THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
333 
1843.] 
pride and usefulness, is already an object of attention in distant parts of the world. 
As yet altogether unendowed by public bounty, it is, nevertheless, the possessor of 
much that is precious in art, literature, and science. The nation itself is com¬ 
paratively young in years and in the career of accomplishment. Yet, in various 
places, it witnesses the matured growth of establishments that emulate the merits, 
and hope to rival the fame of time-honored institutions in the European world. 
Scarcely a populous neighborhood is without its praiseworthy ambition to distin¬ 
guish itself as the abode of letters, or the source of useful instruction. A hundred 
colleges are planted throughout the land. Many of them, assuming the name and 
exercising the functions of universities, afford opportunities for education the most 
varied and complete. Associations already numerous, and constantly increasing, 
have been formed, and are flourishing, not only with a view to a practical encour¬ 
agement of the mechanic arts, but to profound researches into the mysteries of na¬ 
ture and art, and a development of them for the purposes of science, and the ele¬ 
gancies of life. 
While these happy indications of an improved and vigorous age have been dis¬ 
cernible, and have kept pace with its gigantic march, a great central institution of 
congenial character has been wanting, which, harmonizing with existing establish¬ 
ments in the promotion of the ordinary aims of learning, might possess properties 
and uses peculiar to itself. The Government of the United States, having, with 
regard to foreign nations, the attributes of other sovereignties, is limited and accu¬ 
rately defined in the sphere of its domestic influences. Without special legislation 
it does not become a patron of the arts, or a direct promoter of science and letters. 
No national museum, no classic louvre, no richly adorned Vatican, no commemo¬ 
rative walhalla, rise up and flourish here at the mere pleasure of a prince. Yet, 
in their essential attributes, such establishments may become trophies as glorious, 
sources of light and knowledge as prolific and profitable, monuments as well adapted 
to the fame and honor, to the benefit and instruction of a republic, as those splendid 
works of British, French, Italian, or Bavarian munificence. The difference under dif¬ 
ferent kinds of Government being that, in one, the monarch commands and the work 
is executed ; in another, the people originate, and the national authority confirms. 
Though yet of recent birth, the “National Institute” has been long enough in 
existence to give entire confidence to the hopes of those who designed it, and prac¬ 
tically to exhibit some of the various uses in which it may excel. Qualities and 
attractions have been proved to belong to it, which establishments otherwise orga¬ 
nized and connected could scarcely possess. The political and diplomatic agencies 
of the Government, whether in foreign lands, or in the remote yet domestic regions 
of our own country, or in the heart and centre of its long-settied districts, furnish 
opportunities for obtaining matter of curious interest and valuable instruction. This 
would find no becoming place in the organized department or bureau, and yet 
would occasion deep regret if it were left unnoticed or doomed to perish. Its 
abiding place is found in an institution which, fostered by the Government, is yet 
distinct from it; which, deriving existence from individual enterprise, may be 
chiefly supported by national expenditure. 
In the most generous rivalships of local associations, jealousies may arise to mar 
their happy intercourse. These would scarcely exist towards a common coadjutor, 
which, possessing a general resemblance, would yet be essentially different from 
themselves. Between bodies so related to each other, an interchange of good offi. 
ces might be constant without danger to their respective interests. An institution 
represented, as it were, throughout the civilized world, may become possessed of 
much, which it may distribute without a sensible diminution of its stores. It could 
receive in return, and with reciprocal benefit, productions of local and domestic 
origin, either for its own enjoyment, if it should not already possess them, or for 
renewed dissemination through the Government agencies abroad. In the circle of 
curious and interesting matter, whether of nature or art, whether literary or scien¬ 
tific, there is scarcely a class of objects that may not be profitably and acceptably 
interchanged. From the organic remains of by-gone vegetable and animal exis¬ 
tence, to the living productions, the natural history and the botany of the present 
day; from the rude specimens of the manufactures of half-civilized regions to the 
richest products of highly cultivated skill; from the simplest improvement in me¬ 
chanics to the highly wrought effusions of the educated and accomplished mind— 
every thing that sheds light upon the past condition of the earth, and its successive 
changes and inhabitants, upon the course of civilization and the development of 
No. 3. 15 
