munity. And I suggest for their consideration the propriety of regulating the conditions of an annual membership of the academy, as well as the terms of occasional admission to the saloon, if they should consider it expedient at any time to extend the privilege of admission beyond the number of those who may be enrolled as members.

Fourth. I contemplate with great satisfaction as an auxiliary to the improvement of the taste, and through it the moral elevation of the character of the society of Baltimore, the establishment of a gallery of art in the department of painting and statuary. It is therefore my wish that such a gallery should be included in the plan of the institute, and that spacious and appropriate provision be made for it. It should be supplied to such an extent as may be practicable with the works of the best masters, and be placed under such regulations as shall secure free access to it, during stated periods of every year, by all orderly and respectable persons who may take an interest in works of this kind; and particularly that, under wholesome restraints to preserve good order and decorous deportment, it may be rendered instructive to artists in the pursuit of their peculiar studies and in affording them opportunity to make drawings and copies from the works it may contain.

As annual or periodical exhibitions of paintings and statuary are calculated, in my opinion, to afford equal gratification and instruction to the community, and may serve to supply a valuable fund for the enrichment of the gallery, I suggest to the trustees the establishment of such exhibitions, so far as they may find it practicable, from the resources within their reach.

Lastly. I desire that ample and convenient accommodation may be made in the building of the Institute for the use of the Maryland Historical Society, of which I am and have long been a member. It is my wish that that society should permanently occupy its appropriate rooms as soon as they are provided, and should, at the proper time when this can be done, be appointed by the trustees to be the guardian and protector of the property of the Institute; and that, if it accept tliis duty, and, in conformity to my wish, shall move into and take possession of the apartments designed for its use, it shall also be requested and empowered to assume the management and administration of the operations of the several departments, as the same shall be established and organized by the trustees; that it shall, at a proper time in every year, appoint from its own members appropriate and efficient committees, to be charged respectively with the arrangement and direction of the operations and conduct of each department in the functions assigned to each, hy the trustees; that, in the performance of these duties, it shall keep in view the purposes which it is my aim to promote, give due attention to the details necessary to accomplish them, and adopt suitable measures to execute the plan of organization made by the trustees, and carry into full and useful effect my intentions as disclosed in this letter.

The trustees, after the Historical Society shall have accepted these duties, shall, nevertheless, possess a full and complete visitorial power over the proceedings of the society touching the subjects I have contided to the board. To guard against misapprehension which might lead to a conflict between these bodies, I beg it to be understood that in this arrangement I intend the power of the board to be adapted to the organization and general direction of the departments, and that of the society to their operations and conduct, in conformity with such organization and general direction. I hope that the board of trustees and the society, will always act in the discharge of the functions which I have assigned to them respectively with a liberal spirit of concert and cooperation, and with a harmonious and united determination to render the Institute an agency of enduring benefit to the community in which it is placed.

If there be any legal incapacity in the Maryland Historical Society to assume and perform the duties which it is my wish it should undertake, the trustees wih be careful to wait until that impediment is removed by the grant of proper power to that end by the Legislature, before they commit these duties to that body. And if, at any time hereafter, that society shall become extinct, it will be the duty of the trustees then existing, to assume to themselves the ministration and management of the several departments of the Institute in the de. tails I have here assigned to the care of the society.

The trustees will make such provisions out of the moneys I have now placed at their disposal, and out of such as I may hereafter give them, as may be necessary for the purchase of the ground and the erection of the building for the Institute, and will also, in due time, make all suitable provisions for the investment of the several sums required for the repair, preservation, and insurance of the building and other property connected with it; for its fuel, lighting, and furniture; for the service of the library and apartments belonging to it; for the yearly purchase of books; for the service, management, and expense of the lecture department; for the charge and support of the academy of music; for the support, maintenance, and gradual increase of the gallery of arts; for the supply of the yearly prizes to the graduates of the high schools and the school of design; and for all proper contingent or incidental expenses of the Institute, in whatever branch the same may be needed. In the performance of this duty I wish them to make a specific designation of the fund appropriated to each department as well as of that for the general service of all, and that these several appropriations be made in such proportions as the necessity of each department may require, and the means at the disposal of the trustees may allow. And it is also my wish, in connection with this subject of the funds I have directed to be supplied, that they, as well as what I may hereafter supply, shall always be held under the control and guardianship of the trustees, in conformity with such regulations as they may adopt for their preservation, appropriation, and investment, from time to time, in the administration of the trust; and that when the Maryland Historical Society shall assume the management of the departments as I have mentioned above, the trustees shall put at its disposal, in each year, the amount they shall have appropriated for each service, as herein before required, to be disbursed by the society according to its appointed destination.

