CHAPTER CC.

VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION, CONTINUED.-The Smith sonian Institute.-The Patent-Office and General PostOffice Burned.-The Exploring Expedition.—The Sub Treasury.

1. THE pecuniary difficulties of the country did not wholly prevent the diffusion of intelligence or the spread of a spirit for public improvement. Indeed, a zeal for literary and moral culture seems to have pervaded, unusually, all ranks and classes of the community. Several national measures, for literary and scientific improvement, were agitated.

2. On the 17th of December, 1835, the president of the United States communicated to Congress a report of the secretary of state relating to a bequest of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, or about five hundred thousand dollars, from James Smithson, of London, to the United States, for the purpose of founding at Washington an establishment to be called "The Smithsonian Institution, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."

3. This bequest created, at first quite a sensation in the United States, and a good deal of interest was manifested with regard to its proper application. The subject was permitted to rest till the year 1846, when an act was passed for establishing the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington. It is devoted to scientific purposes, and an ample building has been erected for its use.*

4. A remarkable fire took place at Washington, December 15th, 1836, during which the patent-office and post-office were burned. Among the contents of the patent-office thus destroyed, were seven thousand models of patents, out of ten thousand which had been granted by Congress; one hundred and sixty-three large folio volumes of records;

CHAP. CC.-1. What of improvement in literature and morals? 2. What of the Smithsonian bequest? 3. What of the Smithsonian Institution? 4. What fire was there st Washington in 1886? What valuable things were burned in the patent-office?

*The Smithsonian Institution is situated on the south side of Washington; the building is in that style of architecture called Romanesque; it has a fine appearance, and is one of the great attractions of the city. The grounds around it are extensive and beautiful. The beneficial influence of this important establishment is already felt; it has printed several scientific works of great value, and has extensive collections in natural history, as well as general literature and science. The great library room, which has already a large number of valuable works, is capable of containing one hundred thousand volumes; the lecture-room can seat twelve hundred persons: the rooms for the museum and chemical experiments are spacious and convenient.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.

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twenty-six large portfolios, containing nine thousand valuable drawings, and ten thousand original descriptions of inventions.

5. It was a most severe calamity to the country, and calculated to damp, in no small degree, the rising spirit of public improvement. The misfortune was the more to be regretted, as it was believed to be the work of incendiaries. It is gratifying to know, however, that, through the activity of Mr. Ellsworth, the superintendent at the time, the loss by the fire was, in a great measure, repaired.

6. On the 18th of August, 1838, the Vincennes, a sloop of war, of twenty guns, the Peacock, of eighteen guns, the Porpoise, of ten guns, and three smaller vessels, departed on an Exploring Expedition, having on board a number of learned men, in the various departments of natural science. The fleet set sail from Hampton Roads, in Virginia. 7. The squadron returned in June, 1842, after an absence of nearly four years, having circumnavigated the globe, and visited and actually surveyed many parts before unknown. It accomplished fully the objects for which it was designed. The various vessels of the squadron sailed, during their absence, about four hundred thousand miles. Only eight of the men died of disease during the whole term of absence!

8. Among other things, the squadron brought home a large and valuable collection of live plants, bulbs, etc., collected in the islands of the Pacific, at the Cape of Good Hope, and elsewhere, which were placed in a garden at Washington. They brought a valuable collection of prepared specimens of plants and animals, which are now deposited in the Smithsonian Institution.

9. They also brought with them a chief of the Figi [fee'-jee] Islands, who, with others, had massacred and eaten the crew of a brig from Salem, Massachusetts. They also discovered, January 19th, 1840, what was supposed to be the shore of an antarctic continent.* they coasted for seventeen hundred miles, from east to west.

Along this

10. The proceedings against the Bank of the United States,† with the removal of the public deposits, and the discussion which grew out of it, led to the introduction of a bill into Congress, called the Sub

5. What was the effect of this misfortune? 6. What Exploring Expedition set out From Hampton Roads? 7. What did it accomplish? How long was it absent? How many miles did the vessels sail? 8. What was brought home? 9. What of a Figi chief! What continent had they discovered? 10. What can you say of the sub-treasury bill? *This continent was situated about two thousand miles south of New Holland, or Australia; on the same day a part of the same coast was seen by Commodore 'Urville, of a French exploring expedition.

