Show TilE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE j Origin of the Great National Scientific I Scien-tific Institution in Washington I Gratification of the Ambition of an Englishman Who Never Saw America i Although the Smithsonian Institution and its magnificent annex of the National Museum at Washington are visited yearly by many thousands of people and their operations have boon extended into every i attainable branch of scientific investigation I investiga-tion but little is known to the general public concerning James Smithson whose princely bequest endowed and laid the foundation of this great national establishment estab-lishment As a matter of fact however I the stiictest and most thorough investigation investiga-tion has failed to elicit much material for I Mr Sinithsons biography and what little has been gathered is far from satisfactory satis-factory considering the anomaly for an Englishman who never visited America or so far as can be ascertained had any thing in common with our country and people bequeathing the whole of his property pro-perty to the United States of America to found at Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Institution an establishment estab-lishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men According to Mr William J Rhees chief clerk and historiographer of the institution in-stitution it has not been possible to ascertain as-certain the year date and place of Mr Smithsons nativity Presumably however how-ever he was born in 1854 and was the natural son of Hugh Smithson first Duke of Northumberland his mother being known as Mrs Elizabeth facie of the Hungerford family in yiltshire Of his early life nothing is known anterior to his graduation from Pembroke College in 1786 as James Lewis Macie which name he retained for fourteen years when he assumed that of James Smith son He was liberally provided for by his father the Duke of Northumber land landHo Ho never married but being possessed of wealth which left his action free he devoted himself wholly to original research re-search in the field of science Deprived by the bar sinister from claiming the family name and honors he sought to win fame solely on his own merit although I though he could not refrain from claiming I claim-ing the nobility of his ancestry This is I evidenced by the following expressive I and prophetic sentence found in one of I his manuscripts I The best blood of England flows an I my veins on my fathers side I am a I Northumberland and on my mothers I I am related to kings but this avails me I not 1 My name shall live in the memory I of man when the titles of the Northum I berlands and the Percys are extinct and I forgotten I In 1787 he was admitted a fellow of the I Royal Society and took lodgings in Ben I inck street the locality famous as the I place where Gibbon wrote his Decline I and Fall of the Roman Empire His I chambers were the rendezvous of authors I artists and savants in whose society he I took great delight For purposes of scien I ific inquiry ho eng ed in extensive tours I of Europe making minute observations I on climate physical features and the I geological structures of the localities I visited Ho was an accomplished chemist I chem-ist and specially devoted to the science of I mineralogy These sojourns abroad gave I him a cosmopolitan character illustrated I I by one of his sayings The man of 1 science is of no country the world is his I I country all mankind his countrymen I The exemplification of this idea is shown I iu his own life Born in England I I domiciling most of his life in France and I Germany dying and being buried in I I Italy and bequeathing his name and fortune I I for-tune to the United States of America I I I Mr Smithsons contributions to scien I I tific literature consist of twentyseven I I papers eight of which were published in I the Philosophical Transactions of the I I Royal Society from 1791 to 1817 and I I nineteen printed in Thomsons Annals I I of Philosophy from 1819 to 1825 I is I I robable he contributed other matter to I I scientific and literary journals but no I I trace of them has as yet been discovered I I In one of his essays he divides the sources I I of knowledge into First observation I I second reasoning third information I and fourth conjecture Ho died at I I Genoa Italy June 27 1829 aged 75 I I I years and was buried in the Protestant I I cemetery An imposing monument I I marks his grave erected by his nephew I and protege Henry Hungerford Esq I Mr Smithson received a largo estate I I from his halfbrother Colonel Henry I jouis Dickinson also a natural son of the I 1 Duke of Northumberland which was I I held in trust for the benefit of the son of I I I this son and his mother He wag de I otedly attached to his nephew and left I rim his whole fortune Contingent upon J I the death without issue of this young I man Mr Smithson made the remark I able provision for the establishment of I I the Smithsonian Institution in the United I States The will provided that in case I of f the death of the nephewknown as Henry James Hungerford or Henry i I James Dickinson and later as Baron I Eunice de la Bateet or of the death of I his child or children whether legitimate I or illegitimate if any the entire estate I I I i should pass to the United States for the I purposes named The income from the I I I estate was paid to young Hungerford I who led a roving life in Europe without I settled habits or occupation until he I died at the Royal Hotel in Pisa Italy in i i 1835 under thirty years of age never 183 ag I I having married and leaving no heirs I who even under the broad provisions of I Mr Smithsons will could inherit this I fortune His mother a Mrs Mary Ann I Coates who had married a Frenchman i I named Theodore de la Bateet made a I claim to a portion of the income from the I estate and was allowed an annuity of I some 800 She died in 1801 and the principal from which this annuity was derived I I de-rived was returned to the United State I I in 1864 amounting to 54000 I The first knowledge of the Smithson I bequest was made known to our government govern-ment in 1835 and the facts were laid before I be-fore Congress in a message from President Jackson who stated he had no authority I to take steps to accept the trust The t Senate Judiciary ommitteo examined I the matter and reported that the United mattr i States could claim the bequest in the Sttes I British courts as trustee for the purpose 1 I of founding the charitable institution desired I de-sired by the donor Considerable acrimony I acri-mony attended the debate on this report and Senator Preston of South Carolina argued against receiving the money He thought the donation had been made partly with a view to immortalize the wih 1 i donor and it was too cheap 1 way of conferring immortality He had no idea conferrng of Columbia g used as I of the District being I i a fulcrum to raise foreigners to immortality 1 immortal-ity by getting Congress as the pmma i cting them donations from vatriv to accept p t dcnations dig Mr Calhoun thought it beneath our nity to receive presents of this kind i It was finally determined by Congress I I fnal wa Rush V and Richard to claim i the bequcrt q I of < Pennsylvania was employed as coun I I selfor tho government He proceeded I to London and a chancery suit for recov ery was brought in the name of the President Pres-ident of the United States I was heard j I before Lord Langdale Master of the t Rolls in February 1837 and no escheat being claimed by the British Government the case was referred to a Master in Chancery to determine the extent of the i contingencies expressed in the will Finally i Fin-ally Mr Rush was placed in possession of the legacy less the amount reserved i aH the principal for the annuity allowed xo Madame Bateet and after deducting 1 costs and charges the sum of 104 I 960 8s G in British gold was brought to New York sent to Philadelphia recoined I o American gold producing the sum of 50831840 as the bequest total of Mr j I Smithson |