THIRTY-FIEST congress, 1849-1851. 469 



February 24, 1851 — House. 



Mr. Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, moved an amendment to the 

 clause appropriating money for the purchase of books for the Library 

 of Congress, viz: 



To enable the Smithsonian Institution to publish a new edition of Wilkes' Narra- 

 tive and the accompanying series of papers, the plates and engravings of which have 

 been made at the expense of the United States, be, and they are hereby, ordered to 

 be delivered over to the said Institution, to be used for that purpose. 



He said that as these plates were valuable and the Congress of the 

 United States did not propose to use them, he should be glad that 

 some use might be made of them. It appeared to him that the Smith- 

 sonian Institution was as proper a party to whom to intrust these 

 plates for publication as any. Congress had already provided for the 

 distribution of books published by that Institution. He (Mr. Thomp- 

 son)* did not wish that they should be published and distributed among 

 members, but as it was really a valuable work and a new edition was 

 called for, he thought it was proper that the publication should be 

 intrusted to the Smithsonian Institution. 



Mr. John Wentworth (interposing) said that he thought that it 

 was quite proper that copies of the work should be distributed among 

 members of Congress. He would therefore ask the gentleman from 

 Mississippi to modify his amendment so as to furnish each member of 

 Congress with a copy of Wilkes' Exploring Expedition. He had 

 been a member of that body eight 3'ears, and although he had received 

 copies of other works, he had never received a copy of this, nor had 

 he ever heard of other members receiving copies. 



Mr. Jacob Thompson stated that only about one hundred copies 

 had been published. 



Mr. Wentworth said that he was entirely opposed to the amend- 

 ment unless modified as he had indicated. 



Mr. Thompson wished to explain that the original resolution pro- 

 vided for the publication of only one hundred copies. There was a 

 great demand for the work, and it was desirable to have copies that 

 might be furnished to different foreign nations. There were only, he 

 believed, twenty copies left in the Library. 



Mr. Wentworth inquired if it had ever been distributed to members 

 of Congress. 



Mr. Thompson said that copies never had been distributed among 

 members. 



Mr. Wentworth requested the gentleman from Mississippi to 

 modify his amendment as he had desired. 



Mr. Thompson said that books published by the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution were distributed among the various libraries, and he Avas 

 willing that such a distribution should take place. 



Mr. Wentworth again inquired if the gentleman from Mississippi 

 would modifv his amendment. 



