342 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



establish a literary institution here, with the great expense 

 attendant upon living in this District, and from other causes 

 which I need not enumerate, this fund in its benefits would 

 be confined to a very small portion of the people of this 

 country. From the very nature of our Government, and 

 the condition of the people of this country, we could never 

 expect to erect in our day a library to compare with the 

 great European libraries, except by the application of this 

 fund to that purpose. It was impossible, everybody knew, 

 for any of our citizens who proposed to write a history, or 

 any other work tbat required an examination into ancient 

 books and authorities, to do so without going to Europe for 

 that purpose. Now, he believed that an extensive library 

 in which all the means of human knowledge should be col- 

 lected, and in which they should be equally open to all the 

 citizens of this country, was the very best mode in which to 

 apply the money so liberally bequeathed by Mr. Smithson 

 for the " increase and difi'usion of knowledge among men." 

 He was clearly of that opinion ; but he had no idea of mak- 

 ing a speech upon the subject. The question now before 

 the Senate resolved itself into a very simple proposition ; 

 and that was, Shall Congress retain and direct the imme- 

 diate and eflicient control of this fund, and of its applica- 

 tion, or shall it be administered through the agency of the 

 National Institute ? That was the question ; and on the 

 decision of the question his own vote might depend. Now, 

 he entertained all proper respect for the members of this 

 institute, and he believed it had been already instrumental 

 in diftusing knowledge among men ; but he thought Con- 

 gress was bound to keep the application of this fund distinct 

 from that, or any other literary incorporated body. What 

 was proposed by his honorable friend from New Hampshire 

 [Mr. Woodbury] in the amendment under consideration ? 

 Why, to connect the National Institute with the Smithso- 

 nian library — to form a sort of partnership between the 

 two. The National Institute is to hold its meetings in a 

 room in the building to be erected for the use of the Smith- 

 sonian librar3\ This was in the printed amendment, and 

 would be the inevitable consequence of intrusting the man- 

 agement of this fund to that institute. In a great national 

 institution like the Smithsonian library, calculated for the 

 benefit of the whole people of the country, he desired to 

 keep it clear, or detach it and keep it distinct from the 

 National Institute, or any other literary corporation what- 

 ever. Congress ought to take upon itself the immediate 



