THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
1843 .] 
which it possessed over the States. On this account chiefly, though a strict con¬ 
structionist, like his friend on the left, (Mr. C. I. Ingersoll,) he had felt justified in 
voting to incoporate the Institute, But there was another strong, if not stronger 
consideration, which seemed to him to justify, not only the act of incorporation, 
but for an appropriation for the aid to be asked in the proposed memorial. It was 
this. The Institute was a public body, and, among other things, engaged in the 
care of certain articles of public property ; and, what most gentlemen might not 
be aware of, the aid requested was towards defraying the expense incurred by this 
care. The expense consisted chiefly of postages on correspondence in relation to 
those articles, and of the freight and due preservation of them. He said those 
articles were public properly, and the Institute a public body; because, go far from 
being a private enterprise, or its labor devoted to private objects, ©r the right of its 
members to the collections under its charge being of a private character, it was 
public throughout, and the legal interest in the whole was, by the charter, expressly 
reserved to the United States. Such he knew was the intention of its founders, 
and he believed it had been fully carried out in the act of incorporation. 
There is nothing belonging to its individual members which can be inherited by 
heirs, transferred to creditors, or sold or assigned to purchasers, as in case of cor¬ 
porations for banks, bridges, insurance, manufacturing, &c. 
Care was taken originally to make the Institute different from all other chartered 
bodies, even in this District, so as to elevate it above every motive of personal gain, 
dedicating its labors exclusively to objects of a public character, and vesting all the 
property possessed for this purpose in the Government itself; and thus, by render¬ 
ing it national in substance, as well as name, to obviate any constitutional objection 
which might arise against measures in its behalf. 
When the community or Congress advert to these circumstances, it will at once 
be seen how broad a distinction exists between assistance to such a body and one of 
a private character, and where the members possess a private pecuniary interest. 
Let gentlemen understand, then, that it is not the liberal object of encourage* 
ment to science and literature which animates many of the members of the Insti¬ 
tute, and has induced them to incur such personal labor and sacrifices for increasing 
its collections, nor the active interest excited in their behalf in many of the civil¬ 
ized portions of both hemispheres, which, in my view, renders it strictly constitu¬ 
tional, as well as proper for the Government to aid in defraying the small expense 
incurred in making and preserving these collections ; but it is that the legal interest 
in the whole of them belongs by the charter to the General Government itself, and, 
consequently, the whole are deposited in the public buildings, and are under the 
substantial control of the officers of that Government. When we add to these 
considerations the facts that the first articles placed in charge of the Institute were 
collected from the War, Navy, and State Departments, in some of which trouble 
and expense had before been incurred in taking care of them, and that many of the 
additions since are from persons connected with those Departments, and that by 
law the heads of all the Executive Departments are, ex-officio, members of the In¬ 
stitute, and exerciso the chief official power over its concerns, it seems reasonable, 
no less than constitutional, for that Government to assist in the expense of taking 
care of its own property. It is quite as reasonable as if it all remained where a 
portion of it was originally, in the exclusive custody of several of the Executive 
Departments, and quite as honorable as reasonable, when we reflect that all the in¬ 
terference of others with this property, all the services and donations of others con¬ 
nected with it, have been with a view to aid the interests of the Governmeut rather 
than their own private emolument, and to advance its reputation and usefulness in 
the cause of science, literature, and the arts, so far as it can be done by the careful 
collection and preservation of many valuable articles of public property, suited to 
throw new light on, and promote those great objects. 
F. S. In order to render the whole proceedings complete, it is proper to state that 
the Hon. Mr. Walker has been appointed in the place of the Hon. Dr. Linn, de- 
ceased, on the committee of June, 1842 ; and that the Hon. Mr. Rives, the Hon. 
Mr. Choate, and Alexander Dallas Bache, Esq., Superintendent of the Coast Sur¬ 
vey, have been added to the same committee. 
After reading the foregoing procedings, Col. Abert offered the fol¬ 
lowing resolution: 
