TWENTY -EIGHTH CONGEESS, 1843-1845. 311 



from Ohio was moved to be stricken out, and that of the member of 

 the Library Committee from Ohio [Mr. Tappau] be substituted, as 

 seemed to Mr. Woodbury proper; might it not give rise to debate as 

 to their respective characters and fitness ? So of every other member 

 proposed, though all doubtless were very suitable men. 



Other gentlemen seem to fear an abuse of the trust by these agents 

 under the amendment, when the very object and terms of it are to 

 increase the guards against abuse, through one of our own committees, 

 and its supervision and regulations; and when the position of the 

 institute and board under it, instead of being antagonistic to Congress 

 or independent of it is made to be in more entire subordination to it, 

 and is hemmed around by stronger safeguards against any possible 

 departure from its commands or wishes. He was anxious that, while 

 the Smithsou fund came from a stranger and abroad rather than from 

 among ourselves, and hence gave no cause for national pride or boast- 

 ing, but rather was mortifying to our own backwardness in such an 

 object, we should at least be vigilant over its use, remedy defects as 

 to its efiicienc}^ — which we may by this amendment — and add some- 

 thing to our national character by the appropriate manner of manag- 

 ing the whole trust, though, unfortunately, we have had no lot nor 

 part in creating it or liberalh^ adding to it. 



Mr. Buchanan observed that he had but very few words to say on 

 this subject. According to the will of the donor this fund was to be 

 distributed for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." 

 Considering our peculiar position in the District of Columbia, he (Mr. 

 Buchanan) had arrived at the conclusion that the best mode of dis- 

 tributing this fund was by the purchase of a great library. Indeed, 

 he could imagine no other. If (said Mr. Buchanan) you attempt to 

 establish a literary institution here, with the great expense attendant 

 upon living in this District, and from other causes which I need not 

 enumerate, this fund in its benefits would be confined to a very small 

 portion of the people of this country. From the very nature of our 

 Government and the condition of the people of this country, we could 

 never expect to erect in our day a library to compare with the great 

 European libraries, except by the application of this fund to that pur- 

 pose. It was impossible, everybody knew, for any of our citizens who 

 proposed to write a history, or any other work that required an exami- 

 nation into ancient books and authorities, to do so without going to 

 Europe for that purpose. Now, he believed that an extensive library, 

 in which all the means of human knowledge should be collected, and in 

 which they should be equally open to all the citizens of this country, 

 was the very best mode in which to apply the money so liberall}^ 

 bequeathed by Mr. Smithson for the " increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men." He was clearly of that opinion, but he had no 

 idea of making a speech upon the subject. The question now before 



