1846 .] 
THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
531 
been acting without pay or reward, urged on by no feeling but that of doing public 
good in fields worthy to excite the noblest ambition, and when it has finally become 
impracticable, by mere private contributions and taxes, to pay even the incidental 
expenses attendant on the preservation of large collections of curious and valuable 
things connected with the advancement of science, literature, and the arts, which 
have come to the hands of the Institute, it is very lamentable to reflect upon its 
pecuniary embarrassments. Inexpressibly painful is it to know that the recent 
magnificent presents from the King of the French and the British Government— 
the latter consisting of the splendid and costly maps and sections of the geological 
survey of Great Britain and Ireland, which have been and will hereafter be pub¬ 
lished—with difficulty reach the Institute, for the want of funds to pay for their trans¬ 
portation. 
Thus the merit of the Institute is turned to its misfortune ! Unhappy anomaly! 
It has to pay the penalty of early and triumphant success! By its voluntary zeal— 
by its untiring and well-directed industry in the fields of science, literature, and 
the arts, it wins a name throughout the world. Distinguished individuals, ancient 
and learned societies in foreign countries and our own, hail with delight this new 
association which has suddenly sprung up in the metropolis of the New World. 
All seem anxious to welcome it into the brotherhood of science. Numerous testi¬ 
monials of co-operation and sympathy, in the form of instructive correspondence, 
and in other forms substantial and gratifying, pour in upon it from all quarters, 
until already the heads of great nations deem it worthy of their marked attention 
and favor; yet the very donations to subserve the ends of its establishment, and 
which its own honorable and unaided exertions have'so speedily earned, cannot be 
obtained through its want of even moderate funds. 
And can it be that Congress will remain insensible to its wants—suffer it to 
languish, even to perish, under its extraordinary merits? Let us hope otherwise. 
The spirit of the age stands up for such an institution. Duties of high and inex¬ 
tinguishable obligation plead its cause. These, let us believe, are only required to 
be brought under the decided notice of Congress to be effectively recognised; for, 
consider the strong moral links between nations which fellowship in letters creates; 
consider how beneficent its influences—how it tends to soften political animosity— 
to re-enforce the ties which grow upon commercial intercourse and other material 
interests among nations, and to elevate and refine them. It cannot be that Con¬ 
gress will remain insensible to such considerations, when a very small appropriation 
of money would satisfy them—so small as not to be felt, even under the heavy calls 
which war makes. These, however great, need not bear down a minimum call for 
an object tending, indirectly, even to peace itself, amidst other inappreciable blessings. 
And least of all need Congress hesitate when its power is complete over this subject, 
centreing as it does in the national metropolis, and when the scientific collections 
are for national use, and when the title of them is intended to be vested in the 
Government as its own property. There would even be a moral beauty in rescu¬ 
ing a small sum for so saving and beneficent a purpose, in the midst of that de¬ 
vouring appetite for the treasury which the national honor demands should bo 
appeased when war rages. 
We read of an ancient king who hired a person to tell him everyday of his faults. 
Having no king with us, the collective nation is as the sovereign, and praised in 
like superlatives, raised still higher by the absence of individuality, which would 
seem to screen us from flattery. But we forget that the collective nation is, after 
all, made up of human imperfection ; and our national tendency is to self-laudation 
so uniform, if not excessive, as to be in danger of weakening the sense of our pos¬ 
sible failings. We class ourselves with the greatest nations; we would ambitiously 
be above them—an exalted ambition when properly directed and followed up. But 
foreign pens and tongues roughly impugn our claims. How is this, and what 
the mitigation or corrective ? All perceive our power—all acknowledge the quick 
and stupendous creations of our industry—all are struck with the marvellous ener¬ 
gies of our freedom. Statistical, incontestible results attest it, all. There are no 
sceptics in these fields. Prone as we may be to set our lights upon a hill, we can 
hardly exaggerate the mighty whole ; or if we do, facts como up to it, grow up to 
it, whilst we are still speaking, as Burke once said even in reference to our colo¬ 
nial state seventy years ago. So active, incessant, and vast is the principle of 
