it was originally intended, particularly, when we critically examine the words of the will. The argument based upon this however, on either side, is of very little importance.

The comments on the secretary's remarks relative to the importance of the active operations, and that they should be made the paramount interest of the Institution, are entirely based on the postulate and sophisms we have before expressed, and do not appear to me to require a mmute analysis.

If the committee, however, are not satisfied as to this point, I beg leave to refer them to the report itself, beginning on p. 11 and ending at the second paragraph on p. 12; and if, to the concluding remarks of this extract, the policy imputed can properly be applied, namely, that the "end will sanctify the means," the secretary will only say that he failed clearly to express his meaning. The vindication intended in the report is the vindication of the judgment in the choice of laudable means to effect a desirable end, and not that of sanctioning an immoral act which may possibly result in a temporary good.

The remarks of Mr. Jewett with regard to the accumulation of a great library are very specious, but they are those of a collector ambitious to draw materials from various places to heap them up in one. Will the autographs referred to be lost to the world by being deposited in Harvard University instead of being given to the Smithsonian Institution? Is it not an object of the latter to render available all the scattered libraries of the country, and will the private libraries of which he speaks be of no value unless the Smithsonian fund is expended in providing accommodations for them? It is true the Institution might, if it had sufficient means, erect buildings in anticipation of great donations of this kind, but it may well be doubted, and is doubted, whether a large expenditure in this way would be the best policy "to increase and diffuse knowledge among men."

Though the secretary's remarks on the tendency of the library and museum to a "statical condition" may not apply to the exclusion of all objects, as might be inferred from Mr. Jewett's strictures, yet they do apply to caution in procuring them. With a given size of building and a given amount of income to support the collections, there is much need of care in the selection of articles. Only such should be accepted as gifts as shall not entail upon the Institution a perpetual obligation to support other than objects of high intrinsic value. If the Institution now has shelf room for 100,000 volumes, this space has cost at least $100,000, and, in my humble opinion, it should not be filled up with books to be found in almost every library in the country. For this reason I have, repeatedly, advocated an application to Congress for the repeal of that portion of the Smithsonian charter which relates to copyright books.

Whether the fancy sketch which Mr. Jewett gives of what the library might have become under his own direction "without the active operations," would have been realized, cannot now with certainty be ascertained. I think, however, there is some probability hat the result would not have been so favorable as he supposes. The division of the money among the different objects enumerated in the law would have scarcely given any one of them a pre-eminence:

a library, a museum, a gallery of art, with lectures and a chemical department, each with a principal officer and a corps of men under him, as advocated by Mr. Jewett, would give a small dividend to each from the sum of $30,000 a year, particularly if $50,000 more than was originally appropriated for the building had been required to finish it with fire-proof materials. The number of volumes procured would have been far short of 200,000 unless the proportional results were much more favorable than those which have been exhibited in collecting the books of the present library of the Smithsonian Institution.

The secretary makes no objection to a great central library of reference and research for this country, but contends that it ought not to be supported out of the small bequest of a foreigner, intended for the good of mankind, and that the money can be appropriated for purposes much more in accordance with his will.

The convention of librarians to which Mr. Jewett refers does not say that this great national library of reference and research ought to be supported at the expense of the Smithsonian Institution, and I am certain that a resolution expressing such an opinion would have been opposed. As a proof of this, as well as an illustration of Mr. Jewett's method of citing authorities in his favor, I beg leave to present to the committee the resolutions which were adopted, together with the editorial comments of "Norton's Literary Gazette," which is recognized as the organ of librarians in this country, and is certainly a good expression of unbiassed "intelligent public opinion" on this subject.

Mr. Folsom, librarian of the Athenæum, Boston, offered the following resolutions, which were adopted unanimously:

"Resolved, That the establishment of a great central library of reference and research, while it is demanded by the condition of the United States as to general civilization and intellectual advancement, is especially interesting to this convention, from the bearing it would have upon libraries throughout the country.

