TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, 1835-1837. 129 



their revenue. They can not claim or take it for their own benefit. 

 They can only take it as trustees, to apply to the charitable purpose 

 for which it was intended by the donor. 



The committee can see no reason to doubt that the United States 

 must be regarded as the parens patriot of the District of Columbia; 

 that in that character they have a right and they are in duty bound to 

 assert a claim to any property given to them for the purpose of found- 

 ing a charitable institution of any kind within the District and to pro- 

 vide for the due application and administration of such a fund when 

 they have obtained possession of it; that the rights and duties of the 

 United States as parens patrice of the District in such a case are the 

 same, whether the charitable donation be made by the subject of a 

 foreign nation or by a citizen, or whether the claim to the bounty is 

 to be asserted before a domestic court of justice or before a foreign 

 tribunal, which by the comity of nations or the laws of its own coun- 

 try is bound to entertain the claim and to adjudge the property to the 

 United States if they are by law entitled to it. If a foreign tribunal 

 decreeing such property to the United States should think proper to 

 impose any conditions incompatible with the constitutional powers of 

 this Government or with its duties or its dignity, the United States 

 may then decline to accept the property and the trust, but no diffi- 

 culty of that kind is apprehended. 



The committee are also of the opinion that the United States, in 

 prosecuting a claim to property given to them for the purpose of 

 founding a charitable institution within the District of Columbia, and 

 which they are entitled to claim, and take, and regulate the adminis- 

 tration of, as the parens patrice of the District, may properly appro- 

 priate, out of their general revenue, such sums as may be necessary to 

 prosecute the claim with effect since the United States have no other 

 pecuniary means to defray the expenses that may be incurred in exer- 

 cising their powers, or in performing their duties, as parens patrice of 

 the District, but such as are afforded by their general revenue. 



Upon the whole, the committee are of opinion that it is within the 

 competency of the Government of the United States, that it well com- 

 ports with its dignity, that, indeed, it is its duty to assert in the courts 

 of justice of England the claim of the United States to the legacy 

 bequeathed to them by Mr. Smithson's will, for the purpose of found- 

 ing at Washington, under the name of "The Smithsonian Institution," 

 an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men, and that provision ought to be made by Congress to enable the 

 Executive to assert and prosecute the claim with effect. 



Therefore the committee recommend the adoption of a joint resolu 

 tion authorizing the President to take measures for recovering the 

 said legacy. 



H. Doc. 732 9 



