JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 105 



the people of the United States," a library would be but a feeble and imperfect instru- 

 ment as an active agent, even for that limited purpose. The accumulation of books in 

 the political centre of a great country, or even in the centre of population of a numerous 

 people, would no doubt gratify the pride of the nation, and be attended with some 

 profitable results. But such a library would not insure mental activity to inquirers 

 who should live remote from its locality, and its relation to all increase of knowledge 

 would be merely incidental. It would have no effective operation in the thirty-one 

 States which constitute the nation or people of the Union, and instead of being diffu- 

 sive in its nature, would be centralizing in its influence and passive in its character. 

 Even if the will and the act of Congress were limited by the terms supposed, by no 

 fair construction could the formation of a library be considered as an execution of the 

 trust. But when we consider that the language of the will is not thus limited, and 

 that the benefits of the bequest are intended for mankind, we cannot imagine how the 

 establishment of a library could be considered as corresponding to the requisitions of 

 a purpose so wide and liberal. That Smithson did not intend a library to be the 

 prominent feature in the institution contemplated by his bequest, may be inferred 

 from the fact that his will did not mention it, when a single word would have been 

 sufficient for this purpose. And that Congress did not design to indicate a library as 

 the principal object of the establishment which they founded by law to carry out the 

 purpose of Smithson, will be made to appear by an examination of the enactment. 



In the construction of a law of Congress, the opinions expressed in the speeches of 

 some of those who voted for it cannot be taken as the opinion of all or even of the 

 major part of them, but the act must be construed according to the general import 

 and evident intention of all its parts. 



If we can construe the law from its own provisions, it would be exceedingly unsafe 

 and improper to interpret it by reference to the opinions of a portion only of those 

 who voted for it, being the minor part of them. To do this would be to make the 

 opinions of a few control the acts and intentions of the majority as expressed in the law, 

 and in effect to give to those few the law-making power. In the present case the evi- 

 dent intention was to carry out the purpose of Smithson's will, namely : " the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men." 



The title of the act, its preamble and provisions, would have been palpably absurd, 

 if their object had been only or chiefly to found a great library. To describe a library 

 as an institution " for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," Avould 

 be a preposterous abuse of terms. So, too, " to erect a suitable building of sufficient 

 size, with suitable rooms or halls for the reception and arrangement, upon a liberal 

 scale, of objects of natural history, geological, mineralogical, and botanical speci- 

 mens, classed and arranged, so as to facilitate the study of them, with a chemical 

 laboratory, lecture rooms, &c," as provided in sections five and six, is wholly incon- 

 sistent with the idea of an institution of which a library is to be the principal agent. 



It is true that the eighth section of the act authorizes an application of an annual 

 sum, not exceeding $25,000, for the gradual formation of a library. This is in great 

 disproportion to the various objects before recited in the act, and if it had been man- 

 datory, would have made the general authority and discretion given to the Eegents 

 in the ninth section absurd and nugatory, and would indeed have equally defeated 

 the other provisions before mentioned. Such an appropriation, if made, would estab- 

 lish a great library, but not such an institution as is indicated by the title of the bill, 

 or warranted by its various provisions. Instead of a Secretary with assistants, it 

 should have provided for a librarian, with an assistant as secretary, and assistant 

 librarians. Instead of providing for a building on a liberal scale, with suitable rooms 

 or halls for a chemical laboratory, lecture rooms, &c, not indicating the library as of 

 paramount importance, but, according to the order of enumeration, placing it after 

 other objects, the law would have declared it to be of primary importance, and desig- 

 nated the other objects as incidental or subsidiary to the library. The act, in its vari- 

 ous terms and provisions, does not seem to have been the result of plans entirely 

 harmonious and consistent, but bears some marks of conflicting opinions ; and the 

 large discretion allowed in the ninth section appears to have been intended to give to 

 the" Regents the authority to reconcile and determine those difficulties, which Congress 

 could not avoid or provide for, to their own satisfaction. 



Nothing, however, seems to be clearer than that the Legislature did not intend a 

 public library to be the principal instrument of the institution. The third section 

 enacts that "the business of the institution shall be conducted at the city of Wash- 

 ington by a Board of Eegents." The terms of Smithson's will required that Wash- 

 ington should be the locality of the institution ; but if this section had reference to a 

 public library, absorbing almost the whole interest of the fund, would such language 

 have been employed? "if a library at Washington was to be established, it was 



