296 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Which sum is the whole amount of interest received at 

 the Treasury in the space of two years and four months, 

 (from the 11th September, 1841, to the 12th January, 1844,) 

 from a fund which, in that space of time, shoukl have 

 yielded little less than |80,000. This, then, is the present 

 condition of the fund. 



There are in the Treasury of the United States 620 bonds 

 of the States of Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan, 

 viz : 



Arkansas 538 



Illinois 56 



Ohio 18 



Michigan 8 



Total 620 



for $1,000 each, bearing on their face interest at 6 per cent. 

 a year, payable half-yearly in the city of New York. The 

 principal of these bonds is payable at different times from 

 1850 to 1873 — none before the first of those periods ; and 

 none after, but at the pleasure of the several contracting 

 States. 



The annual interest upon these bonds is $37,200 dollars, 

 payable in semi-annual payments in the city of New York; 

 but, with the exception of the bonds of the State of Ohio, 

 the payment of interest on all the rest is suspended ; which 

 suspension on the bonds of the State of Arkansas has 

 alread}' continued for the space of nearly three years. 



The arrears of this interest due on the 31st of December, 

 1843, were — 



Of the State of Arkansas 75,687 84 



Michigan 480 00 



Illinois 3,860 00 



Forming an aggregate of 79,527 84 



Which added to the amount of the bonds 620,000 OO 



Gives the amount in the Treasury 699,527 84 



on the 31st of December, 1843; which sum, with the accru- 

 ing interest to the 31st of December, 1846, will exceed 

 $800,000. The stipulated period of payment of the princi- 

 pal of all these bonds is remote — none being payable earlier 

 than 1850 ; some of them not before 1870 ; and all post- 

 ponable at the pleasure of the State. So that, while the 

 payments of interest remain suspended, neither principal 

 nor interest is available for application by Congress to the 

 purpose of the bequest — the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men. 



Yet, in the act of Congress of July 1st, 1836, accepting 



