Daily National Intelligencer

TO THE EDITORS.

Gentlemen—In the Federal Republican of the 12th I discovered a long editorial article on the subject of the Library of the United States. I must confess, that the introductory observations are to me wholly unintelligible, and, like the Delphic Oracle, may be interpreted as you please. The editor seems disposed to hit somebody, but does not exactly know whom. So involved is his own party in the "insanity," as he calls it, of this purchase, that he appears to be quite at a loss to know how to direct his darts, and seems to be glad of an opportunity to escape at all hazards. So powerful, so irresistible and infatuating is the influence of prejudice that it often darkens the clearest intellect, and obscures the soundest judgment even on subjects purely literary, and wholly unconnected with party considerations.

Had this Library been the property of any other man than Mr. Jefferson, so obnoxious to federalism from the energy and dignity of his character, I presume there would have been no hesitation in allowing it to be unequalled in this country; and as it respects selection and rarity, surpassed by very few in Europe. The editor, who I suppose has never seen this collection, pronounces it at once useless and deficient. This information he seems to derive from the joint Library Committee (not a committee of the Senate) from whose report he has extracted a paragraph on the subject. I have seen many Libraries in Europe, and some in this country: I have been in the Library of Congress, and have examined the catalogue with some degree of attention; and I have no hesitation in saying, that I have never seen a Library of its size, that contained a greater collection of rare and valuable works. That the nation should have a Library, will scarcely be denied; and that this Library should contain every thing valuable in literature and science, is, I presume, equally undeniable. To Congress I am not prepared to say what this Library is worth; but to the nation, it is worth five times the sum that has been given for it. If I am correctly informed, to purchase a Library of equal magnitude with the present, in the mode hitherto pursued by Congress, would cost the nation double the sum this has cost. The former Library cost, I understand, 18,000 dollars, and did not contain three thousand volumes; this cost 25,000 dollars, and contains upwards of seven thousand volumes, most of which are rare and valuable.

With what degree of truth, then, can it be said, that Mr. Jefferson palmed his library upon the public? Very nearly the same committee had the same catalogue before them last year, which they examined attentively, and pronounced the purchase desirable; but this year, by a species of literary legerdemain, a rapid glance is sufficient to convince them of the immense hiatus in some of the departments of arts or sciences; and this implies a censure on Congress and themselves, for consenting to the purchase. No man in the least conversant with books, will hesitate to say, that this library is immensely valuable, in a scientific and literary point of view; and certainly no man acquainted with the price of books, will be unwilling to admit, in mercantile phraseology, that the government has made an excellent bargain. I am very sure that this library in Philadelphia, New York, or any of the cities in the United States, would bring, under the hammer, nearly double its present cost. But it is absurd and contemptible to speculate in literature; it is a subject that cannot be measured by the ordinary standard of profit and loss. A book may be, to a man capable of literary and scientific instruction, very beneficial: while to a blockhead it is a mere unintelligible jargon. Books possess an intrinsic and relative value; they are either common, and contain much useful information, or scarce and valuable for their curiosity and antiquity. Such appear to be the books which constitute the present library of the United States. I grant there is a deficiency; but that deficiency neither consists in the arts nor the sciences, but in the want of maps and charts, and books of modern date, which, at a small expense, may be easily supplied. I agree with the editor in the last paragraph of his remarks. I think the Librarian's present salary is a reflection on the literary character of the nation, and must be totally inadequate to the support of any man in this place. If he is to be compensated according to his actual duties, his responsibility and the dignity of the station, he ought to be allowed at least three times as much as he receives.

I.