592 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Mr. C. W. UPHAM. I would now ask the unanimous consent of the 

 House for leave to introduce and have passed a resolution authorizing 

 the payment of the clerk of that select committee for the time during 

 which he has been employed. 



There was no objection, and the resolution was reported, as follows: 



Resolved, That the select committee of the House on the Smithsonian Institution 

 be allowed to make compensation, at the usual rate, to a clerk for the period of his 

 services. 



The question was taken, and the resolution was passed. 



The House having gone into the Committee of the Whole 



Mr. JAMES MEACHAM, of Vermont, said: 



Mr. Chairman: It was not my intention to offer any remarks during 

 this session with reference to the Smithsonian Institution. After 

 mature deliberation and consultation with judicious friends of learn- 

 ing, I came to the conclusion that the affairs of that establishment 

 required investigation. I proposed the matter to this House. They 

 sustained the proposition, and appointed a special committee of inquiry. 

 To them I hoped the matter would be left till their report should be 

 presented. I believed, sir, that in the hands of a select committee of 

 this House, the interests of literature and science connected with the 

 Smithsonian Institution would be safe. 



But the unexpected course of the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. 

 English] in stepping forward to eulogize the Institution before it had 

 been attacked here seems to require me briefly to explain and defend 

 my position. For such explanation and defense, I may, in the main, 

 rely on the able and important report presented by the select com- 

 mittee, which, for that purpose, I propose, in substance, to insert in 

 my speech, confining my own remarks to some topics not alluded to 

 by the committee. 



The gentleman from Indiana, and some others, seem disposed to 

 view this investigation as indicating deliberate hostility; as intended 

 to give "to the disappointed and dissatisfied an opportunity of assail- 

 ing the Institution at the public expense;" as manifesting disrespect 

 to the distinguished and honored gentlemen concerned in conducting 

 its affairs, particularly by clothing this committee with power to send 

 for persons and papers. Sir, I do not yield to the honorable gentlemen 

 in my sincere attachment to the cause of knowledge, whether in the form 

 of literature or of science. But the very devotion which I feel leads 

 me to wish to keep its fountains clean. I would not willingly lend 

 myself to the aid of wanton and wicked assaults, nor is it to be sup- 

 posed that this committee would be less scrupulous; but I believe that 

 "the disappointed and dissatisfied" may sometimes deserve, or need, 

 protection, and redress. I would not be wanting in respect for men 

 in exalted positions; but I know that under the authority of the purest 



