318 CONGEESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



would be that there should be only one of the seven additional mem- 

 bers over the ex officio members elected annually, so that in the course 

 of time each would serve seven years. 



Mr. J. W. Huntington opposed the amendment of the Senator 

 from New Hampshire. 



The amendment to the amendment was rejected. 



Mr. H. A. Foster, of New York, now submitted his amendment, as 

 follows: 



And Jared P. Kirtland of Ohio, Richard Henry Wilde of Louisiana, George Tucker 

 of Virginia, George Bancroft of Massachusetts, Henry King of Missouri, and Joseph 

 G. Totten and Alex. Dallas Bache, members of the National Institute, resident in 

 Washington City, be the other seven members, who shall, by lot, fix the term of 

 their office so that the term of one of them shall expire in one year; of another, in 

 two years; of another, in three years; of another, in four years; of another, in five 

 years; of another, in six years; and of the other, in seven years from the first day 

 of December next, after the passage of this act. And any vacancy happening other- 

 wise than by the expiration of the term shall be filled for the remainder of the term 

 on the fourth Wednesday of December next after the vacancy occurs. 



Mr. Foster urged at some length the propriety of this- provision. 



Mr. Tappan opposed the provision as unnecessary, as there could 

 be no doubt of the reelection of such members as proved by their 

 services to be most valuable to the Institution. 



Mr. Choate pointed out how much better it would be for the 

 interests of the Institution to have short terms of election, as that 

 would stimulate managers, who would feel their ambition excited by 

 the honor of their trust, to exertions worth}^ of their reelection. 



The amendment to the amendment was rejected. 



Mr. Allen moved to strike out the words "members of the National 

 Institute," by which two of the nominees in the bill were designated. 



The amendment was rejected. 



On motion by Mr. Choate, the fourth Wednesday in December, in 

 the bill, was changed to the third Wednesday in December, lest some- 

 times the fourth Wednesday might fall on Christmas day. 



Mr. Woodbury withdrew the printed amendments he had on a 

 former day offered, the necessity for them having been obviated by 

 alterations in the bill. 



The amendment of the substitute, as amended, was then adopted, 

 and the bill was reported back to the Senate. 



Mr. J. McP. Berrien, before the bill was allowed to pass the stage 

 of amendment, suggested the necessity of considering whether a sec- 

 tion would not be necessary authorizing the Institution, in respect to 

 the property it would possess by the grant of the public grounds, to 

 sue and be sued. It might be a question whether the Government 

 would 1)6 the ostensible party in a suit. 



Mr. Choate conceived the property in the ground would still vest 

 in the Government; l)ut, for the purpose of having time to add a small 



