186 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



said Secretary, in trust, for the uses specified in the last will and testament of said 

 Smithson, until provision is made by law for carrying the purpose of said bequest 

 into effect; and that the annual interest accruing on the stock aforesaid shall be in 

 like manner invested for the benefit of said Institution. 



Under this authority, thus granted before the money was received 

 into the Treasury, the Secretary of the Treasury did, on the 4th of 

 September, 1838, invest $499,500 by the purchase of 500 bonds of the 

 State of Arkansas for $1,000 each, bearing G per cent interest, payable 

 semiannually on the 1st of January and July of each year, from the 

 said 4th of September; and the further sum of $8,270.67 was applied 

 to the purchase of eight bonds of the State of Michigan, bearing 6 per 

 cent interest, payable semiannually on the first Mondays in January 

 and July from the 1st of May, 1838; the interest on all these bonds 

 being payable at the city of New York. 



By these transactions it will be perceived that the United States 

 became creditors of the States of Arkansas and of Michigan to the 

 amount of the purchase of their respective bonds, and made themselves 

 responsible to the Smithsonian fund for the punctual payment of the 

 principal and interest of said bonds; the faith of the United States 

 having been already pledged for the faithful application of the fund 

 itself to the purposes of the testator the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men. 



At the last session of Congress the President of the United States, 

 by a message to both Houses of the 6th of December, 1838, informed 

 them that the act of the 1st of July, 1836, to enable the Executive to 

 assert and prosecute with effect the claim of the United States to the 

 legacy bequeathed to them by James Smithson, had received its entire 

 execution; and that the amount recovered and paid into the Trcasuiy 

 having, agreeably to an act of the preceding session, been invested in 

 State stocks, he deemed it proper to invite the attention of Congress 

 to the obligation devolving upon the United States to fulfill the object 

 of the bequest. He added that in order to obtain such information 

 as might serve to facilitate its attainment the Secretary of State had 

 been directed to apply to persons versed in science and familiar with 

 the subject of public education for their views as to the mode of dispos- 

 ing of the fund best calculated to meet the intention of the testator 

 and prove most beneficial to mankind. Copies of the circular from 

 the Secretary of State, and of the answers to it received at that Depart- 

 ment, were communicated with the message for the consideration of 

 Congress; and for the whole correspondence this committee respect- 

 fully refer the House to document No. 11 of the Executive documents 

 of the Third session of the Twenty -fifth Congress. 



On the following day (the 7th of December, 1838) another message 

 was transmitted by the President to the House of Representatives, 

 with reports from the Secretaries of State' and of the Treasury, in 