These, gentlemen, are the general instructions I have to impart to you for your guidance in the laborious duties I have committed to your care. You will perceive that my design is to establish an Institute which shall in some degree administer to the benefit of every portion of the community of Baltimore; which shall supply the means of pursuing the acquirement of knowledge and the study of art to every emulous student of either sex who may be impelled by the laudable desire of improvement to seek it; which shall furnish incentives to the ambition of meritorious youth in the public schools, and in that useful school of design under the charge of the Mechanics' Institute, by providing for those who excel a reward, which I hope will be found to be not only a token of honorary distinction, but also a timely contribution toward the means of the worthy candidate who shall win it, for the commencement of a successful career in life; which shall afford opportunity to those whom fortune has blessed with leisure to cultivate those kindly liberalizing arts that embellish the character by improving the perception of the beautiful and the true, and which, by habituating the mind to the contemplation of the best works of genius, render it more friendly and generous toward the success of deserving artists in their early endeavor after fame.

For the fulfilling and preserving the trust I have confided to you, my wish is that you, gentlemen, or as many of you as may accept this appointment, will meet together at as early a day as may be convenient for you, and take such measures for your own organization and government as you may find necessary, making a record of your acceptance and of all the proceedings you may adopt ; that if your full number of twenty-five should be rendered incompetent by the refusal of any of you to accept the appointment, you will, as soon as practicable, fill the same by the selection of the necessary number from a list of two hundred names from the ranks of your most worthy fellow-citizens, which I herewith furnish you, and which list I desire you to enter upon your record for future use.

I also desire and request, that if at any time hereafter, during the life of the present generation, vacancies should occur in your number of twenty-five, by death, resignation, incapacity to serve, or removal from the State, you and your successors will fill such vacancies, by judicious selections from the list above mentioned, of such person or persons therein named as may then be living and may be qualified, by capacity and good standing in the community, to perform the duties required; and when, in after times, this generation shall have passed away, I desire that your successors may be preserved by the appointment to vacant places in your board of such of your sons, or the sons of those on the list I have given you, as may then be accessible to the choice of your successors, and may be worthy, from their personal qualifications and good repute in Baltimore, to assume the charge of the Institute. And, finally, when these sources shall fail, I desire that the succession in the board of trustees shall be ever maintained by the careful selection, from time to time, of such eminent and capable citizens of Baltimore as may be willing to administer to the service of this community by the devotion of a portion of their time to a work which I earnestly hope may be found to be, both in the influence of its example, and in the direct administration of its purpose, a long, fruitful, and prosperous benefaction to the good people of Baltimore.

I must not omit to impress upon you a suggestion for the government of the Institute, which I deem to be of the highest moment, and which I desire shall be ever present to the view of the board of trustees. My earnest wish to promote, at all times, a spirit of harmony and good-will in society, my aversion to intolerance, bigotry, and party rancor, and my enduring respect and love for the happy institutions of our prosperous Republic, impel me to express the wish that the Institute I have proposed to you shall always be strictly guarded against the possibility of being made a theatre for the dissemination or discussion of sectarian theology or party politics; that it shall never minister, in any manner whatever, to political dissension, to infidelity, to visionary theories of a pretended philosophy, which may be aimed at the subversion of the approved morals of society; that it shall never lend its aid or influence to the propagation of opinions tending to create or encourage sectional jealousies in our happy country, or which may lead to the alienation of the people of one State or section of the Union from those of another; but that it shall be so conducted, throughout its whole career, as to teach political and religious charity, toleration, and beneficence, and prove itself to be, in all contingencies and conditions, the true friend of our inestimable Union, of the salutary institutions of free Government, and of liberty regulated by law. I enjoin these precepts upon the board of trustees and their successors forever, for their invariable observance and enforcement in the administration of the duties I have confided to them.

And now, in conclusion, I have only to express my wish that, in the construction of the building you are to erect, you will allow space for future addi. tions in case they may be found necessary; and that, in its plan, style of architecture, and adaptation to its various uses, it may be worthy of the purposes to which it is dedicated, and may serve to embellish, a city whose prosperity, I trust, will ever be distinguished by an equal growth in knowledge and virtue. I am, with great respect, your friend,

GEORGE PEABODY.
Wm. E. Mayhew,

Sam. W. Smith,
John P. Kennedy,

Chauncey Brooks,
Chas. J. M. Eaton,

Wm. F. Murdoch,
Thomas Swann,

Enoch Pratt,
George Brown,

J. Mason Campbell,
Jolin B. Morris.

Geo. W. Brown,
S. Owings Hoffman,

Galloway Cheston,
G. W. Burnap:

Geo. P. Tiffany,
Wm. fI. D. C. Wright,

Wm. Prescott Smith,
Josias Pennington,

Chas. Bradenbaugh,
Wm. Mckim,

Edw. M. Greenway, Jr.,
David S. Wilson,

Wm. C. Shaw.
John M. Gordon,

While engaged in devising this munificent gift for Baltimore, Mr. Peaboriy did not forget his native town—but as a birth-day present, sent a check for the sum of ten thousand dollars to establish a Branch Institute in that part of the town of old Danvers which now constitutes a town by itself.

BELGIUM.

INTERNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC CONGRESS AT BRUSSEIS. We abridge the following notice of the International Philanthropic Congress from “ The Laborer's Friend," of Nov. 29, 1856 :

The sittings of the Congress commenced on Monday, the 15th, and closed on Saturday, the 20th of Sept., 1856, in the Public Hall of the Académie Royale des Sciences et des Beaux-Arts, and during several of the sittings many ladies occupied the side seats, particularly on the occasion when His Majesty and the Duke of Brabant honored the Congress with their presence.

