TWENTY -FIFTH CONGRESS, 1837-1839. 171 



February 18, 1839 Senate. 



Mr. ASHER ROBBINS, from the Committee on the Smithsonian 

 Bequest, submitted resolutions: 



1. Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States, they having accepted the 

 trust under the will of Mr. Smithson, of London, to execute that trust bona fide, 

 according to the true intent and meaning of the testator. 



2. Resolved, That the trust being to found an institution in the city of Washington 

 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men, the kind of institution which 

 will have the effect intended and described, in the most eminent degree, will be the 

 kind of institution which ought, in good faith, to be adopted, as being most in 

 accordance with the true intent and meaning of the testator. 



3. Resolved, That all experience having shown scientific and literary institutions to 

 be by far the most effectual means to the end of increasing and diffusing knowledge 

 among men, the Smithsonian Institution should be a scientific and literary institu- 

 tion, formed upon a model the best calculated to make those means the most effec- 

 tual to that end. 



4. Resolved, That to apply said trust fund to the erection and support of an observ- 

 atory would not be to fulfill bona fide the intention of the testator, nor would it com- 

 port with the dignity of the United States to owe such an establishment to foreign 

 eleemosynary means. 



Mr. ROBBINS, from the committee appointed on the part of the 

 Senate on the Smithsonian bequest, also reported S. 292 and S. 293 bills: 



[S. 292.] 



Be it enacted, etc. , That all sum or sums of money heretofore received, or which 

 shall hereafter be received, under and in pursuance of the last will and testament of 

 the late James Smithson, deceased, of London, and all fund or funds, stock or stocks, 

 or evidence or evidences of public debt whatsoever, in which said sum or sums of 

 money have been, or shall hereafter be, invested, shall be, and are hereby, consti- 

 tuted and declared to be a fund to be named or styled "the Smithsonian fund," and 

 shall be under the management and control of nine trustees, to be styled "the board 

 of trustees of the Smithsonian fund," subject, however, to such rules, regulations, 

 and restrictions as the Congress of the United States may or shall, from time to time, 

 make, ordain, or establish; and said trustees shall constitute a portion of such corpo- 

 ration as shall hereafter be created by Congress for the government of an institution 

 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 



SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said trustees shall hold their offices for 

 the term of one year, and until their successors be appointed, and shall be appointed 



annually on or before the day of , in the following manner, that is to say: 



three of the said trustees shall be appointed by the Senate and three by the House of 

 Representatives, in such manner as the said Houses shall respectively determine, 

 and the remaining three shall be appointed by the President of the United States; 

 and the trustees so appointed, or a majority of them, shall meet together, in the city 



< if Washington, on the day of next succeeding their appointment, and 



shall elect one of their own body as president of said board; they shall have author- 

 ity to appoint a clerk and printer and fix their respective compensations, and make 

 and establish such rules and regulations for their own government as they may deem 

 necessary or proper; hold one or more sessions for the transaction of business during 

 the recess of Congress, and adjourn from day to day, as they may deem proper; they 

 shall keep a journal of their proceedings, and report the same, or an attested copy 



thereof, to both Houses of Congress on or before the day of in each and 



every year. 



