CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



provide for the due application and administration of such 

 a fund when they have obtained possession of it ; that the 

 rights and duties of the United States, as parens patrice of 

 the District, in such a case, are the same, whether the char- 

 itable donation be made by the subject of a foreign nation, 

 or by a citizen, or whether the claim to the bounty is to be 

 asserted before a domestic court of justice, or before a for- 

 eign tribunal, which, by the comity of nations, or the laws 

 of its own country, is bound to entertain the claim, and to 

 adjudge the property to the United States, if they are by 

 law entitled to it. If a foreign tribunal, decreeing such 

 property to the United States, should think proper to im- 

 pose any conditions incompatible with the constitutional 

 powers of this Government, or with its duties or its dignity, 

 the United States may then decline to accept the property 

 and the trust. But no difficulty of that kind is appre- 

 hended. 



The committee are also of the opinion that the United 

 States, in prosecuting a claim to property given to them for 

 the purpose of founding a charitable institution within the 

 District of Columbia, and which they are entitled to claim, 

 and take, and regulate the administration of, as the j wrens 

 patrice of the District, may properly appropriate, out of 

 their general revenue, such sums as may be necessary to 

 prosecute the claim with effect since the United States 

 have no other pecuniary means to defray the expenses that 

 may be incurred in exercising their powers, or in perform- 

 ing their duties, as parens patrice of the District, but such as 

 tire afforded by their general revenue. 



Upon the whole, the committee are of opinion that it is 

 within the competency of the Government of the United 

 States, that it well comports with its dignity, that, indeed, 

 it is its duty, to assert in the courts of justice of England 

 the claim of the United States, to the legacy bequeathed to 

 them by Mr. Smithson's will, for the purpose of founding, 

 at Washington, under the name of " The Smithsonian In- 

 stitution," an establishment for the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men ; and that provision ought to be 

 made by Congress to enable the Executive to assert and 

 prosecute the claim with effect. 



Therefore, the committee recommend the adoption of a 

 joint resolution authorizing the President to take measures 

 for recovering the said legacy. 



SENATE, FRIDAY, February 5, 1836. 

 The resolution to authorize and enable the President to 



