keeping it under the control of this Government, or whether they would not faithfully discharge their trust, after having passed a law for the erection of suitable buildings, by disembarrassing the Government and the House from all connection with the institution. He held it to be a responsible duty which this House had taken upon itself; and whatever might have been the opinion of gentlemen on this side of the House as to the propriety of accepting the legacy, it was now too late to interpose any objections on that score. The two Houses of Congress were under solemn obligation faithfully to discharge the duty which, as the trustees of the people of the United States and of James Smithson, they had undertaken; and that duty could only be discharged by referring the matter to a committee, impartial in its character, capable of examining, who should report the facts to this House, as to the future conduct of this institution.

He was not disposed to commit himself now to either course, whether he should be in favor of continuing the connection of this institution with the Government or not; or whether he could see his way clear to disembarrass the Government from any further connection with it. He merely threw out the suggestion, that if a committee of gentlemen on this floor should show them, should indicate clearly that this could be done, then he apprehended there was no gentleman who would not be willing to leave it in the hands of the gentlemen who should have charge of this institution. The bill which established this Smithsonian Institution had passed hastily, without having undergone the surveillance of any committee. It was true, a distinguished gentleman had made an elaborate report from a committee appointed on this subject, accompanied by a bill; but the House would recollect that that report was rejected, and a substitute offered by a gentleman from New York, [Mr. Hough,] which embodied some amendments offered by himself, [Mr. Morse,] and by other gentlemen, was passed, and became the act under which the institution was at present organized. That act was imperfect in itself. His objection to it was, that so far as this House at least was concerned, it was very little discussed, very little debated. He held that Congress could not be true to its trust, unless once in a year or two (if they were to continue the management of the institution) they authorized and delegated a part of their body to examine and report all the facts of the case. He did not desire to take a position either with his friend from Vermont or his friend from South Carolina;

but he did desire that this House and the country at large should be possessed of all the facts in relation to the disbursement and management of the large amount of money left by this gentleman, and committed to them as trustees; and the committee might suggest some plan better calculated to carry out the views of the distinguished donor, than this hasty, imperfect act which they had passed.

With these views, he moved a reconsideration of the vote by which the amendment of the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Johnson] was rejected.

The SPEAKER said it would be necessary first to move to reconsider the adoption of the resolution, and announced the question accordingly.

Mr. POLLOCK moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table; which was agreed to-yeas, 107, nays, 76; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Abbott, Adams, Ashmun, Atkinson, Barringer, Bayley, Beale, Belcher, Blackmar, Blanchard, Botts, Boydon, Wm. G. Brown, Butler, Canby, Chapman, Clingman, Cocke, Collamer, Conger, Cranston, Crowell, Dickey, Donnell, Garnett Duncan, Dunn, Eckert, Alexander Evans, Nathan Evans, Faran, Farrelly, Fisher, Flournoy, Fulton, Gentry, Giddings, Goggin, Gott, Green, Greeley, Gregory, Grinnell, Hale, Willard P. Hall, Nathan K. Hall, James G. Hampton, Moses Hampton, Henry, Isaac E. Holmes, Hubbard, Hunt, Charles J. Ingersoll, Jenkins, James H. Johnson, George W. Jones, John W. Jones, Daniel P. King, William T. Lawrence, Leffler, Ligon, Lincoln, Lumpkin, McIlvaine, McKay, McLane, Marvin, Morehead, Mullin, Murphy, Nelson, Nes, Nicoll, Outlaw, Peck, Pollock, Preston, Putnam, Rhett, Julius Rockwell, John A. Rockwell, Rumsey, St. John, Shepperd, Sherrill, Silvester, Slingerland, Caleb B. Smith, Truman Smith, Stanton, Stephens, Strohm, Strong, Tallmadge, Taylor, Thibodeaux, Thomas, James Thompson, R. W. Thompson, Robert A. Thompson, Tompkins, Van Dyke, Wallace, Warren, White, Wick, and Wilson-107.

NAYS-Messrs. Bedinger, Bingham, Bocock, Bowdon, Brady, Brodhead, Charles Brown, Albert G. Brown, Buckner, Cathcart, Clapp, Franklin Clark, Howell Cobb, Williamson R. W. Cobb, Crozier, Cummins, Daniel, Darling, Dickinson, Dixon, Duer, Edwards, Embree, Featherston, Ficklin, Freedley, French, Fries, Gaines, Hammons, Haralson, Harris, Hill, Elias B. Holmes, Inge, Irvin, Iverson, Kaufman, Kellogg, Kennon, Lahm, La Sère, Sidney Lawrence, Levin, Lord, Lynde, Maclay, Job Mann, Marsh, Miller, Morris, Morse, Palfrey, Peaslee, Phelps, Richardson, Richey, Robinson, Rockhill, Root, Sawyer, Smart, Robert Smith, Starkweather, Charles E. Stuart, Jacob Thompson, John B. Thompson, William Thompson, Thurston, Tuck, Venable, Vinton, Wentworth, Wiley, Williams, and Woodward-76.

