JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 37 



orected is but a small part ; and that, too, unfinished, inconvenient, and unsightly. 

 They ascertained that this fraction of the plan, bald and gloomy as it is, adapted to 

 receive expensive porticoes and steps on three of its sides, (no portions of which, dur- 

 ing the quarter of a century it has stood, have been attempted,) has cost ninety thou- 

 sand dollars ; and they found the estimate for its completion to be three hundred and 

 ten thousand dollars more. That it will ever be completed, no one believes. Con- 

 gress will not, and the city cannot, furnish the means. To give even to the fraction 

 that now stands a decent or reputable finish, would cost fifty or sixty thousand dollars ; 

 and though its present dilapidated condition — most discreditable both to the city and 

 the Government — may seem loudly to demand some action, yet it is doubtful whether 

 Congress will ever expend that amount on so unpromising and expensive an object. 



Nor is the present shell, great as has been its cost, profitable any more than orna- 

 mental. It brings little or no revenue to the city. In view of these circumstances, 

 the undersigned came to the conclusion that a sum, say of fifty thousand dollars, 

 would probably be a sufficient inducement to the city authorities to abandon a build- 

 ing they can never hope to complete, and which, unfinished as it stands, is an eyesore 

 and a reproach ; inasmuch as with that sum they could put up, on the Centre Market 

 space, a plain building sufficient to afford, in its upper story, the accommodations re- 

 quired as well by the United States circuit court and its officers, as by the city authori- 

 ties, while its lower story might furnish market stalls and stores that would rent for 

 many thousand dollars annually. 



The undersigned were also of opinion that, considering the advantages of the City 

 Hall site to the Smithsonian Institution, so far as regards its usefulness in connection 

 with its library, its collections, and its lectures, the institution might properly and 

 prudently give for the materials of the City Hall their full value — say fifteen thou- 

 sand dollars. 



If these views be correct, the only remaining difficulty regards the thirty-five thou- 

 sand dollars necessary to make up to the city the full sum of fifty thousand dollars. 

 And this sum the undersigned believe it to be just and expedient that Congress should 

 appropriate, provided the corporation will bind itself to furnish in their new build- 

 ing sufficient accommodation for the United States circuit court, its officers and 

 records ; just, because the General Government has already, for the sum of ten thou- 

 sand dollars only, (which it paid to the city twenty-five years ago,) had the use of 

 nearly half the City Hall for its courts throughout all that term of years, and there- 

 fore ought now to furnish further means to procure the accommodations necessary for 

 that purpose ; and expedient, because the present City Hall, which cannot, for very 

 shame, be left without some repair or finish much longer, will, from the necessity of 

 the case, while it stands, remain a permanent ground of claim on the Government ; 

 and because any repairs worth making on it at all would exceed the sum here proposed 

 to be appropriated. The cheapest thing that can be done with the City Hall, both as 

 regards the city and the Government, is, the undersigned believe, to get rid of it. 

 And if on its site a building arise, reputable even, to say nothing of architectural 

 beauty, and commenced with funds and upon a scale that insures its speedy comple- 

 tion, it should count for something, if only on the score of appearance and national 

 reputation, that a gloomy and meaningless and slovenly pile has been replaced by an 

 object that will strike pleasantly on the eye of the traveler as he approaches this 

 metropolis. 



Governed by considerations such as these, the undersigned, in view of the fact that 

 whatever is done in this matter must be done at this session of Congress, have de- 

 cided, in discharge of the duty assigned them by the Board, to introduce into Con- 

 gress, without delay, a bill to accomplish the desired object. (For this bill see Con- 

 gressional Proceedings.) 



It will be observed that this bill leaves the matter wholly at the discretion, first, 

 of the corporation, and, secondly, of the Board of Kegents. Unless both concur to 

 accept its provisions, it will be inoperative. The undersigned do not know that either 

 will accept them ; but that they will, and that they ought to do so, they have given 

 their reasons for believing. 



GEO. EVANS, ) 



WM. J. HOUGH, V Committee. 



BOBT. DALE OWEN, J 

 Washington, D. C, February 13, 1847. 



Since the publication of the above, and the inffoduction into the Senate by one of 

 your committee of the bill referred to, the common council of Washington, during 

 their session of February 22, passed, by vote of 17 to 3, a resolution to the effect 



