JAMES SMITH80N AND HIS BEQUEST. 31 



LEGISLATION OF CONGRESS 



IN RELATION TO 



THE DISPOSITION OF THE BEQUEST. 



On the 6tli of December, 1838, President Van Buren bad the satis- 

 faction of announcing to Congress tbat tbe claim of tbe United States 

 to tbe legacy bequeatbed to tbem by James Smitbson bad been fully 

 established, and that the fund had been received by the government. 

 Ho now urged the prorai)t adoption of a plan by which the intentions 

 of the testator might be fully realized. For the purpose of obtaining 

 information which might faciUtate the attainment of this object, he 

 appUed, through the Secretary of State, to a number of persons " versed 

 in science and familiar with the subject of public education, for their 

 views as to the mode of disposing of the fund best calculated to meet 

 the intentions of Smitbson, and be most beneficial to raaukiud." 



He communicated to Congress the replies received, of which the fol- 

 lowing is a brief abstract. 



President Francis Way land, of Brown University, proposed a univer- 

 sity of high grade to teach Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Oriental languages, 

 and a long list of other branches, including rhetoric, poetry, intellect- 

 ual philosophy, the law of nations, &c. 



Dr. Thomas Cooper, of South Carolina, also proposed a university, to 

 be opened only to graduates of other colleges, where the higher branches 

 of mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, &c., should be taught, but Latin 

 and Greek, literature, medicine, and law excluded. 



Mr. Eichard Rush proposed a building, with grounds attached, suffl- 

 cieut to reproduce seeds and plants for distribution ; a press to print 

 lectures, &c. ; courses of lectures on the leading branches of physical 

 and moral science, and on government and public law; the salaries to be 

 ample enough to command the best men, and admit of the exclusive 

 devotion of their time to the studies and investigations of their posts; 

 the lectures, when delivered, to be the property of the institution for 

 publication. Mr. Rush also made the excellent suggestion that consuls 

 and other United States officers might greatly aid the institution by col- 

 lecting and sending home useful information and valuable specimens 

 from abroad. 



Hon. John Quincy Adams expressed, in his reply, the opinion that no 

 part of the fund should be devoted "to tJie endowment of any school, 

 college, university, or ecclesiastical establishment"; and ho proposed 

 to employ seven years' income of the fund in the establishment of au 

 astronomical observatory, with instruments and a small library. 



The subject of the Smitbson bequest was referred in the House of 

 Representatives ou the 10th December, 1838, to a special committee of 



