THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-55. 615 



not escape from the obligation to apply the funds at their 

 control to the objects which they deem best suit^ to pro- 

 mote the purpose of the testator. The act of Congress, 

 according to the plain import of its terms, authorizes the 

 Board of Regents to employ all moneys arising from the 

 income of the endowment not therein appropriated nor re- 

 quired for the purpose therein provided, in such manner as 

 they shall deem best suited for the " purpose of the testator,' ' 

 namely, " the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men," and this authority is rendered incontestible, in the 

 judgment of the committee, by the concluding clause of the 

 section which empowers the Board of Eegents to exercise 

 their discretion in the disposal of the surplus income, "any- 

 thing HEREIN (the act of Congress) contained to the con- 

 trary NOTWITHSTANDING." 



This grant of the power imposes the obligation to exer- 

 cise the discretion which it confers. Judicial tribunals 

 would never reverse the construction of a statute, the 

 terms of which were so plain and unmistakeable, by what 

 is at all times dangerous, a resort to speeches made by 

 a few of the lawgivers who framed it, or the votes of 

 members actuated by motives beyond the scrutiny of the 

 expounder. Looking, therefore, to the act of Congress it- 

 self, which, as was said by a Senator in a recent discussion, 

 is best construed by " the examination and comparison of its 

 various provisions and the admitted purpose of its enact- 

 ment," the committee found no difficult}' in coming to these 

 conclusions on this point. They find in the law directions 

 to the Board of Eegents to erect, on a liberal scale, a build- 

 ing in which can be arranged collections of natural history, 

 a geological and mineralogical cabinet, a museum, a library, 

 chemical laboratory, galler}' of art, a lecture room ; and, of 

 course, to use these various means of increasing knowledge in 

 the manner and for the purpose to which they are adapted, 

 and for which they are required. In effiict the law says : 

 "All other portions of the income dispose of as you may 

 think best calculated to promote the purpose of the testator." 

 A larger discretion can hardly be conceived. It is absolutely 

 unlimited in relation to every one of its objects except a 

 library, and to this the appropriations which the regents 

 are authorized to make are limited to a maximum amount 

 which they are not at liberty to exceed. It would seem to 

 be most singular, if this had been the primary and cherished 

 object of Congress that it should be the only one subjected 

 to such a limitation. 



It might be thought, if this had been their primary pur- 



