Mr. NESMITH. h Mr. President, if this was a mere matter of research I should be very much inclined to defer to the judgment of the Senfrom Massachusetts, but as it is not, and as it requires no great learning, no particular devotion to reading to discover what is an exact imitation of nature, I claim that my judgment on such a subject is as good as his own. My mind has never been perverted by the extensive reading which the Senfrom Massachusetts has had, or by that vast aine uiit of lore in which he is so accomlished, but I clainr to be equally as good ajudge as he is of any mere matter of art Which is an imitation of a natural object. The 1st objection that the Senfrom Massachusetts presented to this appropriation was on the ground of economy. Sir, it is the 1st time I ever knew that Senator seized with a costiveness of economy: [Laughter] It was only last night that we listened to his long diatribes here when 4 different times he called for the yeas&nays upon excessive appropriations to those who are already overpaid, and now he talks about the squandering of the public funds. Sir, there are no public servants in this country but those who are already ever paid, and he objects to this young artist this young scion of the West, from the same land from which Lincoln came a young person who manifests intuitive genius, and who is able to copy the works of nature without havin pe rused the immense tomes and the grand vol umes of which the Senator may boast a person who was born and raised in the wilds of the West, and who is able to copy its great works. Sir, the Senator might have raised the same objection to Mr. Lincoln, that he was not qualified for the Presidency because his reading had not been as extensive as that of the Senator, or because he had lived among rude and uncultivated society. I claim for this young lady, sprung from a cor family, struggling with misfortune and a versity, that she has developed such natural genius that her talents in this direction should be fostered and cultivated in preference to our giving this work to any foreigner. The Senfrom Massachusetts has audered so long to European aristocracy that he cannot speak of anything that originates in America with common respect. He even refers to our bronze doors which were cast in Munich, and to everything else of foreign production, and he gives no creditto native genius. What did he not speak of Powers? Why did he not speak of our great American artists? Why is he constantly referring us to Europe? If this young led and the works which she has produced had been brought to his notice by some near sighted, frog eating Frenchman, with a pair of green spectgoles on lllS nose, the Senator would have said that she was deserving of commendation. If she could have spoken 3 or 4 different languages that nobody else could have unde, or, erhaps, that neither she nor the Senayor could understand, he would vote her $50,900. [Laughter] He up great patron of art, but not a pan on of domestic art. He is a patron of foreign art; he is a patron of those who copy and ape European aristocracy, and he does not propose to patronize or encourage the genius which rows up in our own great country, particularly in the wilds of the West. Here is a young girl of poor parentage, struggling with misfortune, her father a mere clerk in a Dept here; and byacasualty, on being introduced into a studio, she mani fests great taste and great powers of art, and in the short experience which she has had she has devQoped wonderful powers in that line. But the Senfrom Massachusetts, with all his learning and all his foreign tastes, is unable to appreciate anything of that sort. Sir, I venture to predict that this young lady will rise to an eminence in the arts, that her works will yet decorate this Capitol, notwithstanding the opposition of the Senfrom Massachusetts, who, when she has achieved success, will be among the 1st to sin peans to her praise, and I was about to say that his children but I will take that back, as he has none to speak of, [langhter] would be among those who would praise her works and would cast a mantle over the proceedings of their recrcant father who had refused to recognize native genius and native art. But, sir, as the Senator has remained a bachelor so long, that is a contingency which is not at all likely to occur. [Laughter]. I say, then, there is nothing in the objection on the score of economy. This young lady deserves to be encouraged. I venture to say that the works she has already produced, which are on exhibition in this Capitol, and particularly the bustof Mr. Lincoln, are une ualed. Ichal lenge the Senfrom Massac usetts to produce one of the foreign artists, of whom he boasts so much, who can produce the equal of that bust. I do not pretend to enter into any competition with the Senfrom Massachusetts on the subject of books, but when iteomes to matters of natural taste and to forming a judgment in regard to the imitations of natural objects, I assume that my judgment is equal to his. I can tell the height of a mountain, the length of a river, or the meanderings ofatrail as well as he can, and I say that my judment upon those subjects is equal to his. I eprecate his panegyrics upon foreign artists in dero gation of those raised in our own country, and particularly those of the great West.