THIRTIETH CONGRESS, 1847-1849. 445 



establishments are not to go out and court popularity, but they must 

 not be indifi'erent to public sentiment. Before entering- upon the 

 stormy and engrossing debates in which we shall presently be engaged, 

 I desire b}^ a simple statement of facts to give the House a view of the 

 history, condition, and plans of an institution which so strongly 

 appeals to us for protection. 



Mr. Smithson's bequest jvas a noble one. He gave his whole prop- 

 erty to found at the city of Washington "an establishment for the 

 increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." America was 

 selected as a field for so wide and beneficent a design. Young, vigor- 

 ous, rapidly increasing in numbers, this country afforded the best 

 ground upon which to rest an establishment which was designed to 

 enlighten mankind. 



Entering into the spirit of this bequest Congress passed an act mak- 

 ing the most liberal provision for carrying it into practical effect. 

 The whole sum, with its accumulated interest, was turned over to the 

 establishment created by the act, composed of the President and Vice- 

 President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary 

 of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the 

 Postmaster-General, the Attorney-General, the Chief Justice, and the 

 Commissioner of the Patent Office of the United States, and the mayor 

 of the city of Washington, during the time for which they shall hold 

 their respective offices, and such other persons as they may elect hon- 

 orary members. The sum amounted to $515,169, and a further sum 

 of $242,129, being the accumulated interest upon that sum since it 

 came into possession of the Government. The principal sum was for- 

 ever to remain untouched; the interest was appropriated to the erection 

 of the building and incidental expenses. The building to be erected 

 was to meet the provisions of the act, which required it to contain 

 suitable rooms or halls for the reception and arrangement, upon a lib- 

 eral scale, of objects of natural history, including a geological and min- 

 eralogical cabinet; also a chemical laboratory, a library, a gallery of 

 art, and the necessary lecture rooms. Another section provides that, 

 in proportion as suitable arrangements can be made for their reception, 

 all objects of art, and of foreign and curious research, and all objects 

 of natural histor}^ plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens, 

 belonging or hereafter to belong to the United States, which may be 

 in the city of Washington, shall be delivered to the care of the Insti- 

 tution, and so classed and arranged as best to facilitate the examination 

 and study of them in the building to be erected. This at once empties 

 the great hall of the Patent Office, 350 feet long, of its contents. It 

 must be at once seen that the Smithsonian building ought, if it is to 

 accommodate these great and various objects, to be of ample dimen- 

 sions. This building, too, was to be erected without delay. The site 

 was to be selected "forthwith," "and so soon" as that was done the 

 Board was to proceed with the erection of the building. 



