544 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Mr. BISHOP PERKINS, of New York, and others. I object. 



Mr. UPHAM. Then I move that the rules' be suspended, to enable me 

 to submit my proposition. 



The SPEAKER pro tempore. That can not be done, as there is a 

 motion to suspend the rules pending. 



Mr. HUGHES. 1 now renew my motion to adjourn. 



The question was taken; and the motion was agreed to. 

 February 27, 1855 House. 



The House being in the Committee of the Whole 0*1 the state of the 

 Union, Mr. WILLIAM H. ENGLISH, of Indiana, said: 



I propose occupying the attention of the committee for a short time 

 in submitting some practical remarks in reference to the present con- 

 dition and management of the Smithsonian Institution. It is not a 

 subject, sir, the introduction of which into Congress has received any 

 favor from me. I regretted to see it brought here; and when the 

 gentleman from Vermont [Mr. Meacham], upon a late occasion, intro- 

 duced a resolution to raise a special committee of inquiry, I felt it my 

 duty to oppose its adoption. I knew that such an examination would 

 be attended with expense and a consumption of time which at that late 

 period of the session could not well be spared from other and more 

 important public business; that it would tend to irritate the feelings 

 of gentlemen heretofore or now connected with the Institution, and, in 

 a word, might do evil, but could not result in practical good. My 

 knowledge of the subject satisfied me that nothing had occurred to 

 demand the raising of a special committee, clothed with power to send 

 for persons and papers, thus giving to the disappointed and dissatis- 

 fied an opportunity of assailing the Institution or its officers at the 

 public expense. 



Sir, I felt conscious then, as I do now, that the management has 

 been such in all material respects as ought to elicit commendation. 

 This I may say with the greater propriety and freedom for the reason 

 that the causes which led to this investigation originated and were 

 fully developed before my connection with the Institution as a Regent; 

 a position, I may add, supposed to be of some honor, but certainly one 

 of considerable labor, much responsibility, and no pecuniary benefit 

 whatever. 



That the management of an institution having so large an endow- 

 ment and a design so comprehensive should occasion difference of 

 opinion and difficulty is not surprising in the least. It would be more 

 surprising were it otherwise. Whilst all concur in desiring the accom- 

 plishment of the great object Smithson had in view "The increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men" the wisest and best may 

 well differ as to the proper means to be used to attain that end. 



Although not entirely approving all that has been done, I must say, 

 in view of the vastness of the subject and that Congress was ten years 



