THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-55. 593 



on the 25th of February, 1839. Congress provided for an 

 observatory out of its own funds, and that matter was dis- 

 posed of and taken out of the question. An institution like 

 the Garden of Plants at Paris was strongly urged in the 

 Senate, but the proposition did not prevail. In 1845, Mr. 

 Choate proposed in the Senate the library plan, and it 

 passed that body on the 23d of January. In the House, 

 several members offered different propositions. One pro- 

 posing a normal school was rejected yeas 72, nays 42 ; one 

 proposing lectures and professors was rejected 77 to 42. 

 The plan of lectures, as a leading feature, was rejected by 

 similar strong votes on several occasions. 



[Various bills were reported, substitutes offered in both 

 houses, and sundry amendments made, until in August, 

 1846, a bill as passed by the House was passed by the Sen- 

 ate without amendment, and became THE LAW on which the 

 institution has existed to the present date. The committee 

 then quote the act approved August 10, 1846, and proceed :] 



The foregoing act of Congress is " the law establishing 

 the Smithsonian Institution." It is the directory which the 

 regents are bound to follow in administering its affairs and 

 applying its funds. An idea seems to have crept into the 

 discussions that are prevalent on this subject, that the will 

 requires one thing and the law another.- There can be no 

 ground for this distinction, as a few words will show. 



The will declares a certain object, najnely, " for the in- 

 crease and diffusion of knowledge among men." In accept- 

 ing the bequest, the Government of the United States 

 pledged its faith that the funds shouldbe " applied as Congress 

 may hereafter direct, to the purposes of founding and en- 

 dowing at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men." 



The act establishing the institution also inserts into its 

 title, and into its body, the words of the will, so that what- 

 ever the will requires the act ordains, and there can be no 

 conflict between them. No one can question the obligation 

 of those who administer the institution, under the act, to 

 assume that its requirements are in accordance with the 

 will, and to carry them out, in good faith and good earnest. 

 So far as the act leaves the officers, who exist by its author- 

 ity, to their discretion, that discretion is to be guided by 

 their sense of the import and design of the language of the 

 will. All in the will that relates to the subject is incorpor- 

 ated into the act. We have occasion, therefore, to look 



