568 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



It may well be questioned whether it is expedient to surround such 

 an institution with an array of high official dignitaries. Their great 

 offices and characters are committed to all the proceedings of the Insti- 

 tution, while it is impossible for them to give much time and atten- 

 tion to their examination. Wher the venerable Chief Justice of the 

 United States, after hearing both parties and a thorough scrutiny of 

 the merits of all questions involved, and in the exercise of the high 

 function to which his life is consecrated and set apart, pronounces a 

 solemn judgment from* the bench, we bow to his learning and wisdom; 

 but it may, perhaps, be doubted whether it is expedient to attempt to 

 make him responsible for all the doings of an institution entirely out 

 of the sphere of his duties and pursuits, and with whose officers he 

 can not have much communication. As it has been ascertained that 

 the Institution is not a corporation, and its anomalous character in that 

 respect may give rise to perplexing and unforeseen difficulties that 

 mil reach the legal tribunals, it may well be questioned whether that 

 august judicial personage ought to be mixed up at all with its business 

 details. 



If the Institution could be organized in a simpler form, and its Sec- 

 retary made the head of a bureau in the Department of the Interior, 

 and subject, like other heads of bureaus, to the Secretaiy of the Inte- 

 rior, he might pursue substantially the same course as at present, if 

 that should continue to be thought advisable, with a clearly ascertained 

 line of duty and responsibility, and a full adjustment of all his rela- 

 tions above to the head of the Department, around to his associates, 

 and to all subordinates of every grade. This, however, we desire to 

 have considered as a mere suggestion made in passing. If all other 

 plans are found defective and beset with inconveniences, this may, at 

 some future day, be tried in the last resort. 



Whatever arrangements may be made for the administration of the 

 Institution, it is of extreme importance that the relations among the 

 several officers attached to it be denned and settled by law, or, at any 

 rate, by by-laws. In every organization to which several officers are 

 attached such a provision is highly desirable, but preeminently so 

 where the said officers are gentlemen of scientific and literary attain- 

 ment and reputation. The spirit of self-respect and a sensitiveness to 

 personal rights prevail nowhere with greater keenness and intensity 

 than in the republic of letters. 



The Smithsonian Institution stands on a different footing from any 

 in this country, and in some particulars, especially in regard to the 

 peculiar character of our Government, in any other country. In some 

 leading features it perhaps bears a closer resemblance to the British 

 Museum than to any other. The recent history of that institution may, 

 perhaps, be found instructive to us. 



The British Museum was founded about a hundred years ago, upon 



