46 JAMES SMITHSON AND HIS BEQUEST. 



" But in the mean time, while this delay had taken place, he was de- 

 lighted that an astronomical observatory — not perhaps so great as it 

 should have been — had been smuggled into the number of the institu- 

 tions of the country under the mask of a small depot for charts, &o. 



"He claimed no merit for the erection of the astronomical observa- 

 tory ; but in the course of his whole life no conferring of honor, of in- 

 terest, of office, had given him more delight than the belief that he had 

 contributed, in some small degree, to produce these astronomical observ- 

 atories, both here and elsewhere. He no longer wished any portion of 

 Smithson's fund applied to an astronomical observatory. 



" Nor did he think it important to the people that any provision of this 

 bill should be carried into effect immediately, but rather that measures 

 should be taken to induce the States to pay the interest on their bonds, 

 and then let the money be appropriated to any purpose on which Congress 

 could agree more unanimously than on this bill." 



Mr. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, was opposed to taking any 

 money out of the Treasury of the United States to establish such an 

 institution. 



Mr. George Rathbun, of New York, did not feel disposed to object to 

 any plan Avith seeming plausibility. He was in favor of expending the 

 money in some way and upon some scheme, faithfully and honestly, but, 

 above all, he was in favor of appropriating the money whether the final 

 result should be good or not. He wished to wipe^ out the stain which 

 rested on the character of this Government of withholding the money 

 because we were not able to discover the best mode of expending it. 

 In his judgment, a library was the least plausible of any of the schemes 

 proposed. 



Mr. Orlando B. Ficklin, of Illinois, opposed the bill. He thought 

 however that the good faith of the Government required that this 

 money should be considered as being in the Treasury, and that we could 

 not excuse ourselves by saying that the fund had been loaned out to 

 the States and could not now be realized. He objected, however, to the 

 connection proposed to be established between this institution and the 

 United States Treasury. A million of dollars would be required to meet 

 the deficiency in this Smithsonian bequest. He was willing to expend 

 the money for a library, and for scientific apparatus, or for any plan by 

 which the fund could be disconnected from the Government. He regarded 

 Mr. Owen's bill as one of the most odious and abominable ever pre- 

 sented, and he would rather see this half million returned to the British 

 court of chancery, or ten millions sunk to the bottom of the PotomaC; 

 than to have this bill pass. 



Mr. Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, made inquiries respecting the orig- 

 inal investment of the fund, and then discussed the duties of a trustee. 

 He could not vote for the bill unless it were most materially changed. 

 He was opposed to the erection of an immense institution at the city of 

 Washington, that would ultimately become a charge upon the Treasury 



