142 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



which was for the benefit of all mankind. It was 'general 

 in its terms, and not limited to the District of Columbia ; it 

 was for the benefit of the United States, and could not be 

 received b}^ Congress. 



Mr. Leigh said, he would thank the gentleman to inform 

 the Senate that the report he had referred to was made in 

 the House of Representatives, and not by a committee of 

 the Senate; The report of the Senate's committee was 

 simply a statement of matters of fact. Mr. L. explained 

 the provisions of the will, which were simply these : The 

 testator, James Smithson, bequeathed to his nephew, James 

 Henry Hungerford, a legacy of one hundred thousand 

 pounds sterling ; providing, that if Mr. Hungerford should 

 die without cluldren, the legacy should enure to the United 

 States, for the purpose of founding, at the city of Washing- 

 ton, an institution for the increase of knowledge among 

 men, to be called the Smithsonian University ; and the 

 Government had received information from the American 

 consul at London, that Mr. Hungerford had lately died 

 without ever having been married, and without leaving any 

 children. It now became necessary, Mr. L. said, for Con- 

 gress to determine whether it was competent for the United 

 States to receive this money ; and if they should receive it, 

 to take measures for carrying the intentions of the testator 

 into eftect. The committee to whom this subject had been 

 referred were all of opinion, with the exception of the gen- 

 tleman from South Carolina, (Mr. Preston,) that it was 

 proper for the United States to receive this money. They 

 had not considered the question at all, whether it was in 

 the power of Congress to establish a national university ,•■ 

 nor was it necessary they should do so. They looked upon 

 this bequest *as having been made simply for the benefit of 

 one of the cities of the District of Columbia, of which 

 Congress was the constitutional guardian, and could receive 

 and apply the money in that form. Congress was the parens 

 patrice of the District of Columbia, in the sense laid down 

 by Blackstone ; a power which necessarily belonged to 

 every government, and could therefore very properly re- 

 ceive this trust for a charitable purpose in the District of 

 Columbia. Congress had in fact exercised this power of 

 parens patrm of the District in the establishment of an 

 orphans' court, in the erection and support of a peniten- 

 tiary, and could create an establishment to take care of 

 lunatics; and indeed, if it did not possess this power, in 

 what a deplorable condition would this District be. The 

 States of Maryland and Virginia undoubtedly possessed 