General

The Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816, for twenty years. Jackson vehemently opposed its recharter in 1836, and he was finally successful (see note page 389). The sub-treasury was designed to furnish depositories for the public moneys, as the United States and its branches had done, for twenty years, prior to the removal of the deposits by General Jackson.

Treasury or Independent Treasury bill; which, during the session of 1839-40, underwent a thorough discussion.

11. The object of this bill was to provide for the collection, safekeeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue of the United States, without any connection with, or dependence on banks. A part of the plan was to have the revenue, after a reasonable time, wholly paid in gold and silver of the United States currency.

12. This bill passed the Senate of the United States, on the 23d of January 1840, but did not pass the House of Representatives till the 30th of June following. It was so radical a change that it created a very strong sensation throughout the United States, and was repealed immediately after the accession of General Harrison to the presidency. It was, however, restored on the accession of Mr. Polk, in 1845, and has since been in operation.

11. What was the object of the sub-treasury? 12. When did it pass the Senate? When the House of Representatives? Why did it create so much sensation? What of the repeal and restoration of this law?

HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION, BEGUN MARCH 4TH, 1841.The Democratic Party.-The Whig Party.-The "Har rison Campaign."-Harrison and Tyler elected.-The Extra Session.-Harrison's Death.

1. We now approach a period of great political excitement in the United States. General Jackson had enjoyed an unexampled degree of popularity. The party which had held the name of Republican from the time of Jefferson down to the period of the war, had now assumed the name of Democracy. Jackson became its head, and such was the favor bestowed on him by his political friends, that for a time they assumed the name of the Jackson party.

CHAP. CCI.-1. What had General Jackson enjoyed? What of the Republican party?

2. Mr. Van Buren had been the avowed candidate of General Jackson as his successor, and with the great weight of his influence, he was elected in the first instance that is in 1836-over his competitor, General Harrison. In acknowledgment of the services thus rendered, Mr. Van Buren declared it as his chief ambition to walk in the footsteps of his Illustrious Predecessor.

3. Though the country, at the close of Jackson's administration, had appeared to be in a state of general prosperity, a tempest of bankruptcy and ruin, as we have seen, soon after suddenly overwhelmed the country, from one end to the other.

4. A very extensive impression prevailed that these disasters were the legitimate result of the system adopted by Jackson, and followed up by Van Buren. Even some of those who held that the Bank of the United States ought not to have been continued, and that some new financial system ought to have been adopted, believed that the mode in which the change had been effected, was rash, and was carried on more in a partisan than a patriotic spirit.

5. At all events, the country in 1840, when the election for a successor to Mr. Van Buren was approaching, was in a state of the most calamitous prostration. Thousands of our citizens were in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy; manufactures were ruined, property was without value, and labor without reward.

6. The Federal party had ceased to exist: the opponents of Jackson and the system which emanated from his administration, had taken the name of the Whig party. Again nominating William Henry Harrison, the wise and experienced governor of the North-Western Territory, a successful general in the late war with Great Britain, and now a farmer at North Bend, on the Ohio, for their candidate, the Whigs went into the political contest with numerous advantages.

7. The canvass for several months, prior to the day of election, created the most intense excitement throughout the United States. The business of the country being generally paralyzed, the people had time to bestow upon their political affairs. Everywhere long processions with mottoed banners were seen marching to music, and everywhere the debate of the pending questions was heard in the streets, in fields and barns, and in vacant factories, in the haunts of the citizen, the mechanic, the artisan, and the farmer.

8. The result was such as might have been expected. Harrison was

2. What of General Jackson as to Mr. Van Buren's candidacy for the presidency? What did Mr. Van Buren acknowledge? 3. State of the country at the close of and after Jackson's administration? 4. What extensive impression prevailed? What did some of those opposed to a United States Bank believe? 5. What was the actual state of the ountry in 1840? 6. What of the Federal party at this time? The Whig party? What of William Henry Harrison? 7. Describe the canvass of 1840,