TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 1843-1845. 293 



should be one drop or one morsel more of the bread or water of intel- 

 lectual life tasted by the European than by the American mind. Why 

 should not the soul of this country eat as good food and as much of 

 it as the soul of Europe? Why should a German or an Englishman 

 sit down to a repast of 500,000 books, and an American scholar, who 

 loves truth as well as he, be put on something less than half allowance? 

 Can we not trust ourselves with so much of so good a thing? Will 

 our digestion be impaired by it? Are we afraid that the stimulated 

 and fervid faculties of this young nation will be oppressed and over- 

 laid? Because we have liberty which other nations have not, shall we 

 reject the knowledge which they have and which we have not? Or 

 will you not rather say that because we are free, therefore will we 

 add to our freedom that deep learning and that diffused culture which 

 are its grace and its defense? 



He concluded by moving the following amendment: 



Strike out the eighth section and insert: 



Sec. 8. And whereas an ample and well-selected public library constitutes one of 

 the permanent, constant, and effectual means of increasing and diffusing knowledge 

 among men : Therefore, 



Be it further enacted, That a sum not less than $20,000 be annually expended, of 

 the interest of the fund aforesaid, in the purchase of books and manuscripts for the 

 formation of a library of the institution aforesaid, which, for its extent, variety, and 

 value, shall be worthy of the donor of the said fund, and of this nation, and of the age. 



Mr. Benj. Tappan next addressed the Senate, but in so low a tone 

 of voice that only detached sentences of his remarks could be heard 

 in the gallery. He was understood to argue that there was no neces- 

 sity for striking out the eighth section, or materially altering the bill, 

 as it was not incompatible with its provisions to ingraft upon it a 

 modification of the proposition submitted by the Senator from Massa- 

 chusetts. If a library on a liberal scale, such as the Senator desired, 

 was deemed proper, it would be only necessary to add a section to 

 that effect to the bill, striking out so much of the first section as relates 

 to the same subject. But he did not concur with the Senator from 

 Massachusetts that a vast and costly miscellaneous library would meet 

 the objects contemplated b}^ the donor with this munificent fund. In 

 addition to the general terms of his expressed will, that this fund 

 should be applied to the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men,""' it was proper to inquire into the manner in which he himself 

 conceived this was best to be accomplished; and in this inquiry what- 

 ever instruction could be gleaned from his own habits and pursuits 

 should not be disregarded, in the absence of other lights. Mr. Smith- 

 son was an eminent practical philosopher, intimately acquainted with 

 the practical sciences — such as chemistry, mineralogy, geo'.ogy, and 

 natural history — to the minute study of which he mainly devoted his 

 life. His favorite resort was the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, an insti- 



