THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-55. 547 



is no appeal from the decision of the learned gentleman 

 ■who pronounces the judgment. That is infallible. 



Sir, I have known instances — others, more experienced 

 than I am, have known of more — where the judgment is 

 found darkened in the flashes of a brilliant mind; a mere 

 rhetorician should never aspire to the judgment seat. I 

 would appeal to the experience of the world to say, whether 

 there is not an intirmit}^ attendant upon such minds, which 

 never admit that they may be wrong. The calm, sedate, 

 deliberate, slow, and cautious mind, brings you to a cor- 

 rect conclusion; and when attained, submUs "it with defer- 

 ence and respect to those who are to pass upon it. Confi- 

 dence, that confidence which precludes doubt, does not be- 

 long to those who are capable of pronouncing judgment. 



Mr. President, I shall not go over the ground so lucidly 

 occupied by the very able gentleman who preceded me, 

 with whom I have been associated in this trust. It is a 

 pure, a high, and honorable trust, one conceived b}^ a noble 

 mind — the late James Smithson. He pursued science as the 

 great mistress of his aft'ections; he pursued it to his grave; 

 and he left behind him this legacy. To whom? lie had 

 the world to choose from. He was an Englishman. He 

 had never been upon this continent. He possessed a large 

 fortune. The high benevolence of his nature determined 

 him, when he left the world, to devote that fortune, in the 

 hands of others, to the pursuit of science, when the world 

 closed upon him. As I have said, he had the world to 

 choose from, and he signalized this country and its institu- 

 tions by his choice. He left his fortune to the United 

 States, in trust for the establishment of an institution at 

 Washington, "for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge." Where? In Washington? In the United States? 

 Upon this continent, broad as it is? No; "amongst men" 

 is the lano^ua<?e of the trust. 



If I am capable of reading the signs of the times, there 

 are those, of whom we have plenty. Heaven knows, around 

 us everywhere, who look upon a public fund, no matter to 

 what object it has been devoted, or how small the trust, as 

 a thing to be scrambled for, and appropriated by the first 

 needy or lucky adventurer. For the last twelve months the 

 newspapers have been full of intimations, coming, generally, 

 from the northern and eastern sections of the country, throw- 

 ing suspicion and doubt upon the management of this trust, 

 intimating that it has been perverted from its original pur- 

 pose; in substance, that it was in improper hands, and 

 should be taken from them; invoking, in some insidious 



