790 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



I objected, and assigned my reasons; whereupon Burke, 

 unexpectedly to me, withdrew his motion, and mine was- 

 carried. 



MAY 15, 1844. 



Adams, John Quincy ; Houston, George S. ; Chappell r 

 Absalom H. ; French, Richard ; Lucas, William ; BrengK-, 

 Francis; Potter, Emery D. ; Yost, Jacob S. ; Wetheivd, 

 John. The names in the margin are those, including my 

 own, of the select committee to whom, on the 19th of Feb- 

 ruary last, was referred the report of the Secretary of the 

 Treasury on the resolution of the House of the 3d of Janu- 

 ary, concerning the present condition of the Smithsonian 

 fund. I met them at ten this morning, in the chamber of 

 the Committee of Manufactures; all present except Houston 

 and Chappell, who were duly notified. We had barely time 

 to read the will of Smithson, the act of Congress accepting 

 the bequest, and the report of the Secretary of the Treasury 

 referred to the committee, and adjourned, to meet to-morrow 

 at ten c? clock. 



MAY 16, 1844. 



I met again the committee on the Smithsonian bequest, 

 the same members present as yesterday, The report of the 

 Secretary of the Treasury evades all explanation of the 

 manner how the fund was almost entirely invested in bonds 

 of the State of Arkansas, upon which no interest has been 

 paid, except in other bonds of the same State, and upon 

 which for more than two years no interest has been paid at 

 all. How to make the fund now available for any appro- 

 priation by Congress to the purposes of the testator was 

 the question first discussed, and upon which the committee 

 came to no result. Then I read the bill reported by the 

 select committee on the 1.2th of April, 1842, and, after some 

 'conversation, the committee adjourned to next Monday, ten 

 o'clock, for the chairman, consulting with Judge French, 

 to prepare some specific measure to be discussed for report 

 to the House. 



MAY 20, 1844. 



I had prepared a draft of a bill making an appropriation 

 of seven hundred thousand dollars from the Treasury to 

 assume the annual interest on the Smithson fund, invested 

 now in stocks of several States and upon interest, the pay- 

 ment ^ of which is suspended; which draft I proposed to 

 submit to the consideration of the committee on the Smith- 

 sonian bequest at their meeting this morning. But only 



