THIRTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, 1855-1857. 601 



APPOINTMENT OF REGENTS 



By the Vice- President. 

 June 19, 1856 Senate. 



On motion of Mr. S. A. DOUGLAS, James A. Pearce was reappointed 

 Regent by the President of the Senate. 

 March 6, 1857 Senate. 



The President of the Senate (Mr. JESSE D. BRIGHT) appointed James 

 M. Mason as Regent. 



APPOINTMENT OF REGENTS 



By the Speaker. 

 February 26, 1856 House, 



The Speaker (Mr. NATHANIEL P. BANKS) made the following 

 appointments as Regents: Hiram Warner, of Georgia, James 

 Meacham, of Vermont, William H. English, of Indiana. 



Mr. JAMES MEACHAM. In the nomination of Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution made by the Speaker this morning I find that n y 

 name stands in the list. I feel grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for the 

 honor thus conferred upon me, but I beg of you to erase my name 

 and appoint some other member of this House. I have two or three 

 reasons for making this request. In the first place, 1 have enjoyed 

 the honor and borne the burden of that position for a period of four 

 years, and I think it better that the duty should circulate among 

 different members of the body and that it should not remain stationary. 

 I have another reason for asking to be excused. You, sir, have 

 already placed me in a position on a committee of this House which 

 demands all my attention. I will not conceal that I have another 

 reason, which I shall take another time to explain. It is that I can 

 not approve the present course of that Institution, if it have any 

 course and is not merely standing still and marking time the mere 

 mockery of motion. It is not producing that impression upon the 

 country and people which it ought to make. I can not consent, and 

 will not consent, to follow an Institution whose leader is smitten with 

 chronic monomania on a single subject an Institution whose line of 

 march, as I believe, runs athwart the line of law by which it holds 

 its existence. I therefore beg of you to accept my thanks and 

 resignation. 



There being no objection, Mr. Meacham's resignation was accepted. 



The SPEAKER appointed Benjamin Stanton, of Ohio, as Regent. 



APPOINTMENT OF REGENTS 



By Joint Resolution. 

 February 12, 1856 Senate. 



Mr. J. M. MASON gave notice of his intention to ask leave to intro 

 duce a joint resolution providing that the vacancies in the Board of 



