Part 15 (2/2)
He was the first secretary of the Sinator of the plan by which was carried into practical effect the splendid bequest for ”the increase and diffusion of knowledge aent _ex-officio_ of the Smithsonian Institution, I had rare opportunity to learnof its marvellous accomplishment As is well known, it bears the nalishman, related to the historic family of Percy, and a lineal descendent of Henry the Seventh, histhe ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, cousin to Queen Elizabeth
Mr Langley, the late secretary of the institution, said:
”Sarded the circu him a peculiar injustice, and it was apparently this sense that he had been deprived of honors properly his which made him look for other sources of fame than those which birth had denied him, and constituted the motive of the most important action of his life, the creation of the Smithsonian Institution”
The deep resentreat families who had virtually disowned hi is a part: ”The best blood of England flows in my veins; on my father's side I as; but this avails me not My name shall live in the memory of man when the titles of the Northuotten”
How truly his indignant forecast was prophetic is now a matter of history Few men know much about the once proud families of Northumberland or Percy, but the name of the youth they scornfully disowned lives in the institution he founded, the greatest instrumentality yet devised for ”the increase and diffusion of knowledge a ree of Master of Arts froe of twenty-one A year later he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, upon the recoentleman well versed in the various branches of Natural Philosophy, and particularly in Chey” As a student, he was devoted to the study of the sciences, especially cheiven to scientific research Twenty-seven papers from his pen were published in ”The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society” and in ”Thohteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, and ”all give evidence that he was an assiduous and faithful experimenter”
In this connection, the statement of Professor Clarke, Chief Cheraphical Survey, is in point:
”The s from the standpoint of the analytical chemist, is the success obtained with the most primitive and unsatisfactory appliances In Smithson's day, chemical apparatus was undeveloped, and instruments were improvised from such materials as lay readiest to hand With such instruents, Smithson obtained analytical results of the e of many mineral species In his time, the native carbonate and the silicate of zinc were confounded as one species under the nauished between the two minerals, which are non as Smithsonite and Calamine, respectively
”To theory S; but fros is singularly modern His as mostly done before Dalton had announced the atomic theory; and yet Smithson saw clearly that a law of definite proportions h he did not attempt to account for it His ability as a reasoner is best shown in his paper on the Kirkdale Bone Cave, which Penn had sought to interpret by reference to the Noachian Deluge A clearer and more complete demolition of Penn's views could hardly be written to-day
Sentle with his adversary, but none the less thorough, for all histhe leaders of scientific thought; but his ability and the usefulness of his contributions to knowledge, cannot be doubted”
The life of Sularly retiring disposition, had no inti years of his life in Paris, and was long the uncoley said of hiathers from his letters, from the uniform consideration hich he speaks of others, froeneral tenor of what is not here particularly cited, the reentle nature, but also of anot without bitterness the youthful hope of faether, is finally living for the day, rather than for any future”
He died in Genoa, Italy, June 27, 1829, and was buried in the little English ceno The Institution he founded has placed a tablet over his tohtful care
His will--possibly of deeper concern to mankind than any yet written --bears date October 23, 1826 In its opening clause he designates hih, First Duke of Northuerfords of Studley, and niece to Charles the proud Duke of So resentment toward those who had denied him the position in life to which he considered hinated in his will as legatees are a faithful servant, for whoerford, nephew of the testator To the latter was devised the entire estate except the legacy to the servant iven the naes seems to have been almost casually inserted; it appears between the provision for his servant and the one for an investment of the funds
The clause in his hich was to cause his name ”to live in the memory of man when the titles of the Northuotten,” was,--
”In the case of the death ofa child or children, or the death of the child or children he e of twenty-one years, or intestate, I then bequeath the whole of my property subject to the annuity of one hundred pounds to John Fitall (for the security and payment of which I have made provision) to the United States of Aton, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establish men”
Why he selected the United States as his residuary legatee has long been, and will continue to be, the subject of curious inquiry He had never been in As has there been found an allusion to our country
So far as we know, he could have had no possible prejudice in favor of our systeular fact, however, in this connection, that the pivotal clause in his will bears striking resemblance to the admonition, ”Promote as an object of prieneral diffusion of knowledge,” contained in the farewell address of President Washi+ngton
The contingency provided for happened; the death of the nephew Hungerford unmarried and without heirs occurred six years after that of the testator The first announcement to the people of the United States of the facts stated was contained in a special ress, Decee was a letter with a detailed stateation in London In closing his brief e of trans no authority to take any steps for accepting the trust and obtaining the funds, the papers are coress may deem necessary”
On the first day of July, 1836, a bill authorizing the President to assert and prosecute the claiacy becaress; athat our Governland, and proposing that the bequest should be denied The prophetic words of the venerable John Quincy Adams--then a member of the House after his retiree of the bill are worthy of remembrance:
”Of all the foundations of establishnalized the spirit of the age, or the comprehensive beneficence of the founders, none can be na the approbation of mankind than this Should it be faithfully carried into effect with an earnestness and sagacity of application and a steady perseverance of purpose proportioned to the reatness and sin as by hie aance of anticipation to declare that his na the benefactors of mankind”
In the execution of this law, the President imuished lawyer of Philadelphia, to proceed to London, and take the necessary steps to obtain the legacy To the accomplishment of this purpose a suit was soon thereafter instituted by Mr Rush The hopelessness of its early terlish Chancery Court of that day will at once occur to the readers of dickens's faainst Jarndyce” It was truly said, that a chancery suit was a thing which in with a man's life, and its termination be his epitaph
A wiser selection than Mr Rush could not have been made He entered upon the work to which he had been appointed, with great determination In a letter to our Secretary of State just after he had instituted suit, he says: