EXTRACTS FROM THE MEMOIRS OF JOHN 

 QUINCY ADAMS. 



EDITED BY CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.* 



January 9, 1836. 



At ten o'clock, or as soon after as I could get out of my 

 house and reach the Capitol, I met the Committee on the 

 President's message relating to the Smithsonian bequest. 

 The members present were Garland, of Virginia, McKen- 

 nan of Pennsylvania, Pearce, of Rhode Island, Thomas, of 

 Maryland, and Chapin, of New York. The absent mem- 

 bers were Garland, of Louisiana, Hannegan, of Indiana, 

 and Speight, of North Carolina, who is still confined by 

 illness. The members now present had got over their 

 scruples with regard to the acceptance of the bequest, and 

 directed me to prepare a report and a bill to that effect. A 

 committee of the Senate, the chairman of which was Ben- 

 jamin Watkins Leigh, of Virginia, have already reported 

 to that effect, and presented a joint resolution authorizing 

 the President to obtain the funds, and making an appro- 

 priation of five thousand dollars to defray the expenses 

 which may thereby be occasioned. Mr. Leigh's report con- 

 tains a short and satisfactory argument for the competency 

 of Congress to accept the bequest, and showing it to be 

 their duty. But, as money cannot constitutionally be ap- 

 propriated by resolutions, my direction from the committee 

 is to prepare a bill, and to make the appropriation ten thou- 

 sand instead of five thousand dollars. 



January 10, 1836. 



I called successively upon Mr. Bankhead, Charge d'Af- 

 faires from Great Britain, and upon Colonel Aspinwall, 

 who is at Fuller's, to inquire if either of them could give 

 me any further information respecting Mr. James Smith- 

 Bon ; but they could not. I was desirous of obtaining it 

 for the purpose of introducing into the report of the com- 

 mittee upon his bequest some complimentary notice of the 



i * Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1876. 



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