650 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Mr. Meacham. In the nominatiGii of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution made by the Speaker this morning, 

 I find that my name stands in the list. I feel grateful to 

 you, Mr. Speaker, for the honor thus conferred upon me; 

 but I beg of you to erase my name, and appoint some other 

 member of this House. I have two or three reasons for 

 making this request. In the first place, I have enjoyed the 

 honor and borne the burden of that position for a period of 

 four years, and I think it better that the duty should circu- 

 late among different members of the body, and that it should 

 not remain stationary. I have another reason for asking to 

 be excused. You, sir, have already placed me in a position 

 on a committee of this House which demands all my atten- 

 tion. I will not conceal that I have another reason, which 

 I shall take another time to explain. It is, that I cannot 

 approve the present course of that institution, if it have any 

 course, and is not merely standing still and marking time — 

 the mere mockery of motion. It is not producing that im- 

 pression upon the country and people which it ought to 

 make. I cannot consent, and will not consent, to follow an 

 institution whose leader is smitten with chronic monomania 

 on a single subject — an institution whose line of march, as I 

 believe, runs athwart the line of law by which it holds its 

 existence. I, therefore, beg of j^ou to accept my thanks and 

 resignation. 



There being no objection, Mr. Meacham's resignation was 

 accepted. 



The Speaker appointed Hon. Benjamin Stanton, of Ohio, 

 as Regent. 



May 23, 1856. — Report of Smithsonian Institution, for 

 1855, presented. 



Mr. English moved that 10,000 extra copies be printed. 

 August 9, 1856. — The following resolution was adopted : 



Resolved, That 10,000 copies of the report of the Smithsonian Institution 

 for the year 1855 be printed — 7,500 for the use of members of the House, 

 and 2,500 for the institution. 



February 18, 1857. — Report for 1856 presented, and or- 

 dered to be printed. 



March 3, 1857. — The following resolution was adopted : 



Resolved, That there be printed of the report of the Kegents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution for 1856, 10,000 copies — 7,500 for the use of members of 

 the House, and 2,500 for the use of the institution. 



December 14, 1857. — The Speaker appointed as Regents 

 of the Smithsonian Institution — Wm. H. English of Indiana, 

 Benjamin Stanton of Ohio, and Lucius J. Gartrell of Georgia. 