"Resolved, That we deem such an establishment as being eminently worthy of support from the national treasury, and that in no way can the government better promote the progress of learning through the whole country than by placing a central national library under the administration of the Smithsonian Institution."

From Norton's Literary Gazette, November 15, 1853:

"It may perhaps be suggested that the Smithsonian Institution is already appointed to be the nucleus of such a library, but if we are correctly informed, this is by no means the case. At any rate, its present funds are quite too small for such an object, and must be specially increased by Congress, if a national library is to be supported by the Institution. Moreover, according to the construction which has been justly given to the will of Smithson, a library will not accomplish the object which he specified with anything like the efficiency of the other means of advancing and diffusing knowledge among men, which are now in operation in this excellent Institution. The Smithsonian has one sphere, and a national library would have another. We trust that the friends of neither will seek to have them combined. We are

persuaded that there is ample room for both, and that each will be more usfeul to the country by its separation from the other."

In answer to Mr. Jewett's remarks relative to the danger to knowledge from the operation of the system of publications and researches, it might be sufficient to say that the experience of seven years has pretty well tested the practicability of the plan and its capability of doing an immense amount of good. The dangers which his imagination so vividly presents have not yet been encountered, and when the men who make contributions to science complain, it will be time enough to look for the remedy. No plan which can be devised by human foresight is perfectly free from difficulties, and in all cases the execution of a plan must be left to beings liable to err. But whoever may be secretary of the Smithsonian Institution will have sufficient occupation in the administration of the duties of his office to prevent him from becoming a rival in the arena of research. It is hoped that he may consider it a sufficient honor to be the secretary of the Institution to induce him to administer its affairs in such a way as to advance in the highest degree its interests, and thus secure his own permanent reputation. The danger of rivalry lies with the assistants who have specialities to cultivate, and who may desire to apply the income of the Institution, which ought to be devoted to the advance of knowledge in general, to the undue promotion of their own favorite pursuits, and the advance of their own personal reputation. It is to be supposed that the secretary will have a general knowledge of science, and that he will have sufficient logical power to judge of such arguments for or against the admission of a paper as are presented to him separately by the several examiners to whom it may be submitted. He has every inducement to seek the truth and to do justice, and none to do otherwise. He has at his command, through the reputation of the Institution, the learning of the whole country, and if not satisfied with the judgment of one or two persons, he is at liberty to submit the paper to a third or fourth, and is not even confined in his choice of examiners to men of science at home, but can select them from distinguished individuals aboard. Some of the most important papers published by the Institution have been referred to societies. In this way the Institution can command as good means of judging the value of a memoir as the council of the Royal Society, in which the twenty-one members are not likely to have more than three or four experts in each department. The reputation of the Institution and of the secretary depends on the character of the papers published, and the idea that with his interest in the matter, and the means in his possession of ascertaining the truth, he should be led by envy or igno rance to suppress a discovery, is not in the least degree probable. Besides, there are plenty of journals, societies, magazines, &c., open to every one, and ready enough to give publicity to the substance, or an abstract of any scientific communication, which would be sufficient to secure the honor of the discovery.

What the Institution has to do, so far as it can, is to bear the expense of publishing the details, experiments, drawings, &c., of papers which cannot be published by other means, and thus give the scientific world the opportunity of judging whether the discoverer has really made out

what he claims to have done-whether he has really advanced knowledge-by laying the whole facts of the case before the world. And as the Institution assumes the expense, and cannot publish one-half the real contributions to knowledge that are likely to offer, is it not fair and proper that it should freely make the choice, under its own responsibility, of what it will publish.

It is true that at the beginning it was proposed to offer pecuniary rewards for original memoirs on different branches of knowledge, but experience has proved that this is not necessary, and that the stimulus of reputation to be derived from the publication in the Smithsonian Contributions, the certainty that the author will not be at any expense for illustrations or be otherwise taxed in presenting the result of his researches to the world of science, and the occasional assistance in the way of instruments, specimens, books, and information derived from other sources by the Institution, are found sufficient to induce the preparation of as many papers as the limited income of the Smithsonian bequest will enable it to publish. The insinuation that the papers published are not genuine Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge is

absurd.

