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Show MAKE HIS GRAVE ON AMERICAN SOIL. H A cable to tho New York Herald says that M "James Smithson, the founder of the Smithsonian M Institute in Washington is about to be turned out M of his grave in Genoa, Italy, for the ground is M heeded for room for a quarry." The United States government should arouse itseir, send Tor the dust of tho great man and give it tender sep- M ulchro In some spot set asido for the graves of M those who helped to make our country great. The Post of Washington gives some interest- ing particulars of the life of Smithson. He was an jfl illegitimate son of high-born English parents, some of the best blood of England's titled ones H filled his veins. He never sought to conceal tho facts of his birth. He commences his will with these words: "I, James Smithson, son to Hugh, H first Duke of Northumberland and Elizabeth, heir- IH ess of the Hungerfords of Studloy, and niece to H Charles the Proud, Duke of Somerset, etc." IS The blood of the Percys and Seymours, high IH names in England, flowed in his veins. His mother IH was a lineal descendant of Henry VII. His half- JH brother, son of the Lord Percy, who led the forco I jH to rescue the remnant of those who met the "em- j H battled farmers" at Lexington and Concord, and I fl after taking part in the fierce fight of Bunker H Hill, carried the dispatches giving an account of J fl that battle to the British government. , H Not much is known of the life of Smithson. H He was born in 1786 and died in 1829. At twenty- a H two he becamo a fellow of the Royal Society and A H later published many papers on chemistry which H showed that his researches had been very great H and his ability high. All the noted men of his H day were his friends. He lived many years on the H continent, mostly in Paris, and died in Genoa and H was buried in a cemetery which is under the care H of the British Consul there, but the land belongs jH to the Italian government. H It is near a quarry. Tho government needs H the stone for extensive harbor improvements and I the graves will have to be removed. H By the terms of Smithson's will more than I half a million dollars was to go "to the United ll States of America to found in Washington, un- jl der the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an H establishment for the increase and diffusion of I knowledge among men." He had never been in I the United States, but by a sure Intuition he real- ', I ized what was to come, under free government to tl this land. So sure was ho that ho wrote: "My II name shall live in the memories of men when tho l titles of the Northumberlands and the Percys shall II be extinct. His thought was to increase and diffuse .l knowledge among all men. The Institution now JH has more than 12,000 correspondents In foreign jg countries. Richard Rush brought the Smithson money from England in 105 bags, each contain- I ing 1,000 gold sovereigns. Congress accepted the i trust in the spirit of John Quincy Adams, who do- 1 clared in Congress that "of all the foundations of jjf establishments for pious or charitable uses which g3 over signalized tho spirit of the age or the com- m phehonsive beneficence of the age of tho founder, f$ none can be named more deserving of the appro- '1 bation of mankind than this." After the money J reached this country it was invested in Arkansas si bonds and lost, but the government made it good, I tho Institution was founded and it is a great la glory to our country. Thero is nothing like it In S tho world. For fifty-seven years the Smithson- II ian Institution has been a leader in the encour- H agement and promotion of all branches of science. H Its influence cannot be measured. Congress has H enlarged its scope until aside from the interest HI on the original fund which amounts to $50,000 an- HI nually, the annual expenses are $450,000. HI There is a movement on in the East to bring HI to this side of 'the Atlantic the remains of the HI man whose farsightedness led to tho founding of HI the. Institiitipn. It should, bo, a joyo.rnm(mt duty HI fffl H and the final sleep of the genius who made the M Institute possible should be in the soil of the H country he so much honored. |