TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS, 1837-39. 1G7 



4. Resolved, That to apply said trust fund to the erection and support of 

 an observatory, would not he to fulfil bona fide the intention of the testa- 

 tor, nor would it comport with the dignity of the United States to owe 

 such an establishment to foreign eleemosynary means. 



Mr. ROBBINS, from the committee appointed on the part 

 of the Senate, on the Smithsonian bequest, reported the 

 following bills ; which were severally read, and passed to 

 the second reading : 



[S. No. 292.] 



A BILL providing for the disposition and management of the fund be- 

 queathed to the United States, in trust, by James Smithson, of London, 

 deceased, for the establishment of an institution for the increase and dif- 

 fusion of knowledge among men. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 

 States of America in Congress assembled. That all sum or sums of money 

 heretofore received, or which shall hereafter be received, under and in pur- 

 suance of the last will and testament of the late James Smithson, deceased, 

 of London, and all fund or funds, stock or stocks, or evidence or evidences 

 of public debt whatsoever, in which said sum or sums of money have been, 

 or shall hereafter be, invested, shall be, and are hereby, constituted and 

 declared to be a fund to be named or styled " the Smithsonian fund," and 

 shall be under the management and control of nine trustees, to be styled 

 " the board of trustees of the Smithsonian fund," subject, however, to such 

 rules, regulations, and restrictions as the Congress of the United States 

 may or shall, from time to time, make, ordain, or establish ; and said 

 trustees shall constitute a portion of such corporation as shall hereafter be 

 created by Congress for the government of an institution for the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men. 



SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said trustees shall hold their 

 offices for the term of one year, and until their successors be appointed, 

 and shall be appointed annually on or before the day of , 



in the following manner, that is to say : three of the said trustees shall be 

 appointed by the Senate and three by the House of Representatives, in such 

 manner as the said Houses shall respectively determine, and the remaining 

 three shall be appointed by the President of the United States ; and the 

 trustees so appointed, or a majority of them, shall meet together, in the 

 city of Washington, on the day of next succeeding 



their appointment, and shall elect one of their own body as President of 

 said board ; they shall have authority to appoint a clerk and printer, and 

 fix their respective compensations ; and make and establish such rules and 

 regulations for their own government as they may deem necessary or proper ; 

 hold one or more sessions for the transaction of business during the recess 

 of Congress ; and adjourn from day to day, as they may deem proper ; 

 they shall keep a journal of their proceedings, and report the same, or an 

 attested copy thereof, to both Houses of Congress on or before the 

 day of , in each and every year. 



SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all expenditures made by the 

 said board shall be subject to the approval of the President of the United 

 States ; and all the accounts thereof shall be reported to the Secretary of 

 the Treasury, and audited, under his direction, by the proper officers of the 

 Treasury Department ; and the said board shall report to Congress, at every 

 session thereof, the state of the Smithsonian fund, and a full statement of 

 their receipts and expenditures during the preceding year. 



SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the said trustees be, and they are 

 hereby, specially authorized and directed to prepare such a charter of 

 incorporation, and such a plan of an institution for the increase and diffu- 

 sion of knowledge among men, as to them may appear best adapted to 



