The Foreign Service Journal, February 2012

ernment itself. For all these reasons, the U.S. did not prevail in court until May 1838. Most of the bequest was in government bonds amounting to £105,000, worth about $150 million today. Wisely, Rush took several months to sell the bonds so as not to flood the market and cause a decline in value, and with the proceeds purchased gold coins. All 104,960 of these were then packed in leather bags and sealed in 11 boxes for the trip home, together with some of Smithson’s effects, which had been placed in stor- age in London. Each coinbox weighed 187 pounds. Traveling on the ship Mediator , Rush arrived in New York on Aug. 29, 1838. By Sept. 4, he was on his way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia with his treasure. At the mint, all the gold coins, except two, were recast as U.S. $10 coins, yielding a total of $508,318.46. The two gold sovereigns that were not melted are now in the coin collections of the National Mu- seum of American History. In 1838 the budget of the United States was only about $38 million, the endowment of Harvard University amounted to $600,000, and the per capita income of a free man in the United States was $109. So half a mil- lion dollars was a true fortune. The legacy secured, Congress then debated the issue of what to do with the funds for eight years. It finally reached a compromise in 1846 and the first Smithsonian building, the Castle, rose on the Mall between 1847 and 1849. Maintaining a Monument After the establishment of the Smithsonian, Congress thought it proper for the beneficiaries of James Smithson’s largesse to care for his tomb in Genoa. In 1880, the Department of State charged the U.S. consul in that city “to put the monument in thorough repair and to arrange to have it kept in good condition at the expense of the In- stitution.” Among the notableU.S. consuls who looked after Smithson’s tomb were James Fletcher, Richmond Pearson and WilliamHenry Bishop. James Fletcher (1840-1901), who was born in England, arrived in the United States in 1848 and settled in Vermont. During the Civil War, he served with the Third Vermont Volun- teers and rose to first lieutenant. Mus- tered out at the end of the war, he moved to Waverly, Iowa, where he be- came a businessman and co-owner and editor of the Waverly Republican . In 1883 President Chester A. Arthur (1829-1896) appointed Fletcher as con- sul in Genoa, where he served until his death in 1901. Richmond Pearson (1852-1923) had beenU.S consul in Liege, Belgium, before returning home and being elected to the U.S. House of Represen- tatives. In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) appointed him consul in Genoa. The following year Pearson became ambassador to Persia, and later served as envoy to Greece. William Henry Bishop (1847- 1928) was in Genoa as consul when the arrangements for the disinterring and shipment of Smithson’s remains to Washington were made. Born in Hart- ford, Conn., Bishop graduated from Yale in 1867. An eclectic man, he stud- ied architecture in New York, became the proprietor and editor of several Mil- waukee newspapers, lived in Mexico and in France for several years, and was an instructor in French and Spanish at Yale. He was also a prolific and well- known author, and between 1867 and his death published many books. In 1903 Pres. Roosevelt appointed Bishop consul in Genoa to replace Pearson. By the end of the year, he was heavily involved in the arrangements to move Smithson’s remains to Washing- ton, D.C. The Smithsonian dispatched Alexander GrahamBell (1847-1922) to Genoa to secure Smithson’s remains and bring them back. Bishop actively assisted Bell in navi- gating the shoals of Italian bureaucracy and was at the cemetery on Dec. 29, 1903, when the tomb was opened. Mabel Bell, the inventor’s wife, was also there, busily photographing the pro- ceedings, and took photos of Bishop and her husband holding Smithson’s skull in a scene reminiscent of Hamlet holding that of Yorick. On Jan. 7, 1904, Bell and his wife left Genoa on the German steamer Princess Irene with the zinc box con- taining Smithson’s remains. They ar- rived in Hoboken, N.J., on Jan. 24. In the meantime Bell’s son-in-law, Gil- bert Grosvenor (1875-1966), editor of National Geographic Magazine , wrote several articles on the impor- tance of receiving and honoring Smith- son’s remains. Roosevelt ordered the USS Dolphin to meet the ship, transfer Smithson’s coffin to its custody and bring it to Washington, D.C. The Dolphin docked atWashington’s Navy Yard on Jan. 25, 1904, and was es- corted first by U.S. Marines and then a troop of the 15th U.S. Cavalry. James Smithson’s remains were brought to the Smithsonian Castle, where they still rest. A Lasting Legacy U.S diplomats definitely played a significant, if unheralded, role in mak- ing the Smithsonian Institution possi- ble. In the process, they truly honored the foreigner whose money financed its foundation. F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 29 John Quincy Adams, a former Secretary of State, advocated strongly for accepting Smithson’s bequest.