140 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



gross would bo doing manifest injustice to the citizens of the city of 

 Washington by refusing to accept the donation. It was true that it 

 operated for the benefit of all mankind, but not more so than a uni- 

 versity established at Princeton or any other place. The Senator from 

 South Carolina [Mr. Calhoun] had said they ought to read the will as 

 if the words "at Washington" were left out. He [Mr. Walker] did 

 not think so. They ought to read it just as it was in connection with 

 the whole, and give it its true construction, which was that the United 

 States was only designated as the trustee, and the people of the city 

 of Washington had a right to call upon Congress, as the representa- 

 tives of the United States, to execute the trust. 



Mr. JOHN DAVIS said this man Smithson, it was said, had devised 

 100,000 for the establishment of a university in the city of Washing- 

 ton to diffuse knowledge among men. It seemed to be taken for 

 granted that it was for the establishment of a university, although he 

 believed the word university was not to be found in the will. He 

 could not infer why it was so construed, as there were other means of 

 diffusing knowledge among men besides doing it through the medium 

 of universities, and he therefore thought the discussion as to the par- 

 ticular design of the gift premature. He did not regard it as a gift 

 or bequest to the Government. If he did, he would have all the feel- 

 ings evinced by the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. Preston]. The 

 testator had not specified what special purpose it was to be applied to, 

 nor when the fund was to be used, and Congress might defer using it 

 until it became large enough to be used advantageously to the purposes 

 of diffusing knowledge among mankind. If they denied the right to 

 establish a university, they denied the right to establish all institutions 

 of charity. The same question involved in this was also involved in 

 the incorporation of institutions which had been incorporated by them 

 in this District. The only question now under consideration was 

 whether they should receive this money. He would vote for it, and 

 if they could not devise some appropriate disposition of it after it 

 was received, he would be willing to send it back by the first return 

 packet. 



Mr. CALHOUN asked the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Davis] 

 what construction he would put upon the will if the words "at 

 Washington" had been left out of it? 



Mr. DAVIS replied that he would put the same construction on it 

 then as he did now. His first inquiry would be whether it was for a 

 charitable purpose, and if there was no power to establish the institu- 

 tion in any of the States, he would establish it in the District of 

 Columbia; and if the power to establish it there was doubted, he would 

 establish it in one of the Territories. He deemed the establishment of 

 institutions for the diffusion of knowledge a vital principle of a repub- 

 lican government. They might as well say that delivering lectures in 

 any of the sciences was a national institution as to call this one. 



