356 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



of a power unauthorized by the Constitution or in the slightest degree 

 dangerous to the integrity of our political principles. Mr. Smithson 

 was not wrong in supposing this Government possessed the power to 

 convey to its people a gratuitous benefit of the first magnitude. His 

 benevolent design will not be frustrated by this imaginary impediment, 

 for I do not dream that it can interpose even a momentary obstacle to 

 the passage of the bill. 



It will not be denied that this large fund properly applied may be 

 made the instrument of much good. The benefit will be enjoyed pri- 

 marily and peculiarly, if not entirely, by our own people. Its indirect 

 influence, it is to be hoped, will hereafter extend abroad, but it is 

 chiefly here that its benign effects are to be felt as long as the Institu- 

 tion shall exist. It ought, then, to be an object of great care and of 

 peculiar interest to the Government. All necessary arrangements 

 should be liberally made, and with the wisest possible adaptation to 

 the great end in view. 



One of the preliminary provisions of the bill transfers the whole 

 fund to the Treasury, and requires the Government to assume the per- 

 petual payment of interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. This 

 is certainly a very slight contribution, yet inconsiderable as this respon- 

 sibility may be on the part of the Government, and by no means to be 

 named as a donation or even as a favor when it is considered that the 

 fund is a gift to the country, it is nevertheless a matter of the first impor- 

 tance to the Institution itself. It secures for it a permanent support 

 and places its revenues beyond the power of any contingency. No one, 

 I presume, except my colleague will object to this provision. By 

 adopting it the United States will evince a disposition to fulfill the high 

 trust they have assumed in a spirit of liberality and justice somewhat 

 worthy of the great object sought to be accomplished. 



But while the Government will contribute in this small way to the 

 Institution, it will receive a direct compensation which far more than 

 balances the sacrifice made. The bill proposes to appropriate a por- 

 tion of the public grounds in this city for the buildings and gardens 

 necessary for the establishment. Handsome yet useful structures 

 will be erected, and the cultivation of the grounds will render them 

 beautiful and attractive, while they may still be accessible to the 

 harmless examination and enjoyment of the public. All this will be 

 done out of the Smithsonian fund; and the expense which the Gov- 

 ernment would otherwise incur by carrying out the original plan of 

 the city, as designed by Washington, will be avoided, while all its 

 desirable advantages will be obtained. The benefit will be mutual to 

 the Government and to the Institution. 



So, also, in regard to the transfer of the specimens of natural his- 

 tory, of minerals, and other scientific and curious objects now in pos- 

 session of the Government and kept at the Patent Office. The exhi- 



