544 CONGRESSIONAL PllOOEEDINGS. 



Mr. Bishop Pekxins, of New York, mid others. 1 object. 



Mr. ^PHAM. Then I move that the rules be suspended, to enabU' me 

 to submit ni}' proposition. 



The Speaker pro tempore. That can not be done, as there is a 

 motion to suspend the rules pending. 



Mr. Hughes. 1 now renew my motion to adjourn. 



The question was taken; and the motion was agreed to. 

 February 27, 1855 — House. 



The House being in the Committee of the Whole oni the state of the 

 Union, Mr. William H. English, of Indiana, said: 



I propose occupying the attention of the committee for a short time 

 in submitting some practical remarks in i-eference to the present con- 

 dition and management of the Smithsonian Institution. It is not a 

 subject, sir, the introduction of which into Congress has received any 

 favor from me. I regretted to see it brought here; and when the 

 gentleman from Vermont [Mr. Meacham], upon a late occasion, intro- 

 duced a resolution to raise a special committee of inquiry, I felt it m}' 

 duty to oppose its adoption. I knew that such an examination would 

 be attended with expense and a ct)nsumption of time which at that late 

 period of the session could not well be spared from other and more 

 important public business; that it would tend to irritate the fe(4ings 

 of gentlemen hei'etofore or now connected with the Institution, and, in 

 a word, might do e^'il, but could not result in practical good. My 

 knowledge of the subject satisfied me that nothing had occurred to 

 demand the raising of a special committee, clothed with power to send 

 for persons and papers, thus giving to the disappointed and dissatis- 

 fied an opportunity of assailing the Institution or its officers at the 

 public expense. 



Sir, I felt conscious then, as I do now, that the management has 

 been such in all material respects as ought to elicit coumiendation. 

 This I mav say with the greater propriety and freedom for the reason 

 that the causes which led to this investigation originated and were 

 fully developed before ni}^ connection with the Institution as a liegent; 

 a position, 1 may add, supposed to be of some honor, Init certainly one 

 of considerable labor, much responsibility, and no pecuniary ])enefit 

 whatever. 



That the management of an institution having so large an endow- 

 ment and a design so comprehensive should occasion difference of 

 opinion and difficulty is not surprising in the least. It would be more 

 surprising were it otherwise. Whilst all concur in desiring the accom- 

 plishment of the great object Smithson had in view — ''The increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men"* — the wisest and best may 

 \V(»11 differ as to the proper mcaiis to l)e used to attain that end. 



Although not entirely appro^ ing all that has been done, T must say, 

 in view of the vastness of the sul)ject and that Congress was ten years 



