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PROCEEDINGS OF 
Thus, whether upon the scale of the nation or a State, we seem alike inert under 
these dearest of human obligations. 
It is neither my province nor desire to impute blame any where ; but I state facts 
that all may be allowed to lament, and that all must desire should cease. 
Active in all ways as a people, even to the charge of overdoing things, shall we 
become sluggards over what is incomparably the most important of all ? Shall mind 
be alone neglected ? Shall we continue indifferent to benefits in this great field, as 
if our Governments desired to keep knowledge out of sight, whilst our people, as 
individuals, are seen to thirst for it ? 
Let Congress hasten to wipe off the suspicion of this reproach. Let it, in the 
words of the venerable Duponceau, speaking from his retirement, and in the 
fullness of experience and years, “ lay hold of your Institution and make it its 
own.” 
Your machinery, put together by individuals, has been tried, and works well. 
It wants but little legislation to raise it up to the level of the Smithsonian will. 
A law that would adopt it under the name stipulated, with the requisite provi-' 
sions for the application of the annual interest of the fund, and the due retention 
of a visitatorial power by the United States, seem the principal enactments that would 
be Called for. 
No expensive corps of officers, no costly salaries, need start into being; the ex¬ 
perience of your Institution showing that there are men among us who love science 
for its own sake, arid who are willing to devote portions of their time to its advance¬ 
ment ; and that their exertions can be centralized at Washington, and made to ex¬ 
tend over all parts of our country and the world, through aids that the Government 
can give. 
For the buildings, for the botanic garden, for the chemical laboratory, for the 
philosophical and astronomical apparatus, for the museums of natural history and 
receptacles for agricultural and mechanical specimens, for the library and lecture¬ 
ships ; for all, in a word, that relates to science, literature, and the arts, the plan 
of “The Royal Dublin Society,” as seen in Mr. Weld’s description, published in 
your Bulletin, might perhaps be usefully consulted; though the Garden of Plants 
at Paris is, indeed, as your public-spirited and distinguished associate, Mr. Poinsett, 
thought, a model not easily to be surpassed in all that relates to scientific useful¬ 
ness, arrangement, and grandeur. 
The fact stated by Mr. Weld, that “The Royal Dublin Society” receives a grant 
of <£5,600 sterling a year from the British Parliament, so far deserves notice as that 
it is about the amount of the annual interest of the Smithsonian fund. 
Let, then, this precious fund no longer be idle. Let it be made to yield, without 
more delay, those moral blessings for which it was sent to this hemisphere. Let 
Congress take your Institution as a foundation. In the contrariety of opinion as 
to any other plan, the much longer postponement, if not entire frustration of the 
benign intentions of the donor, is too much to be feared. 
Being yourselves but trustees for diffusing knowledge among your fellow-men, 
and seeking nothing selfish, there could be no objection to your asking Congress to 
invest you, under its own guards and sanctions, with the fund. By my estimate of 
duty, you owe it to science and your country to take that step, on the broadest 
grounds of utility to both. In your ministration, with the aid of so rich an invest- 