The number of members amounted to upwards of 200, more than 130 of whom were non-residents, including representatives from most parts of Europe. On the first day after the reading of the list of adherents by M. Ducpetiaux, the Secretary, an eloquent opening address was delivered by the President, M. Charles Rogier, formerly Minister of the Interior ; and various members stated the progress of philanthropic efforts in the different countries which they represented.

The Congress was then divided into three Sections, and the morning sittings were devoted to the separate consideration of the subjects in Committees and Sub-committees, or Commissions ; the afternoon being appropriated to the united reception and discussion of the various Reports of the several Sections, as presented to the general body. The first Section treated of Alimentary Substances in their relation to

Agriculture. The second Section treated of Alimentary Substances in their relation to

Political and Charitable Economy.

Under this head was classed the question of the abuse of strong drinks, regarded in the double light of the loss of nutritive substances employed in their manufacture, and their influence on the health and morality of the Working Classes.

The encouragement and the creation of a spirit of forethought and saving amongst workmen, and the institutions intended to favor and to create such a spirit.

The means of preventing the inordinate increase of population,

and especially the regular and permanent organization of emigration. The third Section treated of Alimentary Substances viewed in their re

lationship to Scientific and Industrial Operations, Processes, and Inventions, adapted to facilitate and to bring to perfection Manual Labor ; to render healthy certain industrial pursuits ; and to prevent accidents : the improvement of the Dwellings, of the Furniture and

Clothes, of the Working Classes. The Programme prepared by the Committee of Organization contained, under each of the preceding Sections or Divisions, a very detailed and carefully-prepared analysis, subdivided into about fifty heads, indicating the leading features of the subjects to be considered.

Over the several Sections Presidents were appointed.

In the first Section-COUNT ARRIVABENE (Belgium) and the VISCOUNT DE

CAUMONT (France)..
In the second Section- MONSIEUR LIEDTS, Minister of State.

Vice-Presidents - PROFESSOR SCHUBERT (Prussia), M. WOLOWSKI

(France). In the third Section—The Right HONORABLE WILLIAM COWPER, M. P.,

assisted by M. VISSCHERS (Belgium). We give an abridgment of the addresses which appear most likely to interest our readers, and to convey a general idea of the proceedings at the Congress.

The President, M. CHARLES ROGIER, in his opening address, said

Gentlemen, the Statistical Congress of 1853, taking up an idea presented to the “ Congrès Pénitentiaire" of 1847, unanimously enunciated the idea of seeing, at some early period, united in a general Congress, the men who, in different countries, occupy themselves with questions relating to the physical, the moral, and the intellectual improvement of the Working Classes and of the Poor. This, then, is the order of the day transmitted to their successors by the members of the Statistical Society.

It was left to us to consider the order in which it would be most suitable to take up these questions, and we have not hesitated in giving the priority to those which relate to the material life of the people-Food, Dwellings, Clothing, Manual Labor.

The most difficult and the most lofty part of the task will present itself at the time when the investigations shall have especial and deep reference to intellectual, moral, and social improvements.

The Congress certainly does not pretend to such a paradox as that of seeing living facts, ameliorations full-blown, arise at once from its discussions. Our task is limited to the exchange of ideas, to elaborating in common, and to propagating the theories to which science and experience assign a practical value, and which are, to say the truth, ideas, germs, thrown into the world under the eye of God. All are not destined to ripen. Many will be dispersed by the winds, fall and perish upon a rebellious soil. In the most positive sciences, how much lost labor, how many researches vanish away ; how numerous the risks of the most valuable discoveries, of the most obvious truths making their way and being usefully applied ! Sow, Gentlemen, propagate healthy ideas, and, without impatience, without discouragement, wait the harvest. The common efforts of so many choice spirits, the contact of so many devoted hearts, will give birth, be ye sure, at the proper time, to something good and useful.

We hasten, Gentlemen, to give place to the honorable Reporters, the Delegates from different countries here present. We hasten to assist at this Exposition, this review of nations, in which Belgium will ask to occupy its place. What can be more instructive, more fruitful, than these inquiries, this exchange of information, these mutual lessons of nation to nation, and these eloquent facts, gathered from the lips even of men the most distinguished, the most competent, the most truthful? Is not this the commencement of a profound reform, and of a new progress in the relations of government and people ?

Yes, Gentlemen, that will one day be a touching and a sublime spectacle, when these great assizes of benevolence are held, when each nation shall appear, by its most illustrious representatives, who shall come at recurrent periods to render an account and to testify of what has been done, and even of what has been omitted to be done, for their own improvement, and for tae happiness of the largest numbers. Ah! these struggles will be valuable, fruitful; these rivalries of nations will be useful ; and how beautiful will be the crowns of the conquerors! You, Gentlemen, have passed over different countries of Europe to render this first testimony: you are all united on the free and peaceable soil of Belgium, to prepare the harvest