gents. As to the value of the information, I will express no opinion.

Mr. RHETT. I would ask my friend from Mississippi why the Smithsonian Institution itself does not print its own proceedings?

Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi. I said, I think, that this was a report to Congress. The Smithsonian Institution does print its contributions to knowledge, and does attend to their diffusion among men. This, however, is not a contribution to human knowledge, but is a report to Congress of the manner in which the Board of Regents executed the trust confided to them.

Mr. PEARCE. I beg leave simply to add, that the law organizing the Smithsonian Institution compels the Board of Regents to make this annual report to Congress.

Mr. MASON. I move to amend the motion so as to provide that one thousand copies shall be printed for the institution. Mr. NORRIS. Is this the report of a committee?

Mr. BORLAND. It is the report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution; the question of printing it was referred to the Committee on Printing; the committee were in favor of the proposition, but could not make a report. It has been ordered to be printed; and the proposition now is to print three thousand extra copies.

Mr. NORRIS. Does it come from the Committee on Printing?

Mr. BORLAND. It does.

The amendment was agreed to.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 7, 1850.

The Speaker appointed Mr. Henry W. Hilliard of Alabama, Mr. W. F. Colcock of South Carolina, and Mr. G. N. Fitch of Indiana, on the part of the House, as the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 23, 1850.

Mr. HILLIARD requested the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) to waive his motion for the regular order of business, so as to enable him (Mr. Hilliard) to present the annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. His object was simply to present the report, that it might be laid upon the table and printed.

Mr. THOMPSON, of Pennsylvania, insisted on the regular order of business.

imous consent.

The SPEAKER stated to the gentleman from Alabama, (Mr. Hilliard,) that the report could only be introduced by unanThe regular order of business was insisted upon, and objections were made in several quarters. The report, therefore, was not presented.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 25, 1850.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a communication from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, transmitting the annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution; which letter and report were laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, December 18, 1850.

Mr. FITCH said there was upon the Speaker's table a joint resolution from the Senate providing for the appointment of Regents for the Smithsonian Institution whose term of service had expired. He hoped the House would take up and consider the resolution, as it would occupy but a few minutes. It was absolutely necessary that it should be passed, for the reason that the Board of Regents was not full and no business could be transacted by the Board until the vacancies should have been filled. He hoped the resolution would be taken up.

There being no objection, the joint resolution was taken up, read three several times, and passed.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 24, 1851.

Mr. THOMPSON, of Mississippi, moved the following amendment to the clause appropriating money for the purchase of books for the Library of Congress, viz:

To enable the Smithsonian Institution to publish a new edition of Wilkes' Narrative and the accompanying series of papers, the plates and engravings of which have been made at the expense of the United States, be, and they are hereby, ordered to be delivered over to the said Institution, to be used for that purpose.

He said that, as these plates were valuable and the Congress of the United States did not propose to use them, he should be glad that some use might be made of them. It appeared to him that the Smithsonian Institution was as proper a party to whom to intrust these plates for publication as any. Congress had already provided for the distribution of books published by that Institution. He (Mr. T.) did not wish that they should be published and distributed

among members; but, as it was really a valuable work, and a new edition was called for, he thought it was proper that the publication should be intrusted to the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. WENTWORTH (interposing) said that he thought that it was quite proper that copies of the work should be distributed among members of Congress. He would, therefore, ask the gentleman from Mississippi to modify his amendment so as to furnish each member of Congress with a copy of Wilkes' Exploring Expedition. He had been a member of that body eight years, and, although he had received copies of other works, he had never received a copy of this, nor had he ever heard of other members receiving copies. Mr. THOMPSON stated that only about one hundred copies had been published.

Mr. WENTWORTH said that he was entirely opposed to the amendment, unless modified as he had indicated.

Mr. THOMPSON wished to explain that the original resolution provided for the publication of only one hundred copies. There was a great demand for the work, and it was desirable to have copies that might be furnished to different foreign nations. There were only, he believed, twenty copies left in the Library.

Mr. WENTWORTH inquired if it had ever been distributed to members of Congress.

Mr. THOMPSON said that copies never had been distributed among members.

Mr. WENTWORTH requested the gentleman from Mississippi to modify his amendment as he had desired.

