642 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Shortly after the receipt of the above statements by the 

 chairman of the committee, there was presented to the 

 House of Representatives the memorial of March 10, 1854, 

 from the Smithsonian Institution. 



The statement made to the select committee by the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury shows that the Government, by an 

 act of Congress, set apart as the capital of the Smithsonian 

 fund, the sum of $515,169; regarding those States that 

 have failed to make payment of principal or interest of the 

 sums loaned to them from the fund received from England 

 as debtors to the Treasury of the United States, leaving the_ 

 fund unencumbered ^yith accounts against the borrowers, 

 and equal to the amount left by the testator. 



What disposition should be made of the evidences of 

 debts which the Government of the United States holds 

 against the borrowers of the original fund, did not form a 

 part of the inquiries which the committee was authorized 

 to make. But as those funds evidently belong to the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States, the committee will feel itself 

 justified in suggesting such a disposal thereof as will release 

 the books of the Treasury Department of the continued and 

 increasing accounts. And at the close of the report a reso- 

 lution will be added recommending the sale of all such 

 assets, and that the net proceeds be carried to the general 

 fund. 



The memorial of the Smithsonian Institution, asking for 

 permission to invest a portion of the fund saved in the con- 

 struction of the building, for which purpose it had been 

 appropriated, suggested to the joint committee inquiries as 

 to the probable demands which would be made upon the 

 income of the institution ; and that led to a further inquiry 

 as to the legitimate objects for expenditure. These inqui- 

 ries could only be answered by a recurrence to the will of 

 the distinguished testator ; and if that should be less ex- 

 plicit in any particular than would be desirable, then a 

 recurrence could be had to the well-established facts of his 

 life, and the special objects which he pursued in his devo- 

 tion to science ; and the end which he proposed in his pur- 

 suits while alive, and the special directions of his estate 

 after the death of the person to whom was bequeathed a 

 life use of his property. 



Committees of Congress have several times presented 

 statements of the objects of Mr. Smithson's bequest to the 

 Government of the United States in trust, and their opinion 

 of the mode in which these objects should be attained, and 

 proceedings have been had, founded on the acts of Congress, 



