THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-55. 550 



entirely unexceptionable in the view of tlie writer, yet I 

 think it is derogatory from the dignity of the Senate. What 

 is it, sir? It is a resignation of an officer. Every citizen 

 of the United States has a right to hold an office if he can get 

 it, and certainly every citizen of the United States holding 

 an office has a right to resign it; and it is not necessary for 

 him, in order to be relieved from the burden of the office, 

 to assign any reason or excuse whatever. Whatever may 

 be said by way of apolog}^ or excuse, or reason, or justifica- 

 tion, does not alter the character of the act itself. It is an 

 absolute resignation. It is complete. It is final. The Senate 

 has nothing to do but to file it. It is done. The Senate 

 cannot compel the individual to retain his office. They 

 cannot ask him to take it back again, however high he may 

 be. They can reappoint him, but they must receive his 

 resignation as a complete act. 



According to my humble judgment, what this retiring 

 regent ought to have done, was to send a letter to the Presi- 

 dent of the Senate, saying, in so many words : " Sir, I resign 

 the office of Regent of the Smithsonian Institution." It is 

 true that a regent, like every other public officer, has a right 

 to inform the public and to inform Congress, if he pleases 

 to do so, of the grounds why he declines a further continu- 

 ance in the discharge of a public trust ; but t\iat should be, 

 not by a letter explaining his reasons for his resignation, 

 but it should be done through the public press, or otherwise, 

 so as not to make the table of the Senate bear the burden 

 of all personal, and political, and other explanations of per- 

 sons retiring from public office. 



It is manifest that the honorable and distinguished gentle- 

 man has not considered the legal nature and the official 

 character of the act he was performiug. I say, then, th^^ 

 resignation was complete and absolute when the words "I 

 resign this office" were written, but that is not the whole of 

 the communication. We are, Ijesides, favored with an ex- 

 planation of the reasons why he resigns. This is either for 

 the information of the public, (and if so, it ought not to 

 have been made to the Senate of the United States,) or else 

 it is for the purpose of instructing the Senate in regard to the 

 question which is discussed in the paper. If that honorable 

 and distinguished gentleman wished to instruct the Senate 

 upon the merits of the question out of which his resignation 

 has arisen, he had the right to come before this body in a 

 respectful manner, by petition, by memorial, or by official 

 communication, as a regent of the institution; but he dis- 

 claims the privilege and the right of addressing us as a 



