354 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



in this House and in the Senate, and the public attention has been so 

 engaged upon this interesting subject that we are now doubtless pre- 

 pared to dispose of it intelligently and in a manner which will fully 

 meet the high and liberal purposes of Mr. Smithson. There is no 

 longer any justihcation for delay. Everything is ready, awaiting our 

 action, and the wise and benevolent in all quarters are anxiously 

 expecting us to perform our solemn duty in reference to this noble 

 bequest. 



But there is, at this peculiar juncture in our affairs, still another 

 consideration strongly appealing to the national honor and urging the 

 immediate disposition of the fund according to the will of the donor. 

 James Smithson was an Englishman. Yet he passed by his own 

 powerful and splendid Government — one which has never failed or 

 refused to contribute liberally to the cause of science — and selected 

 our plainer and simpler institutions as the more appropriate depository 

 of the sacred trust to which he devoted the whole of his large fortune. 

 Our relations with England at the present moment are thought to be 

 very critical. I do not anticipate war, I have little fear that two 

 enlightened nations, whose interests are deeply involved in the main- 

 tenance of peace, will, in the nineteenth centur}^, rush into a sangui- 

 nary and destructive war, even upon so grave a question as that which 

 now disturbs them. Yet there are many who look upon the present 

 crisis with more serious fears, and all must acknowledge that war is 

 possible; that very slight mismanagement on either side might lead 

 to that disastrous end. Now, if war should take place, it would be 

 most dishonorable to our Government that a large fund, given by a 

 benevolent foreigner to found an institution of the most peaceful and 

 beneficent character, should remain in the Treasur}^ and be used to 

 carry on war against the very nation from whom the charitable gift 

 was received. I hope, sir, we shall avoid the possibility of such humili- 

 ation by adopting the measure before us without delay. Should we 

 fail to do so and hostilities occur, the omission will never cease to 

 be the fruitful source and occasion of those bitter attacks upon our 

 honesty and the moral tendency of our institutions which have long 

 filled the pages of English periodicals and the journals of English 

 travelers. Their denunciations then would have a much better foun- 

 dation than they usually have. We should be somewhat at a loss to 

 repel them. The ordinary charge of faithlessness and repudiation of 

 pecuniary liabilities would be nothing in comparison; this would be 

 the gross violation of a sacred trust, which no circumstance could pal- 

 liate, no emergency could justify. 



I intend, Mr. Chairman, to support the bill in its present form. 

 There is doubtless a wide field for the selection of means to accomplish 

 the great design unfolded in the comprehensive words of Mr. Smith- 

 son's will. Any plan which may be adopted for the attainment of this 



