138 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



has made, leave no doubt of the will of Mr. Smithson hav- 

 ing been established, and its dispositions recognized by the 

 court of chancery of England ; that, according to the view 

 taken of the case by the solicitors, the United States, in the 

 event of their accepting the legacy, and the trust coupled 

 with it, should come forward, by their representative, and 

 make themselves parties to an amicable suit before the 

 Lord Chancellor of England, for the purpose of legally 

 establishing the fact of the demise of Mr. Hungerford, the 

 legatee for life, without children and intestate, proving their 

 claim to the benefit of the will, and obtaining a decree in 

 chancery awarding to them the proceeds of 4 the estate; 

 that Messrs. Clarke, Fynmore, and Fladgate, are willing to 

 undertake the management of the suit on the part of the 

 United States; and that, from what he has learnt of their 

 standing, they may safely be confided in. And Mr. Vail 

 suggests, upon the advice of those gentlemen, a method of 

 proceeding to assert the claim of the United States to the 

 legacy, without further delay, in case it should be thought 

 unnecessary to await the action of Congress to authorize 

 the institution of the requisite legal proceedings. 



The Secretary of State submitted the letter of Mr. Vail, 

 and the papers therewith communicated, to the President, 

 who determined to lay the subject before Congress at its 

 next session ; and of this determination the Secretary of 

 State apprized Mr. Vail, in a letter of the 26th September 

 last. 



The president, in his message of the 17th December, 

 transmits^to Congress, all the correspondence and informa- 

 tion relating to the subject, as the same had been reported 

 to hirn by the Secretary of State; and adds, that "the 

 Executive having no authority to take any steps for accept- 

 ing the trust, and obtaining the funds, the papers are com- 

 municated with a view to such measures as Congress may 

 deem necessary." 



The committee concur in the opinion of the President, 

 that it belongs to the Legislature to devise and prescribe 

 the measures, if any, proper to be adopted on this occasion, 

 and to provide for such expenses as may be incurred in the 

 prosecution of them. 



^ Judging from the letters of Mr. Vail to the Secretary of 

 State, and of Messrs. Clarke, Fynmore & Fladgate to Mr. 

 Vail, as well as from the information which the committee 

 themselves have been able to gather, as to the course of 

 adjudication of the court of chancery of England in such 

 cases, the committee suppose it unquestionable, that the- 



