THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-1855. 577 



sustain it on other and different grounds. So, too, the majority or 

 intermediate vote is frequently composed of the friends and opponents 

 of the bill, the latter advocating a particular amendment with the 

 hope and in the belief that it will prove an incumbrance to the meas- 

 ure in the view of some of its advocates, and thus contribute to its 

 defeat; or they may think that a particular proviso proposed to be 

 stricken out is unnecessary as being comprehended in some other part 

 of the act. 



A careful scrutiny of the proceedings of the House of Represent- 

 atives while this law was pending before them, would show how 

 unsafe a guide the resort to the parliamentary history of a bill would 

 be in the ascertainment of its true construction. This may reconcile 

 us to an adherence to those rules which the wisdom of ages has 

 devised for the interpretation of statutes. We are endeavoring to 

 ascertain the powers and duties of the Board of Regents, and to do 

 this we seek to discover the true interpretation of the act of Congress 

 and the will of Mr. Smithson, which, taken together, confer their pow- 

 ers and prescribe their duties. These two sources of power and duty 

 are spoken of as necessarily connected; for, although the Smithsonian 

 Institution was created by act of Congress, and will cease to exist 

 whenever Congress shall think proper to repeal that act, yet both 

 Congress and the Institution, so long as it continues to exist, are 

 bound to carry the intention of the testator into effect. 



The trust has been accepted by Congress in behalf of the United 

 States, and the faith of the United States has been pledged for its 

 faithful execution "according to the will of the enlightened and lib- 

 eral donor. " While, therefore, Congress, acting as agents of the United 

 States, have the power to divert the fund to purposes other than those 

 which may be according to "the will of the liberal and enlightened 

 donor, 1 ' their right to do so can never be affirmed; and though the 

 Board of Regents can not and do not claim a right to place themselves 

 in an antagonistical position to the Congress of the United States, 

 whose subagents they are, yet in construing the act of Congress, if 

 it will admit of two constructions, one of which seems to be most 

 conformable to the purposes of the will of Smithson, the Regents 

 would not hesitate to accept such construction in preference to the 

 other, which does not conform to the will of the testator. This is 

 merely the application of a principle universally recognized in the 

 interpretation of statutes. 



In the present case two constructions are given to the act of Con- 

 gress. If the Board of Regents consider one of them to be more 

 consonant to the purposes of Mr. Smithson's will, which was the 

 source of the authority of Congress to legislate on the subject for 

 any purpose, it ought to be adopted, since the act was passed evidently 

 for the purpose of carrying into execution "the will of the donor," 

 H. Doc. 732 37 



