592 CONGRESSIONAL PKOCEEDINGS. 



Mr. C W. Upham. 1 would now ask the unanimous consent of the 

 House for leave to introduce and have passed a resolution authorizing 

 the pa3anent of the clerk of that select committee for the time during 

 which he has been employed. 



There w^as no objection, and the resolution was reported, as follows: 



Resolved, That the select committee of the House on the Smithsonian Institution 

 be allowed to make compensation, at the usual rate, to a clerk for the period of his 

 services. 



The question was taken, and the resolution was passed. 



The House having gone into the Committee of the Whole — 



Mr. James Meacham, of Vermont, said: 



Mr. Chairman: It was not my intention to offer any remarks during 

 this session with reference to the Smithsonian Institution. After 

 mature deliberation and consultation with judicious friends of learn- 

 ing, I came to the conclusion that the affairs of that establishment 

 required investigation. I proposed the matter to this House. They 

 sustained the proposition, and appointed a special committee of inquiry. 

 To them I hoped the matter would be left till their report should be 

 presented. I believed, sir, that in the hands of a select committee of 

 this House, the interests of literature and science connected with the 

 Smithsonian Institution would be safe. 



But the unexpected course of the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. 

 English] in stepping forward to eulogize the Institution before it had 

 been attacked here seems to require me briefly to explain and defend 

 my position. For such explanation and defense, I may, in the main, 

 rely on the able and important report presented by the select com- 

 mittee, which, for that purpose, I propose, in substance, to insert in 

 m}^ speech, confining my own remarks to some topics not alluded to 

 by the committee. 



The gentleman from Indiana, and some others, seem disposed to 

 view this investigation as indicating deliberate hostility; as intended 

 to give "to the disappointed and dissatisfied an opportunity of assail- 

 ing the Institution at the public expense;" as manifesting disrespect 

 to the distinguished and honored gentlemen concerned in conducting 

 its affairs, particularly by clothing this committee with power to send 

 for persons and papers. Sir, I do not yield to the honorable gentlemen 

 in my sincere attachment to the cause of knowledge, whether in the form 

 of literature or of science. But the ver}^ devotion which I feel leads 

 me to wish to keep its fountains clean. I would not willingly lend 

 myself to the aid of wanton and wicked assaults, nor is it to be sup- 

 posed that this committee would be less scrupulous; but I believe that 

 "the disappointed and dis.satisfied" may sometimes deserve, or need, 

 protection, and redress. I would not be wanting in respect for men 

 in exalted positions; but I know that under the authority of the purest 



