TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 1843-1845. 269 



respectfully submit to the consideration of the House a bill to give 

 immediate effective operation to the purposes of the testator in that 

 bequest; and in explanation of the necessity and object of this bill, take 

 leave to recall to the memory of this House the material circumstances 

 of the acceptance of this bequest, of the reception of the funds be- 

 queathed by the testator, and of the disposition of them hitherto made 

 by Congress, and its present condition. 



The existence of the bequest of James Smithson to the United States 

 of America was communicated to Congress by a message from the Pres- 

 ident of the United States, of December 17, 1835; and by an act of 

 Congress approved July 1, 1836, the bequest was accepted, and the 

 President was authorized and enabled to assert and prosecute, with 

 effect, the claim of the United States to the property thereby be- 

 queathed, and then held in trust by the English court of chancery. 

 The third section of this act is in the following words: 



Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That any and all suras of money, and other funds, 

 which shall be received for or on account of the said legacy, shall be applied, in such 

 manner as Congress may hereafter direct, to the purpose of founding and endowing 

 at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for 

 the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men; to which application of the said 

 moneys and other funds the faith of the United States is hereby pledged. 



Under an authority conferred by this act the President of the 

 United States appointed Richard Rush the agent to recover the prop- 

 erty held in trust in the English court of chancery, a commission 

 faithfull}^ and successfully executed, and on the 1st of September, 

 1838, Mr. Rush deposited in the mint of the United States at Phila- 

 delphia, the sum in gold of $580,318.46, which, together with sundry 

 articles of furniture and books of small and indefinite pecuniary vahie 

 constituted the whole of the bequest of James Smithson to the United 

 States. 



Before the time of this deposit at the mint the sixth section of the 

 act of Congress of July 7, 1838, entitled "An act to provide for the 

 support of the Military Academy of the United States for the year 

 1838, and for other purposes," had disposed of the fund as follows: 



"Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That all the money arising from the bequest of 

 the late James Smithson, of London, for the purpose of founding at Washington, in 

 this District, an institution to be denominated the Smithsonian Institution which 

 may be paid into the Treasury, is hereby appropriated and shall be invested by the 

 Secretary of the Treasury with the approbation of the President of the United 

 States in stocks of States, bearing interest at the rate of not less than five per centum 

 per annum, which said stocks shall be held by the said Secretary in trust for the uses 

 specified in the last will and testament of said Smithson until provision is made by 

 law for carrying the purpose of said bequest into effect, and that the annual interest 

 accruing on the stock aforesaid shall be in like manner invested for the benefit of 

 said institution." 



Under the authority of this provision, $499,500 of the money 

 received at the mint on the 1st of September, 1838, were on the 4th 