So the motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 19, 1849. Mr. HILLIARD, by unanimous consent, presented a report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, showing the operations, expenditures, and condition of that Institution to the present time; which report was laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.

SENATE, April 15, 1850.

The bill for the completion of the Patent Office being under consideration, Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi, said:

Mr. President: What the wants of the Patent Office are now is one thing, and what those wants will be in a few years is another, and an entirely different thing. Not only from the report of the last Commissioner of Patents, but from inspection, if any one choose to make it, and see the condition of things in that department, I think it may be denied that there is room enough in the present building for the wants of the department. If I understand the report of the present Commissioner of Patents or the Secretary of the Interior, the argument against the want of further room by the Patent Department, is based upon the supposition that all which now belongs to the National Institute, all connected with the exploring expedition which now fills the museum of the Patent Office, is to be transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. That seems to be the basis of the conclusion. Now, sir, I wish to state to the Senate that Congress has no power to impose upon that institution the duty of taking charge of this collection of the exploring expedition-we may infer from their act-nor did they ever intend to do so. They gave to that institution the right to take all such curiosities brought home by the exploring expedition as might be desired for that institution, and I will inform the Senate that it is not the intention of the present Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to take charge of the museum of the Patent Office, and the room appropriated to these curiosities will be required hereafter

as now.

SENATE, July 29, 1850.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate a letter of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, transmitting the annual report of the Board of Regents.

On motion by Mr. Davis, of Mississippi,

Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on Printing, with instructions to inquire into the expediency of printing five thousand additional copies without the Appendix.

SENATE, July 30, 1850.

Mr. HAMLIN, from the Committee on Printing, reported in favor of printing the Report of the Smithsonian Institution, with 5,000 additional copies without the Appendix, 500

of which are for the use of the Smithsonian Institution; which report was agreed to.

SENATE, December 10, 1850.

Mr. PEARCE gave notice of his intention to ask leave to introduce a joint resolution providing for the appointment of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

SENATE, December 11, 1850.

Mr. PEARCE, in pursuance of notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a joint resolution for the appointment of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution:

Resolved, &c., That the vacancy in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution of the class "other than members of Congress" be filled by the reappointment of the late incumbents, viz: Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, and Joseph G. Totten, of the city of Washington.

On the motion of Mr. PEARCE, the joint resolution was read a second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole. Having been reported to the Senate, it was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, and was subsequently read a third time and passed.

SENATE, January 9, 1851.

Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi, submitted the following resolution :

Resolved, That the Committee on Printing be instructed to inquire into the propriety of printing three thousand extra copies of the Appendix to the report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, one thousand of which to be for the benefit of the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi. Mr. President, when I made the motion to print extra copies of the report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, I was not acquainted with the value of the Appendix. It contains valuable statistical and other information respecting the libraries of the United States, and it is believed that it would be valuable and desirable to the country at large.

The resolution was agreed to.

SENATE, January 23, 1851.

Mr. PEARCE. I have a memorial from the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, which I ask to be referred to the Finance Committee. It was so referred.

The memorial is as follows:

To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:

GENTLEMEN: The Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution have directed me to transmit to your honorable

body, the resolutions appended to this letter, and to solicit the passing of a law, in accordance therewith.

It is known to your honorable body, that the original sum received into the United States Treasury from the Smithsonian bequest, was a little more than $515,000, and that at the time of the passage of the act incorporating the institution, $242,000 had accrued in interest, which sum or so much of it as might be deemed necessary, the Regents were authorized to appropriate to a building, It is also known to your honorable body, that the act of incorporation directed that provision should be made for the establishment of a library and museum, together with the erection of a building on a liberal scale to contain them.

While the Regents in their plan of organization obeyed these instructions, they also by virtue of the power invested in them, and in conformity with the terms of the bequest, adopted additional plans for the more immediate promotion of the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men, by means of researches, publications, lectures, &c.

In order, however, to carry out the several parts of this more extended plan, it was found absolutely necessary that the annual income of the institution should be increased. To accomplish this, it was resolved, instead of expending at once the $242,000 on a building, carefully to husband the same and to erect the building in the course of several years, in part out of the proceeds of the sum before mentioned, and in part out of such portions of the income of the original fund as could be spared from the ordinary operations of the institution. This scheme has been effectually carried out, and the Regents now ask to be allowed to place in the Treasury of the United States along side of the original bequest, and upon the same terms, never to be expended, the sum of $150,000 of accrued interest, and to be allowed to add to this from time to time, such other sums as may come into their possession by donation or otherwise, until it, with the sums thus added shall amount to $200,000, making in all a principal fund of a little more than $715,000.

After this deposit of $150,000, the Regents will still have sufficient money on hand to finish the whole exterior of the building, and such portions of the interior in addition to those now completed, as may be wanted for several years to come, they then propose gradually to finish the remainder in such portions as may be wanted out of the annual accruing interest.

The sole object of the request is the permanent invest