202 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



by the appointineut and proceedings of the joint committee of both 

 Houses at the last session. To the faithful performance by Congress 

 of the solemn duties imposed on them by the acceptance of this fund 

 and trust to the honor and pledged faith of the nation, it was wise and 

 just to do nothing with precipitation. The routine of the ordinary 

 business of Congress furnished neither principle nor precedent for 

 efficient legislation upon this subject; the trust was as delicate as it 

 was important to the memory of the testator, and honorable to the 

 good name of the trustee. An error in the first organization of the 

 institution might, in its consequences, at once defeat the noble purpose 

 of the founder, fail in the express object of his bounty — the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men — and react, most injuriously, 

 upon the reputation of our beloved country, by demonstrating to the 

 world of mankind, of this and after ages, that the generous confidence 

 of this friend of man in her upright and intelligent ardor in the pur- 

 suit of knowledge was misplaced. 



It was in the true spirit of the bequest itself that the settlement of 

 the principles upon which the institution should be founded should be 

 calm and considerate, and, above all, disinterested; separated from all 

 projects of individuals, and, perhaps, communities, for provisions of 

 emolument to themselves; separated from all speculative, patent inven- 

 tions and discoveries in embryo, which, after wasting time and money 

 upon the false conceptions of genius, may never come to the birth; 

 separate, in fine, from all schools, colleges, universities, institutes of 

 education, or ecclesiastical establishments. 



It was particularly desirable that the exclusion of all institutes for 

 education from a participation in the disposal of these funds should be 

 fully considered and debated before its adoption as a fundamental 

 principle of the Smithsonian Institution, because the first impression 

 upon the public mind, whether learned or illiterate, in this country, 

 very extensively, was, upon the first publication of Mr. Smithson's 

 will, that the express design of his bequest was to bestow his large 

 fortune to the cause of education; and that a school, college, or uni- 

 versity, was the only mode of providing for the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men. 



It is, then, to l)e considered as a circumstance propitious to the final 

 disposal of this fund, bj^ the organization of an institution the best 

 adapted to accomplish the design of the testator, that this first but 

 erroneous impression of that design — an institute of learning, a uni- 

 versity, upon the foundation of which the whole fund should be 

 lavished, and yet prove inadequate to its purpose without large appro- 

 priations of public moneys in its aid — should have been presented to 

 the consideration of Congress, referred to a numerous joint commit- 

 tee of both Houses, there discussed, reported for the deliberation of 

 both Houses, fully debated in the House where it originated, and 

 there decisively rejected. 



