562 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary inquire whether any, 

 and if any, what, action of the Senate is necessary and proper in regard to 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



I believe that this resolution is in accordance with the 

 general sentiment of the body. I do not purpose to debate 

 it; but I will say now, that I hold it to be the duty of the 

 Senate of the United States to sustain the regents of this 

 institution, whenever the Senate thinks they are right. 

 When an imputation is cast on those gentlemen, it ought 

 not to be left to be a matter of conjecture or doubt in the 

 country, whether the Senate thinks they ought to be sus- 

 tained or not. For my own part, I do thoroughly concur 

 in the opinion which has been given by a majority of the 

 regency. I have been of their opinion since the institution 

 was first established. 



I had the honor, as a member of a committee of this body, 

 some eighteen j-ears ago, to report the bill, which was after- 

 wards enacted into a law, accepting the bequest of Smith- 

 son; and I well remember that, upon that occasion, there 

 was a diversity of sentiment in this body in regard to the 

 propriety of accepting the bequest, for it was said confi- 

 dently, by some gentlemen, that it would turn out that this 

 Government was incapable of administering the fund as the 

 testator intended. I was then of a different opinion, and I 

 am now. I have observed, with some interest, the progress 

 of this institution, and the course adopted by the regents, 

 from the origin of the institution, and their course has, on 

 all occasions, so far as I have been able to understand it, met 

 with my unqualified approbation. 



The question which divided the regency was one which 

 arose in the very origin of the institution. There were 

 many gentlemen who thought the funds should be devoted 

 to the purpose of a library. I never thought so. I under- 

 take to say that was not the sentiment of the Senate which 

 accepted the bequest. An institution whose object is to in- 

 crease and diffuse knowledge among men, to be confined, or 

 the greater part of its action to be confined, to the mere 

 purchase of books — books to be placed here in this District, 

 where they could be visited by gentlemen of wealth from 

 abroad, to be sure, and where they could be searched and 

 examined by persons who are on the spot! That, however, 

 would be one of the most futile, and, in my humble judg- 

 ment, most ineffectual methods which could be devised, to 

 diffuse knowledge among men. The plan adopted by the 

 regency is one calculated to diffuse it among men in all parts 

 of the civilized world. 