The Institution, up to this time, has scarcely published a single paper, the production of which has not been stimulated and assisted, or whose character has not been improved by the agency of the Institution; and, as a whole, the memoirs are such as could not have been given to the world without the aid of the Smithsonian bequest. It has been the leading policy advocated by the secretary from the first, that the funds of the Institution should be expended in doing only those things which cannot be equally well done by other means.

The comparison of the Smithsonian Institution to an ordinary publishing house can hardly require an answer. It could only have been made by a person who designed to mislead, or who has no just conception of the character of the Smithsonian publications. Charity induces me to adopt the latter conclusion in the present case.

The remarks contained in Mr. Jewett's communication in regard to by-laws for the separate departments, &c., excepting some of those relating to specific appropriations, are founded on an entire subversion of the law, of which he professes to be, on other points, so rigid an interpreter.

The law of Congress makes no provision for separate departments and, of course, none for the appointment of separate heads; and the analogy between the Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum, which Mr. Jewett has attempted to establish, does not exist.

The quotations which have been made from the report of the commission to examine into the condition and management of the British Museum have no application to the questions under discussion. The Smithsonian Institution is not the British Museum, either in capacity, character, or plan of government. Not in capacity, for its means are insignificant in comparison with the revenues of that immense repository of art and literature; nor in character, for in no proper sense can the British Museum be styled "an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." We do not refer to it for the promotion of discoveries in astronomy, electricity, geology, magnetism,

chemistry, and the various other branches of science properly so called and even its diffusion of knowledge is of the most limited character, and is almost exclusively confined to those who reside in the British metropolis. Its charter, also, is entirely different. The principal librarian, who is chief officer of the Museum, is appointed by the crown, and the other officers by the three principal trustees. The principal officer, therefore, has no power expressly given him "to employ assistants."

The secretary of the Museum is not the head of the institution; he merely holds the office of a chief clerk, with considerable discretionary power; and even this organization, as shown from the very quotations made by Mr. Jewett, leads to jealousies and inharmonious action.

As has been already observed, the law of Congress makes no provision for distributing the functions and responsibilities of the secretary among several separate and independent departments. The law constitutes him the sole executive officer under the Board. He is the only librarian, the only keeper of the museum, the only secretary of the Board, and the only secretary of the establishment recognized by the law. If some specific penalty had been attached by the act to any violation of the duties of the librarian, would it have been his assistant who would have been subject to it? If the loss of a book, under any circumstances, without any fault whatever, had been made the occasion of a considerable fine, would that fine have been recoverable from the assistant?

It was evidently the intention of the law to secure unity and harmony of action by that unity of purpose which can only exist in a single mind; and this intention was founded on the result of abundant experience, for the history of administrations will show that individual responsibility and strict accountability are the most reliable guaranties for the proper discharge of any duty.

The secretary is alone authorized to act, and if his mental and physical abilities were equal to the requisitions of the law, there would be no occasion to provide for further aid; but as the necessity for aid was clearly foreseen, it is provided for in the same connexion: "He may, with the consent of the Board of Regents, employ assistants." The grade and position of these officers are determined by the first words used to designate them, they are called "assistants." Assistants to whom? To the secretary. Their position is a subordinate one, and it is quite obvious that as their duties are those of assistance to the principal, they must be under his control and direction. This construction is made certain by the terms used, that he alone is to "employ them," and that they are to be employed in acts for which he alone is made responsible.

The case is thus broadly stated to show that the law has attached responsibilities to the secretary, of which he can neither divest himself, nor be divested by others. If responsibilities are attached to his office then do also rights pertain to it, for these are reciprocal and inseparable. He is not required to appoint any one, but is permitted to employ several persons as assistants, provided he satisfies the Board that their services are necessary; of this he should be the judge, and ought, therefore, never to have been called upon by a resolution of the