THIRTY-FOUETH CONGEESS, 1855-1857. 601 



APPOINTMENT OF REGENTS 



By the Vice-President. 

 June 19, 1856— Senate. 



On motion of Mr. S. A. Douglas, James A. Pearce was reappointed 

 Rogont ]\y tho President of the Senate. 

 March 6. 1857— Senate. 



The President of the Senate (Mr. Jesse D. Bright) appointed James 

 M. Mason as Regent. 



appointment of regents 



By the Speaker. 

 February 26, 1856— House. 



The Speaker (Mi-. Nathaniel P. Banks) made the following 

 appointments as Regents: Hiram Warner, of (jreorgia, James 

 Meaeham, of Vermont, William H. English, of Indiana. 



Mr. James Meacham. In the nomination of Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution made by the Speaker this morning I tind that ny 

 name stands in the list. I feel grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for the 

 honor thus conferred upon me, but I beg of you to erase my nan.e 

 and appoint some other member of this House. I have two or three 

 reasons for making this request. In the first place, 1 have enjo3'ed 

 the honor and borne the burden of that position for a period of four 

 years, and I think it better that the duty should circulate among 

 different members of the body and that it should not remain stationary. 

 1 have another reason for asking to be excused. You, sir, have 

 already placed me in a position on a committee of this House which 

 demands all my attention. I will not conceal that I have another 

 reason, which I shall take another time to explain. It is that I can 

 not approve the present course of that Institution, if it have an}^ 

 course and is not merely standing still and marking time — the mere 

 mockery of motion. It is not producing that impression upon the 

 country and people which it ought to make. I can not consent, and 

 will not consent, to follow an Institution whose leader is smitten with 

 chronic monomania on a single subject — an Institution whose line of 

 march, as I believe, runs athwart the line of law b}' which it holds 

 its existence. I therefore beg of you to accept 1113^ thanks and 

 IV .sig nation. 



There l)eing no objection, Mr. Meacham's resignation was accepted. 



The Speaker appointed Benjamin Stanton, of Ohio, as Regent. 



appointment of regents 



J^y Joint Resolution. 

 February 12, 1856— Senate. 



Mr. J. M. Masox gave notice of his intention to ask leave to intro 

 duce a joint resolution providing that the vacancies in the Board of 



