THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-55. 535 



House of Representatives, August 3, 1854. 



The Senate having reinserted the section that the House 

 non-concurred in on the 1st of August, Mr. Houston said : 



Upon examination of that amendment, Mr. Pearce, of the 

 Senate committee, who is a member of the Joint Committee 

 on the Library, assured us that these officers are now kept 

 up and paid to have charge of this collection. The object of 

 the amendment is only to relieve the Joint Committee on the 

 Library from their responsibility concerning the matter. 

 There is, I believe, an increase of one messenger, besides 

 which it will cost no more money than under the present 

 arrangement. The committee, therefore, report in favor of 

 the House receding from its disagreement. 



PEOCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



Senate, December 7, 1854. 



Mr. Pearce, according to previous notice, asked and ob- 

 tained leave to introduce a joint resolution providing for the 

 appointment of two Regents for the Smithsonian Institution ; 

 which was read twice by unanimous consent, and considered 

 as in Committee of the Whole. 



It proposes to fill the vacancies in the Board of Regents, 

 of the class other than members of Congress, by the reap- 

 pointment of the late incumbents, Rufas Choate, of Massa- 

 chusetts, and Gideon Hawley, of New York. 



The joint resolution was reported to the Senate without 

 amendment, ordered to a third reading, read a third time, 

 and passed. 



Senate, January 17, 1855. 



The President. I lay before the Senate a communication 

 from Hon. Rufus Choate, one of the Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. It will be read. 



The Secretary read it, as follows : 



To the Senate and House of Representatives : 



I take leave to communicate to the two Houses of Congress my resigna- 

 tion of the office of Kegent of the Smithsonian Institution. 



It is due to the body which has been pleased to honor me with their trust 

 for some years, and has recently conferred it for a new term, to say that this 

 step is taken, not from any loss of interest in the welfare of that important 

 establishment, but in part from the inconvenience experienced in attending 

 the meetings, and in part, also, and more immediately, from my inability 

 to concur or acquiesce in an interpretation of the act of Congress constitu- 

 ting the actual institution, and the Board of Regents, which has beoa 



