TWENTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, 1839-41. 207 



Consideration by the Senate of the United States. At the 

 motion of a distinguished member of that body, the follow- 

 ing joint resolution was adopted : 



Resolved by the Senate, (the. House of Representatives concurring,} That 

 a joint committee be appointed, consisting of seven members of the Senate, 

 and such a number of said House as they shall appoint, to consider the ex- 

 pediency of providing an institution of learning, to be established in the 

 city of Washington, for the application of the legacy bequeathed by James 

 Smithson, of London, to the United States, in trust for that purpose; also, 

 to consider the expediency of a charter for such institution, together with the 

 powers and privileges w*hich, in their opinion, the said charter ought to 

 confer'; also, to consider the expediency of ways and means to be provided 

 by Congress, other than said legacy, but in addition thereto, and in aid of 

 said benevolent intention ; and to report by bill or bills in the premises. 



This resolution superseded at once all that had been done 

 by the House and its committee upon the two messages of 

 the President of the 6th and 7th of December, 1838. It 

 contemplated an institution of learning at the city of Wash- 

 ington, the establishment of which should not only absorb 

 the whole fund bequeathed by Mr. Smithson, but large ap- 

 propriations of the public moneys of the nation. 



In deference, however, and courtesy to the Senate, the 

 Plouse immediately concurred in their resolution ; and the 

 same members to whom, as a select committee of the House, 

 the two messages of the President had been referred, were 

 appointed the committee on the part of the House under 

 the joint resolution. 



Several meetings of the joint committee were held, and 

 some discussion was entertained ; but the propositions of 

 the chairman of the committee on the part of the Senate 

 were so widely at variance with the principles upon which 

 the committee on the part of the House had previously 

 agreed, that it soon became apparent that further joint de- 

 liberation offered, no prospect of a result, in which both 

 committees would concur. The committee on the part of 

 the House was notified that the chairman of the Senate's 

 committee was authorized by them to propose any measure 

 on their part which he might deem proper, and to agree to 

 any joint report in which the committee on the part of the 

 House might concur. 



On the'SGth of January, 1839, the chairman of the com- 

 mittee on the part of the House, by their direction, reported 

 to the House the following resolutions : 



Resolved, That the sum of dollars, being the amount deposited in 



the Treasury of the United States, proceeding from the bequest of James 

 Smithson to the United States of America, for the purpose of establishing, 

 at the city of Washington, an institution to bear his name, for the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men, together with what additional sum 



