ 
pedition, which was fitted out three years ago, and is still pursuing its honorable 
career in various quarters of the globe, the known boundaries of which, indeed, it 
has enlarged by adding the discovery of new and vast regions hitherto unexplored. 
The large collections already sent home by this active squadron, and which are 
now in the process of arrangement at Washington, lay us under no small obliga¬ 
tions to the authors of this national enterprise, and to the individuals upon whose 
talents the nation relies for its complete execution. But, valuable as the fruits of 
it already are, we may justly anticipate many further useful results from the re¬ 
searches which are to be expected with the return of the Expedition. 
In the mean time, it is to be hoped that their collections of Natural History now 
in our possession will not have lost any of their value by having remained too long 
in the damp and unsuitable situation in which they were necessarily placed on their 
first arrival, and where they still were in June last, when I was obligingly permit¬ 
ted to view them with you. This subject, indeed, as you then informed me, had 
not been overlooked by the distinguished individual at the head of the Department 
of State, who, as I now find by the late public papers, has readily given the neces¬ 
sary orders to secure the most ample and proper accommodations for this large and 
valuable public property. 
In reviewing the several departments of science allotted to the eight classes 
above mentioned, I do not find any place expressly appropriated to the Moral and 
Political Sciences , though I must suppose they were intended to be included under 
some one of those classes. But does not their importance, particularly in this free 
country, entitle them to a distinct and honorable place among the others? In no 
department of science could our country furnish a greater number of intelligent 
and efficient fellow-laborers, nor a greater amount of useful practical results. 
It is worthy of remark that, in the first organization of the National Institute of 
France under the Republic, (which was digested by the most able men of that na¬ 
tion,) a distinct class was established for the moral and political sciences. But 
under the reign of the Emperor Napoleon, and during the Restoration, that depart¬ 
ment of the Institute was abolished. The present able and enlightened sovereign 
of that land of science, however, who sees clearly the true interests of the nation, 
reestablished that class, and restored it to its former rank and importance; and 
among its first members was one of our own countrymen, the late eminent jurist, 
Edward Livingston. The class now comprehends, in addition to the illustrious na¬ 
tives of France, many foreigners of the highest distinction. The subjects of its 
labors are arranged under the heads of: 1. Philosophy; 2. Morals; 3. Legisla¬ 
tion, Public Law, and Jurisprudence ; 4. Political Economy and Statistics; and 5. 
General and Philosophical History. 
When, therefore, we consider any of the various subjects of investigation which 
