THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-1855. 535 



that I hold it to be the duty of the Senate of the United States to sus- 

 tain the Regents of this Institution, whenever the Senate thinks they 

 are right. When an imputation is cast on those gentlemen it ought 

 not to be left to be a matter of conjecture or doubt in the country 

 whether the Senate thinks they ought to be sustained or not. For my 

 own part, I do thoroughly concur in the opinion which has been given 

 by a majority of the Regency. I have been of their opinion since the 

 Institution was first established. 



I had the honor, as a member of a committee of this body, some 

 eighteen years ago, to report the bill, which was afterwards enacted 

 into a law, accepting the bequest of Smithson; and I well remember 

 that upon that occasion there was a diversity of sentiment in this body 

 in regard to the propriety of accepting the bequest, for it was said con- 

 fidently by some gentlemen that it would turn out that this Govern- 

 ment was incapable of administering the fund as the testator intended. 

 I was then of a different opinion, and I am now. I have observed with 

 some interest the progress of this Institution, and the course adopted 

 by the Regents, from the origin of the Institution, and their course 

 has, on all occasions, so far as I have been able to understand it, met 

 with my unqualified approbation. 



The question which divided the Regency was one which arose in the 

 very origin of the Institution. There were many gentlemen who 

 thought the funds should be devoted to the purpose of a library. I 

 never thought so. I undertake to say that was not the sentiment of 

 the Senate which accepted the bequest. An institution whose object 

 is to increase and diffuse knowledge among men, to be confined, or the 

 greater part of its action to be confined, to the mere purchase of books 

 books to be placed here in this District, where they could be visited by 

 gentlemen of wealth from abroad, to be sure, and where they could be 

 searched and examined by persons who are on the spot! That, how- 

 ever, would be one of the most futile and, in my humble judgment, 

 most ineffectual methods which could be devised to diffuse knowledge 

 among men. The plan adopted by the Regency is one calculated to 

 diffuse it among men in all parts of the civilized world. 



But, sir, I will not take up the time of the Senate in discussing this 

 question. The Committee on the Judiciary are fully capable of exam- 

 ining and deciding on judicial questions. I think they ought to make 

 an inquiry, in order that if the Regents are right in the interpretation 

 they have given to the law they should be sustained by the judgment 

 of the committee and by the judgment of the Senate. I move the 

 adoption of the resolution which I have submitted. 



The resolution was considered by unanimous consent and agreed to. 

 January 17, 1855 House. 



The Speaker (Mr. LINN BOYD) laid before the House a communi- 

 cation received from Rufus Choate, resigning his office as Regent of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