Mr. THOMPSON said that books published by the Smithsonian Institution were distributed among the various libraries, and he was willing that such a distribution should take place.

Mr. WENTWORTH again inquired if the gentleman from Mississippi would modify his amendment.

Mr. THOMPSON said that he was opposed to giving copies to members of Congress.

Mr. WENTWORTH then moved to amend Mr. Thompson's amendment by adding that a copy of the work should be furnished to each Senator, Representative, and Delegate to the present Congress.

Mr. STEVENS said that he was opposed to the amendment to the amendment. He understood that the original amendment merely contemplated giving the plates to the Smithsonian Institution for that Institution to publish them. Congress had a perfect right to do this; but he could not under

stand by what right they could call upon the Institution to furnish a copy to each member of Congress from its own resources. If Congress intended granting an appropriation to defray the expense of the publication and distribution, as the gentleman from Illinois proposed, he would have no objection to it; but unless such an appropriation were made, he should feel himself compelled to vote against the gentleman's amendment.

The question was then taken on Mr. Wentworth's amendment, and it was not agreed to.

The question was then taken on Mr. Thompson's amendment, and it was adopted.

On the same day it was ordered that two copies of the Annals of Congress be given to the Smithsonian Institution; also, one copy of the works of Alexander Hamilton and one copy of the works of John Adams.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.

SENATE, April 20, 1852.

The Senate having under consideration the Deficiency bill, and the following amendment from the Committee on Finance being in order:

"For planting and finishing the roads and walks through that portion of the public Mall surrounding the Smithsonian Institution, $7,000”

Mr. HUNTER said: This item is estimated for by the Secretary of the Interior. It is proposed to appropriate this amount in this bill, instead of appropriating it for the next fiscal year, as this is the planting season.

The amendment was agreed to.

SENATE, May 27, 1852.

Mr. PEARCE, from the Committee on Finance, reported a bill supplementary to an act approved August 10, 1846, entitled "An act to establish the Smithsonian Institution," &c., which was read and passed to a second reading. The bill is as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of the money now in the hands of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, being an accumulation of interest on the principal fund that accrued prior to July first, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, and heretofore set apart for the erection of the suitable buildings for the use of said institution, as may not be found necessary for the completion of the edifice now in course of erection, and all such further sums as may be received hereafter from the estate of James Smithson, shall be received into the Treasury of the United States on the

same terms as were provided for the original principal fund by the second section of the act entitled "An act to establish the Smithsonian Institution, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," approved August tenth, eighteen hundred and forty-six, and that the interest thereon at the rate of six per centum per annum, shall in like manner be payable halfyearly, on the first of January and July in each year, from and after the date at which it shall be received into the Treasury of the United States, for the perpetual maintenance and support of said institution: Provided, That the sums thus to be received, shall not exceed the amount of two hundred thousand dollars.

SENATE, August 20, 1852.

The Vice President laid before the Senate a letter from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, communicating the annual report of the Board of Regents of that institution; which was ordered to lie on the table, and be printed.

A motion of Mr. Pearce that 5,000 additional copies be printed, was referred to the Committee on Printing.

SENATE, August 21, 1852.

An amendment to the Civil and Diplomatic appropriation bill for the year ending June 30, 1853, was proposed by the Finance Committee, as follows:

"For finishing the grading, manuring, planting, finishing the roads and walks, graveling and laying gutters along the margin of the same, and repairing the fence of the Smithsonian square, $13,200."

SENATE, August 24, 1852.

Mr. PEARCE submitted the following resolution; which was agreed to:

Resolved, That the vacancy in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, occasioned by the resignation of the Hon. Jefferson Davis, be filled by the President of the Senate.

Mr. Robert M. Charlton was appointed.

SENATE, August 26, 1852.

Mr. HAMLIN, from the Committee on Printing, reported in favor of printing 5,000 additional copies of the annual report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, and that 2,000 copies thereof be for the use of the institution; which was agreed to.

SENATE, August 26, 1852.

Mr. HUNTER moved to amend the amendment offered August 21st, by striking out "$13,200," and inserting "$16,760." The amendment to the amendment was agreed to, and the amendment as amended was agreed to.