inspection. The action taken on the subject is shown by the following:

Report of a Committee of the National Academy of Sciences on the Condition and Preservation of the

Declaration of Independence.

Honorable JOHN HAY,

Secretary of State.

NEW YORK, April 24, 1903.

DEAR SIR: In response to a communication received from you, a committee was appointed by President Agassiz of the National Academy of Sciences to confer with you with regard to the present condition of the Declaration of Independence, and to make such recommendations as should seem desirable to insure the preservation of this precious instrument. The committee was also requested to send their report to you directly in order to avoid the delay which might result from reporting in the usual manner to the officers of the Academy. The members of the committee are John S. Billings, Ira Remsen, and Charles F. Chandler.

After conferring with you, the committee was given an opportunity to make a careful examination of the instrument with the assistance of Mr. A. H. Allen, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library, and with the assistance of Dr. Wilbur M. Gray of the Army Medical Museum.

The instrument has suffered very seriously from the very harsh treatment to which it was exposed in the earlier years of the Republic. Folding and rolling have creased and broken the parchment. The wet press-copying operation, to which it was exposed about 1820, for the purpose of producing a facsimile copy, removed a large portion of the ink. Subsequent exposure to the action of light for more than thirty years, while the instrument was placed on exhibition, has resulted in the fading of the ink, particularly in the signatures. The present method of caring for the instrument seems to be the best that can be suggested.

The committee is pleased to find that no evidence of mould or other disintegrating agents can be discovered upon the parchment by careful microscopic examination; nor any evidence that disintegration is now in progress.

The investigation has been facilitated by the photograph that was taken in 1883, two years after the previous examination by a committee of the Academy, and we would suggest the desirability of taking another photograph of about the same size at the present time, and from time to time in the future as an aid to future investigations.

The committee does not consider it wise to apply any chemicals with a view to restoring the original color of the ink, because such application could be but partially successful, as a considerable percentage of the original ink was removed in making the copy about 1820, and also because such application might result in serious discoloration of the parchment; nor does the committee consider it necessary or advisable to apply any solution, such as collodion, paraffin, etc., with a view to strengthening the parchment or making it moisture proof.

The committee is of opinion that the present method of protecting the instrument should be continued; that it should be kept in the dark and as dry as possible, and never placed on exhibition.

CHARLES F. CHANDLER,

Chairman of the Committee.

CHAPTER XII

THE CONSTITUTION.

CHIEF PUBLICATIONS. LIBRARY.

RELICS. OBJECTS OF ART

F equal importance with the Declaration of

OFF

Independence is the Constitution of the United States, the original of which has never passed out of the Secretary of State's custody, but which has never been put on exhibition and has suffered no deterioration. In connection with it two important official publications must be noticed.

The first, edited by the Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, was the Journal, Acts and Proceedings of the Convention, etc., published in Boston in 1819, under authority of a joint resolution of Congress of March 27, 1818. This was the official journal of the Convention which under the Convention's orders the Secretary, William Jackson, had turned over to the President of the Convention, General Washington, when it adjourned, to be kept by him until its place of deposit should be indicated by the Congress of the new government, if it should ever be formed. Washington did not, however, ask for directions from Congress, but seems to have concluded that, as it had deposited the records of the old government with the Department of State, that was the proper place for the records of the establishment of the new govern

ment. They were turned over by him and receipted for by Secretary Timothy Pickering, March 16, 1796. When Adams edited them in 1818 they were in the immediate custody of the chief clerk, Daniel Brent.

Another important publication by the Department was entitled the "Documentary History of the Constitution of the United States of America, 1786-1870, Derived from the Records, Manuscripts, and Rolls deposited in the Bureau of Rolls and Library of the Department of State," edited by the Chief of the Bureau, Andrew Hussey Allen. The first two volumes appeared in 1894 and contained the records of the Annapolis Convention of 1786, the journal of the Federal Convention of 1787 and collateral papers, and amendatory and ratification proceedings of the states. Volume III appeared in 1900 and contained Madison's journal of debates in the Convention of 1787. Volumes IV and V were published in 1905, containing letters and papers relating to the Constitution taken from the historical collections then in the Bureau of Rolls and Library. Congress has never authorized a facsimile of the Constitution; but the document has been photographed.

It has been seen that the same provisions which applied to the publication of the laws were made applicable to the publication of treaties, which are the supreme law; but several separate compilations of collected treaties have been made for convenience. The first was a private publication entitled Diplomatic Code of the United States of America embracing a Collection of Treaties and Conventions between the

United States and Foreign Powers from the year 1778 to 1828, by Jonathan Elliot, published in Washington, 1827. It was under the patronage of the Secretary of State, Henry Clay, to whom it was dedicated. In the letter of Mr. Clay to Mr. Elliot, dated November 1, 1827, and printed at the beginning of the volume, he said: "It is, I believe, the first complete collection, in one volume, of our Treaties with Foreign Powers, which has been made." A second edition with additions was published in 1834. In 1848 the Little & Brown edition of the laws included the treaties in one volume, No. 8. On December 22, 1870, the Senate passed a resolution asking the Secretary of State "to prepare and transmit to the Senate copies of all the treaties and conventions (except postal conventions) entered into by the United States, " which had been ratified. They were sent in on February 1, 1871, and printed that year by order of Congress under the title Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of America and other Powers, this being the first compilation of treaties issued directly from the Department of State. It was compiled under the direction of J. C. Bancroft Davis, the Assistant Secretary, and had notes by him showing what treaties or parts of treaties had been abrogated, with decisions thereon. In 1873 a second edition appeared with further notes by Mr. Bancroft Davis. In 1876, under supervision of his successor as Assistant Secretary, John L. Cadwalader, an edition of treaties concluded since May 1, 1870, was issued, with notes. The next issue was that compiled by John H. Haswell, Chief of