656 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



their own account and will not do any such thing, and I hope they 

 never will. 



Mr. Garret Davis. Mr. President, I think there is a higher obli- 

 gation to keep this bequest at its original amount than any legal 

 obligation. Smithson was a natural son of the Duke of Northumber- 

 land. He made a declaration in connection with this bequest that he 

 would render his name more famous than that of the illustrious house 

 to which he was allied. He executed a will, in which he bestowed the 

 whole of his estate upon the United States, in trust, to establish, as 

 the honorable Senator from Illinois has just read, an institution to be 

 located in the city of Washington for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men. That was the highest testimony that that 

 individual could have rendered to the Government of the United 

 States or to the United States themselves. Although allied to an 

 illustrious house, he gave all that he had of worldly property to our 

 country and to our Government for the purpose of founding an insti- 

 tution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. From the circum- 

 stances under which the bequest was made and the manner in which 

 its execution was assumed by our Government, in my judgment it 

 creates a higher than a legal obligation that the amount and value of 

 this noble bequest shall not deteriorate or be reduced in amount in the 

 hands of those that he charged with the execution of the trust. 



The honorable Senator from Illinois says, correctly, no doubt, that 

 the reason why this application is now made at this time is because of 

 the misfortune that befell the Smithsonian Institution a few weeks 

 since. That was in some degree the fault of the United States Govern- 

 ment. It had property deposited for custody and exhibition in the 

 Interior Department, which was directed by the officers of the Govern- 

 ment to be transferred to the Smithsonian Institution for the same 

 custody and for similar exhibition. This property was not properly 

 attached to, or appended to, the Smithsonian Institution. The man- 

 agers of that Institution received the custody and the possession of 

 this property reluctantly and only because its custody had been imposed 

 upon them by the officials of the United States Government. The 

 proper arrangement of that property in one of its halls rendei'ed 

 necessary the making of some repairs in the hall that caused the 

 making of a lire in that hall, which resulted in the conflagration of the 

 building. 



It seems to me, Mr. President, in view of the nature of the bequest, 

 of the nobleness of the motives of the testator who bequeathed it, of 

 the high scientific purposes for which it was given to the United States; 

 in view of the great trust and confidence that was reposed by the 

 testator in the Government, and in the United States, and in our 

 country, and in \'iow of the fact that this fire that resulted in the ])urn- 

 ing of the Smithsonian building arose from the imposition of a duty 



